Games of Hearts and Diamonds; Chishiya x fem reader

8. King of Diamonds - ideals to die for

I was nervously chewing on a fingernail, as I sat on the stairs leading up to the Supreme Court Building, desperately wishing I could see what was going on inside. What had he been thinking going in there alone? Leaving me a miserable note, telling me not to worry. A damned note! Because he had a hunch. A hunch! Not that I was denying how good his instincts, or hunches usually were, but still, waking up finding a piece of paper on the other side of the bed instead of Chishiya's warm body had made me both angry and worried.

As I looked up at the banner of the other red king, the King of diamonds, I absently spat out a piece of my nail, wondering how long he had been in there. Diamonds were usually pretty short games, but since the net of lasers had already locked the game site when I arrived, I had no idea how long it had been going on, and the knot in my belly grew with every minute. Then, finally, as I was on my third fingernail, a series of small explosions set the airship on fire, and I jumped to my feet, staring towards the doors. It took an eternity where I dared neither think nor breathe until the doors opened, and I saw him come out, blinking against the light. Chishiya. All the nervous tension drained from my body at the sight of him. I guess his hunch paid off, I thought, as I gave him a little wave to let him know I was here.

'I figured you'd be here,' he said, efficiently defusing my planned scolding by placing a somewhat distracted kiss on my lips.

I still tried to mumble something about notes and stupid decisions in general, when I looked more closely at him. He looked like he had seen a ghost, being more distressed than I had ever seen him, or even imagined he could be. Even his hands were trembling slightly.

'Something happened in the game? Didn't it?' I asked, trying not to sound as worried as I felt, as I took both his hands in mine.

'Yes,' he admitted, 'I think that perhaps I was brought to this place so I could play this game with him.'

'Him?' I asked. 'Kuzuryu,' he answered glancing back towards the courtroom. That made no sense to me, 'You mean the executive from the Beach? The former number two?'

He turned back to me, looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'Yes, exactly. He did something I doubt I'll ever be able to, and right now I'm so jealous of him.'

The distress was all over his face, and I wondered what could possibly have happened that had touched him this deeply.

'He did it. Decided that the value of a life can't be decided, and in the end he gave his life for his ideals,' Chishiya said quietly, 'He was even smiling, right until the acid poured over him.'

Acid? My eyes widened as gruesome images flashed before my mind.

'So, are you saying that he could have won the game, but he chose to save you? At the cost of his own life?' I asked, trying to make sense of it.

'Yes, I quickly realized that the purpose of the game was about how you decide the value of a life. If it's even possible to do so. He didn't want to have to make that choice, but in the end the game forced him. I forced him.'

The look in his eyes as he spoke of Kuzuryu made my heart break. 'You don't have to tell me now,' I said reaching up to brush some of his hair away from his face, 'We should go. We can't stay here.'

He nodded and we started walking back towards the building where we had slept last night. We walked in silence for a while, then Chishiya stopped,

'He was like me, you know. As a lawyer he also had seen how money decides who gets to live and who has to die. He had three chances to kill me. Three times to decide what value my life held.'

'Shh,' I whispered and put my arms around him, his body was still so very tense.

'"It's all because of you," that's what he said right before he died. Smiling. That it was all because of me.'