𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 ˢʰᵘⁿᵗᵃʳᵒ ᶜʰⁱˢʰⁱʸᵃ

16

I opened my eyes and was met with Ann. "Ok, good, you're awake. I took care of your wound." She helped me standing up. "I need to go to Arisu and Usagi. You, go take a car and bring Tatta with you. I'm sure we'll see each other again." I walked off and followed Arisu and Usagi.

"There it is." I changed into long jeans, a t-shirt and a bomber jacket over it. We were in an underground station, cause of the video they watched. There was an open door and we stepped inside. Arisu, Usagi and I walked along a hallway until we found what we searched for. "Oh my.." Dead bodys were everywhere, making me swallow. "I dont believe it." Arisu walked out of the doorway, lighting with his flashlight around. "So you actually found this place." I shivered and we three turned to the voice. "I expected no less from you." It was Chishiya and Kuina. "Long time no see." Chishiya walked to the right, while Kuina walked to the left. "What's going on?" I swallowed when I looked at the Chishiya. Tears built up in my eyes and I needed to look away, or else I would have broken down. "Thanks to you two, Arisu and Usagi, I have the numbered playing cards right here." Not me? Man. I saw in the corner of my how he held up all the cards. "Thank you." "Asshole.", I muttered under my breath. Chishiya sighed. "How did you find this place?", Arisu asked. The blonde held a paper in the air and said: "it took me a while, but I figured out that this is actually the map of a subway station." He opened the paper with a scribble on it. "So what happens when we collect all the cards? I thought coming here would provide me with an answer." He walked near to us and I stepped away. "But I gotta tell you, I only know one thing." "These people aren't the game masters, are they?", arisu stepped in. "Right. What's pretty clear is they were all killed after our victory. They're just humans like us, and the kicker is..there's someone above them." A long silence followed and I looked at the ground. "So, then... who could they be?", Usagi asked. "Who knows? Maybe aliens. Maybe god." Suddenly the screens turned on, causing me to close my eyes. I opened them again and on the screen was showed: 'SPECIAL URGENT BROADCAST'. Fanfare music started playing. "Congratulations to all players." I followed Chishiya as he walked near to the screen where the figure appeared. "What?" "Interesting." The figure was now better to be seen. "Mira." "With the exception of the face card games, all of you have cleared all the numbered games this far. And emerged the victors. A sweet victory you've grasped by sacrificing numerous lifes. I wonder how many of your comrades have died?" She stood up from the chair she sat on and walked around. "Try remembering.. those that were shot dead with a gun." Some recordings started playing, showing people who died from the tagger and others. "That girl you burned alive. Those who struck with the lasers and those that drowned. Those whose heads were blown off. Those comrades of yours." My eyes catched a record, where i threw my knife at the girl before the exit. "The despair you've felt so far and those dying moments that you can never forget." I didn't realized it, but a small tear ran down my cheek. She was right. Chishiya must have noticed, cause his head turned to me and he looked down. "I'm extremely touched!" I could feel the anger coming up from me. "All of you players, we would like to give you a present." "Are you returning us to the original world?", Kuina asked. I knew she wouldn't answer, cause there weren't any microphones or something like that in the room. "There will be a new game! Let's play games together. You'll fight for face cards!" "New games?", Kuina asked again. "I don't dislike the idea.", Shuntaro said. "We've still got many more wonderful games prepared for all of you, so look forward to it!" "This woman, is she the game master?" "Probably.", now I said something. "I'd rather see an alien appear on the screen." "The next stage will commence tomorrow at noon. Let's have some fun together!" "So we have to fight again." Arisu nodded. "Yeah." I spoke: "But one thing is different. We're finally seeing our target."

Fireworks exploded in the air as we were at the Shibuya crossing. On the big advertisement screen showed two words: 'NEXT STAGE'

A big airship flew over us, creating a shadow. A banner hung on it. "That's where we'll find our answers."