Heart of a survivor × Chishiya Shuntaro

Chapter Four

Those two words were enough to make Takara's stomach drop. She wasn't nearly as prepared as she needed to be for the situation she was in, and there was no way out but through.

She watched on as the other four players stepped onto their trains one by one with apprehension clear on their faces, not knowing whether they would step off those carriages again alive. Takara couldn't believe what she was witnessing, her mind whirring.

Trying to calm her racing heart, she took a few deep breaths. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. She closed her eyes, still trying to regulate her breathing. Now was not the time to start having a meltdown.

Collecting herself the best she could, Takara thought about her next steps and started to construct a plan in her mind.

To put it simply, Takara knew she didn't have a choice, she knew she had to play. She had already spent way too long trying to calm herself down. Trying to make up for lost time, she made her way back over to her train.

She tried to bring back that preppy confidence she walked into the game with, but being faced with the daunting metal train door once again she found it almost impossible to muster up the courage to open the door. Almost impossible.

Her hand found itself scared to reach out for the flashing button that would open the train door. The repetitive flash of the button almost felt like it was taunting Takara, as though it was mocking her for being reluctant to press it.

With reservations, she pressed the illuminated button, immediately feeling the whoosh of air fly into her face from the force of the door swinging itself open. She stared into the train, still feeling the urge to run clawing away at the back of her brain.

"Get it together girl, you've got this" she spoke those words of reassurance to no one but herself, picking up the oxygen tank beside her and taking a step off of the platform onto the first carriage.

Taking in her surroundings, she noted that the first part of the train was a connecting compartment to the main first carriage. Takara deduced from this that each carriage must have a connector between them where each player could make the choice to use their oxygen masks.

As far as Takara knew, there was no time limit to the game. Meaning she could take as long as she wanted in the connecting compartments to decide whether her next steps would be into a clean air carriage, or one filled with deathly poison.

She wondered if that was a clue, that the connectors were giving her a chance to inspect the carriage before entering it. Maybe there would be a suspicious air vent or a tripwire she could see while peering into the next part of the train.

The carriage looked fairly similar to those she'd use getting to work everyday. There was clear wear and tear on the four rows of seats from years of use, the metal walls having areas of rust around the windows from what she presumed to be weather damage.

Takara noted a small pot of flowers placed on the right side windowsill. They seemed to be white marigolds with a yellow center, the bright yellow slowly bleeding into the white.

Nothing about the carriage seemed abnormal which worried Takara, she had no idea if it was poisoned or not.

"I'm screwed" Takara whispered, starting to believe that this game was based on pure dumb luck.

Out of ideas, she tried to think about how someone would set this game up. They were obviously some sadistic soul and with that reasoning they wouldn't want to kill her straight away, they'd want to play with her mind a little longer. What would be the fun in ending the game right at the start, but was she really about to bet her life on this theory?