There was the threatening scent of pure anger filling the filtered air of the airplane.
One old man was quaking in his boots. "Please, sons, there is no need for fighting. Can't you…play cards instead?"
Those were Jaden's thoughts exactly! But did Viv agree? Viv started jumping up and down: "Ooooohh I love playing cards! Can we play the Tenma edition?"
Yes, we most certainly can. Anything is better than a bloody brawl.
Jaden quickly nodded. "OK fine. Let's play the Tenma Edition."
Viv smiled an evil smile. Just possibly, Jaden had made a big mistake.
Viv skipped over to Jaden. "Ok, because you called me Vivil, you get to be the butcher!"
"What's the butcher?"
"The first one to be butchered!"
He didn't sign up for this!!
Jaden thought quickly. Viv was rounding up all the passengers on this section of the plane, which was presumably the business class. There must be some way to win this game.
"Ok, ok, everyone, I'll tell you the rules!"
Viv was more excited than angry now. That made Jaden very nervous.
"I'll only say this once so listen carefully! I'm 'The Tenma', you are all 'human filth', and that guy over there is 'the butcher'!"
He wondered who came up with this game…
"We all get some cards, then I choose a target and if my cards are higher…I get to kill them! Yay!"
That was definitely not 'yay'.
"But but but, listen up! Because if you want to win, you can choose the butcher over here to take your turn for you! Unless of course you think you can win against me, hehe!"
That was definitely not 'hehe'.
This did not sound like a very fun game. How was it even possible to win!? Wouldn't they just sit around in a circle until Viv killed them all?
System, couldn't you scan this game for weaknesses or something!?
[Scanning…]
What! System must be sad Jaden hadn't been using it very often recently, it was being very cooperative.
[Scanning canceled]
Jaden apologized! Please don't cancel the search!
[Scanning…]
A big sigh of relief.
[Additional rules found.]
Let's hear them, quick!
[First shuffle = regular card shuffle. Second shuffle = enact special rule
What was a Tenma shuffle!?
[Tenma Shuffle: After each turn, players must shuffle the deck. To do so, gather all the cards and toss them in the air. Players must grab as many as possible. Weapons permitted. Once all cards are obtained, the game continues.]
What the hell was this game!!??
So basically they had to close their eyes and hope they wouldn't die in the first round and then do an all-out fight for cards to survive the second round?
And to think Jaden agreed to this to avoid a fight…
If these were the sort of card games they liked to play, Jaden shuddered at what life must be like in the Tenma household.
Family pictures on the wall of Viv's first kill? Torture equipment instead of tools in the garage?
Terrifying.
Jaden looked up. The passengers were all standing in a circle with Viv in the middle. There were over 50 people, so would they use two decks of cards?
Or would Viv choose some people to not get any cards?
This game really wasn't fair.
Viv pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket. It was covered in odd brown-red stains.
Somehow Jaden hadn't expected anything else.
Viv spun around, his arms stretched wide. "Is everyone ready! Tenma Edition…start!!!"
There were 45 more minutes until they reached Philippine Airspace.