As Jacob had planned, everyone was desperate to obtain something special, and that was the ten of hearts card, which was one of the most important cards missing from The Hatter's collection.
That night, Jacob set out to observe everything happening around him, and together with Usagi, they devised an escape plan from this place if the need arose.
"This place is a world for everyone to forget what happens here, hours and hours of disguised fun to mask their fear of dying..." Usagi looked at the distant red rays and fell silent.
"Anyway, we'll find out very soon if there are administrators among us, as they need to find that card... Ten of hearts, a daunting number I wouldn't be willing to play even if given the chance..." Jacob shook his head at the thought of such a game.
They had miraculously overcome the seven of hearts game, but a higher level of difficulty might be beyond Jacob's reckoning. The games are designed with one objective: to kill and keep killing. This way, if they are in a different world where there are animals that don't belong to their time, all of Tokyo was teleported to another place.
If not, they are in a different world between life and death. Jacob still remembers the warning his intelligent assistant gave him about something falling directly onto their heads on the day they woke up in this place.
As Jacob is open to many theories, knowing this world is governed by a life-or-death game, the rules are enough to understand that the dead will die in real life if they are trapped in a kind of parallel world between life and death.
But all these matters weren't interesting to Jacob, as he was focused on his survival and Usagi's, and anything not contributing to his goals was filed away in his knowledge.
A few days later, an announcement shook all the participants: The Hatter had died suddenly. He had gone out to play, hoping to obtain visas and perhaps find that missing card.
In that meeting, everyone reached an agreement to withhold the news, preventing the players from rebelling against the Beach's order. It was a smart move, as it was the last lifeline this place had left.
...
After everyone left the room, Jacob stayed with Aguni, who seemed indifferent to his friend's death. He said, "A gunshot? If you had asked me, his death might have been different..."
Aguni said nothing and remained silent. His gaze moved over Thaddeus' body, and finally, he asked, "How did you know?"
"I observed him closely. Normally, when someone is planning something, they keep their distance and stay very quiet, as if they're indifferent to the world and everything happening around them. But when no one expects it, they make their move."
"Don't get me wrong, I would have done it if you had asked me... Of course, taking away that right as a friend is something I couldn't do, so I stayed out of it. However, everyone knew that The Hetter was going crazy; sooner or later, he would have done something much worse." Jacob wasn't afraid of Aguni; what he aimed for was to deliver a reality check and help Aguni understand that his choice wasn't wrong.
"I want to be alone, please leave..." Aguni grabbed a bottle of wine and stared out the window with a lifeless expression.
"You've given him a fitting end. At least the others won't have to comprehend the piece of trash their leader had turned into."
"Don't you dare speak in that tone!" Aguni stood up and confronted Jacob.
"And don't think you can do whatever you please when feeling lost. If you want to throw your life into a roulette, then shoot yourself right now." Jacob's eyes met Aguni's, and he said, "I myself, on occasion, thought about killing my brother. The horrible things he did to me, I'll never forget them, but he's still my brother. So I decided to forgive him."
"In this case, teach yourself to forgive and move on. Aguni, if your actions affect mine like a domino effect, believe me, I'll do what I need to do to keep moving forward."
Jacob left Aguni behind. The way he had buried all of this was thanks to his intelligent assistant, who had recorded everything that happened in that place and everything The Hetter had done.
...
Walking through the halls of the Beach, Jacob looked into the distance, where Chishiya, who was in the direction of his gaze, along with a woman who must be Kuina, stood up and walked.
By then, Jacob joined Arisu and her friend Karube, who had stuck together since arriving at this place. As for their plans, that was nobody else's business.
Usagi followed Jacob, and the six of them gathered on the rooftop of the main building. He had called them together for something very important.
"Several days have passed, and the missing ten of hearts card hasn't appeared. The search range has expanded, but it doesn't matter when we divide it— that card won't show up."
Jacob's words surprised Arisu, who immediately questioned, "How can you be so sure of that?"
"I simply follow logic and my own source of information for this, as we have nothing else left." Jacob smiled and said, "What am I basing this on? On the games. In terms of the scale of destruction that one can cause in large or small groups, it's not the Spade games, but the heart games."
"That makes sense..." Chishiya, who had been observing the group from the side, smiled as he realized what Jacob was referring to.
"What is it?" Kuina asked, not understanding what was being discussed.
"In simple terms, the heart games are the most destructive because they play with the players' thoughts. It's the kind of game that gets into your head and makes you distrust even your own sibling momentarily." Jacob's eyes widened, and he said, "With the ten of hearts missing, where do you think the playing zone will be?"