Volume 1 of Alice in Borderland: RETRY (今際の国のアリスRETRY, Imawa no Kuni no Arisu Ritorai), the manga series written and illustrated by Haro Aso. It serves as a direct sequel to the original Alice in Borderland manga.
Overview[]
The first five chapters cover the first two game rounds and the beginning of the third one.
Plot[]
Ryohei Arisu, now an adult and working hard as a school counselor, wakes up one day to find himself in Shibuya, an empty and overgrown area of Tokyo. Before he can make sense of the chaos, he follows a light and encounters five strangers, both men and women, and... the corpse of a mysterious man!
As he tries to make sense of the insanity, fragments of his past memories come rushing back... and the start of the "game" is announced.
Difficulty: Nine of Hearts.
Name: "Earth Invasion".
Once again, Arisu has wandered into the Borderland, and his life-or-death survival battle begins.
Summary[]
Arisu wakes up in an empty Tokyo, once again with no memory of what happened before. Wandering the streets, he notices a building with electricity and enters, finding himself in a small theme park where five others are already gathered. None of them know why everyone has vanished. Slowly, Arisu's memories return: his life as a school counselor, his rush home when his wife Usagi went into labor, and the accident with the falling billboard that transported them all to the Borderland.
The game begins: Nine of Hearts, "Earth Invasion". In the first room they discover a mutilated corpse, and Arisu recalls the deadly lasers triggered by trying to leave the venue until the game is cleared. Each player is given a phone displaying six "LIFE" cards and one "DEATH" card, with the rule that a "LIFE" must be received to enter a safe pod before each alien attack. They pair up, exchange cards, and survive the first invasion, but soon realize the number of the shelters decreases each round. Six players survive in the first hall, but there are only five pods in the second one.
Everyone starts panicking, and cooperation proves inefficient, since betrayal is always an option. Kitou insists on evaluating lives in order to decide whose lives are most valuable, which sparks conflict. Tensions rise when Taiga's criminal past is revealed, and he threatens to murder everyone for survival. Onoue challenges him, and Kitou tricks the drawing of lots to force Taiga's loss. Furious, Taiga stabs Yuzuru while aiming for Himari. A warning laser cuts off his hand, and, as the second invasion begins, he is left to die, screaming, while the others hide away.
In the third hall, a scorching replica of Egypt, Yuzuru collapses from his wound. Kitou realizes that it is fatal, and his attempts to stop the bleeding are futile. Himari accuses him of letting her father die on purpose, due to the situation they are in, but Yuzuru himself accepts the truth. His past as a corrupt insurance worker comes to haunt him: he used to deny insurance claims to help his career, destroying the lives of other people. Now, filled with regret, he volunteers to be the dropout in the third round, begging the others to give him their "DEATH" cards so they will not have to kill one another later. His final wish is simple: that Himari gets a "LIFE" card and survives.