The water kept on rising slowly, and while it was still deep down there, they had less than fifteen minutes left to clear this game. Sina had tried to find an answer somewhere in the ceiling, but it was only covered with scaffoldings with no sign of card symbols.
Whatever she did, Sina came back to the desk with the press buttons. And suddenly, she noticed something else. On the side of the desk was a small lever attached, and without even thinking about it, she pushed it down.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Sina heard the other's scream, but no laser shot through her head and no fire burnt her to ashes immediately, so at least her decision hadn't been deadly.
"Look…there on the floor!" Ichika exclaimed, and Sina turned around to see what her action had caused.
A metal hatch had opened in the middle of the platform, and they all gathered on the ground to see where it led to. It seemed to be another room, too dark to see much, but Sina did realize there was water on the floor.
"It's already started to flood. What if the water there is charged too?" she wondered, even though compared to the slowly filling delve around the platform, this seemed to be completely normal water.
"Time to find out." The huge guy said, and before Sina could even react, he pushed her down the hatch. She bumped her head on the metal edge while exhaling a scream and it hurt a lot, but at least the water down there eased her fall a bit.
Sina touched her aching head and saw blood on her fingers, but she was too shocked to even swear. But another realization hit her, and she shouted up to the others as soon as she managed to breathe properly again.
"It's just normal water, nothing deadly as far as I can see! And it's not rising."
"No need to shout, we can hear you perfectly fine through the headsets." Sina heard Chishiya's voice in her ear, and she also heard Ichika cursing at the guy who had pushed her down.
TWELVE MINUTES REMAINING .
The computer voice sounded again, bringing back the panic to most of them. Eight minutes lost and still no clue what to do.
"There has to be something…" Sina murmured to herself as she walked through the knee-deep water. She wondered if the water has been there all the time, but what would be the sense behind that? Though now that the room was open, it wasn't rising anymore, but why? Precious minutes went by as she searched the room for anything helpful.
She howled with pain as her knee bumped into something hard. The room was too dark to see properly and Sina's eyes were still adjusting, so she tried to sense what it was. And she was suddenly overcome by the realization of how this game might work.
"Hey, I found something! I think it's a display."
Two more players slowly descended the ladder into the room, one of them Ichika.
"Is it showing a sequence?" Chishiya asked, and Sina shook her head first until she realized that he couldn't see that.
"Right now, it's dark. But I have an idea… Pull the lever again!"
Her idea was answered by some panicked screams, and Sina too wasn't sure if it would be that smart. But time was running out, and there was no other option, was it?
A metallic scratch sounded as Chishiya pushed the lever up into its original position. The ground rumbled and Sina expected to be grilled by electricity any moment now, but the water just started to rise instead.
"No! The hatch!" Ichika exclaimed with shivering voice, and Sina looked up to see that the hatch had closed again.
"Open it up! NOW!" The other one clearly panicked, but Sina could see a light down in the water.
"What's happening down there?" She heard the new guy ask, and as the water already touched her thighs, she took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"As soon as the hatch closed, the water started to rise again. But I can also see a light under the surface, and I think the display is active now."
"Can't you open the hatch again and let us out? It'd be enough if one person remained here!"
Sina was already annoyed by that guy breathing heavily next to her, and she shook her head with determination. "We don't have time for this now."
FIVE MINUTES REMAINING.
Chishiya seemed to be the only one not panicking right now, and Sina was glad to hear his voice as he asked: "Do you see anything now?"
The reflections made it hard to recognize a thing, so Sina doused her head into the water to get as close to the display as possible. There was indeed a sequence! She memorized it and quickly returned to the surface, while Ichika still clung to the ladder and the other one waded through the room while mumbling something scatterbrained.
"I do. Listen carefully! The sequence is Hearts, Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Clubs." Her heart beat fast, because she knew that if she made a mistake, it would kill them all.
It was silent while Chishiya entered the sequence Sina had given him, and she waited for the success tone to sound from her phone. But there was nothing.
"Did you enter it?" Ichika sobbed, and Chishiya confirmed that he did.
"Check the display. There has to be another sequence."
And there was, in fact. Sina could see that the symbols had changed, and she could barely stand now because the water already reached to her stomach. Ichika was crying desperately, obviously scared by the amount of water around her, and Sina felt that panic too. But panicking wouldn't help her, so she dove down again.
Her eyes burnt and her head ached from the still bleeding wound, but Sina tried to concentrate. The sequence was longer this time, and she repeated it in her mind twice before pushing herself off the ground again.
Breathing heavily, she paddled with her arms to keep her head over water.
"Alright, here it goes. Spades, Hearts, Hearts, Diamonds, Cubs, Spades, Diamonds."
Sina had to give through the sequence twice because the third person with them in the room started to scream, and even though Ichika was anxious herself, she tried to calm him down so he wouldn't waste more of their precious time.
"Got it. Time for the third sequence."
Sina's heart sank to her boots as she heard Chishiya's words. There wasn't much space left between the water and the ceiling, and she was sure that she wouldn't have enough air for a fourth try.
"The last one, hopefully. We're running out of air!" She exclaimed before diving down again, internally moaning at the long sequence.
"Don't forget that the water outside is rising too! We're all grilled steak soon if you don't do this now!" The huge guy shouted, and it was hard to focus with him swearing into her symbols started to blur before her eyes, and it didn't help that a panicking foot hit her time after time.
ONE MINUTE REMAINING.
It required all her concentration to memorize it as quickly as possible, and when Sina dove up again, she had to press her face against the cold concrete so she could still breathe.
Ichika was only whimpering quietly, and the other one had gone completely silent.
THIRTY SECONDS REMAINING.
"Quickly now!" Sina spluttered while coughing out water, "Clubs, Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, Hearts, Hearts, Spades!"
It suddenly became silent, and she felt like she was going to black out any moment now as water filled her lungs. She couldn't fail now! This was not the right place for her to die!
But then, the ground vibrated once more and an excruciating sound filled her ears. A burbling noise told Sina that the water was being drained off and she could see light through the opening hatch. A hand was reaching down and Sina took it without hesitation.
Fresh air greeted her lungs while she coughed out the remaining water, and then she saw Chishiya crouching right next to her. He had been the one who pulled her up, and he smirked at her while patting her shoulder. "Well done down there."
While Ichika climbed up the ladder too, shaking from head to toe and hyperventilating, the metal bridge returned and reconnected the platform with the only other door.
"What's with the third one?" The new guy asked, but he didn't get an answer. Sina assumed that he had lost consciousness through panicking so much and drowned before the hatch opened, and she couldn't even feel sorry for him.
She panted, forcing her body not to shake too much as Ichika and Chishiya helped her to get up. "Can't believe we made it", Sina whispered, and she didn't dare to look back on the platform as they crossed the bridge.
A cheerful sound escaped their phones, followed by the computer voice.
GAME CLEAR.
CONGRATULATIONS.
They entered the registration room again as there was no other exit, and the remaining phones had been taken off the table. Instead, there was a lone card placed on it: The five of clubs. Ichika took it, ready to hand it over to the Hatter as soon as they'd return to the Beach, and they waited for another ringing of their phone.
WE WILL SUPPLY ALL GAME SURVIVORS WITH A FIVE-DAY VISA.
Five days until they'd have to play another game. Sina took a deep breath as she got out of the building together with the others, and the lights turned off, leaving them in the darkness. The newbie instantly ran away, maybe trying to escape this death game. Which was a pity because Sina had planned to invite him to the Beach, but if he wanted to play on his own, she wouldn't force him to do otherwise.
"Let's go home." Ichika said, opening the door of the car so Sina could enter. "What about you, Chishiya?"
He shook his head. "I prefer to walk."
Sina couldn't help but watch how he pulled the hood over his head again and disappeared in the darkness, while all around Tokyo, red laser beams descended from the sky, ready to kill those people whose visa had expired tonight.
And since that night, Chishiya had captured her mind and her heart, and he wouldn't leave no matter what Sina tried.
