Ace of Hearts | Sunato Banda

Chapter 14

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Y/N's POV

"You okay?" Arisu worriedly asked Usagi.

"Guys, I have an idea. Follow me" She said, grabbing Arisu's hand and leading the way.

While following the girl, we stumbled upon three red players.

Usagi hurriedly tagged all of them at once before they could run away. Having been electrocuted made them all sit in pain.

"We need to capture five more." Arisu stated. "I saw people upstairs. Let's go!"

"Stop" I told him. "This isn't going to work if people aren't willing to be caught."

Usagi understood what I meant. She must've already had a plan. She walked up to the guys she just caught.

They ranted about how it's much better to be on the Queen's side in order to win.

"The most important thing isn't just winning the game! It's getting back to our world." Usagi poured her heart out. "Yes, you can live in this world forever and stay with her. But is that what you want?"

Arisu looked at her with the most loving eyes as she made her determined speech. "If we manage to beat all the face cards, then there's a chance we can get back home again."

He quickly backed her up when they started to come up with arguments. "Maybe hope is what we need to survive"

"Two turns remaining" The game was almost over. Yet, Usagi and Arisu had so much hope that it made me root for them.

"Would you go to her?" Banda came up to me while I was lost in thought.

I shook my head. "That would be no fun". And what about Kota?

As I finished my sentence, I saw the three previously-hopeless men stand up motivated, finally listening to the Usagi. They were willing to help.

„Last round"  The running started again.

This had high stakes. This was definitely the most intense of all the rounds and it took a lot of convincing. One by one we were slowly gaining back the lost numbers. We had accumulated so many blue players to the point that only two red players were left.

"Yeah!" "We won!" "This is incredible" The people were all talking and cheering, looking at the screen. We were all gathered at the area we first started in. I guess, we did win.

When I looked back at Kota who had a smile on his face, I saw Yaba standing next to him. He still had a red light.

I came up to him. The game was almost over. With thirty seconds left, he could still survive if he just let me. "Yaba... why?"

He stepped away from me and sighed. That was all it took for me to realise that he didn't want to be saved. "I don't understand people as much as I thought I did."

"You could still-" I tried suggesting but he shook his head. I didn't know why I was so hung up on him even after his betrayal.

At the start of the game, I mentioned how safe I felt with them. My trust was technically broken, yet it didn't feel like it had been. After all, it was Yaba.

On one side it was Yaba who looked cute and confused when making jokes that weren't funny. But also, on the other hand, he was the one that was controlling Kotoko who ended up dead.

Was he sad? No.
Did he feel guilty? It certainly didn't look like it.
Would he have been sad if Kota ended up dead? ...I don't know.

That's the interesting thing about people. You never really do.

That same guy would have done anything to survive. I should've seen it coming.

Yaba stared at the child. "I'm sorry for breaking my promise."

"But we won, didn't we?" Kota exclaimed excitedly. You could see all the tears that he shed during the game.

Yaba smiled and hugged him tightly. "Be a good kid, alright?"

He took of his coat that was way too large for the child and handed it to him. One last time, Yaba ruffled up Kota's hair.

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"I don't know how you convinced everyone. But congratulations." Lisa applauded.

She also added "You have way more freedom here, you know. This place is much more my scene than that rigid world."

"You were players, weren't you? You were brought here to play, just like us. Is that right?" Arisu tried to get some information out of her.

Instead of looking in his direction, she looked in mine "Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

Arisu kept bombarding her with questions regarding this world.

"You'll have to wait and find out, baby." Lisa answered, climbing on the nearest railing. "Or you ask someone who has the answers"

"I want to live free until my last breath. See you later..." was the final sentence she said. The last word came out as a whisper.

We all watched as she jumped, spreading her arms wide open, feeling the adrenaline and the fresh air hit her skin.

I heard two crackling sounds, as the lives of two people that I once knew were ended by a red laser.

Yaba. Maybe in another universe we could have been friends.

Farewell.

"GAME OVER."

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We waved the people goodbye. Slowly, our feet brought us further and further away from the place. Nothing was said. We just walked silently side by side.

It was dark. The night took over and I could barely see anything. The sound of chirping crickets were everywhere.

Arisu broke the silence. "I want to finish these games. I want the answer. But more than that, I want to go back to our world. All of us together."

All of us together?

"So do I" Usagi agreed and smiled while I silently walked beside Banda.

All of us together... That would be nice.

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A/N: heyyyy