Games of Hearts and Diamonds; Chishiya x fem reader

7. Aftermath- finding the Hot Springs

I kept the pace up as we walked back to the hide out and Kuina. Arisu and Usagi were walking a bit behind us. I could barely see them in the dark, but could hear them discussing something, rather heatedly it sounded like, but I could not make out the words. Not that I really cared, not right now.

'You know,' I said to Chishiya who was walking silently next to me, 'it was never really clear to me whether you and Kuina were lovers or not. But, you know I like her, and I don't want to cause her any pain. So if you were, we don't have to tell her exactly how we won the game.'

He gave me a puzzled look, 'Don't worry about it. We can tell her.'

We were almost back at our temporary home when she came out to greet us.

'You're back. I saw the airship go down, so I knew you made it. Are you hurt?' she asked, sounding a bit worried.

'No, no. We're fine. All of us,' I told her.

Then she noticed the other two behind us, 'Arisu. Usagi. You guys are here too,' she squealed as she ran over to hug them with her uninjured arm.

Once inside we all sat down for a while. 'So, were you guys in the game together? The King of hearts?' Kuina asked. 'Was it as bad as you thought?'

I nodded, still feeling numb and oddly emotional at the same time. 'Worse,' I said quietly, 'much worse.'

'Well, it didn't have to end that way, did it? All those people could have survived,' Usagi said angrily, and Arisu tried to say something to calm her down. It didn't work.

'She killed like twenty people,' Usagi continued pointing an accusing finger at me. 'To save him. Him!' Her finger moved to Chishiya who was sitting quietly next to Arisu.

'What do you mean?' Kuina asked, stunned at the hostility in the other girl's voice. 'What really happened in the game?' She looked questioningly at all of us. Chishiya got up and sat down next to her instead, talking quietly but quickly to fill her in.

Arisu started to say something but I interrupted him and turned to Usagi.

'Yes, I saved him. And you. And Arisu. Made sure the King died. It was the right choice.'

She shook her head furiously, and I remembered how she had held the body of that young girl in the yellow dress, and I could only guess at the things she had witnessed before that.

'No,' she argued, 'saving all of them would have been the right thing to do. Not him. Do you even know what he has done? What he is capable of?'

Again I wondered what had happened between them at the Beach, they had seemed to be on friendly terms when I left.

'Do you take me for a fool? I have no illusions about him,' I snapped at her.

I was getting more annoyed by the second, and the mix of unfamiliar emotions brewing inside me did nothing to improve my mood. Damn it, why couldn't I control them? I had to pull myself together, fast. I closed my eyes, but the images from the game still too vivid in my mind did not help at all. I tried pressing at my temples to shut out the pictures and sounds my mind was busy replaying for me.

'And if it had been up to you?' I asked in a more reasonable tone of voice. 'Would you have chosen any different? I'm sure you'd have sacrificed Chishiya in a heartbeat, but would you have killed Arisu to save them? The one you care about? I think not.' She glanced guiltily in his direction, not answering. 'I didn't think so,' I muttered.

'Anyway it doesn't matter what you would have done. The decision was mine, and any consequences are mine to bear. Mine. Not yours. And definitely not his', I said softly, looking at Chishiya. 'Whatever he did to you in the past, you can't hold him responsible for what happened tonight.'