Alice in Borderland ~ Chishiya

38

'Here we are again.'

I look up at Raiden. Despite everything that happened at the Beach, and especially tonight, I feel relief when I look at him. For a long time he had stared at the fire with a lost look in his eyes, but now he's slowly getting back to normal. There's a little more colour on his face. In fact, he looks at me somewhat hopeful and I'm sure he's thinking about the same thing as I am. This is where it all started for us: in this camping store, we bonded.

'Yes,' I say with a smile, despite everything, 'here we are again.'

Kuina doesn't seem to understand why I can still smile and Chishiya doesn't seem to think too much about it. They both sit there quietly and a bit uncomfortably. I get up as soon as the water in the pan has boiled and turn off the gas cylinder. If you're used to the Beach, it feels almost primitive to have to sleep here on a mat or camp bed and have to put in more effort for water. I don't really mind. Raiden also doesn't seem to mind that we're no longer there. He takes the cup of warm water from me. Kuina and Chishiya don't want any, so I only serve myself.

'What's your question?' I ask Raiden after we have chosen a flavour. A slight smile appears on his face. So he remembers it, too. Yet he doesn't read his aloud. I wonder if he doesn't like the question that much.

Last time his question was what the biggest gamble he'd ever made was. He replied that he was taking it at the time. He was referring to our contact.

'Which coffee do you prefer to order?' I read mine aloud. 'Yeah, right,' Raiden replies, laughing, 'that isn't really your question.' I grab the battery light and shine it on my bag of tea. 'It is!!' Raiden stares at it for a moment, before grinning. 'You should know this one for me,' I tell him. 'It was one of the first things I ever said to you.'

'What!' Raiden exclaims, half laughing. 'And you expect me to remember that?! I had better things to do at the time: we were hanging dozens of meters high in the air from that window cleaning elevator! Forgive me for being more concerned with not letting go and crashing to pieces.' I grin at him. Then, I hear Kuina breathing in surprise. 'You were in that game?' she asks.

Raiden and I look at each other. I remember talking about not knowing what to say to others when they'd ask about it. Chishiya doesn't look surprised, so he took it in anyway when I mentioned it after the mascot game. I don't know what to say, so I just nod at Kuina. She seems impressed. It's quiet for a moment, but then she decides to join the conversation. 'And?' she asks me. 'What's the answer?'

I was just about to tell her which coffee I prefer to order, but then Raiden mumbles: 'Vanilla latte.' I look up at him in amazement. 'So you do remember!' He shrugs. I don't know why, because it's actually a really stupid thing, but I almost feel a lump in my throat when I look at him. He remembered it, when it was pretty useless information. This gives me hope that things will indeed turn out well between us, that the Beach hasn't driven us apart.

'Do you know each other long?' Kuina asks. I think about that for a moment. What is long? 'I met Raiden on my fourth game,' I tell her. She seems to count back and realizes that I played quite a few afterwards. 'Have you played all the games together since then? Except for when you went laser tagging?' I take a look at Chishiya. Didn't he tell her? I look at her again and shake my head. 'No,' I reply, 'there's one more game we didn't play together.'

'And the rest is? Didn't that bother you? You couldn't have known in advance what kind of game it would be. What if you had to betray each other?' For a moment Raiden and I look at each other intently. 'Yes,' he replies while looking at Kuina, 'that was very difficult, but I'm glad we did. Without Kimora, I would've shot myself through the head.' Although he was very fed up with it at the time, he can now present it in a light-hearted way. I look at Kuina's expression and start laughing. 'Now it sounds very dramatic and sentimental,' I say. 'The game was called "Russian roulette" and it was set up in such a way that we thought we should actually play it.'