─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
CHAPTER TWELVE:
we're going home.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

At first, Mei had thought the games would be easy enough—because why wouldn't they be? They were kids games and they'd been given five minutes to complete all five—a minute per game. It shouldn't have been that hard. But whilst she watched the first two teams play, she realised just how wrong she had been. One tiny mess up and it wasted a lot of time, considering the teams had been chained together. If they didn't move as a team, they would be slower—and they wouldn't complete the games in time.

The anxiousness bubbled up inside of her chest, making her feel sick as she watched on. She was paying more attention to the team with a woman on it, trying to figure out if what everyone said was true—that having a woman on the team would slow them down. But so far, the team with the woman was ahead of the others who were still stuck on Flying Stone, unable to knock it over. The only time they had managed it, the player has stepped over the line, immediately making it a fail.

From beside her, Ha-rin let out a heavy sigh, "They're not gonna make it," She told her, watching the intensity of Mei's gaze. Mei shifted to look at her, raising a brow. Ha-rin sat up a little straighter, tucking her dark-cropped hair behind her ears. "Look at them, they're a mess out there—and they spent far too long on each game. That one team is close, but there's no way they make it on time." She explained, her stare hollow.

"You don't know that," Mei argued. "They're already onto the last one." She pointed out the one team that had reached the last mini-game, sweat lining each of their foreheads, bodies shaking.

Ha-rin scoffed, "Look at the timer." She said, giving Mei a nudge.

Mei swiftly turned her head, looking away from the team almost at the finish line at to the timer on the wall. Ten seconds. Even if they managed to complete Jegi in time—they'd still be disqualified. There was no way they'd be able to play the game and make it over the finish line in time. As for the other team, they hadn't even gotten past Flying Stone.

Mei pushed her lips into a fine line, dipping her head and diverting her gaze, waiting for the sound she knew would come, "Time's up. You did not pass the finish line." Called out the PA voice as Mei closed her eyes, bunching her hands into fists.

The sound of gunshots rang out, making her flinch as she kept her eyes closed. People began screaming in fright and then came the silence. Mei opened her eyes as the PA voice called out those that had been eliminated, "Told ya." Ha-rin chirped, picking at the chipped black nail polish on her nails.

Mei turned, giving the girl a glare for how inconsiderate she was being. More people had just died—and she had barely batted an eye. She hadn't even flinched at the sound of the gunshots nor took her eyes off of her fingernails.

"We should have left!" A man suddenly yelled out as he stood to his feet amongst the crowd he'd been sitting in. Mei looked in his direction, her eyes watering. "Now we're all gonna die! We're gonna die because half of you said you wanted to keep doing this!" He accused, gesturing wildly with his hands.

At his exclamation, more people began yelling as Mei looked away, trying to drone out the sound. Upon tilting her head, she noticed Thanos and his friend having a hushed conversation and chose to focus on that instead. She leaned forward a little, tilting her head as she watched them. Thanos was holding his chain between his fingers that had a large cross dangling from it—which he opened up like some kind of secret compartment. Mei's brows furrowed as she watched him pass his friend a tiny blue pill that he was quick to put in his mouth.

Noticing her staring, Thanos perked up, his entire body twitching, "You want a taste?" He asked her, gesturing with the cross between his painted fingers.

Mei stared at him before scoffing and looking away, "Fucking idiots." She whispered under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief. She had been right to believe Thanos had been on something during Red Light, Green Light—and now, everything made sense. Like she had managed to sneak her blade inside, he had managed to sneak in drugs which he and his friend were sharing. Mei assumed they were some kind of happy pills given Thanos' behaviour.

The woman's voice on the PA announced their staff was going to clean up the game hall. It made Mei feel sick. They made it sound like they were actually kids playing games on a playground and had made a little bit of a mess. But bodies littered the floor around them, blood pooling out onto the rainbow coloured track. People were dead, and yet, it was still all a game to them.

Mei watched on as the guards game in with coffins—black in colour with pink bows, looking more like a gift box than a coffin. She looked away when they began lifting the bodies, placing them carefully into the coffins.

"This shit really bothers you, huh?" Ha-rin asked from beside her, crossing her legs into a basket.

Mei looked at her, "Doesn't it bother you?" She snapped, raising a brow.

Ha-rin shrugged, "Not really," She admitted. "It's not the first bodies I've saw and it won't be the last—it doesn't really bother me much." She said with a shrug, her nails picking even harder at the polish as she focused her gaze on her hands.

Mei watched her carefully. Her jaw was flexed, eyes barely blinking as she stared at her nails. The chipped polish had fallen onto her trousers but she hadn't bothered dusting it off, just continued to scrape at the polish. Mei scoffed, "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that." She said, making Ha-rin finally look at her but Mei was already looking away.

When the bodies were finally cleared away, the next two teams were put into their places, rattling with nerves of ending up like the people before them. The guards hadn't bothered cleaning the blood, leaving the reminder of what had happened to the others right there on the floor. It was sick, Mei thought—they could have at least cleaned the blood too so that the other teams would have a fresh start.

"Team 3 and team 4, get ready to play." The PA voice said as the tames all linked arms, preparing themselves.

Mei exchanged a glance with Ji-ho before the gunshot went off—the beginning of the game.

Mei's heart felt like it was in her throat. Somehow, one of the teams that looked like the weakest links were flying through the mini-games, despite having an elderly woman and three other women on the team. They had everyone's attention, watching in suspense as they went from challenge to challenge. Almost everyone was on their feet, cheering them along as they realised that perhaps, they could actually win—that the teams before them had just been unlucky.

Mei was standing, holding her hands to her chest, her eyes wide as she watched one of the woman finally succeed in spinning top. The other woman had slapped her mercilessly when she'd lost her cool—though it hadn't been to be cruel and rather, to snap her out of her meltdown. Everyone cheered for the team, including Mei's team as they moved onto the next game but Mei just stood rooted to the spot, not quite ready to celebrate, holding it in until the very last moment.

They marched in sync towards the last mini-game, "You must kick the Jegi five times to pass." The PA voice told them.

Mei leaned on her tiptoes, trying to look over the heads of the crowd to get a better look at the team, "Everybody turn. Turn, don't look!" The last woman ordered, frantically moving her hands as she held onto the Jegi piece. Mei didn't turn straight away, staring at the woman for the longest of moments, assuming that perhaps she was just shy or nervous—but the longer she looked at her, she realised she had some more masculine features which then suddenly made sense to her.

She turned away quickly, wanting to respect the woman instead of staring. Instead, she looked to the timer that was at fifteen seconds—a whole five more seconds more than the last team that had almost made it, "Please let them make it." She whispered under her breath, almost pleading a God she didn't believe in.

Ji-ho suddenly grabbed at her hand, clutching it, "They'll make it." He assured her as the entire room fell into a deep silence.

Mei listened as the Jeji was thrown into the air, the tinsel rattling. One kick. Two. Three. Four... five.

The entire arena erupted into cheers and screams as the PA voice confirmed their success. Mei jumped on her feet, clutching Ji-ho's hand even tighter as they jumped up and down together, cheering loudly for the team, relief and excitement flooding through her body at once.

"One, two! One, two! One, two!" The crowd began chanting for them as they made their way towards the finish line, the seconds counting down—almost at zero.

Mei grabbed onto Ji-ho in anticipation, leaning further onto the tip of her toes to get a look. Just as the timer reached the last second, they stepped through the red ribbon the guards were holding, making the arena get even louder as everyone began screaming their heads off, cheering for their victory.

"They did it!" Mei exclaimed, a wide smile on her lips as she grabbed onto Ji-ho's shoulders, bouncing up and down on her feet, hair swinging at her shoulders.

Ji-ho pulled her in for a hug, patting at her back as they celebrated the team's win. Against all odds, one of the weakest teams had managed to make it out alive with a second to spare. It was worth every second of the celebration. Their win had given everyone else hope—proving that the games could be completed if they worked as a team.

Mei calmed herself down, brushing her hair from her face, her cheeks flushed as she looked up at Ji-ho, "We can really make it," She realised, a wide smile on her mouth, eyes lit with hope. "Ji-ho, we could actually win this game and go home." She told him, her had on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

He grabbed onto her, tucking her under his arm and resting his chin on the top of her head, "Yeah. We're going home."

( authors note )

       literally nothing happens in this chapter so i'm gonna so a double update!!

       — taylor x