three.

◌ 𓂂 𝆬 ۪ 𓇼 swearing, blood and descriptions of getting cut on the hand, weapon mention ( gun ).

Letter Ten.

I actually completed another game, but I can't say I made it this time. You would still be here if I had. You idiot, I only wish for you to come back. You almost killed me like I killed you.

I'm starting to really hate you, Lain.

 Perhaps he never wrote the letters out of love, but rather out of pain. It afflicted him to the point where he forgot his own name as he unsteadily outlined his identity. He began writing a series of letters to his worst enemy, torturously wishing for something distinct, just as he had feared. It was disheartening how the words had almost entirely lost their meaning to him.

 Whether he chose to let his cater leave or not, he would never truly have peace on his side.

 He had to decide in this world between his life and the meaning of his life. Though played with a deck of cards on a chessboard, it was a game of poker. Lain never had lost the game; instead, he had lost the cards before he was able to win.

 It was purely a chessboard, with the squares counting each movement he takes and pressuring him to choose poorly enough to end up ashamed.

 His gaze had depicted the afterlife within the chessboard. A lopsided bus covered in painted words. While not perfect, it was nevertheless preferable to a harmonical pit of anything at all.

 Water trickled over his scalp, startling him past his reverie. He felt his skull had become dust, and that his flesh would be too perilous due to his never-ending remorse. He originally assumed that his defected abdomen was giving out on him, yet throughout the entire veer, only his hand had been in desperation. He swiped the blood away, leaving a crimson tear in the heart of his finger, and winced when he spotted the faint bloodstain on his hand.

 He would reflect back and recognize the individuals from before; they appeared to be lifeless, but as their bodies slowly raised, they exhaled a profound sigh of relief when they realized they too, were still trapped in an unending existence of torment.

 Lain had gradually achieved a detached stance, and as he looked around, the bus had nearly plunged to the side. Yet, the isolated atmosphere had managed to retain even after panes had broken in, leaving shattered glass in its path.

 He experienced the same homesickness he did before the borderlands, trapped within his home for hours on end with no clear purpose in mind. This time, however, he didn't wait for a ticket to leave.

 In his search for the safest escape whilst avoiding the glass shards, he heard a familiar voice as he drew near the shattered doors.

 "Hey, are you alright?" Though maybe his heart's parchments had been shattered within the glass shards, enough of it remained to hold adhere once his heart hadn't been in distress, as it usually was.

 He tilted his head downward, "I'm fine, you?" Lain inquired as he observed the door, signaling that it was content to leave. The recognizable voice replied, informing him they were equally  uninjured after Lain had ruthlessly evacuated the retracting doors, which had been hindered and broken since.

 Lain had climbed out of the vehicle before anyone else and turned back somewhere at the painted letters. As soon as he began stepping away from the center of the bus, Takuma quickly followed suit, so he assumed that the voices within the bus were everyone awakening from their long-awaited panic.

 "This makes me look really lame." Lain heaved shallowly and crossed his arms as he spoke.

 "I guess we all are." After they assisted Takuma out onto the bus and everyone settled next to Lain, the black-haired man remarked, smiling comfortingly at Lain.

 Takuma muttered a response in the tragedy of those who had disappeared before arranging his body in a stance to descend without further injuring his leg. 

 When the male questioned as to where the two had been headed, he ended up giving the same answer as Takuma, nodding in the hope that he, too, would remain safe.

 "Tsukumo." Lain grimaced ever so slightly, savoring the ear-splitting sounds of defeat replaying in his mind. Some aspect of the two seemed to offer him a enhanced perspective on the world and a diminished eagerness to dwell outside with the gentle wind each evening.

 "Huh?" He replied, offering Lain a sneer when he scratched his neck.

 "My name. It's Tsukumo."

 "Arisu." Arisu replied as he hesitantly grinned, "I hope to see you around, Tsukumo." Lain smiled for the first time in a while, yet he hadn't responded since he had found in the past that making empty promises in this reality had doomed him.

 Lain trudged apart but was brought to a halt when he mentioned, "Oh! And thank you.."

 "Usagi." She casted a reassuring glance towards Lain.

 "I appreciate you saving me back there, Usagi." Usagi undulated a nod towards Lain as he crossed the threshold following his final salutation.

 He had spent the day reflecting once more as he wandered through the cities ruins in search of a new pastime among the limited possibilities available. He had already both lived and died, but he still struggled to find the right feelings; he thought it strange that someone who was so damaged could bleed.

 He would stop at every stream to find the most picturesque river among those far ahead. He had been tormented by his feelings, but his fate had been sealed by what he saw when he discovered that the rivers had died along with him. Eventually, the dried blood on his palm had swept away in the stream, leaving an indelible vow of his soul into the nighttime rivers of woe. 

 He paused at another river and leaned his elbows against the crest of the metal railing there as twilight fell yet again. He had decided to take a break near the unusual, gleaming structure by the river after a long day of commute.

 The familiar sounds beside him startled him as they walked up to his shoulder, breaking his grievous solitude. "Tsukumo?" To ensure that it was him, Arisu stepped beside him. "Is this The Beach?"

 "The beach?" Tsukumo gulped significantly as a weapon was pointed directly at Arisu's head before he was able turn to face him. He then felt a gravelly sack covering his head, thereby impairing his vision and leaving him lightheaded.

 The next moment he remembered, he was in a building, surrounded by individuals dressed in vivid colored swimwear. He initially thought he was having a nightmare until he observed the suspiciously similar wristbands with too much complication he had already gathered.

 He grimaced satirically, pondering how this was the closest comparison they could find to a beach, drawing deathly glares from the men behind him. He observed their maneuvers, attempting to avoid being punched in the face, prior to getting steered toward the door where a man in a brilliant red entered. "We have the answers you are looking for."

 Lain hastily tilted his head to survey the scene after being startled by the man approaching the seats. It was as if he were on a reality show where he felt it was necessary to joke with the host while the crowd cheered at every humiliating blunder he made.

 "Welcome...To the oasis known as The Beach."

 A number of individuals cleared a path when he snapped his finger. Lain held a bewildered expression since he had only begun to explain the goal of the beach when he observed the display of cards with X's crossed out on most of them.

 From that point forward, everything this man summoned up in his sick thoughts was, in his opinion, total bullshit.

 He was handed a pair of swim shorts with a horrendous pattern on them as he left the room. Blues and purples were alternated with white to form a sketched illustration of spirals. He chose to accessorize it with his signature jewelry, a white tank top, and a blue button-down shirt.

 Although it wasn't his greatest attire, he was confident that the blood which simmered beneath the tank tops fabric would accentuate the style perfectly.

 The ambiance on the beach had seemed off—almost as if they had been concealing something from everyone, who danced and went about their daily lives as if they may die at any given moment.

 He shaded his eyes from the arguing blinking lights and nearly ran into a group of clubbers as a result. He had the perception that he had been ascending stairs in the dark, tripping through every word that escaped out of the populations lips as the music pummeled beneath his brain.

 "Hey, it's game time!" His vision was still somewhat weak as he trailed everyone carefully to the main portion of the beach and could only shudder at the announcement.

 He leaned against the beige tiled wall, sighing as he could finally notice the bright spots that illuminated his eyes when the light shifted to a neutral tone, foreseeing Hatter's voice as he lost himself in the conversations going on. He was focused solely on one pairs in particular.

 "They could fit into our plan." He spoke in a monotonous voice when he gestured to a girl who held a cigarette between her teeth. He could only assume they were referring to the arrivals, Arisu and Usagi, as his eyes darted to the two they were both focusing on.

 When Lain met his stare with the familiar grin that had a distinct splendor of his scheme, the blonde knew that his plan had come to an end at the foreseen steps. 

He was ascertained to prevent this particular blonde from standing in one's way as he leapt from the ledge and headed in the direction of his intended group.

authors notes.

only chaos from here tbh