5#- Four of Clubs ♣️
During their stay in borderland, Keijiro, Michael and Fujitaka spent their time preparing for the next game and packing all their things to move on from the mall afterwards.
In the blink of an eye, it was already their third visa day and now the boys were wandering the abandoned world searching for their next game. They'd left their packed things back at the mall and planned to retrieve them after they were done.
It was around evening time when the three finally discovered a game venue that was far from Japan's city area. The entrance led into the forest on the outskirts and Fujitaka was already getting worried.
Fujitaka gulped. "What if this game involves animals again?"
"Guess we'll have to find out," Keijiro said, taking the lead.
It didn't take long for them to venture deeper into the forest to find several other people waiting. There was also another long table that had three phones left but this time beside each phone was a small plastic box.
"What are those for?" Michael asked out loud.
"Just take one," one man said who had a box of his own.
Each of the three guys did as they were told and Keijiro observed his box before glancing around at the individuals who were clearly bothered by the fact that they were in a forest. Everyone wore the same uneasy and frightened expressions except for one guy in a white jacket that stood next to a girl in a bathing suit who was completely calm for some reason.
"I wonder what kind of game this'll be," one girl whispered to her friend.
"We're literally in a forest so probably spades," her friend responded.
"Oh hey!"
Keijiro looked around from hearing the familiar voice and saw three people jogging towards them.
"Ousuke?" Fujitaka blinked in surprise.
Ousuke and the other two stopped in front of them.
Keijiro crossed his arms. "I thought your visa ended yesterday. Why are you playing again?"
"How could I let my friends play alone? They need all the help they can get." Ousuke pat the two's backs. "This is Riku and Yui."
The guy, Riku, smiled. "Nice to meet you."
"And thanks for patching up Ousuke!" Yui clapped her hands.
"It was no problem at all." Fujitaka smiled back.
Before the conversation could continued a familiar voice spoke to them from above.
Registration has closed
There are a total of 15 participants
The game will now commence
Keijiro and the others all simultaneously looked down at their phones that buzzed.
Difficulty: 4 of Clubs ♣️
Game: Capture The Flag
Fujitaka sighed in relief that it wasn't spades.
"Capture the flag," Keijiro said out loud, "I've played that before."
"Same," Michael said.
Rules: Open your box to reveal which of the three teams you are on. Afterwards, gather to your base and begin strategizing. Once the horn blows each team will attempt to capture a flag. The last team to capture a flag will lose.
Time limit: 60 minutes
Keijiro hummed. "So we mainly need to focus on getting a flag. If ours gets taken then that doesn't necessarily mean we're out of the game." He then opened the box in his hands to reveal a red bandana.
"Oh thank goodness!" Fujitaka exhaled.
Keijiro looked over at Fujitaka and saw a red bandana in his hands as well.
"Wow, seems like our luck is finally catching up," Michael said, also putting on a red bandanna.
"Oh no..."
Keijiro saw Ousuke with a red bandana like the rest of them but Riku and Yui both had a black bandana.
"Well, that sucks," Riku said.
"We'll be fine," Yui assured Ousuke. She pointed to two other people. "I think those are our teammates, let's go Riku."
Keijiro turned to see that those two people were the girl in the bathing suit and the guy in the white jacket. They both were already observing the group and upon closer look, Keijiro could now see bracelets around their wrists that held some sort of key.
"Just be careful," Ousuke told his friends before they walked off. He then looked Keijiro in the eye. "We have to make sure the red and black team wins."
"So just forget the white team huh," Keijiro said causing Ousuke to feel guilty.
"It's about survival."
Keijiro and every other red team member turned to see a girl with long light indigo hair and pink lips also wearing a red bandana.
"And we're going to be first place," the girl said confidently, "my name is Inori and I volunteer myself as leader."
Keijiro stared at her for a moment then turned back to the others. "We should go find our base."
"I agree," Michael said and the girl scoffed.
"So you're just going to ignore me?" Inori huffed. "I'm on your team too."
"She has a point," Fujitaka said, "if we want to win we need all of our players."
"Exactly," Ousuke said then took the lead this time, "let's go."
While following Ousuke, it didn't take long for them to find the red team's base where a flag was sticking out of a small hill. Next to the flag was a bin and when they got closer they saw that it was filled with weapons: swords, knives, and even a crossbow.
Inori immediately grabbed the sword and smiled while inspecting it.
Keijiro pat the gun on his back. "I think I'll stick with this."
"So, who's going to stay behind to guard the base?" Michael asked.
"Someone who can actually fight to protect it," Keijiro said and everyone looked at him. "But not me. I'll do better at getting another team's flag."
"I could stay behind," Fujitaka said.
Ousuke nodded. "I can too. You three can be the attackers."
"Does anyone actually have a plan?" Inori asked.
"If our goal is to have the red and black team win then black needs to steal white team's flag and we'll have to take black team's flag," Keijiro said, "that way we both have a flag and white has nothing."
"Why don't we just take white team's flag and black can take our flag?" Ousuke asked.
Keijiro scoffed. "I know you trust your friends but I prefer to play it safe. We can't risk them taking our flag then stabbing us in the back."
Just then, the sound of a loud horn rung out which signaled the start of the game.
"We'll go out to see if we can run into a member of the black team and tell them our plan," Keijiro explained, "we'll tell them to focus on capturing white's flag and have them tell us where their base is located so we can get theirs."
"You two sure you can guard this base?" Michael asked and Ousuke and Fujitaka nodded confidently.
"We'll be fine," Ousuke said, giving a thumbs up, "no one's getting past us." He grabbed a sword and Fujitaka took out his pistol.
"He's all grown up," Keijiro said, looking at Fuji then took off with Michael and Inori.
"This should be easy then," Michael spoke as they jogged through the trees.
"It should..." Inori said, not sounding too sure, "but I'll let you all do what you want for now."
Keijiro raised an eyebrow at that but kept running until they spotted someone.
A person with a black bandana.
"There!" Inori called out and ran towards the person.
The guys followed her and saw that the person was the girl in the bathing suit. The girl also wore flip flops and had brown braids.
When she spotted them she held up her hands in a fighting stance but lowered them when she saw the color of their bandanas.
"Just who we were looking," Keijiro said.
The girl tilted her head. "Really?"
"Yup and we already have a plan," Keijiro explained, "all your team needs to do is focus on getting white team's flag. Now if you would politely point us in the direction of your base then we can get your flag."
"It's a win win," Michael added.
The girl tapped her chin. "Yeah, I guess so."
Inori narrowed her eyes from how easy the girl complied. "What's your name?"
"Kuina," she answered with a smile then pointed at the path behind her. "Just go back that way and take a slight left. We got this!"
"I like your spirit, Kuina," Keijiro said, "now get a move on."
They went their separate ways and Keijiro was in the lead going down the path they were told to.
"You know, I kind of feel bad for the white team," Michael said.
Inori laughed. "What? Why?"
"Because both of our teams are literally conspiring against them. It's like they never stood a chance."
"Which is why it's an easy win," Keijiro said approaching their destination, "finally."
When the three took the slight left like they were told they stopped right in front of a...
Giant rock.
"What?" Michael blinked in confusion.
"I knew it," Inori hissed, "I really should've pushed to be the leader of this."
Keijiro scratched his head. "This... this doesn't make sense."
"But it makes perfect sense."
The three watched as the guy in the white jacket stepped out from behind the rock. Instead of on his head, his black bandana was wrapped around his wrist covering the key already on it and his hair looked white under the sun.
"What's going on?" Michael asked him.
"I observed everyone in this game before it even started and when the teams were established it made everything a lot clearer," the guy said, "I knew you three would be the runners of your group."
Keijiro scoffed. "Yeah, sure thing lady. How could you possibly know that?"
The guy ignored the jab and continued. "I could already tell you were the type to make themselves leader and come up with a plan. You wanted everything to happen under your control to secure your team's safety. You also figured having your best fighters becoming runners was a good idea."
The guy looked off into the distance. "Too bad your two soft hearted friends had to stay behind as guards."
"Don't you underestimate them," Michael said, "they won't hesitate to protect our flag."
"Besides, one has a sword and Fuji is a natural born sharpshooter." Keijiro grinned.
"Maybe so," the guy said, "I wonder if they'd act the same even when the ones approaching your territory are allies."
"Damn it!" Inori swore, "that buff guy's friends."
"Riku and Yui..." Michael breathed out but shook his head. "They wouldn't betray Ousuke like that."
Right after those words were said, the automated voice spoke to them from above.
Red team's flag has been captured.
Keijiro bit his lip so hard he thought he'd draw blood and Michael frustratedly ran a hand through his hair.
"No wonder that girl agreed to our plan so fast," Inori said.
Keijiro immediately retrieved the gun from his back as his blood boiled and aimed it at the guy who was unfazed by the action.
"Listen here you female feline," Keijiro spat out, "since you think you know everything, did you also expect this bullet to fly through your head?"
"No, but I did expect your friend to stop you."
Like he said, Michael lowered Keijiro's gun in his hands. "We don't have time for this. We need to get white team's flag back to our base fast or else..."
Keijiro gripped his weapon so desperately wanting to pull the trigger but finally lowered it and put it on his back.
"Let's go and stop wasting time!" Inori said and took off first.
Keijiro followed behind pretending not to see the guy's cocky smirk before they left.
"We should retreat back to our base first," Michael said, "make sure that Ousuke and Fujitaka are okay and that the white team isn't on to us."
The three did just that and saw that the two guys seemed fine. They smiled at their approaching friends but their smiles fell when they saw that their hands were empty with no flag.
"Where's the white team's flag?" Ousuke asked, obviously confused.
"Does it look like we have it?!" Keijiro snapped and kicked the rocks around them.
"I think he's mad," Inori snickered then shut up when Keijiro sent a glare her way.
"But Riku and Yui said you guys already had it," Fujitaka said, "the game should be over now."
40 minutes remaining
"Well it's not." Michael sighed. "They lied."
Ousuke instantly shook his head. "No they wouldn't lie to us like that."
Keijiro walked over and harshly poked Ousuke in the chest. "Well guess what? They did! And that cocky feline had the audacity to stand and explain his little stupid observations to us!"
"It's not Ousuke's fault," Fujitaka defended him. "It's not like we knew there'd be an announcement when a flag is captured."
Keijiro turned and wanted to go off on the blonde boy as well but calmed himself down.
"Our team has to get white team's flag before white team succeeds in getting black team's flag," Inori said.
"She's right." Keijiro took a deep breath. "We all need to participate this time since our flag is already gone but that doesn't mean we've lost yet."
"Let's hurry then," Michael said and all of the red team took off.
"We should split up," Inori suggested as they ran, "but I have a plan."
"Fine," Keijiro said, slowing down, "it can't get any worse."
"When we split up whoever finds white team's base first will obviously run into the people guarding it," she explained, "try and convince them that we'll help get black team's flag for them."
"What?" Michael said, "why would we ever do that?"
"The game says whoever captures a flag assures their safety but it said nothing about stealing your flag back," Inori said, "we can convince the white team we're going to attack black team's base to get our flag back and in doing so help white take black's flag."
Keijiro stared at her. "That does sound sort of smart..."
"That's why we'll split up," she continued, "the ones who find the white team first will lead them away from their base while the rest of us grab their unattended flag and take it back to our base."
Ousuke smirked. "I guess we have our second plan then. I'll go off with Fuji—"
"No Fuji will come with us," Keijiro cut him off, "you go with Inori."
Ousuke looked like he wanted to object but pursed his lips and followed orders. He and Inori ran off in one direction while Fujitaka turns to Keijiro.
"Don't be mean to him." Fujitaka pouted.
"I'm not," Keijiro said, simply, "let's not waste time."
The three searched through the forest for white team's base far from the area Kuina told them to go to, figuring she did that to keep them away in the first place. The time was running out as well as their luck and the automated spoke again.
25 minutes remaining
Not too long after, the three finally came across an area with a hill and saw that Ousuke and Inori had beat them there, already talking to three white team members. It seemed they chose to have more guards than runners.
"If you don't wanna believe me then that's your loss!" They heard Inori say, "this could be a chance for us to double team and fight back against the black team."
"We do have a common goal," Ousuke added.
"You're only scrambling because your flag was captured first," one woman said, "what goal could we have in common?"
"Each team has five members and it seems two of yours are out there trying to get the black team's flag," Inori said with her arms crossed, "you're going to need a hell of a lot more people to fight against five black team members."
"She has a point," another white team member said.
"But her logic doesn't make sense," one man disagreed, "what do you get out of stealing your own flag back? You need to steal another team's to win."
"You're wrong."
The man stared at Inori. "Excuse me?"
"The rules say you have to capture a flag and bring it back to your base to win, it doesn't say it has to be another team's. This means capturing back your flag and bringing it back to your base should count as a win."
"She's pretty smart," Michael murmured behind some trees and Keijiro had to agree.
"I think it sounds like a good plan," a white team member said.
The woman who seemed like the leader sighed. "How do we know you won't steal our flag as soon as we leave?"
Inori gestured around them. "Do you see our teammates anywhere? They're already waiting for us at black's base."
"Then let's do this!" The man said.
Inori grinned as Ousuke encouraged them more and they all went in search of black's base leaving their white flag out in the open.
Keijiro watched the group until they disappeared from sight then ran over to the white flag and yanked it out of the ground.
"I can't believe that actually worked," Michael said, "alright, let's go!"
The three ran back to their base as fast as they could before the white team could figure out what's going on. After a while, Keijiro could actually hear angry yelps and he figured the jig was up now but it would be too late for the white team anyways.
The three saw their base coming into view and Keijiro wasted no time in planting the white flag into the ground where their red flag use to be. They waited in anticipation and soon the automated voice spoke again.
White team's flag has been captured
Two teams have succeeded in capturing a flag and are the winners of this game.
It is game over for the white team
Keijiro, Michael and Fujitaka watched as five red lasers came down in the distance and Fuji winced a little.
"Don't you dare feel guilty," Keijiro told him, "it was either them or us. I have some words for the black team though..."
All three of their phones then dinged and they looked down at them.
[Game Clear]
Congratulations
[5 day visa]
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