Alice in Borderland: The Cycle Continues

44.1) Side Story 3 - Eight of Hearts [1]

The following is a side story

Feel free to either read this as an intermission to the Ten of Clubs, or to save it until after the Ten of Clubs, if you wish to finish Treasure Hunt in one go.

===Zakū Raisunei===

"It's only been two days since the Four of Spades." Saiki whined, stepping into a puddle. Faint droplets of rain cast down onto the road, leaving scattered dots of moisture. I pulled up my jacket, buttoning the lower half. "Do we really have to play so soon?"

"It's good to keep our senses sharp." I said, as a breeze blew past me.

He shivered, his cheeks flushed. "Why is it so cold today?"

"We'll be fine." I said, stopping, and craning my head upwards. The venue today was an abandoned asylum. The window's were busted and cracked, with withering shrubs lining the walkways. The door was ajar, fluorescent light cascading through the crack. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, but I simply rubbed it, shaking the feeling off.

Saiki grimaced, backing away. "I... Don't have the best feeling about this.

I turned around. "What's wrong with this place? It's just like any other venue. Can't be any worse than that dark prison venue two weeks ago, where we met."

"There's lots of urban legends about this place." Saiki explained. "A lot of suicides, apparently. A guy slit his wrists here back in the seventies, because they cut off his access to morphine. There was also a murder..."

"Hmm, good thing then that this isn't the seventies, and that we're not on earth." I said, stepping inside. Saiki hesitated a few moments longer, before stepping in after me.

"Well sorry not everyone has balls of steel."

I smiled. "When you've seen so much death, a creepy asylum isn't that bad."

Inside, there were three other people. The entrance led into an antechamber, with crumbling wooden walls and tiles dirtied beyond filth. A cobweb draped around an ancient sofa in the corner.

Saiki approached a table, while I shot a glance at each of the other players. One was a teenage boy, likely in one of his final years of high school. There was a middle-aged businesswoman, as well as a man with graying hair in a plaid jacket. They each wore a bracelet around their wrist; I faced the table Saiki had walked up to, which had them laid out.

Equip the bracelet. One per person.

"I wonder what this is for..." Saiki muttered, slipping it on his right wrist. They were thick both in height and width, with a large screen embedded onto the surface on the metal. At the end of the table was a gun under a clear, glass case with a yellow label on top of it.

Victory prize

"Interesting. Anyways, aren't you right-handed?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah?"

"So put it on your left wrist."

"Oh. Right, I should." He took it off and put it around his left wrist, as did I. The door opened, as two more people stepped inside. It was a policewoman and a rookie cop, both of them still in their uniforms. And these uniforms, they were crisp and unmarked. It was apparent: this was their first day here.

"Hey... there's people here!" He said. "Um, hey, does anyone have any idea what this is? Me and my friend just got here today and we have no idea what's going on!"