Just An Experiment. Reblog If You Actually Give A Fuck About Male Victims Of Domestic Violence And Rape.

A little depressing citizen quartet story as if you aren't sad enough already (also pls excuse my shitty writing)

"Three Sheep, One Wolf"

"The four of us are unexpectedly awesome, eh? I mean, it's not like we participate in games together, but we meet everyday, and so far, no one's died yet!" Ah, Kyuma, ever so optimistic. He couldn't exactly say the same for the other three, though.

One was an old man who often liked using the words "breathing" and "suffering" together in the same sentence, often implying the same meaning.

The other was some lawyer dude with glasses that talked about equality every possible conversation he gets into. (Okay fine, he doesn't, but he liked to add that in because he thought his boyfri- Uh, I mean, good friend had literally nothing interesting to write about).

And Mira was just... Mira.

Granted, she was fun to hang out with, but Kyuma couldn't help but find her a little creepy at times.

But make no mistake. He may have listed his friends as simply boring here, but he got along pretty well with them, and liked them a lot.

"Wow, even after becoming citizens, we still have to participate in games? Why tho?"

Their phones had just received a notification from an "unknown number": Congratulations on attaining citizenship! You are now all citizens of the Borderlands! However, let this be known that you still must participate in games like normal players would, and are not allowed to know the difficult or rules of the games beforehand, otherwise it just becomes boring! Well, have a lovely time, citizens of the Borderlands, it's GAME START! "

Shiirabi and Mira both scoffed a little. Kuzu showed no reaction. Well, how about that one over there? The one in the botanical garden. Looks fancy to me." The nudist pointed in the direction of the game arena.

"...ok" Kuzu responded monotonously. "Oh come on, gimme me more energ-woah, collars, terrible way to go, from ny experience," Kyuma was definitely a bit too optimistic for everyone else's likings. Their phones made the usual dinging sound whenever a game was about to start. "Difficulty, 7♡"

"The... 7♡?" The usually calm and collected Mira looked she might have even started to panic a little. Well, just a little, of course.

"Rules: One person will be the wolf and the three others will be the sheep. When a sleep kicks eye contact with a wolf, they will become the new wolf, and a sheep cannot become the wolf for the next three seconds. After 15 minute, the collars around all the sheep will explode. Hide well, little sheep, and have fun! It's GAME START!"

"A... single survivor game?" Kuzu exclaimed.

"!?!?" The old man in the cloak made a shocked face.

"Dingdingdingding...ding! Our first wolf today is... Ginji Kyuma!" The giant Game TV indicated on who the survivor role had been passed on to, accompanied with its iconic little "yay!".

"Wait wait wait, everyone don't panic, I know how we can all survive this, we have to use the tools they gave us to dismantle our collars," Mira (not as calmly as before, I'd like to add) announced to the gang of a possible no death solution to the horrid and gut-wrenching game they had gotten themselves into.

"Tools? There... aren't any." Kuzu gestured to the empty table that would have been otherwise displayed with plenty of interesting little killing "tools" to help the players tear into each other and spice the game up a little.

Actually, it wasn't completely empty. Two little collar dismantlers- designed specifically by Mira herself to dismantle collars safely without needing to use a screwdriver or gamer of some kind- were sitting on it, arranged in a neat little row.

But the strangest thing is that there were bombs attached to it. And no, they weren't the kind that would blow the entire place up- it looked more like it only had the firepower to blow up the collar dismantle itself.

"So if we use the collar dismantlers, it explodes? So only two people can have their collars dismantled, and with the wolf surviving, so..." The "ever so optimistic" one of the four was starting to turn out not so optimistic after all.

"This... is our retribution. It's our punishment for our sins, the people we killed and the people whose blood was at spilled in this place, it's... a taste of our own medicine"

Oh, Shiirabi really was the complete opposite of Kyuma.

A moment of silence followed as everyone silently mourned for the unnamed one among them destined to die.

"... So only one of us has to die this time, ... let me go. This will probably be the most equal death I can die, for everyone else, after all." Kuzu, voice cracking, was the first to pipe up after the *rather* long moment of silence.

"No, you're not dying. You're not going anywhere. I'll go. I've always wanted to die by a hearts game anyway ♡" Mira, tearing up a little, immediately spoke to take the position of the unnamed hero among them from Kuzu.

"...You two can stop fighting about who's going to die among you. I'll go. I've always seen birth as a curse and existence as a prison anyway, (and yes that was a good place reference) with death being the only salvation. So let me attain my salvation, please, and let me go peacefully." Shiirabi let out a loud sigh and spoke his profound and not really popular opinion on the value of life. He had been cleverly hiding his face from view then, as if to somehow mask the tears streaming down his face.

Kyuma, watching this all, suddenly wished he had a mask and some onions to chop. When the others came to ask him what was happening, he could just say he had been chopping onions.

Not that they would realise with the mask on, anyway.

Yes.

He could just put on the mask and everything would be fine.

They'd still be sitting in their comfortable citizen headquarters, with Kuzu trying to read and Mira constantly annoying him, and Shiirabi just rambling on about his "cultural beliefs", as he would like to call it.

Yes.

Everything was still alright.

It was just a dream.

It was just a dream.

It was all... just...a dream...

But he had to come back to reality eventually.

He couldn't keep the mask on forever.

His friends needed him.

"Alright, everyone, I'll be the one to go, okay? I wanna die with dignity, and dying for you guys..." He couldn't even finish his sentence properly without his throat turning traitor to his decision to hide everything he was feeling.

"... What a twisted game." Mira uttered under her breath. Everyone instinctively took a few steps back. Mira wasn't like someone to show emotions so easily.

She would always hide it with a smile.

A beautiful smile.

But the level of emotion Mira was showing was unlike something amt of the other citizens had seen. She was raging, like dynamite thrown into a roaring flame. Her eyes glared like razor-sharp daggers that threatened to kill anyone who even so much as thought of glancing at her when she was at this critical moment.

This moment of doom. A time to mourn.

It should have been a happy day for them all.

But now it was only going to be a happy day for the one who died.

Because the rest could never live with what they had done now.

"I'll kill you...I'll fucking kill you!!" She suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs.

Then she suddenly stopped in her tracks and just started to bawl her eyes out.

She realised now.

She was the one designated to design many such games like these games.

These "sick, twisted" games.

It really was "a taste of her own medicine"

The other citizens didn't know what to do. They had never seen Mira both so angered and so vulnerable at the same time ever before.

Kuzu had tried to comfort Mira a bit by patting her on the shoulder, but all it did was make her cry even more, which startled Kuzu and he didn't know what to do anymore.

Then he suddenly started to cry too, and then Shiirabi and Kyuma soon followed, and they all just hugged each other together.

Because the other citizens had realised it too.

Not that she was the creator of similar games as this.

But that who the one "destined to die" was didn't matter.

After all, the one "destined to die" physical body would have died, but mentally and spiritually they would have transcended beyond the stars.

But the three survivors would have been plunged into an eternal darkness not even Satan himself could get them out of.

They would have survived physically, but they would have lost all right to enjoy their lives or even just take their next breath.

And all because of three wolves and a sheep.

Phew, that was pretty long, but I got it down! Let me know if you enjoyed it and what you think! Oh, and since I'm still learning on different ways to improve my writing, if you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve it, do lemme know! 😀

btw this was inspired by @miraofhearts2point0 's post about the citizens playing the 7♡ and since I wanted to be sad and I'm also deprived of fanfic just about the citizens being a happy little family so I wrote this! It's terrible, but hey, at least I'm trying, right?

An even sadder Kuzuyuuma fic becos why not? ( a bit out of the Borderlands theme but I needed to make it extra sad so just excuse me)

"Kyuuma."

"Hmm?"

"You'll always remember me, right? Even if I go to some faraway place and for a long time... you'll always remember me, right?"

"What are you saying, of course I will!"

"...Good. Just asking."

It was time for their plan to beat the joker card. The card that had been directly responsible for the death of so many innocent people.

They decided not to tell Mira and Shiirabi. It would just be their little secret between them. If they ever did need their help, they would tell them immediately.

"This joker isn't some ordinary guy. To defeat him, as the ancient prophecy had foretold, we'll need a word powerful enough to cut his flesh, and a swordmaster willing enough to wields the sword to cut his flesh."

"Hmm. I get the sword part, but why would the sofar not be willing to cut the joker's flesh?"

Kyuma, again with his baseless questions, said out loud.

"Well, I wouldn't know," Kuzu replied monotonously.

"Anyway, apparently now we have to go to the Requiem Of The Echoing Depths (and yes I copied that from Genshin) and find the sword? I have no idea," Kyuma replied now energetically.

"Well, we already know where this Requiem is, so let's go!"

---------------------

"Uh... this is it? Doesn't look very Echoing Depthsy- wait Kuzu don't go in yet, wait for me!" Kyuma shouted to his glasses guy (yes, his glasses guy)

After a short period of walking, they arrived at a fork.

"It splits two ways,"

"Yes, that's how a fork works,"

"..." Kuzu tried not to show any emotion regarding the insult-compliment Kyuma just threw at him.

"Which way should we go?" Kyuma questioned.

"Um... I think we should go the left way? I might be wrong, and there might be a trap there, though," Kuzu sounded his opinion.

"Oh whatever! If there's a trap, we'll figure out how to escape it together, let's go left if you think so then!"

And so left they went.

And indeed left was right. (Pun intended)

They arrived at a room with a stone pedestal. On the stone pedestal, there was a little device that looked highly technological enough Kyuma could swear it was built by aliens.

They reached forth to take it, careful of any traps, if any.

"Seems like some device for... sword-making? Kuzu, we found the right place!" Kyuma announced as he read off the label, which literally wrote: "Sword-making machine. "

"But how does it work?"

"Let's take it back to the HQ first. There might be traps around here,"

"Oh yeah, let's,"

-----------------------

"... Wait. I think I know how to operate it."

"Wait, you do? How?"

"The joker is a really twisted god. He must have put this here so he could give those who want to kill him a chance to. But there must be some kind of twist behind it..."

"Oh yeah, well said, Kuzu,"

"Uh...ok, concentrate... uh... no this doesn't work" Kuzu's failed attempt at activate the device was greeted by a slight smirk on Kyuma's face.

"Well, whatever, let's go get some snacks," Kyuma, distracted by his hunger, informed the lawyer of his whereabouts, then disappeared into the lunch crowd.

"I'll join you later!" Kuzu shouted at him against the noises of the other citizens' and dealers' conversations.

"...So that's how you work it. A true "hearts game" indeed. Then I'll take it. It's not like I could let anyone else take the glory anyway."

"So... you have decided? Are you sure you want to do this? Is it really worth it just for me?" A dark silhouette arose from and surrounded the device.

"To defeat you, anything is worth it!"

"Ah... I see... a memory for a memory..."

"But don't think you get the easy way out. They are going to remember you until they leave this land. And you...

you... are not going to die. I will keep you alive, as the "true hearts game", after all..."

"...Just one question before I go. ...Why?" Kuzu questioned the shadow.

"You ask me, why? Why, indeed, I do not know either," The Joker replied honestly.

"So, that's why... alright then, do it.

I shall defeat you, Joker of the Borderlands."

"Ahahahaha, yes! Then let the games begin!

Although, I'll need the help of a certain nudist..." The Joker hinted at musingly.

"?!? ... You leave him out of this!" Kuzu replied defensively.

"Don't fret, It's just that I can't take a physical form, so I'll have to possess someone to..."

"Kuzu? What..." Kyuma, seeing that Kuzu hadn't come for the snacks yet, came to find him.

"Ah, perfect timing!" mused the Joker.

"Wait, no, Kuzu don't...Aahhh," The Joker had already taken control of Kyuma's body.

"Just do it. Defeat the joker, and save all players and players to come!"

"Now, I want... that knife over there. The sharpest knife in the shed, eh?" Kyuma- or rather, the joker- reached for the knife on the table he was gesturing at.

"Please don't..." Kyuma pleaded with him.

His hands had gotten hold of the knife and was plunging it into Kuzuryu.

It was his own hands that was killing Kuzuryu.

His own hands.

His murderer.

He caught Kuzu in his hands as he fell over from his wounds.

"Ugh...it...it's ok...I'll probably... with... these... wounds...go in about 30 minutes..." Kuzu reassured the nudist.

"Please, Kuzu, don't..." Kyuma continued to plead with him.

"Please...forget me..."

"Ah, what a sweet romance this is! Shall I end it for you?" Amused the Joker, clearly either not able to read the room or just plainly oblivious to the moment of silence Kyuma obviously needed.

"YOU SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!!!" Kyuma was mad now.

"...You said you...didn't have a ...physical form, yet gave us a... sword to ....cut your flesh... what are you... planning at?" Kuzu came to a sudden realisation of a contradiction within this cruel god's words.

"What? Oh, that? Oh, I do have a physical form, I just wanted to enjoy the drama of this guy being the one to drive the sword into you, and I must say it was pretty-"

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP! TO JUST SHUT UP!"

"Oh and did he mention? For the rather large serving of icing on the cake, once you return to the real world, all memories of him will be word from the surface of the planet! You won't even remember him! AHAAHAHA!" The Joker was starting to sound a lot like Mira now. Granted Mira would never do something like this.

"...I will kill you."

"What?"

"I'll kill you. With the sword and my own two hands."

"Oh right, before I forget, here's the sword! It's made with the memory and life force of this glasses guy here! Aaahhh how interesting!

If you need me, I'll be at the Requiem Of Echoing Depths!"

And with that, the Joker was off.

Kuzu had already lost consciousness from the blood loss, and all Kyuma could do was hug his lifeless body.

"I'm sorry.... I'm really sorry...."

-----------------------

"Ah, so here we are, the nudist with his sword. And I thought you wouldn't want to come anymore after that last encounter, hmm? Anyw-"

Kyuma didn't even let him finish speaking. He straightaway swung his sword at the Joker, barely missing him.

"Oh, so we're really getting serious now, huh? Alright then...Gahhhh!"

Kyuma swung his sword again, this time plunging it into the Joker's stomach.

"Hey at least gimme a warning first, right?"

"This sword... is Kuzuryu's sacrifice. I'm not gonna let that go to waste."

Kyuma lunged forward, and before the Joker could have had any time to react, stabbed the sword into his neck and cut off his head.

"Congratulations. It is game clear. All survivors will be sent back to the real world," The familiar robotic lady voice announced.

"It's game clear, Kuzu, it's game clear," Kyuma cried, hugging the sword dearly.

--------------------

"Oi, Mira! It's your turn to pay today!" Kyuma reminded Mira of what she was supposed to do.

"What? No! I paid the last time, so it's your turn to pay now!" Mira then reminded Kyuma of what he was supposed to do.

"Shiirabi, whose turn is it to pay?" Kyuma and Mira both questioned their trustworthy third party.

"Um... Kyuma's?"

"I KNEW IT pay up now~"

"Ughhhh, fineeeee" Kyuma whined as he got up out of his comfortable seat and got ready to pay the bartender.

"That'll be $93."

"Ok. Give me a moment to find the money.."

Oh, there was already someone paying.

Wait.

There was something oddly familiar about him.

Was it the hoodie or the mask? Kyuma didn't know.

"Um, Hi. You look familiar, have I seen you before somewhere?"

He must have really startled the guy, because the moment he heard his voice, he immediately tensed up.

"Oh... uh... no." The man responded.

"Uh...I don't have enough money, I'm sorry," He turned to inform the cashier.

"Wait, lemme pay for you," Kyuu swooped in to save him from embarassment.

"Huh? Nononono, I can pay for myself..."

"No need, I've decided to pay for you, which means I'm paying for you no matter what you say! By the way, what you said just now really reminded of someone I feel like I know...

Well, you look really familiar, hey I know! How about I take you to my friend Mira? She's a psychiatrist, maybe she'll know why I find you so familiar!" Kyuma suggested.

"Oh, Mira..."

"Hmm? You know her?"

"Oh! Uh... no! It's nothing,"

"Oh right, I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name's Ginji Kyuma. What's yours?"

"... Keiichi Kuzuryu. A pleasure to meet you."

"Haha, well, we should meet up some other day, eh Kuzuryu? Mira's waiting, and if I don't get back in time, she'll slit my throat (literally)!"

"Yeah, that sounds like Mira alright, um, bye!"

Kuzu bid farewell to the enthusiastic little man.

After he left, he took out his phone.

Or, rather, his Borderlands phone.

RE: RESET DATA. CLEAR ALL MEMORY. RESET MEMORY.

...

GAME SAVED.

Whew this is really going out of the borderlands topics but I needed to have some sort of way for them to erase memory of Kuzu's existence so yeah.

Leave a note if this made you cry! I hope it did! And I hope I didn't sound like a pyschopath in the above sentence!

Btw the $93 Kyuu pays for Kuzu is actually symbolic of the Kyuu's 93rd day in the borderlands, which is the day the citizen quartet clear the K♡.

And also this is shitty because it's out of the botderlands theme but hey, at least I tried, right?

Do you write for tatta

Platonic x readers, sure! But I have some real life issues going on now so I can only write when I have the time, so please be patient!

hi ilove the citizens fics

if you take requests can you pls do a chishiya x reader fic but like its platonic? like each others family? chishiya is their dad and thats chishiya's kid?

Wait so reader is Chishiya's kid? Ooh sure I see I like where this is goi- AHEM I mean sure yes but as you can see from my above post I'll need some time to fix the posting issue but I would love to write a fic for you! 😇❤

"Oi Aguni! It's Valentine's, who you gonna spend it with?" Heiya's teasing could be heard from over the kitchen as Aguni let out yet another frustrated sigh.

Doudou didn't know what to say to that. He just secretly wished he could get the Valentine's dinner over and cooked with before Aguni lost it and got ahold of the knife.

But that anger management class looked it really worked. Aguni was being a bit more patient with Heiya this time. At least she could mention his singlehood four times instead of three.

"Just add the carrots in, stir, then leave it to simmer," Oh. Aguni was distracting himself while trying not to lose his shit.

"Oh come on, you hate when I talk about how single you ar-" Oh, Heiya, please don't.

"Grhdhdhdhh...." Wait. Was Aguni biting into his skin in order to not snap instantly?

"Uhhh.... I'll bring the dishes in! Err...yeah!" Doudou was clever in finding an excuse to leave the soon-to-be-battlefield beofre it erupted.

"Ok ok ok fine, I won't say it anymore," Oh thank god. Heiya finally stopped with her antics.

Doudou breathed a sigh of relief, being careful not to be too loud so as to not trigger Aguni even more now.

Aguni walked out of the kitchen-wait. Uh...why is he shirtless? Are those boxing gloves? You know what, nevermind, that's not important.

So everyone sat down to have a nice little family dinner.

"Wow. These dishes are terrible,"

"You're not used to such dishes? I just threw in what I had at home into the stove," Doudou innocently queried.

"Yes, I'm not used to eating actual meals for Valentine's. Like who eats actual rice and vegetables with meat for Valentine's? We should be feasting on the candy I got, and drawing random stuff!"

"Uh...what now?" Doudou now was seriously confused.

Aguni was probably the one to understand what she meant. "Everyone keep the dishes in the fridge,"

"Hehe, you get what I mean!"

He rushed off into the bedroom once he saw that all the food was properly kept in the fridge.

"Wait, can someone explain to me what's going on?" Doudou was hopelessly lost.

"Well, I think he's go-" Heiya was interrupted by a pillow smashed in her face coming from the direction of the bedroom.

Wait, wasn't that the bedroom Aguni went into?

Wait....

"Oh.Oh.OH! PILLOW FIGHT!" Doudou screamed. Finally he realised what was going on.

He and Heiya rushed into their bedroom to equip themsekves with their weapons and to dodge more pillows Aguni threw at them.

"You want to do this your way, we'll do this your way!" Aguni was getting serious about this.

Another pillow was hurled into the living room.

"And don't call out my singlehood again!"

Another pillow flew across the living room, but from Doudou's and Heiya's room this time.

"Uh...did I do that right?" How innocently Doudou questioned.

"Yeah, you wanna fight us, you gotta let us fight you! PILLOW FIGHHHHHTTTTT!" Heiya bellowed at the top of her lungs.

And yet another pillow soared over the room.

And yet another.

And yet another.

------------------

"Hahaha, I haven't been able to relax like this in a long time now!" Doudou exclaimed as he helped himself to a serving of Heiya's candy.

They were just randomly lying on the living room floor under the dining table. Why they there, you ask? Do not question the found family and their actions.

"Want some?" The high-school girl offered her sweet treats to the muscle-man.

"Yeah, sure," He took the Skittles from Heiya's candy pack, forcefully ripped open the wrapper, and then dumped all the skittles into his mouth at once.

"Oh yeah, like I said just now, before Aguni rudely interrupted, wanna do some random drawing?" Heiya suggested while she casted a side-glance at Aguni.

"How about we do something even better, painting? I have watercolour in my cabinet," Doudou piped up with a brilliant suggestion.

And painting they went.

"Hey, that cloud looks like Aguni!"

"No, I think this reindeer was meant to be Heiya!"

"Why is Doudou the tree?" They each made their own comments about their 'co-painting-but-really-it's-just-Heiya's-random-doodles"

"Nononono, I think I look more like that random blotch of sky there!"

Honestly, nobody cared that they were still single and had no one to celebrate Valentine's with.

After all, they had their very own found family.

tempted to write a (platonic) Aguni, Heiya and Doudou fic where they spend valentines day (night) painting and eating candy. idk.

For anyone who's out there reading this, please make a post, any post, on your tumblr blog, so that the blogs you follow know that you aren't another porn bot. Otherwise, dom't blame us if you look sketchy and we block and report you.

PLEASE REBLOG THIS. 🙏 NEWER PEOPLE ON TUMBLR DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE PORN BOT, LET'S ALL HELP TO TEACH THEM

Another happy citizen family fic on them taking on the K♡ (I decided to split this one into multiple chapters)

Chapter 1: "Difficulty: K♡"

"Attention all players. There is only one face card game remaining. Good luck for the last game, players!" The robotic lady voice responded over the speakers.

"Wow! Only one face card game left!" Kuzu was shocked.

"That means someone cleared a game today." Shiirabi commented.

"Which means these radio exercises are coming to an end too, eh? Ah, I know! As a celebration, why don't we all participate in the last game? Well, no matter what it is, no hard feelings!" Kyuma, obviously aware of the dangers of participating in a hearts game with friends yet ignoring them, suggested.

"Hey guys, this is purely hypothetical, but... what if the reward that awaits us after we clear all these games... is s nerve ending position as citizens running these games?" Mira's simplistic curiosity was clearly taking over her again.

"You mean, we replace the current citizens, and keep running the games until the day comes that we are defeated in a game?" Kyuma questioned her.

"In that scenario- what happens if we decline citizenship?"

"I don't know. Maybe you'll be sent back to the original world, maybe you'll be exterminated on the spot. A reasonable risk to take, don't you think?" Mira answered the old man in a rather ambiguous way.

"Haha, honestly speaking, in terms of a place to live, I'm fine with anywhere!" Kyuma replied the young woman.

"Then, if that is true, I shall bear the burden of slaughter, And save the coming soldiers from now agony to come ," Shiirabi was back into his old habit of rambling on about any everyone who was breathing was suffering.

"As for me, I can't really think of a reason, I'd want to go back there anymore anyway," Kuzu shared his opinion when it was his turn.

"Well, Mira, do you think your hypothesis will come true?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon enough, won't we?"

"Alright then! Let's go help the current citizens retire! Let's have the best game ever! YOLO!"

"Difficulty: K♡

Game: The Sleeping King

Premise: After a terrible crime, the K♡ and his subjects have been ousted from the kingdom. In order to repent for their sins, they must find and sacrifice the K♡ within the time limit at the centre of the maze, while also enduring the trials and surviving the K♡'s card knights.

Rules: One of the twenty people among you is the K♡. You are currently standing at the entrance to a maze. Inside the maze there are many perilous trials. Endure them all and reach the centre of the maze and announce the identity of the K♡. If you are answer correctly, it is game clear for everyone. (provided you are at the centre of the maze at that time) If you answer wrongly, it is game over for you. If you do not manage to reach the centre of the maze and announce the identity of the K♡ within the time limit, it is game over for everyone. During this time, the K♡'s card knights will chase after you and will do everything they can to eliminate you, so you must avoid and run away from them. Weapons are allowed."

"As expected of a hearts game, another find-the-impostor game. Well, at least it'll be easier for us since we know us for aren't the K♡, right?" Kyuma piped up.

"It's GAME START! You have two hours to reach the centre of the maze and announce the identity of the K♡. Your time starts now. "

"Should we be splitting up? I mean, we'll be able to reach the centre of the maze faster, and-" The young man whose name was listed as Takuya listed his honest but rather naive opinion.

"If we do that, we won't know who the K♡ is, since we won't even get to observe them," Another man who was about in his mid-40s immediately pointed out a flaw in Takuya's idea. Tsuki was his name, apparently.

"I think his idea works fine. Does everyone around here know each other and can click for each other's innocence? Ok, let's start by introducing ourselves. I'm Ryuunosuke. I think-"

"We don't give a fuck what you think, Ryuuno-whatever-your-name-is. I think we should all stick together. So that we can be prepared to sacrifice each other should a trial require it." A gangster-like guy smoking a cigar responded rudely to Ryuunosuke.

"Why so hostile, Mr... Shariya? Well, I personally have a feeling that this hearts game is quite different from all the others we've seen and g-"

"Oh? You have a feeling? How would you know? Maybe you're the king, and you just exposed yourself, you-"

"I'm not the king! You are acting more suspicious! Why are you so quick to point fingers a-"

"Why so defensive, huh? Suspicious!"

And as usual, Mira was watching everyone's reactions from afar, giggling to herself while she amused the others.

Many others watched along with her, afraid of making a sound in case they were to be slaughtered. Although they obviously weren't watching with such amusement as Mira was.

"So we all know we're not the K♡, right? Unless, of course.." There goes Kyuma again with his "conspiracy theories but just with no evidence to back them up" as he liked to call it.

"...No. Anyway, we're not going to get anything done just sitting around like this. Let's just go into the maze already," Kuzu snapped everyone back to reality and reminded them of the matter at hand.

"Grrr... fine. Let's just hurry and reach the centre of the maze so I can out this guy."

"...Ugh..."

"Are you done yet? Can we go?" Mira was growing rather impatient. Shiirabi was already advancing into the maze. The rest, not wanting to be left behind, quickly followed.

"... The first trial. Get the door open?" No sooner had they advanced into the maze and found themselves caught up in a rather sticky situation.

"A... pressure based mechanism. What happens if I step on it?" Kuzu made an observation, then proceeded to step on the pressure based plate.

Mechanical noises could be heard as the door slowly opened. "Woah! It opened! Let's go in!" A young girl said.

Kuzu, realising what this trial was meant to be, quickly stepped off the plate. He looked at Mira. She scoffed. Seems like she had realised it was, too.

As he got off the plate, the door immediately slammed shut on the young girl again. "What! What happened! How do we make it open again?"

"..." So Shiirabi had caught on as well. And as for Kyuma... he was still clueless as ever.

"So if the plate detects weight, the door opens, but if the weight is removed, the door immediately closes.. which means..." Takuya realised.

"Someone has to stay behind to keep the door open." Ah. Kyuma was finally catching on.

Just as they were carefully pondering over who to sacrifice, a man's loud shouting and cries for help could be heard from the entrance to the maze, and everyone immediately rushed to the entrance of the maze.

"Please, I beg you! Let me go! Spare me! Please don't... please don't kill me!" It was Ryuunosuke.

And why was he screaming for help?

Because he was kneeling, hands clutching his stomach and blood-stained shirt, in front of a gangster-like man smoking a cigar.

A gangster-like man smoking a cigar, holding a knife.

A blood-stained knife.

Stained with Ryuunosuke's blood.

Thank you for reading until the end! I'm still learning and improving, so if you have any feedback on how to improve this fic, be sure to let me know! Btw the game idea isn't mine, it's by a reddit user yurotube, but how the game plays out is original as well as many of the characters.

Damn Akinator... didn't have to roast Arisu like that...

Now hold on just a damn second. Have we ever been confirmed what each of the suits actually mean? Like we know from that old man in the 5♤, but he hsd to have heard that from someone else, and they have to heard that from someone else, and maybe they just guessed based on the how each of the suits match the types of games, but we've never been explicitly told what they mean. Like no big Joker or Game Master or someone who knows how the Borderlands work has ever explicilty explained it to us. So could it be that... we've been wrong about the suits all along? 🤔🤔🤔