Yea but the ending was vague. We don’t know whether the borderlands was a real world where you lose your memories of once you leave, or if it was just a hallucination caused by the impact of a meteor. If it was really just a hallucination then they’re dead and that’s it (tho it’s unlikely that he hallucinated everyone that dies and lived perfectly) but if it wasn’t and the borderlands were an actual world that means players are still being transported and the ganes are on-going. I don’t really see the point of those two men coming into the story if they never interacted with the Arisu even indirectly
I think it was more so supposed to be a look into the world, at people who were differnt from everyone else. A foil you could say, to Arisu and Usagi. Especially since at the time arisu was going through his dark period.
And it basically answered, best way possible, that the games were basically another plane of existence everyone accessed by nearly dying. The near death experience. Dying there equals death in the real world. Most likely from that inference, not returning to the real world equals death.
Wether that means right that moment, or later on when another batch of people nearly die, staying in the world would mean releasing your ties to the original reality. The body cant stay infinitely nearly dead.
Thats also why they most likely showed Agni as being in a coma. He is living, but not really. So inference would mean they are either in a coma as well, or dead. And since they werent shown, id bet on dead.
What about the two heart specialties that won jack of hearts? They never got to meet Arisu and they stayed in the borderlands is there a sequel?