Alice in Borderland: The Cycle Continues

47) Interval [1]

===Maeda Mihoko===

"Hey." A voice said, shaking my body.

I grumbled, turning in my bed.

"Wake up, it's almost 4PM!"

The voice was Charī's. I blinked my eyes open, rubbing my head as I got up. My clothes stuck to my skin, and I laid on a mattress on the floor. For a second, though confused, everything seemed normal.

Then, memories of last night came flashing back, like streaks of thunder.

The Ten of Clubs. The massacre. The flooding. Erina, Nobira, Ryota, Natsuki, Senri, Hideo, and dozens of others... All dead.

My mouth was a desert, but Charī seemed to understand, passing me a half-full bottle of water. I nodded my thanks, finishing the entire bottle within seconds, the water running down my mouth and spilling onto my clothes.

"I'm never submerging myself in water ever again." I said, shaking my head. "I'm never going to shower, or bathe, or go out in the rain. Nope. I've seen enough water for my entire lifetime."

"You can say that again." He said. My eyes widened; his mask was off. I'm not sure what my head was expecting–he was a completely normal guy. Brown eyes, a sharp nose, and coarse, dull black hair. It was just shocking seeing him without his mask on, yet he appeared to not pick up on my shock.

I stretched my arms, looking around. Dull, sore pain pounded at all angles through my body and joints. "Where is everyone else?"

"Most people woke up already, Kazetani didn't want to bother you, but thought you should wake up soon since it's already so late."

"My god... My mind sort of just wiped out last night from my memory. What time did we get here?"

"I forgot too. Apparently close to one or two in the morning. Most people literally collapsed straight on the floor. I woke up with my head on a shoe."

Despite the context, I laughed. "A shoe?"

"I've fallen asleep in worse places." He shrugged.

"Like?"

"The shower, one morning when I was super sleepy." He said, grinning.

"Wow! That is... Impressive. Anyways, what happened to your mask?"

"It got messed up in the water. I left it in some rice, but I don't know if it's salvageable."

"Why do you always wear that hunk of junk anyways?"

Again, he shrugged. "I just think it makes me look cool. Is that not already a big enough reason in itself?"

"Fair enough." I said.

Through the doors, Zakū, Ashikaga, and Haga emerged, each carrying a small plastic cup with a spoon.

"Oh hey, you're up." Zakū said, a slight smile peeking at the corners of his mouth.

"What has everyone been doing?" I questioned.

"The adults have been trying to figure out the next course of action." Haga said. "And us... kids have just been left doing our own thing."

I raised my eyebrow. "Kids? You and Ashikaga are like, twenty-something!"

"Me and Haga were just out of college a few months ago." Ashikaga said. "I'm twenty-three, he's twenty-four. We might not be quite literal high-schoolers, but I guess they'd rather just let us not have to worry about anything, which is fine by me."

"Are you two... Feeling okay, though?" I asked. "I know after last night... I mean, I know we all lost a lot of people and, you know, I know that..."

I stopped talking. 'What the hell am I saying?'