Chapter 5: Fate
While Renji was rewriting the power dynamics of the Borderland, Arisu Ryohei was learning the cruel reality of his new world.
Renji had left them. He had given them a head start, a victory in the Three of Clubs, but he had abandoned them to the silence of the apartment they had holed up in.
"He's not coming back, is he?" Chota asked, huddled under a blanket. His leg was infected. The burn from the gas in the first game which Renji had avoided, but Chota had stumbled into was getting worse.
"He said we hold him back," Karube muttered, pacing the room. "Arrogant bastard. Who does he think he is?"
"He saved us," Arisu said quietly. He was sitting by the window, staring at the Visa counter on his phone. "We would have died in that room without him. He knew the answer before we even understood the question."
"He's a monster," Shibuki whispered. She was shivering, traumatized. "Did you see his eyes? He didn't care. He looked at us like we were... numbers."
Arisu clenched his fist. He remembered Renji's parting words. Try not to die, Arisu. It would be a waste of good character development.
"He's testing us," Arisu realized. "He thinks we're weak. He thinks we can't survive without him."
"Then let's prove him wrong," Karube slammed his fist into his palm. "We don't need a guy like that. We have each other."
Arisu nodded, but a cold knot formed in his stomach. He had a feeling—a terrible, sinking feeling—that the next time they saw Zero, the gap between them would be even wider.
And outside, the digital moon shone down on them all, indifferent to their resolve.
Renji's Status Report:
Current Location: Abandoned Penthouse, Shibuya.
Visa: 8 Days.
Cards: Three of Clubs, Five of Spades.
Physical Condition: Peak.
Objective: Infiltrate "The Beach" within 48 hours.
Anomaly Detected: Premature interaction with Aguni Morizono. Probability of conflict: 100%.
Renji sat on his throne of stolen luxury furniture, shuffling his two cards. He closed his eyes, visualizing the flowchart of the future.
"Seven of Hearts," he murmured. "The Wolf and the Lamb."
He knew it was coming. The game that would break Arisu. The game that killed Karube and Chota in the original story.
Renji opened his eyes. The blue irises glowed in the dark.
"Can I save them?" he asked the empty room. "Or does the algorithm require their sacrifice to compile the final result?"
He flipped the Five of Spades.
"Let's see if I can cheat fate one more time."
_________
The rain in the Borderland felt different. It was colder, heavier, as if the sky itself was weeping for the vacant city beneath it.
Renji Kurosaki stood under the awning of a derelict bookstore in Shinjuku, watching the downpour. Droplets cascaded off the brim of the building, forming a curtain of liquid gray that blurred the world outside. He wasn't wet his spatial awareness allowed him to navigate between the falling drops with an almost supernatural precision, a casual display of the 'Infinity' he projected but the dampness seeped into the atmosphere, making the silence of Tokyo feel suffocating.
He checked his phone.
VISA: 7 DAYS.
He had plenty of time. He had resources. He had weapons. He had the location of the Beach memorized. Logic dictated he should move on. He should let the narrative play out.
Arisu Ryohei must suffer.
This was the core tenet of the original plot. Suffering was the crucible that forged Arisu into a player capable of challenging the King of Spades and the Queen of Hearts. Without the trauma of loss, without the blood of his friends staining his hands, Arisu would remain a naive boy playing at survival.
"The variables are clear," Renji murmured, his voice lost in the hiss of the rain. "To optimize the endgame, the 'friends' must be subtracted from the equation. Their deaths are the catalyst for the Protagonist's awakening."
Renji closed his eyes. In his mind, he saw the flowchart of the future.
Option A: Intervene. Save Karube and Chota. Consequence: Arisu remains dependent. Emotional growth stunted. Probability of Arisu dying in later stages increases by 64%.
Option B: Observe. Allow the Seven of Hearts to occur. Consequence: Arisu breaks, then rebuilds. Classic Hero's Journey. Probability of success: High.
It was the Ayanokōji method. Cold. Utilitarian. People were tools, and broken tools were discarded to sharpen the remaining ones.
But then, a pulse of irritation spiked through him. It was the Gojo Satoru influence—the arrogance of a god who refused to bow to a script written by someone lesser.
"Boring," Renji whispered. His eyes snapped open, the electric blue irises burning with a terrifying intensity. "Why should I follow a script written by a depressed Queen and a suicidal King? If I am the strongest, I don't need a traumatized hero to save the world. I can just rewrite the world myself."
He stepped out from the awning. The rain didn't touch him. It curved around his invisible aura, leaving him perfectly dry.
"I'll play," Renji decided. "I'll show this system that its despair is nothing more than a bad math problem."
Three blocks away, inside a cramped apartment, the atmosphere was thick with the smell of infection and fear.
Chota was delirious. The burn on his leg from the first game had festered. His skin was pale, sweat beading on his forehead.
"We need a doctor," Karube growled, pacing the small living room. He kicked a pile of magazines. "We need medicine. We can't just sit here!"
"My visa..." Chota wheezed, looking at his phone. "It expires today. If I don't play... the laser..."
Arisu sat in the corner, his knees pulled to his chest. He looked exhausted. The brilliance he had shown in the Three of Clubs had evaporated, replaced by the crushing weight of reality.
"We have to play," Arisu said hollowly. "All of us. We can't carry Chota. He has to play to renew his visa."
Shibuki was in the kitchen, clutching a knife. She was the outsider, the variable that didn't fit. She knew that in a survival situation, the injured were liabilities.
"There's a game venue nearby," Shibuki said, her voice trembling. "The Shinjuku Botanical Gardens. It's close. We can carry him."
Karube looked at Arisu. "You think we can do it? Without him?"
"Him?" Arisu looked up. "Zero?"
"The white-haired freak," Karube spat. "He abandoned us. He treated us like trash."
"He was strong," Arisu admitted. "He knew things. If he were here..."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound was polite, almost rhythmic, echoing through the silent apartment.
The four of them froze. Karube grabbed a metal bat. Shibuki raised her knife.
The door handle turned. It wasn't locked.
Renji Kurosaki stepped inside. He was dry, pristine, and radiated an aura of casual dominance that made the cramped room feel instantly smaller. He lowered his sunglasses, looking at the miserable group with a mix of pity and amusement.
"You look terrible," Renji said.
"You!" Karube lunged forward, raising the bat. "What do you want? Come to laugh at us?"
Renji didn't flinch. He didn't even look at the bat. He looked past Karube, straight at Arisu.
"I was in the neighborhood," Renji lied smoothly. "I heard a dog whimpering. Turns out it was just Chota."
"Get out," Karube snarled, though he didn't swing. His instincts were screaming that swinging at this man would be a fatal mistake.
Renji walked past Karube as if he wasn't there. He stood over Chota, examining the leg.
"Necrosis setting in," Renji analyzed. "Fever: 39 degrees. Mobility: Zero. He dies in twelve hours without antibiotics. Or he dies in six hours if he enters a physical game."
"We know!" Arisu shouted, standing up. Tears pricked his eyes. "We know he's dying! We don't need you to tell us the odds!"
Renji turned to Arisu. The blue eyes were cold, unreadable.
"I'm not here to tell you the odds, Arisu. I'm here to change them."
Renji reached into his jacket and pulled out a bottle of high-grade antibiotics and a bottle of water. He tossed them onto Chota's chest.
"Take two. It won't save your leg, but it will clear your head enough to walk."
The room was silent. Chota fumbled with the bottle, dry swallowing the pills.
"Why?" Shibuki asked, her eyes narrowed. "Why help us now?"
"Because I'm bored," Renji said, a smirk playing on his lips. "And because the next game is a Hearts game."
"Hearts?" Arisu asked. "What does that mean?"
"Spades are physical. Clubs are team balance. Diamonds are intellect," Renji explained, ticking them off on his fingers. "But Hearts... Hearts are the games of betrayal. They play with your emotions. They want you to turn on each other."
Renji leaned in close to Arisu.
"And a group of friends carrying a dying man and a desperate woman? You're not players. You're a feast waiting to be served."
"So you're joining us?" Karube asked, lowering the bat. "To save us?"
Renji laughed. It was a dark, resonant sound.
"Save you? No. I'm joining you to see if you're worth saving."
He checked his watch.
"The Shinjuku Botanical Gardens. Seven of Hearts. We have twenty minutes. Try to keep up."
(To be Continued)