The Pain Before (Niragi x Reader) Part 14
Part 13, Series Masterlist, Part 15
Kuina paced the empty lobby, her thumbnail firmly placed in between her teeth as she bit at it. Her eyes wouldn't focus, no matter how much she tried. Tears welled up in her eyelids, and she quickly wiped them away as she took a deep breath. The only thing she could do was keep glancing back to the second floor, watching and hoping that either you or Chishiya, or both if she was lucky, would come walking down any moment now.
The noise of those walking past her was drowned out by her own thoughts, the guilt and anxiety finally catching up to her. Kuina had never thought, even in this awful and lawless place, that she would turn against another woman like that; to leave another so defenseless, even if it was all part of a larger scheme. Even during her toughest games so far, she hadn't felt the urge to light up a cigarette so badly since she arrived in this world.
Kuina suddenly felt a firm shove from behind her, her hands rising up quickly to catch herself before she hit the wall. Her head whipped around, ready to turn all that pent-up anxiety and guilt into anger before her eyes landed on the man behind her. She held her breath, her eyes widening slightly as she pursed her lips inward.
Niragi took a step forward, his rifle prominent in his hands as he glared at Kuina. It was only a second before she found herself cornered against the wall, her mind going blank before racing to figure a way out of this; whatever this was. "Can I help you with something?" She tried to sound dumbfounded, hoping he would back down. Regret filled her stomach instantly as Niragi's hand slammed into the wall beside her head, making her flinch just slightly.
"Maybe you can. You were with Y/N last night, weren't you?" Her eyes couldn't look away from his as he continued to glare, his voice firm and unwavering. Kuina felt herself gulp audibly, her hands beginning to sweat. "It's funny. See, she was fine right up until she met up with you and that little snake friend of yours. But then, she happened to come across a little case of amnesia. Any idea how that happened?"
Before she had the chance to speak, Niragi's finger slid up to the trigger, holding the barrel firmly under her chin. "You were working with that fucking snake, weren't you? And don't you dare try to lie to me either." For the first time, Kuina was seeing Niragi not just mad, but nearly furious. His eyes were stone cold and accusing, "He knows," Kuina thought inside her mind. "Fuck."
The look in Kuina's eyes told Niragi everything he needed to know as he lowered the barrel, stepping back almost hurriedly. Kuina breathed a sigh of relief before tensing at the sound of your voice, "What's going on?" Her head moved so quickly that Kuina could've sworn she nearly got whiplash. "Y/N..." Niragi couldn't help but smirk as he heard you, taking another side step back as you walked closer to the two of them.
"I was just having a little chat with your friend here," Niragi said cockily, his eyes focused on Kuina's reaction to seeing you. He couldn't help but feel a bit proud, having figured everything out in the short time that had passed. His tongue glided across his teeth, as he smirked, his eyes softening almost immediately as he finally looked over to you. The red nose, the puffy eyes. He took notice almost immediately, fighting the urge to publicly walk over to comfort you.
Your gaze moved back and forth between the two of them, a horrible feeling settling in your stomach. "What were you guys talking about...?" Your voice was soft, a bit timid, even. This day was not going as well for you as you had hoped, considering how you had woken up this morning.
Kuina's head dropped, all that guilt rushing back to her as quickly as it had left. She slowly licked her lips, feeling her vision go a bit blurry as she looked up at you, noticing the state of your face; you had been crying already. Kuina's heart was pained at the sight, taking a deep breath before she tried to speak. Unfortunately for Kuina, Niragi was just a moment quicker.
"Turns out, your memory loss from last night was a team effort," Niragi said coldly, his eyes glaring at Kuina. You couldn't help but tense your shoulders, your heart speeding up. Looking at Kuina, your lips began to tremble just slightly.
"Kuina...?"
Kuina slammed her eyes shut and looked down again, crossing her arms over her chest and holding herself. "I... Y/N, please understand, I didn't--"
Kuina gasped and nearly jumped back as Niragi's rifle was quickly pointed at her, his finger resting just over the trigger. "Tell her. Or I will." Kuina could feel the tears start slipping down her cheeks, her eyes focused solely on you. Oddly enough, she wasn't even worried about the gun pointed at her, nor the madman behind it. She was only worried for you. You, and the friendship she thought she had earned.
"I-I... I'm so sorry, Y/N... When we went drinking, I... I got you drunk... On purpose..."
You felt your heart sink to the bottom pit of your stomach, your lungs beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen from holding your breath.
"You... What?" You could feel your eyes start to burn again, blinking rapidly as the pieces quickly came together.
Kuina could see the look of hurt and betrayal in your eyes, quickly trying to counter herself. "Y/N, please listen! It's not like that, I swear--"
You tried to blink back some tears, failing to do so as you quickly turned and bolted back up the stairs, ignoring Kuina calling after you desperately. It seemed like around every corner, there was another problem. Another issue rising without regard or warning.
Niragi held the gun to Kuina whose eyes followed you up the stairs, his voice firm as he spoke, "Man, you guys really are such a pair, wouldn't you say?" He scoffed, a bit irritated she wasn't even looking at him as he threatened her, Kuina's eyes keeping on you desperately as her knuckles turned white from holding the railing of the stairs on the lobby floor, fighting the urge to run after you as her lip started to quiver.
Lowering his gun, Niragi immediately began his ascent up the stairs. He followed after you hurriedly, his feet carrying him towards the muffled sounds of you holding back sobs down the hallways. It was as if it was the only sound he could hear; the music from outside drowning out even as he got closer to it.
Reaching the basement, Niragi looked around, sighing as he could no longer hear nor see you. He scratched the back of his head in frustration, his rifle still firmly in his other hand. "Oh, fuck it..." He muttered to himself before picking a direction, following the edge of the hallway as he searched. It wasn't long before he found you, your body turned towards the corner of the wall, your head huddled down with your hand covering your mouth as you gently sobbed into it.
Niragi silently walked towards you, gently placing his hand on your shoulder to avoid startling you. You turned around, your cheeks stained with tears and your eyelids puffy and red. With your lips still slightly quivering, you buried your face into Niragi's shirt, ignoring how he tensed up the moment you touched him so suddenly. Within seconds, your hands were wrapped around his back, tucked under his arms as your hands grabbed onto the back of his shirt, holding yourself into him.
He held his breath for what seemed like forever in his mind, his shoulders slowly relaxing as he sighed softly to himself. Niragi awkwardly slung his gun over his shoulder by the strap, placing his arms over and around you, holding you to him as he rested his chin on the top of your head. He could hear you sobbing quietly, ignoring the wetness slowly being absorbed by his shirt.
Niragi ran his hand slowly up and down your back, staying silent as he couldn't quite figure out what to say or do. This affection was still new to him, so new that he wasn't even sure if he was doing the correct thing or not. It was often that Niragi felt unsure of himself like this, it wasn't a pleasant feeling either. He felt conflicted by so much. On one hand, he was beginning to realize that he truly cared for you in a way he couldn't quite grasp. The urge to protect you, to defend you from harm and anything that could hurt you made his ability to think clearly almost entirely mute.
On the other hand, when he wasn't with you, he was free to do as he wished. He could do whatever it was that he whimmed, no matter what. He could kill, he could torment, he could laugh at the most undesirable state of the world and nobody would dare to question his authority or judgment on things. It was as if he was two separate beings, trapped and sharing one body.
It wasn't until you slowly pulled away from him that he snapped out of his thoughts, his eyes wandering over you as his hands slid across your back and to your shoulders, his thumbs gently rubbing the softness of your skin. Niragi lifted your chin up to look at him softly, carefully wiping away a stray tear that was mid-fall. His voice was oddly soft as he spoke to you, his eyes never leaving yours for a moment.
"We should get you back to your room, yeah?"
He noticed you hold your breath for a moment before shaking your head to the side, looking down briefly. "I... I would rather not go back there, for now..."
Niragi thought for a moment before grabbing your hand, pulling you gently along with him as he started to move.
"W-where are we going?" You asked genuinely, the moment of you leaving Chishiya behind in your room flashing through your mind briefly.
"To my room."
Niragi spoke nonchalantly, and you were glad he was leading the way facing forward as you felt the slightest blush rise on your cheeks. "O-oh... Okay," you mustered up to say, recalling this morning when you, quite literally, woke up atop Niragi. The walk up the floors wasn't as long as it seemed, as a matter of fact, the time seemed to fly by as your mind honed in on the feeling of Niragi's hand around yours.
The weight of the world seemed to push heavily on your shoulders the moment you walked into Niragi's room, nearing stumbling over yourself in exhaustion the moment you closed the door behind you. Niragi quickly grabbed you by the shoulders, reaching an arm around your back to better support you as he looked at you with mild concern.
Niragi silently helped you into the bed, sitting on the edge as he watched you intently. You struggled to keep your eyes open, the puffiness still present as Niragi pulled the covers over you, the light shifting of his rifle still slung over his shoulder being the only noise that could be heard in the silence. You felt your mind begin to shut down, your eyes fluttering softly as you struggled to keep them open, your lips gently parting as you watched Niragi.
Maybe you wanted to say something to him. Or maybe, you just wanted his presence near you in this moment. But nothing came out, as you quickly drifted asleep, the events of the day having taken their full toll on you, leaving no emotion spared.
Niragi watched you for a moment, making sure you were fully asleep. He sighed lightly to himself, closing his eyes as he stood up, careful not to wake you. The wheels in his mind turned for a moment before clicking in place; his next move apparent. He knew what he had promised you, the way you begged for him to spare that snake hidden in the grass. But was it really breaking a promise if you never found out the truth? He could convince you if he tried hard enough, he was certain of that. After all, there weren't many that would correct him if he lied.
He silently walked out of the room, turning off the lights and taking one last look at you sleeping peacefully before quietly closing the door behind himself. Once he heard it click in place, he slung his rifle back into his hands, a cocky smirk rising on his lips as he began walking down the hallway.
His plan was almost perfect. All he needed was a good enough reason, and he was set. Niragi would finally be able to protect you from danger, even if it meant you lost some friends in a more permanent way than most. It was the one rule in the Beach that he completely agreed with, and for good reason. It gave him the privilege of ending any and all that would dare go against him. After all, never forget the third rule of the Beach; "Death to all traitors."
Kuina sobbed into her hands, quickly wiping away any tears that fell hurriedly to no avail. She didn't even hear the knock on her door until she felt a pair of eyes on her back, not bothering to turn to look at him.
"We fucked up, Chishiya... We fucked up so badly..."
Chishiya stood there, glad Kuina hadn't turned around. It wasn't often he felt defeated in any way, and the feeling wasn't exactly an easy one to get rid of. He kept his hands tucked away in his pockets as he thought for a moment, "We can fix this."
Chishiya jumped at the sudden movement of Kuina standing up, turning around quickly to face him. Her eyes glared at him, her face scrunched up as she balled her hands into fists. "Fix this? How the hell are we going to fix this, Chishiya?! She knows! She knows everything, and so does Niragi!"
He nodded his head slowly once, "Of course he knows too..." He said with an unbothered look on his face, more talking to himself than Kuina. "But we can win her back. It might take time, but we have plenty of that." Kuina looked down, trying to take deep breaths as she attempted to calm herself.
"Okay, okay... So what's the plan here?"
Chishiya opened his mouth to speak, immediately holding his words as the speaker rang throughout the hotel, the television in the room turning on with a white screen.
Kuina's eyes widened as she looked between Chishiya and the television, the eerily familiar voice ringing throughout the hotel.
"We'd like to thank our guests for staying at Seaside Paradise Tokyo. As a token of our appreciation, we would now like to commence a game with all residents."
"Game Difficulty: Ten of Hearts."