Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Thirty Seven

"I- I don't understand, why is this happening?" Takara mumbled, still in shock.

"Th- this is too much" she uttered as she hid her face in her hands, wanting to erase what she had just seen from her mind.

Chishiya stood up slowly from where he had fallen down with Takara and took a step closer to the coffin. He peered into the casket, the stench of the rotting corpse hitting his nose before he even caught a glimpse of the body. 

Just like Takara had said, Kaiyos decomposing body lay inside the box, rigid and rotten. Besides the decay, Kaiyos face was slightly mutilated from the impact of the laser that caused his death. His facial features were barely recognisable.

Kaiyos hands had been placed onto his abdomen, his skeletal fingers clasping around something metal. The object would've gone unnoticed if it hadn't of glinted in the light. Chishiya tilted his head at the shiny object that had caught his eyes, wondering what it could be.

Takara still sat on the floor from her fall, hunched over, confused and distraught. She had been trying to heal from everything that had happened from her past games, but the sight of Kaiyo had caused her to spiral back to square one.

Sure, Takara had killed someone in the game before Kaiyo, but with him, the death was different. He had been right in front of her when the light and life left his eyes. His expression still haunted her, plaguing her dreams. And now the sight of his emaciated corpse would replace that image.

"They placed his body here to deter you. To stop you from getting to the finish line. It's all a part of their sick game" Chishiya said while he reached down into the coffin boldly, hiding his face in the crook of his arm in attempt to block out the stench.

A tear slipped down Takara's cheek, which she quickly brushed away as soon as she saw Chishiya approaching her. He crouched down next to her, reaching one hand out to rub her arm, making her look up to meet his eyes.

"We've all done things we're not proud of in order to survive" he said comfortingly, still rubbing her arm.

"The only thing that matters is that you're still alive."

His kind words made Takara avert her gaze away from him, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to leave her eyes again. She didn't want Chishiya to see her cry.

Takara took a few moments to recollect herself, focusing on her breathing and reminding herself of what was important. Her own survival. Just like Chishiya said, that's the only thing that mattered anymore.

Chishiya broke her meditative silence, shuffling around with something he had in his pocket.

"Besides all that, every cloud has a silver lining," he said with a smirk, taking Takara's hand and placing something in them, clasping her fingers closed around it.

She sucked in a breath, taking her eyes off of the grass beside her and down to her hands. Takara slowly unclasped her hand, revealing what had been placed in them.

A small silver key sat in the palm of her hand, the lights overhead making it glint softly.

"Where did you-"

"It was in the coffin" he said while taking the key back from her hand and placing it in the handcuffs lock.

Takara's upset subsided a little more now that they could be uncuffed. To her it meant they had a better chance at beating the game seeing as they had full use of both of their arms.

She felt that for now, getting out of the maze was their priority. When the time is right, she'll be able to process what she had just seen. And that time would not come until the both of them left the maze alive.