Alice in Borderland: The Cycle Continues

48) Interval [2]

The next day, around 1PM

===Chihaya Korinsu===

"What?" I asked. "How is that possible?"

"It's true!" Kazetani insisted. "I've heard through multiple people."

"What's going on?" Haga asked, approaching us.

Me and the three remaining Maindo leaders were outside in the parking lot, discussing future matters. In all honesty, me, Rafferty, Judumai and Niko hadn't really talked much about future planning yesterday; we ended up simply talking about the Treasure Hunt. The things we saw. The things we wished we did. But everyone else looked up to us, expecting us to know the answer on what to do. What else could I do but to put on a facade that we did in fact know what we were doing?

"Have you heard the news that's been going around?" Kazetani asked him.

He shook his head. "I mean, forgive me, but I haven't exactly been in the right mental state to keep up with Borderlands conjecture."

"It's not just gossip." Kazetani said, as people began gathering around us. "It's something... Maybe that we should let everyone know."

"W-What is it?" Rafferty asked. "Just t-tell us first."

"Something new happened?" Judumai asked, stepping up.

"Well, to put it simply, all games have stopped running." Kazetani explained. "And in addition, Visas aren't ticking down anymore."

"Could it be because we cleared every game?" Chihaya said.

Kazetani shrugged. "That's the most logical conclusion."

"Okay," Rafferty said, rubbing his eyes and motioning with his hands, "w-what exactly happened to the g-games? W-were there just no game venues l-last night?"

"There were still game venues." Kazetani said. "But they didn't lead into anything. There was just a TV, and they each showed the same message.

He pulled out a slip of paper, displaying it to us as Niko walked up. "Oh... I was just about to tell you guys about this. Some of my Food Council friends heard about this."

Interval

Today's games shall proceed to the next stage

Currently undergoing preparations

The photo's quality was faint, but the words were undeniable.

"Preparations?" Judumai asked. "Preparations for what?"

"You know..." Niko muttered. "What else could it be? It has to be the Face Cards."

Ashikaga groaned. "We just cleared every card! Now they want us to do even more?"

"Later tonight I'll check one of these registers out." Kazetani said.

"Count me in too." I said, raising my hand. "I wanna see this in person."

"Alright, then." Kazetani said, writing the information onto a clipboard. "I'm going to announce the news to everyone now. There's bound to be questions."

He walked back into the building, with Ashikaga and Shīrabi following behind him.

"I guess today, with this new information, it's time we get serious and actually discuss what we're going to do moving forward." I said.

Rafferty nodded. "Y-Yeah, this is a lot of n-new information to take i-in."

"Have you guys ever been near the edges of the twenty-three wards?" Niko asked.