The Human Heart [COMPLETED]

Long Live the King

Hatter is dead. His lifeless body flaunted on a table because those pathetic morons wouldn't believe he was dead if they couldn't actually see him.

The moment Chishiya spots the bullet hole in the former leader's chest, he knows it hasn't been the game that killed Hatter. This was murder, and it has been planned all along. Some of the attendants seem surprised, mostly Arisu, whose face is a display of shock and disbelief. But most of them don't seem to feel anything at all. Say what they want, but this doesn't come unexpected.

And yet it only seems to be An questioning how exactly it has happened. Hatter's game didn't involve guns. There might not be a single player left to confirm that, but it's obvious. If he had died in a game, his corpse would have been disposed by the game makers, which hasn't been the case since the maintenance team found him outside of the game area.

It is satisfying to see that Chishiya has been right with more than just Hatter's death. Not only has their sacred leader been murdered – five minutes into the reveal of his death, and the Beach is falling apart. Of course it's the Militants refusing to accept Kuzuryuu as the next Number 1. Force will always be the greatest power, not intelligence or favor.

Hatter should have known that, since history has shown how things work again and again. Leaders rarely were given the chance to grow old. They were killed, not in battles but in their bedrooms, and the crowd would hail the new king a second after while a new plan was being made to kill this one as well.

Everyone wants to have power.

"Who agrees that Aguni should be the new leader?" Niragi doesn't shout, but his voice echoes through the otherwise silent room. No one dares to talk. No one raises a hand.

As if someone like Aguni would care about the opinion of his subjects. Hatter might have been insane, but having Aguni as a new leader won't favor anyone other than him and the Militants. They will destroy the Beach within a week, maybe even days, starting with Last Boss pointing the tip of his katana towards An's throat. She raises her hand hesitantly, followed by Mira who is facing Niragi's shotgun as well.

Hand after hand rises slowly, accompanied by the bitter taste of being killed otherwise, and Niragi turns to Chishiya, holding his gun as if it could solve every single problem.

"What about you? Are you looking down on us, Chishiya?"

In fact, he does. They're nothing but children, trying to grab their favorite toys out of the hands of others. Wielding a weapon won't help them rule this place, let alone survive every single game. All they see is power that doesn't even really exist. Even Niragi as a Diamonds player is blinded by the promise of being feared by all those people.

"But you guys really are stupid."

It takes a mere second for Niragi to close the space between them, hovering over Chishiya with the shotgun pointing to his chin. Chishiya can see the hate in his eyes, the fury. All of it just a mask to cover the vulnerability beneath.

"Those eyes of yours really piss me off", Niragi almost spits, and he smells like sweat and dried blood. "It's so condescending."

Take away your weapon and you'll be nothing but a frightened little boy. Why should Chishiya hide the way he thinks about the Militants? All of them are nothing but scrap. But there's no reason to provoke Niragi more than necessary, since he won't hesitate to pull the trigger. What a useless death that would be without even stealing the cards.

He raises both hands, mocking the Militant in front of him with both gesture and eyes. "I vote for Aguni to be the leader. Are you all right with losing me as a precious "yes" vote?" The fact alone of Niragi being a leader is laughable.