Alice in Borderland

Chapter 86

Rationality and emotionality are one thing. Rationally, I know that the man who did that to me on my back is dead. I was the only survivor of the game, whether he was the hunter or the hunted. But emotionally, that thought shuts itself off entirely. In front of me is the same man with that wicked grin that he had when he pinned me to the forest floor and disfigured my back with his dirty knife.

"Take it easy little one," he says as he reaches into his jacket pocket and I tighten my grip on the gun. I tune out everyone around us and I'm ready to pull the trigger at any moment. He pulls out a photo that has been folded in half and holds it up for me to see. Two identical looking men each have one arm around the other and grin at the camera. Twins.

I don't know how long I stare at the picture, but when he takes it away, he looks at it for a moment, sighs, and puts it back in his jacket pocket. Only at this moment does my finger loosen on the trigger and I am unsure whether I would still pull the trigger now.

"You know, my brother had some problems in his past. I can imagine that he wasn't very sympathetic towards you."

"Certainly," I say, confused but still in a firm voice.

"I'm sincerely sorry if he caused you any harm, but even though we have the same face, I'm not like my brother. So please take the gun out of my face," he says, and I do as he says. Nevertheless, I take a step closer to him, so that the next words that leave my mouth can only be understood by him.

"If I believe for a second that you are like your brother, I will not hesitate to kill you"

With that, I resume my place against the wall and press his pistol to Niragi's chest, which he grabs and holsters. He looks at me with his murderous expression on his face, but when he sees my tear-filled eyes he seems rather surprised and lets go of me after a short time. He's looking straight ahead and seems pretty relaxed for the fact that I just took his gun away from him. I should probably just be glad he doesn't shoot me. But that he was so surprised when he looked into my eyes... his eyes softened a little. Oh no, I'm just imagining it. He'll certainly keep me alive so that we can have more chances with it in the game.

I stare at the floor for what feels like an eternity before I look up and automatically look at Chishiya. The fact that he has already looked at me and our eyes meet, I assume that he has been watching me for a long time. It's risky at a game, even for him. I have no idea how to react. Should I nod to signal that I'm fine? Because it doesn't. Should I shake my head to show Aguni and the others from the beach that I'm not feeling well? No option. I don't even know what I'm feeling, just that my shoulder is burning like fire.

So I just hold his gaze and wait until the well-known, mechanical female voice answers and announces the rules of the game. I don't know why, but recently I've started to associate this voice with the moires from Greek mythology. Maybe the playmakers too. They spin our thread of life and sever it as they please. A strange feeling.