Chapter Text
“What happened to us Kageyama? We had such big dreams when we were younger.”
Hinata said while eating a meat bun. Right now Hinata and his best friend Kageyama were on a park bench eating with the little money that they still have in their names.
“We grew up Hinata,” Kageyama said with no emotion.
“Yeah but look at our lives now. We’re barely surviving. The rent has gotten so expensive that we have barely enough money for another month,” Hinata said with a whiny tone in his voice.
“Speaking of rent, we should head back to the apartment.”
“Fine.”
Hinata and Kageyama got up from the bench, threw away their trash, and started to walk back to the train station together.
They walked together in a comfortable silence with the sounds of people talking, rush hour happening, and kids playing. When they got to the train station, they sat on a bench next to a man who was wearing a two piece suit while they were both waiting for the train to get here. Hinata and Kageyama sat next to the unknown man for a while in silence until the unknown man broke the silence.
“Would you like to play a game with me?” the unknown man in a suit asked the two men.
“What kind of game?” Hinata asked.
“Ddakji.”
“Ddakji? Oh! We used to play this as children kageyama! Remember?” He asked.
“Yea I do,” Kageyama answered.
“If you guys win you get 9,478¥. If I win, you give me 9,478¥.” The man responded.
“How do I know this isn’t a scam?” Kageyama suspiciously questioned.
The man opened a briefcase to show stacks of Yen with two folded paper tiles in the shape of a square with the colors of red and blue. Kageyama and Hinata were shocked with how much money the man had in the briefcase.
“Do you want to play?” the unknown man repeated again.
Hinata and Kageyama looked at each other and nodded.
“Pick a color.”
Hinata and Kageyama pick the blue one, so the man chooses the red one.
“A brief explanation in case you guys don’t really remember how to play the game. One of us will put our tile onto the ground and the throwing player will try to throw their tile, so the other player's tile will flip over.”
“Got it.” Hinata said.
“Who wants to go first?” The man asked.
“I’ll go.” Hinata replied.
The man dropped his card onto the dirty floor and Hinata tried to flip the man’s card with as much power in his arm as possible but failed.
“I-I don’t have the money, Hinata tried to explain.
“Okay but let me substitute the money.”
“Ok what-” Before Hinata could finish his sentence the man slapped Hinata on the cheek. Hinata and Kageyama were shocked with the action the man did to Hinata.
“Everytime you guys lose, you get slapped in the face in return for the money.” the man explained.
Next it was Kageyama’s turn. Kageyama did the same action as Hinata and failed, therefore getting slapped on the cheek as well.
Hinata and Kageyama kept taking turns trying to win over and over again but kept failing, so they both kept getting slapped again..and again..and again. Until when they were about to give up, it was Hinata’s turn, and he finally managed to flip the man’s card over.
“Omg! Yes!” Hinata was ecstatic.
It was Kageyama’s turn, and he also flipped the man’s card. Kageyama and Hinata hugged each other before the man handed the two men their 9,478¥ and a card with the shapes of a triangle, square, and a circle.
“If you guys want to play more of these games for money, call this number.”
With that the man got onto the train before the two guys could ask any questions.
When they got home, the two guys went to their separate bedrooms. Hinata thought in his room in silence before looking down at the card the unknown man gave to him and Kageyama earlier.
‘Should I?’ Hinata thought.
He thought for a second more before deciding to open up his phone and call the number.
“Name and date of birth.” The man said on the other side of the phone.
“Uhm, Hinata Shouyou, June 21, 1996.”
“Thank you. The password is Red Light, Green Light, stand outside your house at midnight.”
With that the person on the other side of the line hung up.
Hinata was waiting outside of his apartment and when it hit midnight, a black van came. Inside there was a person wearing all red with a circle mask.
“Password.” The man asked.
“Red Light, Green Light.”
As the password was said the van’s door unlocked and opened. Hinata walked upto the door and got inside noticing a few people asleep.
‘Well it is midnight.’ He gets into a seat, and the doors close and a mysterious gas starts flooding around the inside of the van, and Hinata passes out.
When Hinata woke up, his head felt groggy. As his head started getting better, he looked around noticing that there were multiple people around him, as well as beds in rows that were 6 beds high. He looked down realizing that he was not wearing his clothes he had on before. In replacement, he was wearing a blue tracksuit with the number 10 and a white t-shirt that had the number 10 as well.
‘Where am I?’
Hinata got up out of the bed, also noticing that the other people were wearing the same outfit except they all had different numbers on their clothes. Everybody started heading towards the center of the big unknown room. When Hinata was walking down to the center he heard somebody randomly counting numbers.
‘What the?’ “Excuse me, sir. What are you doing?”
“Stop talking to me, or I'll lose count. I was at fifty.”
“Oh, you must be trying to count how many of us are here, is that right?”
“That's right. So could you stop talking to me? Then..wait what number was I at?”
Hinata pointed up to a board.
“Up on that board, there are 456 players here. Oh look you have number 1, and I have number 10.” Hinata pointed to his number on his jacket.
As everyone starts waking up and goes to the center of the room, a big automatic door opens revealing nine people wearing red outfits wearing black masks with different shapes of assortments of circles, squares, and triangles.
“Welcome players.” One of the red outfits with a square on their mask said. “Everyone here will participate in four different games over four days. Those who win all four games will receive a cash prize. Any questions?”
“You guys are wearing masks, why is that?” A random player asked.
“We do not disclose the faces and personal info of our staff to any of the participants.” The masked person answered.
Hinata raised his arm,
“One question, if we win, just how much do we get?” The man brought a little remote and pointed up to the ceiling creating a noise. A door from the ceiling opens up and reveals a big piggy bank that was glowing a gold color.
“Your prize money will be accumulated there after every game. We will disclose the amount to everyone after the first game is over. If any of you do not wish to participate, please let us know at this time.” Nobody responded.
“Okay, everyone get into four lines.” As everyone is getting in four lines, four of the masked people come out with a podium with an assortment of papers. People started reading the papers and signing something. As it was Hinata’s turn, he looked down at the paper realizing it was a consent form.
‘A consent form? Why do we need to sign a consent form to play games?’ As Hinata was reading the form there were three clauses.
CLAUSE 1 : A PLAYER IS NOT ALLOWED TO STOP PLAYING
CLAUSE 2 : A PLAYER WHO REFUSES TO PLAY WILL BE ELIMINATED
CLAUSE 3 : GAMES MAY BE TERMINATED IF THE MAJORITY AGREES
“Is that it or..?”
Hinata looks down at the form before looking around to see that the person he was talking to earlier is signing the form. Hinata sighs and signs the consent form.
When everyone has signed the form, a voice that sounds like a woman comes through an intercom.
“Attention all players, the first game is about to begin. Please follow the staff's instructions. Make your way to the hall entrance.”
Players start walking in a line looking around the area. It was weird. There were vibrant colors like: Pink, lime green, baby blue, etc. The stairs look like legos, going in all different directions. The end had big double iron doors leading to a gigantic room. It resembled a prairie of some sort.
Hinata was running around people yelling someone's name, “Kageyama! Kageyama! What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for the same reason you are. Money.”
Kageyama looked at Hinata with a straight face. The intercom came on again.
“Everyone stands behind the white line and awaits for further instructions. I repeat, everyone stands behind the white line and awaits for further instructions.”
The doors close shut. Two of the players start talking to each other.
“What is that over there?” Player 250 asked.
“It looks really creepy. It looks like a large doll.” Player 324 answered. The two players laugh together.
“Here it is the first game. You will be playing Red Light, Green Light.”
The large doll turns around facing a tree.
“You are allowed to move forward when “It” shouts out, “Green Light,” stop when “It” shouts, “Red Light.” If your movement is detected afterward, you will be eliminated.”
‘Red Light, Green Light? Like the game we used to play as kids?’ Hinata thought.
“Is this some kind of joke?” Asked player 324.
“Do you think they’re serious?” Player 250 asked. “Well then, wanna bet who can make it to the finish line first?” Player 250 asked player 324.
“96,000¥, deal?” Player 324 chuckled.
“You're on!”
“Those who cross the finish line without being eliminated within the five minute timer will pass this round. With that let the game begin.”
The five minute timer started.
“Green Light.”
The two players started sprinting while the other players started jogging. Player 324 was in the lead.
“Red Light.”
The doll twisted it’s head to look at the players. The doll saw player 324 was moving and looked at them.
“Player 250. Eliminated.”
“That idiot got caught.” Player 250 chuckled.
Out of nowhere the players heard a gunshot and player 324 dropped down onto the ground. There was a moment of silence from the players.
‘Was that a gunshot?’ Hinata was confused. The doll’s head twisted back and looked at the tree again.
“Green Light.”
Player 250 went to player 324 to see if they’re okay.
“Red Light.” Everybody stopped. The doll’s head twisted it’s head again to see if anybody moved.
“Hey idiot, you got eliminated, get off the ground.” Player 324 started to cough up blood. Player 250 started to tremble and looked up at the doll and started to run away from the body. There was a gunshot again. Blood from the player 250 got onto one of the players. Everybody was shocked.
"Player 250 eliminated."
The player who had the blood on themselves ran their hands onto their face noticing the blood and screamed.
People started to run away screaming and trampling over each other trying to get to the doors. Hinata noticed around the room there were guns shooting the players who were running. It was a Bloodbath. There were bodies filled everywhere. People started to bang onto the doors but in the end they got shot. There were hundreds of dead bodies.
“I will repeat the rules. You are allowed to move forward when “it” shouts out“Green Light”, stop when “it” shouts, “Red Light.” If your movement is detected afterward-- you will be eliminated. With that, let the game resume. “
“Green Light.”
Player 1 started to move again with a smile on their face.
“Red Light.”
Nobody was detected.
“Green Light.”
Player 1 moved again right before the red light was called.
“Red Light.”
Everybody started to move finally.
“Red Light.”
One person got shot. Hinata was on the ground shaking from being pushed down in the horde of distressed people.
“Green Light.”
“Red Light.” A player got shot in front of Hinata.
“Hinata you can’t stay there for much longer, I think the doll can sense when there is movement happening. You won’t get caught if you're behind someone.” Kageyama explained.
“Green Light.”
“Red Light.”
Hinata sees that Kageyama is hiding behind someone. Two more gunshots.
“The timer.” Kageyama points it out.
Hinata looks up at it seeing that he only has 2:12 left.
“Green Light.”
With that Hinata finally gets up and starts running.
“Red Light.”
“Green Light.”
Four gunshots.
“Green Light.”
“Red Light.”
A man with blonde hair hears somebody behind him.
“ Who is that? I can hear you.”
“Your worst nightmare.'' The mysterious person chuckled.
Hinata sees a tall guy with wavy brown hair holding another tall guy’s hair.
“Let go of me. Please.”
“Quit trembling, you’ll get shot.”
“Green Light.”
The brown hair man pulls down the blonde hair man onto the ground and gets in front of him. The man in front of Hinata gets shot. Six shots.
“Red Light.”
“Green Light.”
Hinata was trying to run but a person who was bleeding out put their hand on his ankle.
“Help me, please, I don’t want to die.” The bleeding man cried.
"What are you doing? Let go of me!” Hinata looked at the timer: 1:14.
“Green Light.”
Hinata finally got out of the person’s grasp and ran.
“Red Light.”
The doll killed him.
Everybody started getting to the finish line. It is all about time and speed now.
Kageyama made it to the finish line at twenty-two seconds left. But Hinata is still out there. He started to panic about the time. Hinata saw Kageyama at the finish line and looked at each other. Hinata was about to make it but he tripped on a dead body’s arm.
He was about to fall but something catched him.
More like someone.
The person was struggling trying to hold Hinata’s body weight.
“Green Light.”
Hinata was running as fast as he could with only ten seconds on the clock. But he finally made it with the unknown person also. They were both panting hard. The rest of the unfortunate people who didn’t make it in time all got shot.
“Everyone please head back to the main room.”
Everyone started to walk back the doors trying to not to touch the dead bloodied bodies. A lot of people are scared of what the next game could even be.
When everybody got back to the main room, the players sat down just thinking about what just happened a while back.
All those people.
Dead.
“Hey Kageyama, thanks for helping me, and you too.”
Pointing to the person who caught him during the fall. Hinata tried to give a little smile to the two men.
“You're alive, that's what matters.” Says player 199.
“Hey, If I can ask, what’s your name?”
Player 199 lips curled into a straight line before speaking again.
“Kenma. Kozume Kenma.”
“Hinata Shouyou!”
Hinata gave out a hand requesting for a handshake, Kenma returned it.
“Oh! That’s Kageyama by the way, Kageyama Tobio.”
Hinata pointed at Kageyama. Kageyama just gave a little wave to Kenma. Out of nowhere an alarm buzzed and the automatic door opened up with masked individuals. Everybody stood up and looked at them.
“You all have made it through the first game. Congratulations. You’re moving on to the next game. I will announce the results of the first game now.”
Everyone looked up at the board seeing the number of players dropping down. It stopped at the number: 201.
“Out of 456 players, 255 were eliminated, and 201 players successfully completed the first game.”
Everyone was shocked, they were players murmuring to each other.
“Please let us go!” Cried one of the players.
“Please!” Another player begged.
Soon people started to drop onto their knees begging the employees to let them go. People were yelling at them demandingly. Quickly, one of the employees brought out a gun and shot it up to the sky to get people's attention. Everyone instinctively went into a hundle position trying to not get shot.
“Consent form clause 2: A player who refuses to play will be eliminated.”
Kageyama standed up.
“Consent form clause 3: If all the players agreed to stop playing, the games are allowed to end. Or am I wrong?”
“You are correct.”
“So let’s vote on this, to end this. If the majority votes on leaving this place, then everyone gets to go home, right?”
“All right, as you wish. We will take a vote to decide on the termination of the game. Before we vote, let me announce the prize money for the game as previously promised.”
A person with a square mask brought out the remote causing the lights to turn off causing the gold glow on the piggy bank illuminating the room. A tube went into the piggy bank starting to dispense money into it. People were fascinated by the amount of money that was already in there.
“A total of 255 players eliminated during the first game, 9,717, 698¥ is at stake per player. Therefore, 2,479,672,020¥ of prize money has been accumulated so far.”
“So then, if we can complete all four games, how much do we get?” A player asked.
“Since there are 456 players, the total prize money is 4,434,198,924¥. We will now begin the voting.”
An employee brings out a stand with two buttons on it, a green button and a red button.
“As you can see, there are two buttons in front of you. If you wish to continue playing, press the green button with an O. If you wish to stop playing, press the red button with a X. After you finish, move to the other side of the white line and wait. Voting will be done in reverse order of the nume on your chests. Player 456, please cast your vote."
Player 456 walked to the stand and looked at the two buttons. He sighs and decides to press the red button. Player 456 looked up at the board and saw a ‘X’ and a ‘O’ there with his vote on the ‘X’ side.
“Player 453,please cast your vote.”
They walked up to the stand and looked at the buttons before looking up at the money, they chose the green button. Their vote was now on the ‘O’ side. After multiple players voted it was Hinata’s turn so far the score was: 50-50. Hinata walked up and chose the red button without a second thought. Then it was Kageyama's turn, Hinata was watching Kageyama picking his vote going to the green button. Hinata was dismayed at Kageyama’s vote.
‘Does he really want to risk his life to win this money..?’
There was only one more player to vote, player 1. Player 1walked up with the score of 100-100. He was the tie-breaker. People who chose red were counting on him.
‘Please choose red, please choose red.’
Hinata is terrified with suspense. Player 1 chose green.
“Why?!” One of the players yelled.
“Do you want to die here?!”
Another player yelled.
Hinata on the other hand was just frozen with shock and devastated.
________________________
The next day, the players were lined up in rows ready to play the next game.
“Attention. The second is about to begin. Please follow the staff’s instructions and swiftly make your way to the game hall.”
The players start walking towards the hallway that they have been before. The staff takes the players to a plain white room. Nothing else. Just white room.
“Welcome players to the second game. For this game you will be in teams of two. Please look around and find someone you wish to play with. When two players agree to play together, shake hands to show that you are partners. You will have ten minutes to find a partner."
“Hey handsome,” A boy with dark green hair tied in a ponytail came up to Hinata. “Wanna team up? I’m better than other people think I am. I’m not a genius, but I'm smarter than most people.” Hinata says nothing and turns his head.
The green-haired boy gives a desperate look and goes to Kageyama. “Hey, let me play with you. Then I’ll be dream boy all night long.” Kageyama gives an uncomfortable look at the boy. “I’ll do anything you tell me. I’m not a regular guy. Hmm?” The boy grabs Kaeyama’s shoulder and looks into Kageyama's eyes. “Please, I’m desperate.”
“I’m sorry, but no.”
The boy shoves Kageyama on the ground and looks at the group of people.
“You’re pretending that you don’t want me on your team. Huh?! Is that it?!”
“Stop embarrassing yourself.” Hinata turns around and sees the brunette from the previous game.
‘Guess he survived.’
“No one will want to play with you like this.” The boy sighs. “Let’s all be honest. You don’t want to team up with a weak person”
“Of course not. We don’t know what the next game will be. We could die. ” A player commented.
The brunette stands up and starts walking away from the crowd.
“Uh, hold on a second.” The brunette stops and faces Hinata.
“Why? Do you want to play with someone like me?” The brunette asked.
‘I barely know you.’
Hinata doesn’t respond with a guilty look on his face, so the brunette keeps walking. A guy with spiky brown hair gets up and starts following the brunette. It was silent for a moment before the green boy broke it.
“You’re all idiots.” The boy turns around and points at Kageyama and Hinata. “You two, you’re making a big mistake, and you're going to regret it.”
Before walking away. Hinata sighs and turns to Kageyama.
“Kageyama let’s-”
“Kenma, let’s join forces. For the next game you may have to be smart or strong to win. And I think if we’re a team, we’ll...we’ll beat a lot of the others out there.” Kageyama sticks out his hand initiating a handshake. Kenma looks at Kageyama’s hand before looking at Hinata. Hinata chuckles and puts up his hands, shaking them profusely.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It's fine. You two will make a great team together. I’ll find someone to play with.”
Kenma looks at Kageyama’s hand again, shaking it. Hinata puts on a little smile. Hinata looks around realizing that multiple people are already in a team causing his smile to fade.
The spiky hair man goes up to the brunette. “Oikawa.”
“What Iwaizumi?”
“Team up with me.” Iwaizumi gives out his hand.
“What do you say Iwa-Chan?”
Oikawa gives puppy eyes to Iwaizumi.
“Please.” Iwaizumi gives an annoyed tone in his voice.
“Of course Iwa-Chan!” Oikawa giggled and shook Iwaizumi’s hand.
“You should be more serious ‘Kawa, you can die in the next game.”
“I’m not going to die Iwa-Chan, I know I won’t.”
“I’ll make sure you’ll win ‘Kawa I promise.”
“I promise, okay? There's no option left here. I teach Math at a high school. And I can run too. Soccer every day. Everyone was asking, but held out so you and I could win. ‘Cause you and I would make an awesome team. I know who you are.”
“Who am I?”
“Hinata Shouyou. I know you from high school, you did volleyball and could do that crazy move with Kageyama Tobio. You went to Karasuno.” Hinata had a little blush fluttering on his cheeks.
“Wow, I can’t believe you know who I actually am.” Hinata rubbed his neck.
“I am a huge fan of you, so please team up with me.” Hinata chuckles.
“The...the thing is..we don’t know which game we're playing, so…”
“Hey, just choose me so it can just be done with. At this rate, nobody will be left for you and you won’t continue. You know, there’s an uneven number of people. Once everyone is in pairs, there’ll be one person.”
“What will happen to that one person?”
“What do you think? They’ll probably get killed. It’s going to be that person over there.” They pointed to a guy with silver hair all alone in a corner.
“I’m sorry, but, no.” With that Hinata walks away. Hinata walks over to the lonely man and gives out his hand, “Hey, wanna do this together?” The guy looks at Hinata's hand then shakes it quickly.
The Timer is up.
“You guys, you’re all making a big mistake. Do you really think you can win without me on your team? It’s me! Yamaguchi Tadashi!” Yamaguchi starts to panic. “Hey play with me!” Yamaguchi starts to shake people.
“Let go of me!” The player cried.
They throw Yamaguchi off of them.
“Come back!”
Yamaguchi runs to another player. “Hey, don't trust this traitor.”
“Okay, okay.” The player removes Yamaguchi’s hand off of him.
“He’s a jerk. He’s going to throw you under the bus just like me, be with me! Tsukishima!” Yamaguchi grabs Tsukishima’s arm.
“Let go of me Yams!” Tsukishima pushes Yamaguchi onto the ground and walks away.
“Ugh!” The employees close the doors and walk to Yamaguchi.
“H-Hey, wait a second, where's my partner? I still need a partner.” The employees grab Yamaguchi's arms and start taking him somewhere. “I-I still need a partner! You can’t do this! Let me go!” Yamaguchi was yelling so loud that you could hear him from an entirely different room that the other players were in.
“I’m so sick of him, I can’t believe I was ever friends with him. It’s nice to think that he is gone for good. Now he won’t distract me.”
“You know, uh, what he said earlier, is that true?”
“He was crazy, spitting out nonsense trying to get a freaking partner.”
“Attention. All players please follow the staff to your designated positions for the game.”
The masked employees go stand in front of one group and lead them to somewhere.
“Kenma.” Kageyama puts his hand on Kenma’s back. “No one can stop us if we’re working together."
“I think you and I could really win the money.”
“All right, let’s do this and get out of this place. That money is ours to give to both of our families. Let’s do this.”
“You know, when I was a kid, I used to live in a neighborhood similar to this place. Player 1 said to Hinata. The place looks dirty. Somewhere where the lower income families would live.
“I did too.” The staff stops and turns around and faces Hinata and his partner.
“Players, please take one bag from the staff member before you.
The staff holds two small bags of something inside. Hinata and player 1 take them.
“There should be a set of ten marbles in each bag. Please check to confirm the number.”
Hinata takes the marbles out of the bag and puts them in his palm. He counted to confirm that there were exactly ten marbles in his bag to show that there was.
“It's marbles. Hey, we're going to be playing with these. Are you familiar with this game?”
“Ah, yes, very familiar indeed. Used to play a lot as a child and you know, I was actually pretty good.”
“I wasn’t too bad myself!” Hinata chuckled.
“In this game, using your set of ten marbles, you will play the game of your choice with your partner. The player who manages to take all ten marbles from their partner wins. You will have thirty minutes for this game. Let the game begin.”
Player 1 starts to walk away.
“Uh, sir, come back please.” Hinata tries to follow him.
Kageyama looks at the timer with twenty-six minutes left. Kenma looks down at his bag of marbles in silence.
“Let’s start Kenma.”
“That means one of us is going to die, doesn’t it?”
“So both of us should just do nothing? Both of us just die? Or one of us dies so the other can go on to the next game.”
Kenma looks up and Kageyama takes some of his marbles into his palm. “Have you played this game before?” Kenma shook his head no.
________________________
Iwaizumi sat down on concrete stairs and sighed.
“What game should we play Iwa?”
“I don’t know, I’ll come up with something.”
________________________
Kageyama and Kenma sit down and Kageyama holds out his arm with his hand closed.
“So you guess if I’m holding even or odd. If you guess right I will give you the amount of marbles that are in my hand. The person who has all ten marbles from the other player wins. Which one do you think I’m holding?”
“Odd.”
Kageyama sighed and opened up his hand to show the number of marbles he was holding, three.
________________________
“Sir, we have to start playing right now.”
“Play what?”
“What do you mean ‘what’? Our marbles! C’mon!”
“Why should I play?”
“Do you not see? Everybody else is playing. We got to play.”
“No. That game is for little kids.”
Player 1 walks away.
Hinata grunts. “No sir, come back here.”
________________________
“So...let’s end the game in one round.” Iwaizumi looks up at Oikawa.
“Okay. How are we going to play it?”
“We are playing one round here. We got time. Let’s wait ‘til the end.”
“What are we going to do before then?”
“Talk. Like we used to do as children.” Iwaizumi chuckles.
“About what?”
“Anything. One of us is going to die here anyways. Let’s tell stuff we couldn’t even tell each other."
"Okay.”
________________________
“Even.”
Kageyama opens up his hand showing two marbles. Kageyama drops the rest of his marbles from his bag into his hand. ‘5 left..’
“Your turn.”
________________________
Hinata runs up to one of the staff.
“Sir, I don’t think he’s in the right mind. I think he’s got dementia. Does he mean he’s out or..?”
The staff say nothing.
‘Shit.’ Hinata runs to player 1.
“Just one little game? C’mon It’ll be so much fun.” Hinata has a desperate look on his face. “God!” Hinata pushes player 1 onto a wall. “Get yourself together! They’ll kill us both if you don’t start! I’m not going to sit here and die! You hear me, I can't die! I need to get out of here! You’re the reason why we are still stuck here!”
“Don’t yell at me please. All right, I will, but please don’t yell.”
________________________
“Even.” Kageyama said. Kenma keeps his hand closed. “C’mon, show me.” He opens it up showing three marbles. Kageyama gives a weak sigh and gives Kenma one marble. He has one left. “You jerk.” Kageyama looks Kenma straight in the eye. “You gotta be cheating.”
“Why would I do that to you?”
“How are you winning every round? You keep beating me. How’s that? The odds should be 50-50. That means you're cheating!”
“I didn’t! I promise I didn’t! I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“You jerk! You pretended not to know how this game works! You said you haven’t done this before! How did you do it, huh? Spill it to me!”
The staff puts a gun up to Kageyama’s head.
“No violence is allowed.”
________________________
“Even.” Player 1 said. Hinata opens up his hand showing four marbles. “Odd. Even. Odd. Even. Did I win?”
“What’s your wager?”
Player 1 opens up his hand showing four marbles as well. ‘But that means he will have 8 already.’ Hinata’s hand shakes, giving his marbles to the man.
________________________
“So Oikawa, If you win the money and get out of here, what would you do with it?”
“Iwa, I already told you!” Oikawa produces a small chuckle.
“I forgot!”
“Fine, I’ll remind you. I’ll get a better apartment, or maybe an actual house. Then I will help my parents with their financial sustainability.” Iwaizumi laughs.
“That’s all you’re going to do? With the money they’re giving us you could do so much more. There’s gotta be something else you want to do. Is there anywhere you want to go to?”
“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to Argentina.”
________________________
Kageyama gets on his knees and looks up at Kenma with tears trying to not spill onto his face.
“God, I’m so sorry, Kenma. I know you wouldn’t cheat. But, I can’t die like this. Please. I beg you.”
“I’m sorry Kageyama, but no. I’m so sorry. I have to think of my family. I'm so sorry.”
Kageyama holds Kenma's hands. “Hey, Kenma, If you help me, then there’s a way that both of us could live. Listen Kenma,” Kageyama tears fall down his cheeks as well as Kenma’s. “Trust me please, help me and I’ll make sure we get out of here.”
“Okay. What do we do?”
________________________
“It might be even, or odd.”
“Hurry up and go!”
“Odd.”
Hinata exhales and opens up his hand showing three marbles. Player 1 laughs. “Wow, look at that, I won again.”
“How many are in your hand?” Player 1 shows four marbles. Hinata gives his marbles to his partner. The staff walks in front of Hinata about to pull their gun from it’s holster. “Wait! I-I have one more!” Hinata faces his partner and looks at their hand. “Even.” Player 1 was about to open his hand before Hinata closed his hand quickly. “Wait no, hold on. Just gimme a second. Odd. Definitely odd.” Player 1 opens up his hand. Even.
‘Oh my god…’
“Which one did you say?”
“What?”
“Can you repeat what you just said?”
Hinata looks at him for a moment before speaking again.
“Even. I said even.” Player 1 looks down.
“Oh. I lost this round.” Player 1 gives his marbles to Hinata slowly one by one.
________________________
“You’re positive? That we can both win this round?”
“Mhm.” Kageyama shook his head. “This is the plan. First, we need to know which teams will be here after the round ends. We should split up to get an idea of the people and how they are doing. Let’s look for people that seem too young or old, and check only teams that are still playing games at this point.”
“Young or old?”
“Yeah, like people your age and people that look over the age of fifty. You go a few blocks from here, then let’s meet back up here later, okay?”
“Okay, Kageyama.” He starts walking when Kageyama calls for him.
“Kenma.” Kenma looks over his shoulder. “Your pouch you’re holding. It’s too dangerous to walk around unsecured. These people here will go crazy near the end. Who knows what happened then? Lose it and we’ll both die. You got that?” He nods. “Here. I’ll make sure that it’s safe, okay?” Kageyama puts his hand out. Kenma looks down at his pouch before giving it to Kageyama. Kageyama puts Kenma’s pouch of marbles on the ground then starts taking off his jacket and shirt and starts ripping his shirt. Kageyama creates a makeshift rope and ties it to the pouch of marbles. “Here. It feels safer now, doesn’t it?” Kenma nods again. “When that timer says three minutes, come and meet me back here. Then I’ll tell you what we do next.”
________________________
“What are you going to do if you win all the money and get out of this place Iwa?”
“I don’t know. Maybe go to Argentina with you.” Oikawa went silent. “Sorry. Forgot.”
________________________
“Odd.”
Hinata opens up his hands showing three marbles. “One, two, three. We each have three marbles.”
“Yeah, but, um, what was your guess?”
“Huh? Oh yeah. But which one did I guess again?”
“You said even.”
“I did..? Are you sure that I said that?” Hinata nodded. “That means..I lost again.”
________________________
Kageyama picks up his pouch and puts it in front of the staff’s face. “I have twenty marbles. The rule said we could play whatever game to get our opponent to give us theirs, and the players cannot acquire them using violence. I did not use violence.” The staff takes Kageyama’s pouch.
________________________
“You have three minutes until the game is over. Three minutes remaining.”
“Let’s do this.” Iwaizumi nods and gets up from his seat. “Whoever throws one over there and makes the shot that comes closest to the wall, wins. How's that?” Oikawa makes a small nod in confirmation.
“It should be your turn.” Oikawa grabs a marble and throws it near the wall. Oikawa looks over his shoulder then takes a step back for Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi grabs his marble and crouches ready to throw before suddenly stopping and dropping his marble. Oikawa looks at Iwaizumi,
“Hey, what are you doing Iwa?” Oikawa grabs Iwaizumi’s jacket then pushes him to a wall.
“You won, I lost.”
“Stop. Why the hell would you try to do that?”
“Hey, crappykawa, what else can I say?”
“What you said, making sure I won. Is that it?” Iwaizumi says nothing. “Why the hell would I be thankful for that? Huh? Take another throw.”
“ I still wouldn’t be able to win. Ugh, just let me lose this thing already, okay?”
“Hajime, bullshit! Stop acting cool and just do a real throw already!” Oikawa yelled as he started crying.
“I have nothing.”
“What?”
“You have a reason to get out of this place, I don’t.” Oikawa lips start quivering. “I thought about what I’d do. If I were the one who got out since you asked me earlier. No matter how hard I thought, though, I got nothing.” Iwaizumi starts crying as well. “The one who should have a reason to get back out there...is you. You can do it. Don’t die here, okay? Go to Argentina.” Iwaizumi puts on a sad smile.
________________________
“Kageyama? Kageyama, where are you? Kageyama? Kageyama, hello? I’m done with this side. Kageyama!” Kageyama stops walking through the exit when he hears Kenma calling out for him.
“Kageyama!” Kenma looks down at his pouch then takes off the makeshift rope off his neck. He opens up his pouch and dumps the items in his hand.
They were not marbles.
They were rocks.
Kenma has tears rolling down his cheeks quickly from the betrayal from Kageyama. Kageyama jumps when he hears a certain gunshot.
“Player 199, eliminated.”
________________________
“Oikawa Tooru! I’m honored that we were best friends. I Love You.”
Oikawa was shocked and turned around quickly when he heard those three words. Then he saw his best friend get shot right in front of him. Oikawa screamed.
“I love you too Hajime! I’ve always loved you!”
“Player 240, eliminated.”
________________________
Player 1 stands up and faces Hinata. “My name is Sugawara Koshi.” That’s all he said before getting shot. Right in front of Hinata. Hinata then walks to the exit looking at all the deceased bodies.
“Player 1, eliminated.”