The following night turned out to be difficult once again. My barking chesty cough was hard to contain even with the cough syrup and I was almost certain that it wouldn't be long before Chishiya would throw me out because of it. After all, since the antibiotics I'd hardly had any fever attacks, just a few chills and aching limbs at night.

Chishiya also seemed to be feeling a bit better, which actually surprised me considering my miserable work with needle and thread. He could still only move his arm to a limited extent, but at least the wound had stopped oozing and looked a little better than the day before. However, it would probably still take some time for the skin to fully regenerate.

This time Chishiya tried to keep still as I reapplied the ointment, although he was certainly still in a lot of pain.

As I applied the bandage, I was once again interrupted by a violent coughing fit. I turned to the side and was almost in tears because I could hardly breathe.

"Have you already taken the cough syrup today?" Chishiya asked when I had calmed down a bit. I nodded. "When you've finished this, you should try a hot bath. I think I saw a cold bath in the bathroom cupboard once."

I lifted my head and blinked in surprise.

"B-but .... wouldn't that be a bit of a waste?" I asked uncertainly.

"If it helps you, then no. I need my sleep too, but your cough is incredibly annoying."

"All right, if you agree," I said with an inner anticipation and couldn't apply his new bandage fast enough.

How long had I been wishing for a relaxing hot bubble bath since I'd been here? And finally this wish actually came true.

Chishiya seemed to notice how excited I was about it, but didn't say anything. When I had finished and put everything away, I grabbed some fresh clothes and hurried to the bathroom, almost exuberantly.

"But don't overdo it," Chishiya called after me. I just giggled a little embarrassed and stuck my head through the door again.

"No, never," I whispered.

As soon as I had closed the door behind me, I ran to the bathtub to run hot water into it. Then I looked in the cupboard for the cold bath that Chishiya had mentioned. I found it relatively quickly and put two caps in the water. I also found a newly packaged ladies' razor and a bubble bath that had been sitting on the edge of the bath and probably hadn't been used for ages. Euphoric, I undressed and tested the water temperature with my toe. When it was comfortable, I tied my hair up and got in. I heaved a sigh of relief as I slowly leaned back. The warm water was a real treat and the scent of eucalyptus was almost intoxicating. I noticed how my airways automatically became clearer as I inhaled the fresh scent.

My thoughts drifted away for a moment and I began to wonder what my parents and little brother were doing. I had no idea what had happened to them when this whole thing started. Maybe they were lucky and were still in the real world. At least that's what I told myself. And then there was my first class, which I had just taken over before coming here. I hadn't seen a single child in Borderland so far, so I hoped that they had been spared this nightmare. I sighed softly and then thought of Chishiya, who was lying right next to this room. Even though we hadn't spent much time together yet, I realized that he wasn't always who he said he was. Nevertheless, since our conversation yesterday, I kept asking myself how a person could have such a weak will to live and how it was possible for him to be so indifferent to human life. What must have happened in his young life to make him like this? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I felt sorry for him. What he lacked was a reason to live. He wanted to find something that touched him deeply, no matter what it was, but since he obviously hadn't found that one thing yet, he would rather give up on himself. Yet Chishiya had everything most people would want: He was intelligent, confident, fearless, funny and also exceedingly attractive. When you got right down to it, he had hit the jackpot. How could he still be so miserable that he actually believed the world would be better off without him? Perhaps the solution to the riddle lay somewhere in his past. But we clearly didn't know each other well enough to ask him about it. And who knew if that would ever be the case in the future?

I took advantage of the moment in the bathtub to rid myself of the annoying hair that had been sprouting all over my body since the beach. Even though I was sick at the moment and we were trapped in a strange apocalyptic world, I longed to feel at least a little more feminine again and maintain something like normality.
When I had finished shaving my whole body, I stroked my smooth legs with satisfaction. Shortly afterwards, I got out of the bath, dried myself off and once again put on my robe. Finally, I cleaned everything and quickly slipped into my freshly laundered sleeping clothes.

Towards evening, I tried to get something down on paper for the first time in days, as the recent events had set me back a little. Since the bath, I finally felt a little better. Meanwhile, Chishiya continued to read his book. If he carried on like this, he would probably have finished it in a few hours. At some point, however, he suddenly put the book down and paused for a moment. He put it aside and straightened up attentively to look towards the window.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, looking at me.

"Um... what is it?" I asked cluelessly. But at the same moment, I heard it too. It sounded like several successive explosions, but they must have been a few kilometers away from us. My heart pounding, I got up and ran to the window to look out. Several dark plumes of smoke were rising from the horizon and just above it, something huge and silver was flying towards us. I froze in place.

"That's the King of Spades. I think he's coming here," I said, looking at him helplessly. Chishiya, however, remained relatively relaxed.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. Move away from the window and keep a low profile, then nothing will happen."

"Should we perhaps close the blinds?" I asked in a brittle voice.

"No, that would only attract his attention. Leave everything as it is and just turn off the light," he said and switched off his night lamp at that moment. I followed his example and lay back down on my futon mat. I crawled under the covers for protection while the noise outside got louder and louder. Several shots followed one after the other and panicked cries of death. I fearfully pulled the blanket over my head and covered my ears. My body was almost paralyzed with fear. What if he did notice us and came here? Was it all over for good then?

At some point, the commotion became so deafening that I could hear it loud and clear even with my ears covered. The King of Spades now seemed to be in the immediate vicinity of our apartment and was slaughtering people one by one right in front of the house. I heard a few vehicles coming to a halt with screeching tires. Then screams again. Then silence. Cautiously, I peeked out from under my comforter. Chishiya was lying completely still on his bed as if he was just trying to play dead. The silence that had now returned was even more eerie than the screams. Steady footsteps could be heard just a few meters away from the window. They seemed to move away from us for a moment, but returned shortly afterwards. Slow menacing footsteps, obviously looking for more victims. At some point they became quieter again... until they fell completely silent.
Nevertheless, I remained frozen under my blanket for quite some time, not daring to speak.

"I think he's gone," Chishiya said at some point.

His words made me breathe a sigh of relief and only then did I realize that my whole body was trembling. Even though I was used to a lot after our time here, it was still hard to let go of the fear. And the King of Spades scared me more than any other game in Borderland so far. He popped up whenever he felt like it and killed people indiscriminately with sometimes superhuman weapons that made him superior to everyone in Borderland. In short, he was a brutal killing machine who slaughtered anyone who got in his way until there was nothing left but this deadly silence after all the screams had faded away.

I lay completely motionless in the darkness for quite a while, listening to my own breathing, which was only slowly returning to normal.

"Should I turn the light back on?", Chishiya asked when he noticed that I wasn't moving.

"No."

"He won't come back again. I'm sure of it."

"I know."

He groaned softly.

"Suit yourself. Then we'll just lie here in the dark."

It took me a while to regain the strength to speak.

"How many do you think... just died out there?" I asked in a lowered voice.

"It's hard to say. Do you want to check?"

"What? No?" I gasped in panic. The very thought made me feel sick.

"Well, one thing's for sure: we'll have to go out again sometime," he said and then slowly got up from his bed. He went to the window and looked down at the street. Then he groaned. "Someone almost parked their car in my front door. How rude." I let my head sink into my pillow, stunned. Sometimes I wish I had Chishiya's problems. The world would definitely be easier then. "I'll check the situation tomorrow as soon as it's light. There's no point today."

I nodded, still a little distraught. Only then did I switch the light back on.

The next night brought me nightmares on top of the coughing. I dreamt how I was running away from the king of spades in fear and how he was always hot on my heels. The panic I felt during this was as real as if it were reality. Suddenly I stumbled and couldn't get to my feet in time. When I looked up, he was standing right in front of me, pointing the gun right at my head. As he pulled the trigger, I put my hands to my face as if it would do any good. I heard the shot loud and clear, but nothing happened. Then, however, I noticed someone fall over next to me and fall into the grass. When I took a closer look, I realized that it was Chishiya, who had sacrificed himself for me. He was lying in front of me, covered in blood, but with a satisfied smile on his lips, while I bent over him and wept bitterly. I was crying so much that I could hardly breathe. My breathing became more frantic and I started coughing. Then I felt something touch my shoulder. I flinched violently and saw that Chishiya was crouching next to my futon mat. Completely distraught, I wiped the tears from my eyes.

"You were crying loudly. I wanted to see if everything was all right," he said in a reassuring voice. The moment I looked at him, the image of him lying in front of me bleeding and smiling reappeared in my mind's eye. It was almost as if it had been burned into my brain forever.

"Just nightmares..." I mumbled, still a little confused, and ran my fingers nervously through my hair. The pain I had felt when he died right in front of me was unlike any physical pain I had ever felt before.

"I see. It's no wonder after everything..." he said unusually gently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," I said.

"You didn't. Would you rather I leave the light on?"

I nodded uncertainly.

"Fine, I'll just dim it a little," he said and then he went back to his bed.
I was a little surprised at his unusual solicitude. Had I actually cried so badly that he was worried about me?

Chishiya dimmed the lamp to the lowest setting and lay down again.

"Try not to think about it anymore," he said and turned away from me.

If only it were that easy...