Friends With Benefits | Chishiya x Reader

Chapter Eight

☆ In which you discover some cars are really more like trucks. ☆

Setsuko is the nervous type, and you can tell by the way she never stops twisting the hem of her shirt around her fingers. She displays every physical sign of distress you can recognise, and when she begins to breathe heavily through her nose you take her hand. She looks at you in surprise and you feel the cold kiss of metal against your fingertips. You tilt her hand as she continues to stare with wide eyes, and find her slender fingers are ornamented with a number of rings.

"You have lovely rings," you comment. Perhaps getting her talking will distract her from whatever anxieties are plaguing her. She smiles at this, and the rings she wears glimmer in the afternoon light filtering through the car windows. Some are crystalline, some gold, some silver. Upon closer inspection one ring is engraved with a line of stars, another curling around her finger in the shape of a snake. Another is inlaid with a message that you can't quite catch.

"My daughter bought these for me," she whispers. "When she turned sixteen, she bought me a ring for every special day we celebrated. She even bought one for me on her birthday." She indicates the stars on her index finger and her lashes lower in melancholy. 

"Your daughter sounds like a wonderful person."

"She is," Setsuko says softly. "I wish I could see her again. Just one more time."

The "you will" almost slips from your lips, but you brush it away. You hum in response, and squeeze her hand. 

The car pulls up to the game venue. The sky is darkening already, and you take in the building in front of you. The venue is an abandoned multistory parking lot - the lights inside have long blown, leaving the inside completely dark. Among the cars on the ground floor is the usual game registration process; a stark white table holding an assortment of phones. A group of people who had already gathered look up nervously as your Beach team approaches. You pick up a phone and hand another to Setsuko, who gives you a grateful look. She still holds onto your hand. 

Your phone flashes in recognition as you press the power button. 

"Game: Keep Away. Seven of Spades."

A Spades game. Setsuko's grip tightens around yours, and you sigh. Setsuko was most definitely a Clubs player, and did not look very physically adept. You'd gotten by reasonably well in gym class during high school, but Setsuko seemed to want to stick with you. 

She might be a hindrance, but if you played your cards right, you were certain one of you would make it out at the very least. 

"There will be a time limit of 20 minutes. If you survive until the time runs out, it is Game Clear.

"The game will begin now."

At this the group of people around the table disperse at the speed of light, making their way up the many floors of the parking lot accompanied by the thundering sound of footsteps. You watch as a man too lanky for his own good curls up behind a Toyota a few rows down from where you stand, and you give him an estimate of five minutes before he is killed. Setsuko looks at you worriedly. 

"Should we be running..?" She whispers urgently.

"Give me a second," you mutter. You're definitely not a Diamonds player, but surely you can pull out a game strategy if need be. The name of the game, 'Keep Away,' definitely suggests a hunter of sorts. So in order to clear the game, you have to elude the hunter for twenty minutes. The hunter will most likely start from the ground floor - if you stay on the ground floor you could always run up, but there is always the issue of whether you can weave through cars fast enough. The top floor is an open area. If you sought refuge on the top floor you could always be pushed off the roof, or you wouldn't be able to escape the hunter to the lower floors quick enough. 

You have to hope and pray the hunter doesn't have a gun, because then it's an immediate game over for both of you no matter where you are.

"Let's go to the second-highest floor," you tell Setsuko, and the two of you finally break into a run. Hiding among the cars on the second-highest floor could buy you some time as the hunter makes his way up the floors, and you have enough accessibility to the lower floors as well if there is an open space between you and the hunter. 

You are disturbingly aware of how loud Setsuko's footsteps are as she runs behind you, wishing she could move a little quieter. 

You and Setsuko eventually make it to the second-highest floor and flop down behind a monster of a car, painted black and the size of a small truck. You pant and Setsuko breathes heavily next to you, leaning against the back of the not-a-truck-but-a-very-large-car. A glance at your phone tells you there is 15 minutes left of the game and you swipe a hand across your face in exhaustion. Running through the helter-skelter of parking lot levels had taken a lot out of you, and you wish you had ran more after classes on campus. 

Is the hunter on the move yet? Maybe you were mistaken - you haven't heard any signs of movement since you stopped running. You look at your phone: 12 minutes left. Will this be easier than you thought? You exhale.

A scream rips from the ground floor, the sound travelling to every corner of the parking lot. Setsuko jolts up in a panic and you breathe in sharply.

So the hunt has begun.

You squeeze your eyes shut. The lanky man who hid behind the Toyota on the ground floor has probably met an unfortunate end, and you give him kudos for surviving an additional three minutes to the five you expected.  

"It's okay," you tell Setsuko in a low voice. "It'll still be a while before the hunter makes it to our floor."

You try to remember how many floors the parking lot has. You are on the ninth floor; ruling out the top floor, there are eight more you could escape to if need be. Many of those who chose the lower floors and are physically incompetent will most likely be killed, so you don't have to worry too much about avoiding other players. A solid plan. 

There are more screams and the distinct sound of footsteps hitting the ground hard. Someone cries for help and Setsuko's hand scrambles for yours. You hold it tightly.

8 minutes.

Just eight more minutes, and you would live. You flash the phone towards Setsuko and she gives you a trembling nod.

All of a sudden, everything is too quiet. 

Except for the sound of soft footsteps on the ramp leading up to the ninth floor.