Alice in Borderland | Transmigration

Chapter 4

You waited until the bullets seized, walking towards the staircase carefully, listening out for any movement. You heard more gunshots further below and deemed it safe enough to move to the 4th floor. Upon turning the corner, you noticed both Chishiya and Arisu standing in front of it. They turned to you, Arisu lighting up and offering you a grin.

"Noticed it too?"

This was the first time you saw him face to face, and you took a second to appreciate his handsome face and calm demeanour. His eyes bore into you, you flicked your eyes away to look at Arisu instead.

"Yep."

Arisu looked between the two of you, sensing you both knew each other. Chishiya turned around, "aren't you gonna open it?"

Arisu looked down, a perplexed expression on his face, "why did the tagger chase us? Couldn't they have just waited here?"

"Seems like there was something else we don't know." Chishiya then pulled his phone out of his pocket, showing the '3:04' timer. "However...if you don't open it now..."

You lingered behind, remembering the fact that there was another tagger in the room. Should you warn them?

"There may be another tagger in the room."

Arisu's grip on the doorknob tightened, before visibly hardening his resolve. Nodding once, he opened the door.

It was silent as he entered, Chishiya following close behind. The room was dark, filled to the brim with tension. It seemed Chishiya noticed as well, judging by the tenseness of his shoulders. A shift in the corner of your eye had you ducking, and barely a second later, the tagger lit up the room.

It was loud, and your ears rang as you crawled towards the safety of the door. Scrambling, you watched as Chishiya slammed the taser into the second tagger. They momentarily fell, and you stared in horror from the doorway as they neared the individual.

"Never hurts to be pre-"

" 'Shiya!" You yelled, yanking his arm and throwing both of you guys out the front door while the gunfire started up again. You were meant to say 'Chishiya', but in a moment of panic you melded the syllables into one. Closing the door, you slid against it, stressed out from the scare. You knew he would live, it didn't make it any less easier to watch first hand.

" 'Shiya?" He asked, eyes locked onto the door as if expecting it to burst open any second.

"Slipped out."

The corner of his lips quirked up, before Arisu's distinct voice rang out.

"Someone please come over! The safezone is in apartment 406! It's impossible to clear the game alone! We need two people to do this!"

Chishiya leaned against the door, "seriously?"

Gunshots sounded from deeper within the room, meaning the tagger already busted through. You clawed at the doorknob, swinging it open and jogged through the apartment. You paused at the doorway, listening to the jostling a few feet over. Chishiya peeked, only to swing his head back in time to dodge a bullet.

Chishiya was so anxiety-inducing.

You heard a crash through the window, without thinking you snatched Chishiya's taser and lunged at the tagger. They collapsed, and you shouted, "buttons!"

'Game cleared. Congratulations.'

Arisu and Usagi cleared the game with 3 seconds to spare, which was 2 seconds faster than the original.

That made you oddly happy, but as the adrenaline wore off, you noticed a dull throb in your arm. Looking down, you stifled a gasp at the sheer amount of blood staining your jacket.

"Aw fuck me."

If you had known, you would have just let Usagi do the taseing.

"I'm good, thanks."

You ignored the comment and turned to Chishiya. Pointing at your arm, you asked, "can you help me?"

"And why would I?"

"Because I pour the milk after the cereal."

He paused, giving you an incredulous look, "and that's relevant because...?"

"I haven't committed a war crim–"

Rapid beeping could be heard behind you, and you only had a three second warning to step away before you felt warm blood splatter onto your neck and back. You winced, not appreciating the way the blood seeped under your clothes and dripped down your spine.

You turned around to see Arisu's panicked expression, eyes trained on the dead woman. He was about to speak before his eyes flicked onto your bloody arm.

"Y/n!"

He stumbled up, arms flailing, not knowing what to do regarding the injury. If you were being honest, now that the adrenaline was out of your system, it really hurt. You bit your lip and tried to prevent tears from spilling over. The wound was throbbing, a stinging pain now, sharp and hot.

Arisu had a pained expression, almost like he was the one with a gaping wound on his arm. You almost laughed, "it's worse than it looks."

"Jesus, your Japanese is horrible."

You turned to glare at Chishiya, only to be met with a smirk. You wanted to punch it off his face, unfortunately, your dominant arm was unavailable right now.

"Hey, Arisu, where's the nearest...hospital?"

He blinked, not understanding.

"Clinic?" You tried.

At his blank look, you turned to give Chishiya a flat stare. There was obvious amusement in his eyes, different to the common indifferent one he always wears. Surprisingly, he obliged with your silent request, translating what you said to Arisu.

"Ah, there should be one around the corner..."

You nodded, lightly clutching your arm to give it a sense of security. Arisu seemed worried enough to have forgotten about the dead woman on the floor. Good, you didn't want him to be hung up on and feel guilty over something that was out of his control. You then realised you had now become desensitised to death in the Borderlands, and it was not because you've seen death often, but because your brain still thinks that these characters are fictional, and what's to say it isn't?

You gave Chishiya a nod in departure, and he ignored you in favour of rummaging through the woman's pockets. You huffed, you had almost forgotten how much of a jerk he is.

Arisu held your underarm in support, which you appreciated because the pain was just as bad as before. Hobbling out the room, you heard a faint yell, pained and grieving. Usually, you would have ignored it if not for the voice sounding oddly similar to that of Karube's.

Your heart sank, and you watched as Arisu's blood drained from his face.