The Human Heart [COMPLETED]

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"It is Hearts."

Chishiya should have known that this woman is too stubborn to let him take the risk alone. Just why would she suffer like this, maybe even take the risk of dying simply to tell him something he already knows?

Of course it is Hearts. It has been a wild guess since Chishiya figured out the sequence, but the King himself confirmed it to him just before his sacrifice. And when she tried to convince him to not rely on his calculations as well, there was not a single doubt left.

It's not only her fault though. Chishiya shouldn't have expected her to think it through the way he did. She is no Diamonds player after all, and this is no Diamonds game. She cared too much about him to reconsider her own life, and she was ready to sacrifice herself so he could live. Not that it'd be of much use if the King has said the truth and they both need to stay alive to win the game.

A game that turned out to be more amusing than Chishiya would have thought, and he would have even been able to enjoy it if someone else had been placed on that chair. It is something he doesn't like to admit, but he has grown fond of the woman inside the other room.

Which becomes clear once more when she is being electrocuted for one last time, as Chishiya automatically turns his eyes back to the camera at the sound of her pained screams. He doesn't care for the suffering of others, because there's no need to. Those people usually cause their own misery, or they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time – either way, it's none of his business. And yet his fingers twitch at the aching voice of hers, and the next breath doesn't fill his lungs as easily.

The knob of the Hearts door is still sticky from the King's touch, and the moment Chishiya turns it around, the screams stop all of a sudden. There is no rattled breathing, no sobs or whimpers.

Just silence.

There is a chance that cameras and audio have been turned off because he is about to leave the entrance hall. It doesn't have to mean that she's dead, because if she was, he'd be killed as well.

Then why are his lungs having such a hard time to fill with air?

The Hearts room is still filled with a metallic scent, and Chishiya can't help but wonder how the King has died. Dark red spots cover the likewise red carpet, but there is no sign of the corpse and thus no reason to remain inside this room longer than necessary.

An almost empty room greets him on the other side, built exactly like the entrance just without a food table in the middle. Only a huddled body is lying in the corner, mostly covered by a blood-stained jacket, even though the blood has to be quite old already. It's the girl that has been remarkably clever yet foolish enough to eat those fruits.

It seems that the King didn't lie with anything he said. He had spoken the truth about the last door as well as the fate of this girl, so there would have been no reason for him to lie about the last shock, and Chishiya almost finds this thought confirmed as he turns to the left.

Past the Diamonds and Spades doors, another door has been opened to the surveillance room where the other surviving players have gathered. They barely pay him any attention as he steps into the darkness, only lit up by the other room now that the monitors have shut down. And there she is.

The only reason Chishiya knows for sure that she is still breathing is because the rest of them is too. Her body has slumped off the chair and is now curled together in an unhealthy position on the ground, covered in wires that mostly lead to the electric chair itself. Her wrists are brightly red, with blood seeping through microscopic wounds all around them, and blood is covering her mouth as well. She has most likely bitten her tongue during the shock, and the colorful liquid sticks out almost painfully against the white skin.