Alice in Borderland

Chapter 31 - Combination

As always, I spent the last two days lately: I played some games with Kuina like Cards or Monopoly. With Yuudai I played some rounds of table football, and I let him win once so that he could at least brag a little bit in front of Izumi. I always met with her for lunch and dinner, but we usually moved it to one of our rooms. Since the beach has grown in the last few days, the canteen is again quite often crowded.

I'm playing again tonight, but at the moment I'm still on one of the outdoor deckchairs. The sun is already setting and most of them are at dinner, which creates a pleasant sound atmosphere. You can hear the water from the pool splashing against the edge of the pool and some small birds chirping. From inside, I can quietly hear plates being handed around and a lot of people talking to each other. I am deeply relaxed and close my eyes while i put my head slightly to one side. The last rays of sunshine disappear behind the roof of the hotel and it gets a little cooler.

I notice Norikita modeling me on the couch next door. When she notices that I have opened my eyes, she quickly looks forward again. I leave it at that, because I am enjoying this pleasant feeling and I suck everything into myself. My skin is still dried out by the sun and I feel my cheeks burn quite easily, which means I have a little sunburn.

I sit down and stretch my arms. It will probably be time to finish off, after all, the speech of the hatmaker begins soon.

"Are you going?"

"Yes," I answer Norikita, "I want to move comfortably and in a few minutes the pool will be completely overcrowded again"

"Please take care of yourself, Sayuuri"

She looks anxious and I press her hand to signal that everything is going well. I walk up the stairs in the entrance area and drive towards my room. Since my black shirt from the last game was littered with holes, I disposed of it and must therefore fall back on the white one today. I check if my rubber ball is really in the short Nike sports pants and put on my white sneakers.

The entrance hall is a little too full for me, so I line up on one of the corridors on the third floor, where you have a perfect but also protected view of the gallery and the hatmaker. I lean on one of the pillars and watch closely the members of the leadership who stand by the hatmaker. Slanted behind the hatmaker is both his number two and Mira. The woman watches the hatmaker enthusiastically as he gesticulates wildly around and seems quite excited about her next game.

The number two adjusts his glasses and seems to be there only for formal purposes. But I can see his gaze gliding to Chishiya more than once. This one stands a little away from them on the gallery. I can see that Chishiya feels the eyes of the number two, but he just stares out with an emotionless face. Ann stands with his arms crossed next to the hatmaker and looks strictly to the beach members in the entrance area. I can't spot Aguni, Niragi or the guy with the sword. There are only three persons of the military squad unknown to me in the gallery.

My gaze wanders over the leadership one last time when he is reciprocated. Chishiya seems to have spotted me and nods slightly as he raises his eyebrows and grins. I just shake my head with a smile and when the hatmaker is finally finished with his motivational speech, I run down.

I discover Kuina a little off, her attitude and the look she doesn't play today. When she discovers me, she waves to me and I give her a smile in return when my attention is caught by something else. Through the hotel entrance Aguni comes and looks at me strictly. When he calls my name, I get moving and run comfortably to him. It surprises me a little bit, because we never really talked to each other, except when he took me to the beach or at the report on my last game.

"We are playing together today, the car is already ready"

He turns around and I run after him. Great, that can be really funny. Aguni gets into the driver's seat and I get in the back, otherwise only one man from the military squad sits in the passenger seat. I use the free space and sit across the back seat without strapping myself. My hand encloses the black rubber ball again, as I begin to wobble restlessly with my leg.