The Human Heart [COMPLETED]

Footprints

“Ugh! I really don’t wanna do this any longer.” Kuina leans against a board with Tokyo’s subway line network and rolls her eyes while chewing on her cigarette substitute or whatever that is. She has grumbled about it for quite some time now and Chishiya barely listens to her anymore.

“Honestly though! It has been three days and we haven’t found something. Why don’t we just… give it up and return to the others?”

Chishiya doesn’t lift his eyes off the note he’s holding in one hand. What seems to be a child’s drawing remains the only hint he’s got, and he still doesn’t know what it’s supposed to be other than wild lines filling a piece of paper. Only the dark blood spots remind him that there has to be a meaning, because the woman from the Spades game wouldn’t have carried it with her otherwise.

Kuina hasn’t been entirely right though. Chishiya has found out something, and while it doesn’t help finding the Dealer base, it is not unimportant. He had been awake at midnight, watching the sky and waiting for the lasers to kill those players whose visa have been expired. But not a single one of the red beams came down, and not a single game area had been lit in the hours prior, every night since the Witch Hunt. As if the whole construct is on hold now that all cards have been collected.

All except the face cards.

The weight of the deck still rests in his pocket, held together by a single rubber band. “You’re free to go, Kuina. Go back to your friends whenever you want to, I won’t stop you.”

Kuina sighs and rubs her temble as if honestly weighing her options. “Don’t you miss her?”

He does. Which is stupid, because as Kuina has said – it has only been three days. Chishiya doesn’t allow himself to think about his stubborn too often, but when he does, his thoughts always come back to that kiss. The Beach has been too loud and noisy, and more than once has Chishiya wished for a place to be alone, and yet it is too silent now that she’s not around.

“I have more important things to care about right now.”

“Okay, you know what?” Kuina punches against the board next to her while rolling her eyes, “what I said about you actually having a heart – forget about it. Guess I was wrong.”

But Chishiya doesn’t care about her words. His eyes are fixed on the line network, and something about it seems painfully familiar, although huge parts of it are covered by Kuina’s body.

“Out of the way.”

He steps closer, but Kuina doesn’t budge. “Huh? What the-“

“Step aside.” Now standing right in front of the board, he stares up to Kuina and she finally seems to understand. Chishiya lifts the piece of paper and holds it next to the map, turns it around multiple times until the lines match. It hasn’t been a child’s drawing all along. It is a map.

“No way!” Kuina exclaims next to him, and the cigarette substitute even falls out of her mouth. “I actually found it!”

With a snort, Chishiya turns his head to the dreadlocked woman. “You?” All she did was stand next to a sign and even cover the most important parts. “Where is it, then? I’m sure you can tell me now that you’ve contributed so much already.”

He even hands Kuina the paper and she takes it with a pout, holding it next to the map the same way Chishiya did. Only that she holds it the wrong way round. “I suppose the big spot here is our base? So… Takebashi?”

“No.” He turns the note while Kuina still pins it against the board, until the lines perfectly match the ones of the subway network, and pats on the one spot that equals the marked point on the note. “Shibuya.”