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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The following day, it was impossible to hide that I had switched rooms as we waited for Iron Face to escort us to breakfast.

At the front of the dorms, Jiro and I stood side by side, in full view. Taka and Dori were smack dab in the middle, their heads tilted close, locked in a hushed conversation. And at the far end, Kenji stood alone, his simmering anger unmistakable as he stared me down.

To him, it must have looked like Jiro and I had paired up, forming our own alliance. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. No words about teaming up had passed between us. Still, I knew what Kenji was really thinking, that I’d lied about my feelings for Jiro. It looked terrible, but I couldn’t worry about appearances. I was playing the game.

Taka and Dori were too preoccupied to acknowledge the room change, their conversation full of quick words and sharp glances. They were clearly strategizing. Five people were left. Three challenges to overcome.

The dormitory door creaked open, and Iron Face stepped inside, his gaze picking over us. His eyes settled on me momentarily, then flicked to Kenji, and the corner of his mouth twitched upward. It wasn’t a warm smile. It was the knowing grin of someone reveling in unraveling alliances, the kind of smile that said he knew exactly how close we were to turning on each other, and found it entertaining.

During breakfast, I sat to Jiro’s left. Taka and Dori had abandoned their usual seats and chosen the middle of the table, sitting shoulder to shoulder. Kenji sat at the far end, alone.

His chopsticks moved in a deliberate, grating rhythm against the bento box while his eyes remained locked on me. I kept my eyes on my food, but the intensity of his stare was hard to ignore. I didn’t have to look to know he wasn’t blinking.

Jiro leaned closer, his voice so low it barely reached me. “He’s going to kill you.”

The chopsticks in my hand froze. The words didn’t shock me as much as his tone, as if it were an obvious conclusion.

“Why would you think that?” I whispered.

Jiro’s eyes didn’t leave Kenji as he spoke. “Because you committed the ultimate betrayal. You switched rooms. That wasn’t just you making a personal decision, Akiko. It sent a message.”

“What kind of message?”

“That you’re like the rest of us. You care only about making it to the end.”

His accusation hit me hard. Was I really that person now? A cold, calculating player in a twisted game? Or was I just someone taking steps for their safety?

Jiro continued. “Hideo, Miyo, Osamu, Sana, and Kaiyo are all dead. You don’t really think Chef Sakamoto plans to pick an apprentice from what’s left of us, do you?”

I stared at him, trying to read his expression. “Wait, what are you saying?”

He finally turned to look at me. “This is a process of elimination. Only one of us is leaving here when this is over.”

The air left my lungs, and the hairs on my arms felt prickly. Only one? Four more deaths?

“How can you be so sure?” I asked, a slight tremble in my voice. “What if more than one of us makes it?”

Jiro tilted his head slightly, his eyes flicking to Taka and Dori, then to Kenji. “I agree. It’s possible. But highly unlikely. This isn’t about teamwork, Akiko. It never has been. We’re all just waiting for our turn on the chopping block.”

I followed his gaze, taking in the room. Taka and Dori were leaning close, their heads nearly touching as they whispered. Their quick glances toward us were calculating. They weren’t wondering if we were a threat; they were deciding which one of us to eliminate first.

On the other hand, Kenji wasn’t trying to hide his feelings. His grip on his chopsticks tightened. I expected them to snap. Vengeance seemed to become his motivation.

Jiro leaned back in his seat, his posture casual, but his eyes remained sharp. “We’ll talk later,” he said. “When it’s safe.”

It was obvious that Taka and Dori had the strongest alliance in the group. Their strategies had been aligned from the start, and their bond was unbreakable. Unlike my fractured partnership with Kenji or the flimsy understanding I had with Jiro, Taka and Dori’s relationship made them very dangerous.

Jiro, on the other hand, was a mystery. He played the game well, but I couldn’t tell whether he was playing for himself or something else entirely. Was aligning with him a smart move or a death sentence?

And then there was Kenji, the boy who used to make me laugh until my stomach hurt. He was gone, replaced by a shadow I no longer recognized. The look on his face was a mixture of hate and betrayal. In the past, I had always been the one left behind, the one others turned their backs on. Now, I appeared to be the traitor.

Could we ever repair our broken relationship? Did I even want to?

Taka and Dori were the ones to beat. Kenji was my biggest threat, and Jiro…well, Jiro was a conundrum.

I swallowed hard, my gaze dropping to my half-finished bento. The way Kenji’s hand gripped his chopsticks, the way Taka and Dori whispered with darting glances, even the way Jiro smiled as if he had nothing to lose: every move felt like a loaded gun pointed at me.

I had three more challenges to survive. And I couldn’t afford to lose a single one.