FINGERS CROSSED, yuzuha usagi

CHAPTER FIVE

The night the sky was irritated by stars Yasuko had just started sleeping in the beach's lifeguard box. She had wore its constellations as a borrowed blanket and let the sand bury all her dreams, all the tears that rolled down her cheeks and all the words she couldn't get out of her head, all the ways her mother had ever called out her name and the last time she did, handing her a bag with her most precious things and holding the door open for her to leave.

Yasuko hadn't been mad at that time, not even days after. She had sensed the pain that her mother carried and let her dug it between her clothes; she had sensed her grandma sorry eyes and let her watch from the kitchen's door frame; she had sensed the guilt eating her alive and she let herself be partly to blame for their suffering as she counted the steps down the road. Yet, like the ocean always found the shore, it seemed that they did too. Mothers and daughters, both connected by the same question marks.

She only hoped the feeling didn't linger along her whole life. Perhaps she could tolerate it a little longer than the intimidating sight of the Fukuoka Prefecture welcoming her, towered by another face card's blimp.

"Jesus!" Yasuko's heart almost skipped a beat when a hand stopped the elevator's doors a second away from closing, "You scared me."

Arisu had the same look on his face that he had that day at the caravan. She figured hers was still wild too.

"Fancy seeing you here." Surprise vanished the more his eyes absorbed her picture frame per frame, line per line. The haunting lighting falling on top of their heads washed the dirt and blood away, like a painting brush testing the colors left on an used canvas. But she didn't miss the hesitation on his parted lips.

"Is...?" Arisu let his question sink.

Innocent, ruthless, bloodstained. Those were Ikehara's favorite words, they were his. She couldn't think of a day she hadn't whispered them, to see what they would sound like coming from her mouth instead of Niragi's, or Ann's, or Chishiya's. She learned them with a different connotation, with a quiet tone that wouldn't make him avoid her stare and instead come closer. She taught him grateful was a vague description of how she felt around him after she was offered to stay at The Beach, but it worked, for what her voice was capable of pronouncing even if her mind was blank and her taste buds knew no other synonym. Their start had been words, and their end would be eyes.

Eyes like Arisu's, expressing his concern for a man that had had a knife pressed against his body's vital point. It kind of took her aback he was asking about him, yet not daring to name him.

"We needed a break from each other, you know what they say, too much of anything is not good," she joked, ignoring the sting on her chest. "So are you coming?"

"Yes!" He finally reacted, quickly getting inside the lift and glancing at her just as shyly as he used to do.

It seemed to be a common occurrence to remember the days at The Beach lately, memories that never stopped gasping for air every time she looked at those who she had met there.

The yellow of the railings stood out the most under the soft, cold lights and buzzing of the central working once the doors opened, revealing tubes and valves all around the place. It was off-putting, certainly what a thermal power station would've looked like at that time of the night knowing why they were there.

"This is a Spades game, you can't have a kid here," someone said a few steps away where they entered into the arena, "If he weighs us down, I'll do what I have to do." The man walked off from their sight, leaving the person he was talking to uncovered.

Yasuko's throat got dry.

"Usagi has what it takes to win." Arisu caught her attention.

It took her a glance and a smile to acknowledge he was there, alive. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, an instant response Yasuko couldn't look away from without feeling her heart racing, her body burning with the shame of not belonging, like quiet goosebumps turning into a war cry.

"How did you know I'd be here?" Usagi mumbled, and Yasuko crumbled.

"I knew you'd try a physical game, and all that was left were the Queen and King of Spades." Arisu told her, putting distance between themselves to open a path towards Yasuko, but neither of them moved.

The only left, her mind repeated with a panicked breath, only registering Usagi's voice as a distant buoy's bell ringing in the middle of the sea. He'd been planning to join a physical game too.

"This is Kota!" Usagi's hand sent a boost up her arm the second she touched her wrist to take them where a ten year old boy waited, "His visa runs out today, I figured that I could help him in a spades game."

Yasuko smiled at him softly, taking her time to study all players, though Ikehara wasn't there.

Suddenly, a screen turned on, drawing everybody's attention to the white light brightening the place.

GAME, CHECKMATE. . .

TODAY, THE QUEEN TEAM WILL FACE OFF AGAINST YOU, THE CHALLENGER TEAM. . .

"Welcome, Challenger Team, to the arena of beautiful bodies in motion." Tender, like a bruise, a woman saluted them, "I'm the Queen of Spades." A figure built by shadows and a red gleam shining over her shoulders appeared on the monitor, "The Queen Team is made of four members, including myself. Your team has seventeen."

Yasuko frowned.

"Each team will have a King, but don't worry, I'll choose." She said before they could even swallow the information, "The Queen Team's King is me." It was clear by the tone of her voice she was in charge no matter who got anything to say against her, "Now, I'm looking for a good Challenger King, who's it gonna be?"

Every player stood silent.

"Ah!" The Queen pointed out someone in the crowd, "I choose him."

Then, Kota was shown on the screen.

GAME RULES. . .

TEAMS WILL ALTERNATE TAKING TURNS FOR A TOTAL OF SIXTEEN ROUNDS. . .

DURING THE QUEEN TEAM'S TURN, THE QUEEN TEAM'S PLAYERS WILL CHASE THE CHALLENGER TEAM'S PLAYERS. . .

IF THE BUTTON ON A PLAYER'S BACK IS PRESSED, THE BUTTON'S LIGHT WILL TURN FROM BLUE TO RED, THE QUEEN TEAM'S COLOR. . .

THAT PLAYER MAY NOT MOVE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THAT ROUND. . .

"What happens if we do?" Yasuko whispered to Arisu unconsciously, though the only answer she got was a simple shrug.

STARTING ON THE FOLLOWING ROUND, THAT PLAYER WILL BE CONSIDERED A MEMBER OF THE QUEEN TEAM. . .

THE KING, HOWEVER, IS NOT ALLOWED TO CHANGE TEAMS. . .

THE OPPOSITE WILL OCCUR DURING THE CHALLENGER TEAM'S TURN. . .

EACH TURN WILL LAST NO MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES. . .

AFTER THE END OF THE SIXTEEN ROUNDS, THE TEAM WITH MOST MEMBERS WIN. . .
THE MEMBERS OF THE LOSING TEAM, INCLUDING THE KING, WILL ALL DIE. . .

As narrated, the prototypes of the Challenger Team presented on the big display were instantly shot by a laser.

"It's like chess, or shogi." A girl said behind them.

PLEASE EQUIP YOUR VESTS WITH BUTTONS FACING THE BACK. . .

Every player took one, wearing it as it was meant to. The second the last person let it chained his fate around his back, a blue light activated on everybody's vest.

ROUND ONE. . .
QUEEN TEAM'S TURN BEGINS. . .