𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑳𝑬𝑺𝑺 • Shuntaro Chishiya

• 20 •

"The Second Stage"

The Shibuya square was empty, the complete opposite of it in the real world, where it was never empty.

Kuina and Sayaka were sitting on the ground and the others were just standing in the middle of the square, awaiting the start of STAGE TWO.

"The new games must be on a whole another level. I wonder how the King of Hearts is." Sayaka sighed.

"Brutal. That's for sure." Arisu responded while looking at the sky. "None of the games have started yet. Maybe we still have some time."

"Or they forgot to push the big red start button." Chishiya chuckled.

"They didn't even tell us the rules for this game." Kuina sighed and got up from the ground.

Suddenly the sound of a car engine could be heard.

"I hear something." Usagi noted.

A few cars showed up at the Shibuya square.

"They're alive. Beach people." Kuina pointed out.

The cars stopped after reaching the group.

People got out of them.

"What is it?" Arisu asked a man. "What are you doing here?"

"We saw the blimps show up." The man looked to the sky.

There were, indeed, a few blimps flying through Tokyo. Each with the sign of one of the face cards. The Jack of Diamonds, the Queen of Clubs, the King of Spades...

"There are rumours that the next stage is starting." The man continued.

"Right." Arisu spoke again. "Here's the thing..."

His words were suddenly cut off by a loud gunshot. The man, he had just talked with, was now lying on the floor. Dead.
Not only a second later, the woman next to his was also shot.

"What the fuck!?" Sayaka quickly got up from the floor and started running away. "What are you waiting for?! Run!"

People started panicking and screaming. More and more people were shot death.

"A rifle." Kuina stated, before running to Sayaka.

"Run to the car!" A man screamed loudly.

"That thing's an anti-tank rifle. So I'd forget about hiding behind a car." Chishiya spoke calmly while slowly going backwards with his hands in the pockets of his pants.

Right after these words, he observed how a few people, that were hiding behind one of the cars, were immediately killed.

They all started to run as fast as possible. The gunshots didn't stop.

"Where's it coming from?" Usagi asked while breathing heavily and running.

"Run! Run!" Arisu just screamed.

The group stopped at the staircase to the subway station and hid behind its thin wall.

"Does that mean the game has started?" Kuina panted.