hearts formed by solicitude and desolation

⌈ 14 ⌋

ᏞᎾᎪᎠᏆNᏩ . . . . .

ᏞᎾᎪᎠᏆNᏩ ᏟᎾᎷᏢᏞᎬᎢᎬ!

time seemed to tick by slowly as you sat in your chair, waiting for the alleged meeting to commence. chishiya was right beside you, hands in his pockets and listening to his music while everyone else was busy doing their own things to preoccupy themselves until it was time. with many of the members playing cards in a game and chishiya not in the talking mood, you were left with your own thoughts.

more importantly, with thinking about what had happened the past hour.

you couldn't help but feel bothered by what had gone down between aguni and hatter. when you had seen the two interact your first time meeting them you had deemed them good friends, even before the borderlands, and yet something felt off. opposed to before  things seemed tense between the two. you had noticed it mostly with aguni, who seemed stuck in his own thoughts lately, and you could also see the growing distance that had formed between the two, more prominent after their small fight at the pool.

"we're starting the meeting!" hatter yelled out loud, bursting through the doors of the meeting room.

you snapped back to reality at the sound of his voice, seeing chishiya take out his earbuds and hide them in his pocket from beside you. those who weren't executive members gathered up the cards at the table and scrambled to leave to a different spot, resulting in you and chishiya getting up to take your spots at the main table where whatever hatter wanted to talk about would be discussed.

ann sat on the other side of you like always with chishiya on the other, mira sure to sit right in front of you and kuzuryuu and niragi on both sides of her. hatter sat at the far end of the table, the head, while aguni was on the opposite end. you couldn't help but think that the distance was slowly growing, and right now they were making it painfully obvious.

you glanced over at seeing arisu enter the room as well, brown eyes taking it all in and the members seated. his eyebrows furrowed upon seeing last boss, no doubt thinking about how strange he was with tattoos on his face and the katana he was leaning on. they shifted once more and settled on you and the blonde to your right, eyes brightening upon seeing you in the room as well, bearing no injuries from your game that night. you put up your hand in a small wave, sending the brunette a soft smile in greeting. chishiya did the same, and while arisu returned your smile with his own, he seemed surprised to see chishiya right beside you.

"it's you." he stated in realization, and that was when you remembered that this was arisu's first time seeing the blonde since the tag game. he had skipped out on that meeting after all, and you both had been hidden in the crowd during the whole ordeal with the militants and executive members clashing. it was understandable that he was surprised to see him still around, and at the beach at that.

"two of spades," mira's voice sounded through the silence, figure walking as she held a pile of cards in her grasp, "six of spades, four of diamonds, two of clubs. we collected all of them." she makes her way towards hatter before putting them down, "until now we haven't found any face cards."

your eyes drifted to the board of cards towards the back, realizing that mira was right and that they remained blank, indicating that they had yet to show up in any games. she walks around to take her seat, sending you a small smile to which you returned before she picked up a small black book.

hatter glanced down at the cards, picking them up and inspecting them, "if face cards do not exist, then we're only left with the 10 of hearts."

ah, the most difficult game yet. not only with a level ten difficulty, but with a type that not many are capable of beating. you remembered your own nine of hearts game after all, and the fact that it could get even harder than that meant it was not a game to be messed with. and not a game you'd want to play with the people you knew.