Mia, who was on the 7th step, raised her hand with a smile.
"If you pulled me up by four, I would get some cards. I also have way too many tens, so getting a card from each person would help."
Hearing that, Jessica was about to agree. Though Jack ended up speaking out before then.
"Um, wouldn't you get two cards though?"
If Jessica were to do what she said, she would push Mia up one to the 8th step, and another four would be two steps into heaven. Mia pursed her lips for a little while as she stared at her cards.
"That would still be fine. It might even be better, actually."
Hearing that, Jessica let out a small sigh.
"Let's do that then."
She played a King of diamonds, shooting up all the way to the 4th step of heaven. And the moment she did so, she began feeling some regret.
It was cold.
It was very cold.
She immediately began shivering rather violently, while her breaths were now accompanied by a clear white mist each time she breathed out. Stanley called out to her in a casual voice, as he sat cross-legged in his chair.
"Who would you like to pull four steps up?"
Jessica didn't hear him properly the first time simply due to the shock of the cold.
"W-What?"
Stanley cleared his throat, in a fashion that sounded like gears were mashing against each other.
"You must pull one of the others four steps up. You can say the step that they currently are on."
Jessica briskly nodded while hugging herself tightly.
"T-Then, I pick the one on the 8th step."
From there, Mia was pulled up. She immediately began to feel the chill as well and began shivering. Albeit, nowhere near the extent that Jessica was. Jack sent a few glances over toward Mia and tapped his chin a few times.
Stanley raised one hand before pointing at Mia.
"Now, everyone will give two random cards to her."
Jack was left with two red 6's, an 8, and a 10.
At the same time, Jessica only had two cards previously, and gave both of them up. As for Kenji, he was left with one. And then there was Mia, with a highly disproportionate amount of eleven cards.
It seemed that she wasn't that pleased with it, but didn't get too hung up on it. Though Jess panicked slightly as she reevaluated her situation.
"W-Wait, I don't have any more cards. Can I still use my playing cards?"
Stanley gave a weak nod and a lazy wave.
"So long as the game hasn't ended yet, yes."
Jess calmed down, but was still tensed up because of the cold. She bit her lip and shifted around as much as possible to keep herself warm.
At the same time, Mia quickly played a _____ while shivering and went back to the 2nd step. She calmed down at this point and it shifted to Kenji's turn. However, he didn't play right away, instead staring at the card left in his hand.
As he continued to stall for a while, Jess called out to him in a panic.
"C-Could you please take your turn? I-It's really c-cold here!"
Kenji narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. As he slowly brought over a sly glance towards her.
"But what if by playing this card, I push you up and cause you to lose the game?"
Jessica furrowed her brows, getting rather frustrated. Her teeth were already getting sore just from the chattering.
"What? T-Then I'll compensate you for a 2 after this game, just use a playing card already!"
Kenji ended up smirking, leaning the one card in his hand against the tip of his nose, almost like he was trying to hide his expression.
"Then I could also stall out my turn for as long as possible, couldn't I?"
Mia glared at him with grit teeth.
"What the hell? Didn't we all agree to cooperate with one another? You're really going to backstab us now?"
Kenji shrugged his shoulders and held out one hand as though he were helpless in the situation.
"I never said that I was going to do such a thing, I was simply proposing a future where something like that may occur."
Jessica seemed to fall into despair, realizing that she probably shouldn't have been so trusting of others. If she simply used a playing card earlier, then this whole situation never would've happened.
But it was too late now to regret it.
Mia seemed to go into a rage, as bad memories of something similar began surfacing once more.
"Why the hell are you even proposing anything? If we wanted to, we could've worked against you and forced you out! Weren't you the one that said we were all just here for the cards, so there was no need to make trouble?"
Kenji let out a sarcastic sigh and closed his eyes.
"Well, what's to say that you won't work against me in the end? Then there will be nothing that I can do against it. Perhaps if there was a way you could prove that you wouldn't go against me, then there won't be any problems."
Mia slammed the armrest of her chair in anger, causing a rather large bang to resound.
"And what the fuck is that supposed to be? It's not like we can exchange cards right now in the first place. Are you really just going to be an asshole for the sake of it?"
Her hand was shaking, partially in rage, and partially because she was in pain with how hard she hit it. On the other hand, Kenji let out another sigh, once again getting lost in thought.
He decided simply not to say anything for a while. As for Jessica, some of her mucus began falling from her nose, but not very far as that froze over as well. She screamed while looking at Stanley.
"I want to forfeit! I don't want to be here anymore."
A smirk gradually formed on Stanley's misshapen face. The giant metallic fingers on the back of his body swung back and forth like they were being blown around by the wind. But there definitely wasn't any wind wherever this was.
"Hahaha, I will admit that you are decisive enough to make good decisions despite your state. However... never once in the rules, did I mention that you were allowed to surrender."
Mia narrowed her eyes. She violently tried to stand up, but was only able to remain seated and shake the chair a little bit.
"Never once in the rules did you say going to Heaven would freeze you to death!"
Stanley let out a laugh as he tilted his head back.
"Some things simply have to be assumed, as explaining every little detail will take just a tad bit long, don't you think? And besides, while it may not be explicitly said in the rules, there are measures to make sure that people take their turn eventually. Don't worry so much, little girl."
Kenji frowned slightly, looking a tad bit nervous. Though Mia wasn't very reassured by that. After all, eventually could mean a few minutes, but also a few hours. If it took too long, then it would put Jess' life at risk.
"Then when the hell will he be forced to take his turn?"
To answer that, Naya, the doll on Stanley's shoulder, spoke up with its high-pitched but eerily monotone voice.
"Nobody will be forced to take their turn, as that was not part of the rules."
Mia wanted to retort. However, she was too scared to do so in the end. Though Naya wasn't finished just yet, her tone lowered ever so slightly.
"But if somebody wishes to be a bore, then perhaps an accident may befall them."
Mia had mixed feelings. She was both reassured, but also a bit creeped out. Although realistically speaking, Stanley appeared to be more of a threat, Naya for some reason was scarier. It was almost an instinctual feeling.
The corner of Kenji's lip twitched. He then clicked his tongue before playing the card in his hand. Seeing that, Mia freaked out, thinking that he intended on eliminating Jessica. However, it was actually a 9 of spades.
He went down to the 0th step but also crossed Jack and Mia, who were on the 1st and 2nd step respectively.
In the end, Jack was pushed down to the 0th step, which made Kenji go one step into hell. Yet, it looked like he didn't seem too perturbed by it. Two cards came into his hand. Jack didn't wait long before playing an 8 of diamonds, sending himself up. When it came to Jessica's turn, she had already pulled out a 4 of spades from her playing deck.
Stanley looked at her with a smile.
"Would you like to skip your turn or-"
"What... does it look like? I want... to play this!"
Jessica shouted, having difficulty simply moving her jaw up and down. In response, Stanley simply laughed.
"Alright, alright."
The 5 disappeared before Jessica was sent to the 10th step, finally calming down. She took a few breaths to calm down, and when she was eventually fine she sent a glare at Kenji.
"Do you... plan on... explaining yourself?"