Why Did Chishiya Betray Arisu in Alice in Borderland?

Two of the most popular characters in Alice In Borderland are Arisu and Chishiya, as they are both two of the smartest individuals that use their heads instead of their muscles when clearing games. Of course, they ended up working together during a good part of the series. However, Chishiya ended up betraying Arisu during the first season so that he could get what he wanted. So, why did Chishiya betray Arisu in Alice In Borderland?

Chishiya betrayed Arisu back on the Beach because he wanted to get his hands on all of the Number cards. However, he also betrayed Arisu because he didn’t like honest people like him. And that was something that Chishiya revealed during the moment he had with Arisu in season 2.

While we always saw Chishiya as a cunning and scheming man that knew how to play his cards right (pun intended), he ended up becoming a different kind of person in season 2 due to the experiences he had while playing different Face card games and meeting new people along the way. So, with that said, let’s look at Chishiya’s relationship with Arisu and why he betrayed him.

Why Did Chishiya Betray Arisu In Alice In Borderland?

From the very start of the entire Alice In Borderland series, one of the things that we saw was the fact that Arisu and Chishiya were two of the smartest players in the entire Borderlands, as they were able to clear games using their intelligence. But while Arisu was great at solving Club games and using his head to think of strategies that would benefit everyone on the team, Chishiya was more cunning and scheming because he used his head in a way that allowed him to get the most efficient results without even thinking about the cost of victory.

Chishiya’s scheming side was something that we saw in season 1 when it was clear that he had an ulterior motive for joining the Beach. He was always a character that seemingly worked well alone, but it was interesting to see him joining an entire organization that required the members to work together. Of course, he ended up asking Arisu for help in obtaining the Number cards that the Hatter was hiding.

However, while they were trying to get to what they initially thought was the hiding spot for the Number cards, Chishiya ratted Arisu out to Aguni, who almost killed Arisu in the process. So, why did Chishiya betray Arisu?

The reason why Chishiya betrayed Arisu was the fact that he needed someone to be the fall guy so that he could get to the right hiding spot for the Number cards. He understood that the cards were not in the initial hiding spot that they thought they would be, and that was when Chishiya used Arisu as bait to determine where the Number cards were. In that regard, he was merely using Arisu so that he could get what he wanted, and this was something that was consistent with his entire solo act in the storyline.

Ever since the very beginning, Chishiya seemed indifferent to what would happen to other people because all he thought about was clearing the games and getting out of the Borderlands. Of course, the reason why he had this mindset was revealed in season 2 when he was disillusioned by the world during the time when he was still working in the medical field as a doctor.

Chishiya learned that this world was a dog-eat-dog world where the bigger dog always wins. He saw how powerful people in the real world always got their way in the end by using other people as stepping stones and by disregarding the lives of those who they deemed inferior. To that end, Chishiya ended up developing a mindset that allowed him to disregard the well-being of other people so that he could achieve his own goals. And it wasn’t beneath him to betray Arisu.

Did Chishiya Hate Arisu?

From the very start, there was something different about the dynamic between Chishiya and Arisu, as they never truly got along in the way that Arisu got along with the other players. Of course, they were both geniuses that used their brains in their own unique ways. As such, there was only enough room for one genius in the group.

There is also the fact that Chishiya said in season 2 that he used to love messing with people that were honest. He felt that honest people like Arisu were stupid to him due to the fact that they saw the world in a better light and were more selfless than others. This mindset was brought about by his experiences in the real world, where he saw a child dying because he had to be moved down the organ donor list in favor of the son of a powerful hospital benefactor.

As such, Chishiya thought that being honest in a world where honest people were always being mistreated was stupid. That was the very same thing that he hated about Arisu because he saw how honest and selfless he could be. On the other hand, he was someone who had already discarded that side of him when he was disillusioned by how evil the real world could be.

This was something that Chishiya revealed in season 2 when he met up with Arisu during the early part of episode 7 and just before the King of Spades game commenced. He told Arisu that he wanted to tell him something he had never told anyone before, and Arisu was quick to notice that Chishiya was less grumpy than he usually was.

Nevertheless, Chishiya got shot by Niragi before he could have a truly honest conversation with Arisu. Niragi set his sights on Usagi after that. However, Chishiya came in to save Usagi as he took what would have been a fatal gunshot wound that kept him out of commission for the final two games.

When asked why he saved Usagi, Chishiya said that he wanted to do something out of character for once because he learned from the people he met in the Borderlands what being honest truly was about. He mentioned Kuzuryu as one of the people that helped him change because the King of Diamonds sacrificed his life to hold on to his principle that every life has equal value. That was where Chishiya learned the meaning of what it meant to hold on to his principles, as he seemingly discarded his principles a while back due to the hospital incident.

Chishiya also said that Arisu was one of the people that allowed him to change into a better person. He said that the reason why he hated honest people like Arisu was the fact that they had something that he was missing and that he felt that honest people saw how truly small-minded and pathetic Chishiya is despite the usually cool and intelligent persona that he often tries to project.

But the truth was that he was always afraid, to be honest, himself. However, he was happy enough that Arisu and the others were there to help him become a better person through the things that they all experienced in the Borderlands. And he was also happy about the fact that Arisu was the only one to understand how he felt, as they finally came to understand each other more despite the fact that they were initially at odds with one another.