A prision.

20 inmates. And lots of lies and conspiracies.

A mind game of horror.

Only one of them was the wanted jack of hearts. And until he was found, the game would continue without mercy.

Round after round.

I had seen a lot of terrible things since I was here in Borderland, but this game was one of the worst ways to make people continuously insane in turn. Until now, heart games were the games I was best at. You didn't need any special talents or skills to have the upper hand in these games. A good knowledge of human nature and the ability to read emotions were often enough to succeed. Sometimes, however, even that was of little help to emerge as a survivor. It also took a healthy dose of luck.

Luck was what had kept me alive until now. My luck, however, was also the misfortune of others. Every time I survived, another life was irrevocably extinguished for it. You'd think that after a certain number of games you'd get used to it. But no...it was something I would never get used to. Looking people in the eye one moment and watching them die the next. The few friends I had made in the Borderland. They were all victims of the games. They all did not deserve to die.

The real prison, was not this building where the Jack of Hearts game took place. It was this world. Borderland. The world from which there was no escape. Here one had to choose: Live or die? There was nothing in between. It made you realise the finiteness of your own life. And suddenly you thought about things that had never occurred to you before. Was I actually happy? Had I achieved what I wanted? If I were to die today, was there anything I deeply regretted?

And yes, of course I regretted a few things in my still young existence. But I came to the conclusion that my life was still worth fighting for. Because there was one thing I had not lost, no matter how hopeless the situation seemed: the hope that everything would get better one day. And I would cling to that until I drew my last breath. That was exactly what I had sworn to myself.

I smiled as I stared at the unfinished sketch in front of me. If I made it out of here alive, I would finally finish my webtoon and publish it. That thought had kept me going for the last few weeks. If I died in Borderland, there would be no end for my webtoon. Only if I got out of here alive I would learn the solution to the great riddle. The reason why we were here in the first place, why I was here. Was the resolution something I had thought of before or something else entirely? Was there possibly a surprising plot twist that changed everything? None of us really knew what happened when all the games were played and all the cards collected. But that was exactly what I wanted to know.

I continued to sketch my layout for a while, completely concentrated. Then the computer-generated voice again told me that another round would soon be over. I sighed and reluctantly got up. The players of this game had already dwindled to less than half and every damn time we were supposed to enter our cell to name our symbol, I felt a little queasy. In the end, you never knew if you were being lied to.

It helped at least a little that I had been learning about psychology and human behaviour for some time. Still, it was never a guarantee. People were far too unpredictable to be able to judge them one hundred percent. Anyone who claimed otherwise was simply lying. If there was one thing I had learned in Borderland, it was that even the friendliest of people could stab you in the back at any time.

"Clubs," I said as I stood alone in my holding cell, hoping not to get a death penalty.

I closed my eyes and waited in silence for my sentence while my pulse raced noticeably. Nothing happened. I exhaled a little in relief. Another grace period, then. Another round of trembling and trepidation. As I entered the long corridor, I again heard the muffled sound that told us someone had been eliminated.

I looked around and quickly realised that it was Ippei, the unassuming but sincere-looking guy who had been Chishiya's team partner. And apparently there was also no trace of Ayumi, the woman who had last helped me find out my symbol. I had no idea why she was dead now, because I had definitely told her the right symbol. For a brief moment I stared impassively at the screen with the photos of all the participants and looked at the extinguished image of her. There was no indication that any of them had been the jack of hearts, which meant the game was still not over.

"Rest in peace, Ayumi-san," I whispered tonelessly. "And Ippei-san."

Averting my gaze from the monitor, I realised there were only six of us left. Four of us were already forming teams of two. All four didn't seem particularly trustworthy to me. And then there was Chishiya, who was now wearing an almost carefree grin, as if this game was just some kind of nice pastime for him. For a fleeting moment, our eyes met. I tried hard not to make a face, but for some reason his indefinable smile made me briefly return it.
When I realised what I had done, I quickly averted my gaze and stroked my fringes over my eyes a little shyly.

I noticed that Chishiya and I were the only ones who now had no team partner. The other four gradually left the corridor. Chishiya, however, stood rooted to the spot, his hands buried in his jacket pockets as usual, and pulled out a small bag of biscuits. He did not look at me. Apparently we were both waiting for the other to speak first.

"Biscuit?" he asked suddenly. I turned my gaze to the side and saw him generously holding out the packet to me.

I looked at him for a considerable time before answering.

"I'm not curruptible," I replied as coolly as I could.

Shrugging his shoulders, he took the bag again and pulled out a biscuit.

"Would you rather ask one of the others? They don't exactly inspire confidence, do they?"

"And you do?", I asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

He gave a short amused laugh.

"Good point" When I didn't answer, he added, "I could be the jack of hearts just like you."

I frowned and stared at him.

"You know I'm not."

"I don't know you," was all he replied.

I sighed.

"Well, if you trust me so little, you'd better ask someone else," I hissed, rushing off a little indignantly.

Only a few minutes later I regretted this stupid action. As I watched the other participants mumble, each of the couples separately, I realised that I had a problem if I didn't trust Chishiya across the way. I actually thought it rather unlikely that he was the jack of hearts, but still he was difficult to judge. What if he had an elaborate plan? Somehow I was sure he had a plan. Even back at the Beach, I had watched him from a distance and had come to assess him somewhat.

As much as I had admired his superior intelligence there, it was clear to me that despite everything he was also cold and calculating. Chishiya did nothing without an ulterior motive, without an elaborate plan in his head. And he was always calm about it. I knew that he was not evil at heart, but I also knew that he was a dangerous opponent in the games, acting primarily with logic and acumen. Human lives didn't seem to mean much to him, at least judging by his outward reactions.

Although he was Ippei's partner, he seemed almost completely unaffected by the latter's unexpected death. Did he not have the tiniest hint of compassion for him? Did he only care about winning? In any case, an inner voice told me to be careful. My naivety had already fallen on my feet here far too often. I had learned from that.
But when I pulled out my sketchpad again in the common room and scribbled haphazardly on it to clear my head, I realised that I had no other option. The others wanted nothing to do with me and I shared Chishiya's opinion that each of them looked extremely suspicious. One of the four had to be the jack of hearts. That was clear. But who exactly, I could not tell for sure.

There were also rumours that one of them was a ruthless murderer. But maybe it would be too obvious if someone like that was the jack of hearts. On the other hand, we were also in a prison....

Looking towards the door, I saw a white figure leaning casually in the frame. I sighed and rolled my eyes a little, but did not stop drawing.

Chishiya sat down silently opposite me, watching me closely meanwhile.

"No friends made yet?", I asked a little pointedly, looking up at him briefly.

"I'm afraid not," he sighed playfully.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Don't you need someone to tell you your symbol?"

"You're pretty clingy, aren't you?", I said, trying to sound a little annoyed, when in reality my heart was resoundingly hammering in my chest. I paused and looked at him expectantly without blinking.

"I'm a little attached to my life."

I chuckled briefly.

"Why?"

"Hmm..." He seemed to be seriously considering my question. "No idea actually."

I raised my brows in surprise.

"Maybe you should think about it."

"Yeah, you're right about that."

"Are you just agreeing with me so I'll tell you your symbol or are you doing it because you really think so?", I asked.

"Both."

I shook my head in disbelief and then stood up abruptly, but only to walk once around the table. Chishiya's gaze followed me briefly. When I was behind him, I said:

"You have Diamond. Satisfied?"

He half-turned to me.

"Thank you," he said, though the gratitude seemed a little forced on him. I turned my back to him and pushed aside the hair on the back of my neck.

"Heart," he replied and then continued to crunch on his biscuit, completely unbothered, as if he was just telling me the weather forecast for tomorrow.

"Then let me continue in peace now," I pleaded.

Chishiya stood up.

"See you."

Then he disappeared into the darkness again. Again I shook my head, a small amused smile on my lips. What a strange fellow... hopefully he really could be trusted. On the other hand, if I were dead too and the game continued, he didn't have many alternatives left. So I was relatively sure that he would not have lied.

Another hour later, in the cell, I revealed my hopefully correct symbol. Heart.

Again nothing happened.

So Chishiya had really told the truth. For some reason that relieved me, and not just because I was still alive because of him.
I wheeled around as a loud derisive laugh rang through the corridor. I pressed my cheek against the iron door without opening it and listened. The laughter made one's hair stand on end. It sounded confident of victory. Then I heard someone else come out of his cell.

"I knew you were the jack of hearts," I recognised Chishiya's distinctive voice.

It eventually turned out to be Enji Matsushita, the unassuming guy who was always hiding behind his fringes. Chishiya had realised from his silent observations that messages were being secretly exchanged between the teams and had drawn his conclusions. He then explained to us how he had arrived at this theory. Once again I had to admire Chishiya for his intelligence and powers of observation.

He was the secret winner of this game.

The winner of hearts.

In the truest sense of the word. That thought made me smile.