===Maeda Mihoko===

"Hey." A voice said, shaking my body.

I grumbled, turning in my bed.

"Wake up, it's almost 4PM!"

The voice was Charī's. I blinked my eyes open, rubbing my head as I got up. My clothes stuck to my skin, and I laid on a mattress on the floor. For a second, though confused, everything seemed normal.

Then, memories of last night came flashing back, like streaks of thunder.

The Ten of Clubs. The massacre. The flooding. Erina, Nobira, Ryota, Natsuki, Senri, Hideo, and dozens of others... All dead.

My mouth was a desert, but Charī seemed to understand, passing me a half-full bottle of water. I nodded my thanks, finishing the entire bottle within seconds, the water running down my mouth and spilling onto my clothes.

"I'm never submerging myself in water ever again." I said, shaking my head. "I'm never going to shower, or bathe, or go out in the rain. Nope. I've seen enough water for my entire lifetime."

"You can say that again." He said. My eyes widened; his mask was off. I'm not sure what my head was expecting–he was a completely normal guy. Brown eyes, a sharp nose, and coarse, dull black hair. It was just shocking seeing him without his mask on, yet he appeared to not pick up on my shock.

I stretched my arms, looking around. Dull, sore pain pounded at all angles through my body and joints. "Where is everyone else?"

"Most people woke up already, Kazetani didn't want to bother you, but thought you should wake up soon since it's already so late."

"My god... My mind sort of just wiped out last night from my memory. What time did we get here?"

"I forgot too. Apparently close to one or two in the morning. Most people literally collapsed straight on the floor. I woke up with my head on a shoe."

Despite the context, I laughed. "A shoe?"

"I've fallen asleep in worse places." He shrugged.

"Like?"

"The shower, one morning when I was super sleepy." He said, grinning.

"Wow! That is... Impressive. Anyways, what happened to your mask?"

"It got messed up in the water. I left it in some rice, but I don't know if it's salvageable."

"Why do you always wear that hunk of junk anyways?"

Again, he shrugged. "I just think it makes me look cool. Is that not already a big enough reason in itself?"

"Fair enough." I said.

Through the doors, Zakū, Ashikaga, and Haga emerged, each carrying a small plastic cup with a spoon.

"Oh hey, you're up." Zakū said, a slight smile peeking at the corners of his mouth.

"What has everyone been doing?" I questioned.

"The adults have been trying to figure out the next course of action." Haga said. "And us... kids have just been left doing our own thing."

I raised my eyebrow. "Kids? You and Ashikaga are like, twenty-something!"

"Me and Haga were just out of college a few months ago." Ashikaga said. "I'm twenty-three, he's twenty-four. We might not be quite literal high-schoolers, but I guess they'd rather just let us not have to worry about anything, which is fine by me."

"Are you two... Feeling okay, though?" I asked. "I know after last night... I mean, I know we all lost a lot of people and, you know, I know that..."

I stopped talking. 'What the hell am I saying?'

Ashikaga sighed. "I'd be lying if I said I'm fine. This morning was hard... A lot of people are very emotional."

"We're all still in shock." Haga said, as he began making his way back out the door, beckoning us to follow him. Outside, the sun shone. I shielded my eyes, squinting, my loose shirt flapping in the breeze.

"It... Feels so nice outside." I said, smiling.

"It's cruel. The gamemakers probably did this on purpose, assuming they can control the weather." Zakū said. "Probably a way of taunting us. Such a nice day after the death and slaughter of last night."

In the distance, Gabura and Aoyama sat together in a field of orange and purple flowers, facing each other and laughing. Aoyama held a guitar in one of her hands, which laid in the grass. Chihaya, Niko, Rafferty, and Judumai stood together, their body language tight. They were positioned next to two large buckets, and Niko sported a stained apron.

Small gatherings of people were dotted around the university, and in a corner of the parking lot was Benkei and Tori, who waved us down.

"Hey! You're awake!" Benkei said, chuckling. He was sketching a landscape drawing on a canvas which he held in his lap.

"Hey guys." I said, looking down at my shirt. "I should've put something on... I look like I just escaped an asylum."

"Maeda, trust me, that's the least of our concerns right now." Tori assured. "I mean, look at me!" They wore an oversized, faded gray hoodie displaying a picture of New York City, which went down to their thighs.

I burst into laughter. "Ha! This... This feels like... Such a strangely normal day."

"I think people are trying to push it down." Haga said, as Ashikaga played a handheld console game, soft beeping coming from it. "No one really wants to think about it, not until tonight, anyways, when we hold our vigil."

"Wait, I just noticed." Charī said. "Isn't Niko a foreign exchange gastronomy student? Why isn't he with us?"

Zakū shrugged. "He's still a college student, but he's probably the most mature out of us. It's not shocking he'd rather join the grown-up conversation. And I mean, that is a blinding issue we're kind of avoiding–what to do from here on out. But not even I want to think about that. For once... I just want to focus on the present."

"That's what I like to hear!" I yelled, giving him a good-natured nudge on the shoulder. "You're finally loosening up! By the way, what are you guys eating?"

"Oh!" Tori said, the spoon in their mouth. "Niko's a damn wizard, I swear to god. He found some milk boxes–you know, the little ones that you stick the straws in? They had a search party through the wreck in the morning for resources and... bodies. He used the milk along with some ingredients from the Maindo kitchen to make two batches of vanilla and chocolate ice cream!"

"Damn! I'm going to go get some right now!"

"They're all out, though." Tori said. "I'm sorry."

"Oh... That's fine. I suppose that's what I get for waking up so late."

"You can have mine." Zakū offered.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He said, shrugging. "I only ate two bites, but kind of lost my appetite. It's no big deal; consider this an even trade after you gave me that chocolate bar a while back. And I got vanilla, so don't worry."

"Thanks, you're actually amazing!"

"So what do you guys want to do now?" Charī asked. "It's still about three more hours until the vigil starts."

"Let's do something fun." I said, swinging my arms. "Something to break the ice, something for us to get to know each other."

"We already know each other." Charī said.

"Well, yes, but aside from people like Benkei and Tori who've been friends prior, or people like Rafferty and Judumai who've known each other for long enough to truly developed a sense of trust, for the rest of us, our friendships are strenuous at best."

"That's... True." Zakū said.

Ashikaga shrugged. "I know the other Maindo leaders, as well as Haga and Senri, very well. But who knows? There's always more to people than you'd think."

"Let's play some sort of party game that'll allow us to get to know each other better. And truly know each other better, not just the surface level stuff. Something that'll allow us to interact and laugh, and show our true selves. I think it'll be fun after such a heavy night."

"I like the sound of that." Haga said. "I'm on edge."

"What's on your mind then?" Benkei asked. "Like, what game?"

"I don't know. Like... Never Have I Ever or something?"

Tori laughed, taking another bite of their ice cream. "Hah! It'll be like we're in some sort of American high school movie."

I chuckled. "I mean, when I watch western movies, that's a game I've seen teens and young adults play sometimes."

"Yeah... I'm going to have to pass on that one." Ashikaga said. "I had to play a game like that once here, a Five of Hearts. I don't really want to be reminded of that."

"Understandable." I said. "Okay then... How about something like Truth or Dare? That's also a game you see all the time in western movies!"

"Um, that'll be a pass from me." Zakū said, raising his hand. "Same reason as Ashikaga."

"Damn," Haga said, "the Borderlands have ruined games for everyone. Not for Ashikaga though, I guess." He laughed.

She smiled, flicking her game console in her hands.

Haga continued. "I remember in college, contrary to the stereotypes of my major and profession, I actually quite enjoyed playing basketball. A single Three of Spades basketball tournament later... and I think I've seen enough basketballs for a lifetime. Only my second game too."

"Me and Benkei had a Nine of Spades for our second game." Tori said.

"Gah." Benkei scoffed, a smile beneath it. "Just when that finally began fading from my mind. An entire city avenue, sinking into lava. Out of fourteen people, only us two and two more survived."

"Holy crap." I breathed, licking my spoon. "All of a sudden my super horrific Five of Spades doesn't sound so traumatizing anymore. It was called the Tokyo Chainsaw Massacre, and took place inside a butcher plant. It was freezing, and the sprinklers wouldn't shut off while chainsaw-wielding dealers chased us.

"We had to try to open dozens of lockers throughout the building, and one would provide a key that would unlock another one of the dozen lockers, and so forth, until every locker was opened. Some guy was sawed in half in front of me."

"I kinda saw something similar." Charī said. "In my first game, someone was dropped from a gallows. The fall was high, and the slack was so intense that his head was ripped from his body."

The crowd cringed, but Ashikaga leaned forward. "I got that beat." She smiled. "Dissolved by acid. The entire body was just a black sludge. It was something from a sci-fi movie, but it also kind of looked like diarrhea."

We laughed, as Zakū cleared his throat, unraveling his sleeve. On his left arm was the wicked scar, a muddy brown vein running down its length. "Got this from an Eight of Hearts. I don't usually like showing it off but... Just this once, consider yourselves privileged to get to witness this." He gave a slight smile, as if proud of surviving the cause of the scar.

"Well, if we're talking about scars now..." Charī said, flipping his arms over. "Benkei and Zakū might still remember these."

All over his arms were webs of deep scars, as if he had shoved his hand into a barrel of glass. His skin was calloused and rough, and had no hair.

"Got this from a Two of Hearts called Guts. I had to shove my hand into a barrel full of razor blades, glass shards, and nails to retrieve a key."

"Oh!" I laughed. "I was just thinking that it looked like you put your hand into a bucket of knives!"

"Honestly though, they look kind of cool!" Tori complimented. "Makes you look badass and mysterious."

"I don't have a scar as serious as that, but I do have this burn mark." Ashikaga said, rolling up her pants and showing us the back of her ankle. A crimson blotch of red sat, stretching across her skin. "I got it from a Seven of Spades called Pirate Plunder. We were in a sinking ship as it was bombarded by cannonballs. I was caught in an explosion, but miraculously, only had this to prove."

"Hmm..." Haga said, scratching his chin. "I don't have anything permanent, but I do still occasionally get radiation symptoms."

"Radiation?" Tori asked. "I've never heard about a game that uses radiation. Just when you think you've heard it all..."

Haga nodded. "Three of Diamonds: Gamma Ray Poker! It wasn't completely like poker, but depending on how you performed, you were exposed to certain levels of radiation. If you got a Game Over, you would die by radiation. The room would shoot gamma rays so powerful your heart would fail. Even the people who did clear the game... I know for a fact they would've succumbed to poisoning down the line. I was lucky."

"Radiation poisoning... As an execution method?" Charī paused, then laughed, pulling out his Ascension to Hell notebook. "That's so creative! Hopefully this idea isn't copyrighted because it's definitely going into Ascension to Hell!"

"Dude." Ashikaga scoffed, rolling her eyes but still smiling. "You're surrounded by death games every day, how can you still think about it in all your free time?"

"I just like the concept!" Charī defended. "I spent most of this morning finishing up the rooms and basic plot outline–shoutout to Benkei for being the best concept artist ever. All that's left is the final game where Hyobe faces the CEO of Helltower Games. But... To be frank, I don't really have many good ideas for how the game will go. I have no concept in mind, all I know is that it needs to be incredibly clever."

"Well, I'm sure you'll come up with something." Benkei reassured him.

"Thanks. This idea is honestly really special to me. I've had it even before coming to the Borderlands. I really want to see if it goes somewhere after I leave the Borderlands."

"After we leave..." Zakū muttered. "More like if."

"The first thing I'm going to do after I leave is eating french fries." Tori said. "Now–I can't explain how or why, but I've been having this insatiable craving for them for weeks now."

"The first thing I'm doing is saying hi to all my friends..." Ashikaga said.

"For me," I said, "I'm never taking anything for granted again. The sky will never seem the same. The trees will never seem the same. Life... Well, it'll become so much more precious to me, now that I know how much more precious it is."

"I wouldn't even mind going back to school." Charī said. "At least in school, I get to take nothing seriously while still slipping through with my grades. I know that I'm not going to go in and not make it out alive."

Benkei shook his head. "No way, I still think I stand more of a chance in a Ten of Diamonds than scoring any higher than the bottom quartile in any math exam."

"What exactly did you and Tori major in, anyways?" Zakū asked, pulling apart a few blades of grass.

"Uh... Is it bad that I genuinely don't remember?" Benkei asked. "Oh, yeah. It was business—pretty much just a safety quip."

"My major was accounting." Tori said.

"I'm sorry but I cannot possibly imagine you as an accountant." I said.

Tori laughed, but shrugged. "It's not something I'm crazy about, but it's practical."

"I mean, at the very least, you'll have a secure future." Benkei assured.

"So, I'm assuming you were never the best in school?"

"Hell no." Benkei said. "The only fun part was PE. I guess I'm pretty much the perfect example of the dumb jock stereotype, but over the years I've learned to accept my limits. My parents... They really pushed me, but I think at this point they've given up, and just want me to be happy."

"Yeah man, I get that." Ashikaga said. "My mom didn't like me wanting to pursue music and dance... But what else could I do, you know? I ended up just chasing what made me happy."

"It was the same for me..." Charī said. "My older sister... She's a prodigy. Top of her class, perfect scores, perfectly popular. And as I grew up, so was I. But the pressure our parents put on us, well..." He paused, as if debating whether he should continue talking.

"Her path wasn't what our parents wanted. Even though I had gotten into the top high school in my neighborhood, I just couldn't deal with it anymore. They couldn't have high expectations of me if I had no expectations to give, so I just started purposefully doing worse to the point that I'm now almost kicked from my school."

"Damn..." I muttered.

"Call me the biggest dick in this world, but being smart isn't easy." Zakū said, rising up. "And I know people say crap like this all the time: pretty people will say pretty privilege doesn't exist, and rich people will say money doesn't buy happiness. But this, I feel like it's genuinely true."

"It's true, I agree." Tori said. "People will expect nothing short of excellence from you. But most importantly, you'll expect more from yourself than everyone else combined."

"And among the top, it feels like no one can be friends." Haga said. "Everyone's just trying to one-up each other in a dick-swinging contest. So many of my friends just turned so toxic throughout college. It sucks."

"People will feel intimidated, and some will try to challenge you." Zakū said, under his breath. "They'll..." He didn't finish his sentence, closing his eyes.

"I remember that was a huge issue at my school." Charī said. "Since so many rich people went there, thugs would constantly harass people and bribe them into giving test answers, or simply just to feel strong, I guess."

Ashikaga shifted in her seat. "This conversation kind of got a bit sad... And raw."

"I have a tendency to do that, apologies." Zakū said, flicking his arm up, his eyes softening.

I laughed. "But I mean, I feel like I know you guys a lot better now. I'm glad we had this talk."

"Hey! You guys!" Niko shouted, from the distance, running up to us.

"What's up, Niko?" Benkei asked.

"Want to help us with dinner prep? I remember you and Maeda wanting something to keep your mind busy." He said, pointing to me and Charī.

"Oh! It's already been an hour." Ashikaga realized. "We talked a lot, and I guess time flew by. I'd like to!"

"Dinner already?" Haga asked.

"It'll take an hour, then another hour to eat." Niko explained. "After that, then... We hold the vigil."

"Count us in." Benkei said, standing up and motioning to Tori.

"Yeah, we haven't really done anything all day." I said.

"Alright! Let's whip up the best meal ever!" Charī shouted. "After last night, it's what we deserve!"

===Rafferty Bucke===

The fire crackled, small embers drifting into the air, landing on my skin.

Chihaya threw another stick of wood into the fire, as it continued roaring.

"I lost two friends in the Treasure Hunt." Gabura said, her expression stone-like. "Koyasu, and Hashira. It wasn't even like we were best friends, But... We had all gotten to know each other pretty well. Hashira was into rock climbing, and Koyasu, well, you guys know how good she was with anything technical. And now... they're both gone."

She turned to us. "Please just... Pass on their legacies. Let them be known, even if you didn't know them. Just..." Her voice faltered, but she pushed it off. "Please don't let their memories die."

A pause followed after, and Kazetani stepped forward. "I know I had already talked about Nobira, earlier, I... I already talked about it. But there's actually someone else, there's... One more person who I think I should talk about. And that's Sasori."

Beside him, Ashikga cried, wiping her tears, as Shirai held her hand.

Chihaya leaned forward. "What... What do you mean?"

He sighed. "Remember how Sasori always went on those bike rides at night, after the games ended? That was to Maindo. She... She was part of us all along. She was one of the first to join Maindo, and I gave her the pivotal role of joining the Beach, knowing her medical expertise would've allowed her to be the highest-position mole we could've had. If... If on that night, I hadn't told her in particular to take those out to the games, she wouldn't