Alice in Borderland: The Cycle Continues

65) Queen of Diamonds [1]

"To be quite honest, I've never liked Yaba much. After all, the Ten of Clubs was entirely his idea, you know."

===Rafferty Bucke===
Forensic Scientist (On Probation)
Specialty: ♡

Before we left to pick up Shirai and Raiya, who wanted to participate in the Queen of Diamonds, Gabura ran up to me, tapping my shoulder.

Gabura Sachi
Athlete
Specialty: ♤

"Yeah?" I asked, sipping a bottle of fruit punch we had made from powder in a nearby convenience store. Disco lighting waved between our bodies.

"Rafferty, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." She said. "I found a weird slip of paper in the dealer's base, but forgot to ask you after we got back to the base. Then the King of Spades attacked, and all that."

"So w-what's this piece of paper y-you're talking about?"

She pulled out a charred fragment of paper.

Odiumic Dimethyltryptamine
...can be in a powder or vapor form...
...stimulates amygdala, which in addition to...
...or, it can be broken through an iron will.

"Do you know what any of this means?" She asked.

I scratched my head. "W-Well, the amygdala is the part of your brain r-responsible for processing emotional stimuli, and c-causes you to feel fear and aa-ggression. Serotonin, the happiness chemical, is g-generally the neurotransmitter th-hat regulates that area of the b-brain."

"What about the drug name?"

"Dimethyltryptamine is  kn-known as DMT.  It's a psychedelic with a r-rapid onset and very intense e-effects, that only lasts a short w-while. However, it's generally n-not an effective h-hallucinogen when taken orally."

"But what does odiumic mean?"

"The i-implications of that w-word to DMT could mean anything. It s-sounds entirely fictitious to m-me."

"Damn... So even you don't know." She said. "Well, maybe you should take this piece of paper then. Maybe you'll think of something."

"Alright. Th-Thanks."

"Thank you. Good luck with the Queen of Diamonds."

. . .

As the sun had begun creeping down the horizon, we pulled up into the Queen of Diamonds venue, which was a wooded shrine with a surrounding plaza. The blimp circled above the tall trees, green leaves fluttering down. A white wall with blue bricks lined the perimeter, a copper gate open, beckoning us inside. A screen was adjacent to it, showing the player capacity.

Capacity: 1/10

"One person is inside so far..." Kazetani said. "I suppose it's the Queen herself?"

Kazetani Tomoyuki
Actuary
Specialty: ♢

In the middle of our King of Spades celebration, a group of people had turned up in a car, which they allowed us to borrow. Me, Kazetani, and Chihaya drove back to Maindo to pick up Shirai and Raiya, who volunteered to go with us. She was the woman who Benkei and the others had met during the Queen of Clubs, and since then she has helped around with managing their resources as their large group traversed, and also proving to be a capable artist, much to Benkei's liking.

Raiya Mieko
Artist
Specialty: ♧

Before we left, Zakū had given us Charī's sketchbook, telling us to add any interesting drawings into it. She held it in her lap, sketching in some of the trees after we pulled to a stop.