Chapter 24

The room then fell silent, besides the flipping of Shinso's book.

"What happened to him?"

I asked, leaning in a little with a curious yet forbidding expression. Oboro looked down from the ceiling and looked at me, his eyes flashed with a hint of sadness.

"Well, he worked with me in the same company I still work at to this day, but one day..."

His voice gradually softened and he then fell silent, swallowing nothing before speaking up again, his voice more shaky than usual.

"...he died in a factory incident, an explosion."

A small tear ran down his cheek as he turned to look at the sleeping Aizawa, laying his hand on Aizawa's hair, running his hands through the black, greasy strands.

"I still work there to ensure that no one else has the same fate he did."

A small smile formed on his face, as he looked back towards me.

"I see you got everything on my list, that's good."

"Although it was very expensive."

I added, chuckling a little while lying back on a kitchen chair, looking outside the window and watching the bypassers go on.

"Are you ok?"

Oboro asked, standing up from the couch before walking over and sitting down across from me.

"Not really, I sent everyone here, and I have no idea on how to send us back."

Oboro's breath hitched on his chest, before looking towards a small chest in the corner of the room and smiling.

"You know what gets my mind off my troubles?"

He smirked, and I turned towards him with an interested face.

"One moment..."

He stood up again and approached the chest, before opening the wooden lid and shuffling through it, and taking back a small metal case.

"A game of cards."

He opened the lid and showed me a stack of worn and old looking cards, with intricate details and markings on them.

He then took them out and made 2 piles, facing one of them down, showing the back, while the other was face up. He then gave each of us 12 cards.

"Now, let me explain the rules."

He reached his hands out and cracked his knuckles before speaking.

"Knights are 1 point, bishops are 2 points, queens are 3 points, and kings are 4 points."

I listened closely, determined to get all the dread off my back.

"And there's 1 card that combats the king, the tyrant, if you pull the tyrant card you need to have a "battle," and pull out 3 cards, whatever cards have the most value together is the winner of the battle, and kills the tyrant."

I nodded slowly, before Oboro put the first card down, it was the bishop card. I then picked up the first card of my deck and laid it down, it was the knight card.

Oboro chuckled as he took my card from the table and added it to his deck, shuffling it in.

"Take another card."

Oboro said, pointing at the face down deck of cards, I reached my hand on top of the deck and took the first card on top, putting it under my deck before looking back at him.

Oboro then laid down another card, it was the knight card, I then laid down the king card, and took his card and put it into my deck.

Oboro grinned brighter, his eyes flickering with excitement as he drew the tyrant card, placing it onto the table. 

"Now, the battle begins."

He smirked, pulling out 3 cards and laying them onto the table, 2 kings and 1 bishop. I pulled out 3 cards and laid them onto the table, it was 2 kings and a bishop.

"I see we're tied."

Oboro remarked before pulling out a strange object from the box as well, it was a small metal trophy about the size of a pinkie.

"Well then, we'll fight to the death, pull out 1 more card."

I nodded and pulled out another card from my deck, it was the queen. Oboro looked at it for a few seconds before pulling out the king card and putting it on the table.

"I win."

I grinned, grabbing the tyrant card and putting it into my deck, Oboro nodded.

"Congratulations, you deserve it."

He smiled at me and grabbed the small trophy and handed it to me, folding my hands to hold it shut.

"Keep it, until the next match."

He smiled at me, looking into my eyes with a reminiscent stare.

"Me and Aizawa would always play this game, in fact, it was his favorite."

Oboro looked out the window and leaned his head against the glass, smiling while closing his eyes, listening to the muffled clatter of horses pattering around and people chattering. It felt good to give someone a victory, and make them feel better.

"Anyways, I'll make dinner-"

Before he stood up I put my hand on his shoulder.

"You sit here, maybe I'll make it tonight?"

I said, my voice soft as I let go and walked towards the stove.

"What do I press to turn it on?"

Oboro looked at me and smiled softly, it was unlike his other smiles though.

"Third one to the left."

I nodded, flicking the switch, watching the small fire light up, I then went into the overhead cabinets and scavenged for a pan before putting one onto the ignited section of the stove.

"I'll make something great, I promise."