"Nine of Hearts, Part 10" (ハートの 9 パート 10, Hāto no 9, Pāto 10) is the fifth chapter of the second volume and the 10th chapter overall of the Alice in Borderland RETRY manga, written and illustrated by Haro Aso.
Summary[]
The Nine of Hearts game continues in Hall 5, where Arisu is given an impossible choice: agree to lose your life or doom everyone to die. Kitou has an overwhelming advantage, since he found another phone earlier in the story and used it to give Arisu a "DEATH" card.
Himari yells at Kitou, calling him horrible and reminding him that Onoue worried about him until the very end, while Arisu starts having a panic attack. Suddenly, he remembers Himari's story about playing musical chairs with children at a daycare, and the understanding of the true game rules sets in. Despite Kitou being convinced that only one person can survive the game, Arisu explains that the phone was given to the fake corpse in order to provide an easy way of transferring all the "DEATH" cards to it, meaning nobody has to kill anyone. Kitou checks the safe pod capacity and realizes that it is no longer readable, and Himari recalls checking it only once in Hall 1, when the writing clearly stated "one person per shelter". Arisu emphasizes the size of the pods, insisting that they could contain about three people, and theorizes about the capacity increasing in Hall 2 and Hall 5.
Kitou refuses to believe Arisu's words, but Himari agrees that they make sense. Citing the initial announcement, Arisu is certain of the possibility for everyone to survive if they all gave "LIFE" cards to each other in a circle. However, Kitou refuses to give up his advantage and focuses on his own survival.
A flashback reveals Kitou being one of the doctors who took care of multiple victims of the Tokyo Meteorite Disaster eight years prior.
Characters in order of appearance[]
- Ryohei Arisu
- Masatsugu Kitou
- Himari Horikawa
- Nanase Onoue (flashback)
- Naomichi Taiga (flashback)
- Yuzuru Horikawa (flashback)