The Queen of Spades (promise this is good)

Chapter 52- a new association

You felt a pair of arms tug against yours. You felt him tie the both of your wrists together so tight that it could stop the blood circulation in it. Then, he grabbed your shoulder, pushing you towards a big room with huge walls that led to tiled ceilings with flowery designs.

You were shoved onto a chair, where he pulled your veil off to reveal your face. He backed off and leaned against the wall, whilst one more guy was pointing a gun at both of your faces. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" He asked the both of you. 

"I'm Kayami Yuki. I've just came into the borderlands and found this place. Do you know anything about it that might be useful?" You innocently asked, keeping a straight face with your blood stained blouse. Akira whipped his head around alertly, before responding with his name as well. 

You could feel eyes on you, as the men and women whispered amongst each other. "What should we do with them?" A man with a bandana asked his supposed boss. He shrugged his shoulders, before responding, "They might be useful. Let's keep them for a while."

He walked over to you, before telling you that the mansion, he found, was his hideout for players to gather as one to unite and complete the games with each other. "Just like the Beach. Not a bad idea though," you thought to yourself, playing around with the rope in your hand. Long ago had you untied it without anybody noticing at all. A simple rope trick like that was not enough to restrict your movement.

"This place is somewhere we will gather to train together for the games, collect intel and clear the games based on our specialties. We only accept the best of players here. We don't want anybody to drag us behind as dead weight. Only a few people best at their suit will be here with us. Right now, we don't have a lot of people. For now, we'll see if you're worthy of joining us." He explained to the both of you.

Akira shivered. His lips quivered, "What'll you do to us?" He fearfully asked the man. 

"Well, first of all, we'll need to know your specialties. Judging by her physique, the woman next to you should be good at physical games. According to the information we've collected, the spades cards are games where the physically fit have an advantage, diamonds are about intelligence, hearts should be about playing with others' hearts, and clubs should be teamwork games. What's yours?" He interrogated Akira.

You could see him swallow the lump of apprehension lingering in his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. You could see him breaking out in cold sweat. "I-I should be better at clubs or spades games...in school, I took martial arts as a co-curricular activity. I think..." he was unsure about what the correct answer would be.

Being held at gunpoint for the very first time was most definitely a very scary experience, not to mention he was in a surrealistic hellscape where the only way to survive was to win in brutal death games against people from all walks of life—intelligent mathematicians, strong bodybuilders, and even manipulative serial killers lurking deep in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike and kill.

"Hmm. We'll keep you here for a while where you will partake in games together. We'll analyze your strengths and weaknesses and see if you're good enough to be with us," he pointed his hands, ordering his men, "Untie them."

"I already untied my hands ten minutes ago, rest assured," you held the long string of rope in your hand, standing up from your seat. He raised his head in amusement. "Not bad, you've left a good impression on me, a really good impression." He complimented you before untying Akira. You looked down at him with his look of pure innocence, feeling a sense of familiarity with him and your younger brother.

"Push all of your feelings away, to evolve as the best version of yourself," you shoved those memories to cloud nine. You were led towards a room where you would be sleeping. You looked around, finding a small desk placed next to an average bed with comfortable pillows. There were beautiful silk curtains that blocked the sun from shining into your room. There was a gorgeous, classical design on the rug that covered most of the floor.