Alice in Borderland ~ Chishiya

55

I duck behind a car and pull Chishiya to the ground with me. My first reaction is that the king of spades is here, but then I hear a familiar laughter coming from the direction of the shot.

'I'm so happy to see each other again!' I get goosebumps all over. I know that voice. That is.. 'Niragi,' Chishiya exclaims in exasperation. I can see he's in pain. Of course he is: he just got hit by a bullet.

'Niragi!' Arisu shouts. 'Why are you shooting at Chishiya?!' Niragi starts to laugh again. 'What? Should I've hugged him instead?' How can he still live? The last time I saw him, during the witch hunt, Aguni took him into the fire. How did he survive that? 'Let's kill each other!' Niragi shouts.

'He missed my vitals on purpose,' Chishiya exclaims in a painful voice. Worried, I rest my eyes on the spot where he was shot. Despite feeling how ominous this is, I find myself feeling relief at the fact that nothing vital has been damaged.

'Come on!' Niragi exclaims. 'Isn't this fun?! I've been waiting for this! Stop hiding and let's put on a show!' He could walk right up to us to finish the job, but he's not after that. It's not without reason that he missed something vital on purpose: he wants to make Chishiya suffer. 'I just do what I want,' Niragi continues. 'That's what it's all about, right? For people like us, everything revolves around ourselves! We look at death and survive it. We pretend we know everything so well. How smart we are!' He's raving. He sounds destructive and possessed. 'No, we're just scum that never grows up! We can't change. Let's embrace it. Let's fight each other!'

'No,' Arisu says firmly. He makes no move to grab his rifle. 'I swore not to play any more games.' I look at him and see that he has had enough. I don't know what made him do that, but something happened that made him renounce participation in games. But not only that: he has renounced violence altogether. He's really not going to do anything about Niragi. But I am. 'No,' Chishiya says, pulling me back to the ground when I want to get up.

'Come on, Chishiya, you're in, right?!' Niragi shouts. I look at Chishiya and let my eyes slide over his wound again. 'What can I do?' I ask desperately. There's nothing to do. We have nowhere to go, because Niragi won't allow that. He makes Chishiya suffer. He doesn't allow him to be helped. I feel my throat burning and my eyes stinging.

'How about this?!' Niragi says, laughing. 'I'm finally getting rid of you and running off with your girl.' Chishiya's body is startled and I see him looking angrily. 'Then, she can feel what it's like to be with a real man!' I think back to the Beach, where he often hurled comments at my head. 'Just like your girl experienced it!' Since Arisu's the only one here, I assume he's speaking to him. I feel my body stiffen up. Does he have..

Arisu clasps his hands tightly around his rifle. He's still standing, allowing Niragi to see him well. He starts laughing. 'I can please you like he never will!' he calls our way again. 'I'll please you.' Chishiya wants to get up, but I pull him back to the ground. 'Don't,' I say, 'this is exactly what he wants. He's trying to drive you crazy.'

'He succeeds very well.' I look at Chishiya and see him glaring at me. He wants to protect me and stand up for me, but he's powerless. He can't do anything. He hates that. I look at Arisu. 'Stop this!' I shout at him. 'You have to stop him!' But Arisu doesn't seem to intend to do that. He no longer wants to commit violence. Not even to someone like Niragi. And why should he help us? He doesn't owe us anything and we've hurt him in the past.

I'm startled when I hear another shot. No one was hit, but I can feel my body starting to shake. 'Stop it, Niragi!' Arisu shouts. 'Nothing good will come of this!' Niragi just laughs. 'I just do whatever I want. Come on, are you in?!' Arisu shakes his head and flings his rifle from his shoulder. He puts the thing on the roof of the car he's next to, which fades my hopes more and more. There goes our only chance to stop Niragi.