It had been her first game since Sina's arrival at the Beach. In fact, she'd gotten here just a day ago, after strolling through the empty streets of Tokyo completely lost.

Her companion and only friend in the Borderlands so far had died during their last game, and she was almost ready to give up.

But then, starving and exhausted, she had seen the lights of the Beach. It was in full daylight, so there was no chance it could be a game, and there were so many people! They took her in, gave her a plastic wristband with the number 217 and something to eat.

The rules of the Beach were simple: basically one just had to wear swimwear inside the hotel area and pass all earned cards directly to the Hatter, and then one wouldn't get into trouble.

While that last point was only halfway true (some of the elite guys thought they were the kings and could rule everything), it seemed to be a nice place in the middle of this hell game Sina was forced to play. She already got in touch with very nice people on her first day, and it gave her new hope.

So when her visa had to be renewed the next night, Sina was not as afraid as before. The main hall of the Beach was full of cheering people, and their mood thrilled her too. She was given a number and a car that would bring her to the game area, and with the people of the Beach around her, the chances of winning were high.

Including Sina, five people sat in this car, and she had already seen most of their faces. One of them, a guy that hid his face under a white hoodie and didn't say a single word, somehow caught her attention, but she couldn't say why. Sina tried to see his face, but he had turned his eyes towards the window, and she sat too far away to see anything.

"Let's hope it's not a hearts game!" A woman next to her said with a nervous laugh.

"Hearts game?" Sina asked. While she had managed to survive some games already, she didn't fully understand the system yet, and she was grateful that the woman, whose name was Ichika if she remembered right, explained it to her now.

"There are four possible game types. Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, and Hearts. They all have different focuses – Spades is physical, Diamonds requires intelligence, Clubs usually is cooperative. But Hearts, well… Hearts games can only be survived by betraying and cheating on the other players."

The uneasy shuffle of some other passengers made Sina nervous too. Luckily enough, the car quickly arrived at the game location and they all entered the registration area.

It was a plain and dim room, lit only by a single lamp on the ceiling, and the table with the phones stood in the middle. The game held a maximum of ten players, and one phone was already taken. The five of them crossed the entrance line and took a phone each.

FACIAL RECOGNITION IN PROGRESS.
PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT.

Sina didn't care much about the message as it was the same in every game, but the laser barricades still made her feel sick. Once one entered a game, there was no turning back unless one wanted to die. Sina had seen it already.

The facial recognition was completed quickly and a timer appeared on the display.

PLEASE WAIT FOR THE GAME TO COMMENCE.

As her Beach team had arrived at the game location quite fast, there were still almost 15 minutes left until it would start. Sina exhaled a sigh and sat down on the cold floor. The waiting time was almost worse than the game itself, but she understood that people needed time to reach the game areas in time. Not everyone had the luxury of functioning cars.

She used the time to examine the guy in the hoodie. He leant against a wall, his hands stuck into the pockets. He actually seemed to listen to music, and his brown eyes were observing the other people. They locked with hers as he recognized her staring, and for some reason, it caused Sina's heart to beat faster.

"Who is that guy?" She whispered to Ichika as soon as the guy lost interest in her. Ichika followed her eyes to see who Sina was looking at and then gave her a snort.

"Chishiya? He's part of the Beach's executives, but no need to give him too much attention. As far as I know, he thinks that he's better than anyone else. I don't like him."

"Hmm." She had been at the Beach longer than Sina so she should know, but Sina still couldn't help but feel intrigued about him. At least she knew his name now. Chishiya.

The sixth person in this room seemed to be new to all this, as he asked one question after another, but no one else bothered to answer him. Sina had learned quickly enough that sticking to newbies could easily kill one too, but at the same time, she wouldn't have been here if she hadn't gotten help in the beginning.

"It's a game", she said, ignoring the judging looks of the others. "Follow the rules, and don't try to exit the area as it will kill you immediately."

"Wha-? And what… what if I fail?"

"Then you'll also die. So try to survive."

Sina felt pity as that guy almost broke down, but there was no time to bother because all of their phones sounded a tone that already was familiar to them.

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED.
THE GAME WILL NOW COMMENCE. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO EQUIP A HEADSET FOR FURTHER PROGRESSION.

She took a deep breath, praying that it would be an easy game without the need to kill each other. A hatch inside the wall opened and revealed ten black headsets. Nothing special, just a microphone and a speaker, supposedly to communicate with others through a distance.

[GAME] "SEQUENCE."
[DIFFICULTY] FIVE OF CLUBS

A Clubs game! Sina sighed with relief while she attached the headset on her head. If the words of her companion from the Beach were true, then this was a cooperation game. Which meant chances of survival were high if they managed to properly work together.

[RULE] THE RIGHT SEQUENCE MUST BE ENTERED WITHOUT A SINGLE MISTAKE.
[CLEAR CONDITION ] ENTER THE SEQUENCE WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT TO SUCCESS.

Sina stared at the display as a female computer voice read it all out loud. The rules sounded simple so far, but there was always a twist behind it.

"We can do this." She whispered, and the desperate guy nodded. All of them prepared for the game to start, even Chishiya took down his hood and plucked out the earphones.

And without the hood, he looked even more intriguing. His hair was blonde, but the dark hairline was clearly visible already. There sure were no barbers left in this empty Tokyo to renew the dye in his hair, but for some reason, it even suited him. The light hair slightly curled at neck-length, and two short strands hung loose around the sides of his face, too short to be tucked away behind his ears.

His skin looked incredibly smooth and immaculate except a single mole under his left eye, and dark brows rose in an almost mocking way as he gave the rest of them one last examining look.

A lone door opened, and a narrow metal bridge led to a single platform in the middle of a huge and otherwise empty hall. No other information had appeared on their display yet, which meant that they had to cross the bridge for the game to start.

After all of them had carefully stepped over the fragile looking construct, Sina heard the familiar female voice again.

THE TIME LIMIT FOR THIS GAME IS TWENTY MINUTES.

The timer popped up on the display and immediately started to run down. Twenty minutes didn't seem to be long, as no one had a clue so far what to do. On top of that, the metal bridge moved aside, separating them from the only other door in this room.

Sina tried to observe the platform without missing anything, though there wasn't much. It was a long way down if one fell as there were no railings, and whatever was down there most certainly would kill them. Besides the deadly abyss, Sia could only see a desk with four press buttons on it, every one of them carrying a cards symbol.

"So here's where we have to enter the sequence." She said, and as she looked up, she could see Chishiya approaching the desk too, nodding.

"Now the only question is, where do we find the sequence for this? And what are the headsets for if there's only one platform?"

"We… we could just try to enter a combination to see how it works." The new guy suggested, and one of the other Beach members laughed out loud. He was way taller than the rest of them and looked dangerous, like someone Sina wouldn't want to get in trouble with.

"Sure! Why don't you try it out and test what happens so we don't have to do it?" He teased the other guy, but she quickly interrupted.

"No! Don't do that. If you enter a wrong sequence, you'll die. Maybe even all of us will die. We can't risk that."

"Then what would you suggest?" The tall one asked her with a glare, and while that look scared the hell out of her, Ichika was the one answering.

"We search for clues. There has to be something else that we have missed."

Sina took a deep breath, ready to further examine the platform, when a deep rumble almost brought her out of balance. "What… what was that?" A touch of panic hit her voice, and it didn't get better when Chishiya nodded towards the rim of the platform.

"There's water rising slowly, and it seems to be electrically charged. So either we clear this game in time, or we will get grilled within a second."

So there were several ways to die, and not a single clue how to survive.

The rules said to enter a sequence without making any mistakes.

But how on earth were they supposed to do that?