Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Five

After completing the game, she waited, waited for those faces she was so relieved to see an hour ago re-emerge from the last carriage of their trains. But it seemed she was waiting in vain, she was once again alone.

She looked down at the phone she obtained from the game, a message popping up on the screen.

Congratulations on winning!

You have been granted three days on your visa

Play more games before your visa expires to avoid being eliminated :)

Almost as quickly as the message popped up it disappeared and soon after, the screen went completely black. Takara tried turning it back on again, hitting the power button repeatedly, but the screen never lit up.

Sitting down on one of the many benches that littered the platform, Takara found herself contemplating the last few hours she'd just endured.

Takara kept telling herself that her surviving was all that mattered. She was alive, and her winning the game granted her three days on her visa, whatever that means, she wasn't too sure yet.

But with all that being said, she couldn't help but think back to the woman who truly did keep her alive, who saved her just at the right moment. Without her, who knows how Takara's story could've ended.

Not wanting to spend any longer on the platform thinking about what could've been, Takara made her way into the foyer.

Something caught her eye sitting on the table that once held all the game phones. There was one singular playing card in the center of the table. Intrigued, Takara picked up the card. It was a three of diamonds, the same type of card as what was announced at the start of the game.

Putting the pieces together, Takara constructed in her mind what the point of the games were. Each game must correlate to a type of card, what the suits and numbers meant, she didn't know quite just yet.

Takara guessed that in order to complete the bigger scale game, she must complete all these card games and collect all the different types of cards.

"But there are 52 cards in a card deck…" Takara recalled, how the hell would she complete 52 games alone?

Shoving the card into the pocket of her cargos, she headed out of the station foyer. She retraced her steps back to the apartment she had decided to call home for now.

Two days had passed since Takara's first game, and during those days she only focused on one thing, surviving.

She had made multiple trips to the shopping centre to stock up on supplies, making sure she had taken anything and everything that she thought would help with her survival; food, water, first aid supplies and an array of clothing items built for any type of weather she might encounter.

She had built herself quite a stash of goods. Not knowing if the supplies in this world were limited, she collected as much as she could.

Part of her knew she had been so hyper focused on finding supplies in order to distract herself from the impending day where she would have to face yet another game. Who knows what she would face this time.

The day of her second game had arrived. This time, she was on the outskirts of town when she saw the daunting message once again.

➾ This way to the game ➾

It had appeared on an electronic road works board across the street from her. The sign pointed down the road to the left of her, the direction being what Takara could only guess was towards an industrial plant.

"This would be the last place I'd think of to hold a game," Takara said to herself, thinking of all the possible types of games that could be held inside.

Begrudgingly she made her way to the game. On her walk there she made a deal with herself, a promise she wouldn't break. She would do anything and everything to win.

She found that she was motivated by the kind actions of the woman in her first game. She had saved her, and she wouldn't let her good gesture go to waste. It was the least Takara could do to honour her memory.

Arriving at the front doors of the building, she had yet to see anyone else. The doors were double the height of Takara, made of glass and silver metal.

Pushing the door open, she found herself in what she guessed was the reception room to the estate building. Dust covered the waiting area chairs, with the front desk looking eerily similar to the state of the ticket office Takara peered into only a few days prior.

At the other end of the room, two sets of double doors stood, made of the same metal as the front door. She assumed that choosing which doors to go through was also part of the game.

"Left or right, left or right" Takara whispered, there was no way to tell what lay behind those doors.

"Well I am left handed" she mused, deciding that the door she chooses would just be the same as her writing hand.

She headed towards the left door, using all her body weight to push the hefty door open. Walking into the unknown.

~

Hi, everyone!

There may or may not be an appearance of our favourite short king in the next chapter ;)

I'm planning on writing a chapter following him after the game soon too

I hope you're all enjoying the story so far!