The Joker (tangerine)

chapter three: 王子

a/n: okay pov ladybug and the wolf didn't break the glass door because I said so. also sorry if you guys like prince but i fucking hate her so much and so does keiko.

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One thing Keiko always made sure to have in her right pocket was her Joker card. It was separate from her usual deck she carried in her left pocket, and she's had it since she was in high school. So when she walked down the bullet train and couldn't find the card anywhere in her coat, she panicked. 

She knew Tangerine didn't have it; she'd felt it in the bar car after she had... last seen him. The only place she could think of was back in the car she had just left. So, she turned on her heel, storming back to the car. 

To her surprise, when she went to open the glass door, she found that it was locked. She rolled her eyes as she knocked, hearing a sigh followed by whispers from inside the compartment. She went to knock again, only to have the strangely dressed girl answer the door. 

"Sorry, my uncle kimura locked the door. He gets scared on trains sometimes," She lied. 

Keiko raised her eyebrows and pushed past her, not acknowledging the girl's words. She looked around on the ground, searching for the card, yet she was still unable to find it. Right as she looked up, she saw the girl walking out with the silver briefcase. 

"Hey!" Keiko shouted, knowing the briefcase didn't belong to her. "That isn't yours."

Just as Keiko was about to speak, the girl swung the case at her, hitting Keiko on the left side of her face. She felt blood drip down yet ignored it, swinging at the girl's face instantly. She threw the briefcase to the old man, who, after looking around for a moment, ran away into a different compartment. 

"Where the fuck is my card?" Keiko grunted, punching at the girl again. 

"I knew it," She chuckled. "You're the joker."

"No shit!" Keiko shouted. 

"Take your fucking card."

The girl threw the card at Keiko before kicking Keiko right in the stomach, leaving her on the ground in pain. The brunette laughed before walking away, Keiko grabbing onto her stomach in pain. 

"I hate the British," Keiko grunted as Karin picked up the phone. 

"I know you do," Karin laughed. "What happened?"

"Some British bitch stole my card and got away with the breifcase."

"I told you to take it!" Karin shrugged. "Are you okay?"

"Possibly," Keiko stood up. "There may be some internal bleeding here and there, but I'll make it through."

"Great," Karin sarcastically replied. 

"Are you in a car?" Keiko furrowed her brows at the terrible sound on Karin's end. 

"Yes. Get off the train," She ordered, Keiko rolling her eyes. 

"So, what do you think I've been trying to do?" She angrily shouted. 

"Try harder," Karin shrugged. "Just get off. I'll pick you up wherever."

"Just pick me up at Kyoto. It's far, but I'm sure you've got time to get there."

"I'll see you."

With that Keiko and Karin hung up the phone, Keiko stumbling down the train to find Lemon or Tangerine, hoping to tell them who had taken their briefcase. However, the immense pain in the side of her head and her stomach was starting to get to her, so she also hoped one of them had advil. 

"Jesus fucking christ!" A voice exclaimed after seeing Keiko. 

"Tangerine!" She laughed, stretching her arms out which caused her stomach to hurt even more. "Do you have advil?"

"What happened--"

"Advil then storytime," She sighed, shaking her head. 

"Here," He rolled his eyes, handing her two red pills which she swallowed dry. 

"Someone hid your briefcase," She sighed. "But then someone took it. It was this British bitch, no offense, with brown hair walking around with an old Japanese man. She took my card too and then beat me up with the fucking briefcase. And, she knew I was the Joker, but I take that as a compliment since I'm famous enough for her to know my signature card."

"Your fucking joking," Tangerine scoffed, standing up from the seat he was sat in. An alert on his phone went off to which he made a surprised face before turning away to go somewhere. 

"What--"

"Oh, shit, right," He looked back at Keiko. "Uh... babysit the bodies, make sure no necrophiliacs touch it or something, wouldn't surprise me if there were some on this fucking train."

"Okay..." Keiko trailed off, watching Tangerine walk away. "God, he's got a great ass."

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"So... you're sat with two dead bodies right now?" Karin questioned after what had happened. 

"Yeah," Keiko nodded, looking between Kimiko and the kid. "Speaking of..."

"Keiko," Karin warned. 

"What are we going to do?" Keiko sighed into the phone. "She was the only one with family. We can't even do an open casket funeral--"

"I don't want to talk about this right now," Karin sniffled. "I killed her, so can we not? Lets just talk about this tomorrow."

"Fine," Keiko begrudgingly agreed. "Just call me later then."

Keiko didn't wait for a response from Karin before hanging up the phone and sliding it in her pocket, leaning forward with a sigh as she looked between Kimiko and the kid again. How had everything gone so wrong in a matter of minutes?

When they first got on the train they weren't worried at all about their job... and now, Keiko was alone on the train, one of her best friends dead and the other god knows how many miles away. Keiko thought she was lucky... so how did such an amazing night turn into such a shit show?

The Royal Flush was no longer a Royal Flush, despite never technically being one. Now they were just a Queen and a Joker, which meant nothing without anything else. Despite the fact that Keiko didn't always get along with Kimiko, she was still the only family Karin or Keiko had. 

That was why the three girls became friends. Karin's parents kicked her out of the house after she got an abortion. She met Kimiko at a bar one night and she offered Karin a place to stay, which just so happened to be the apartment next to Keiko's grandmothers apartment. After becoming friends with the other two, Keiko's grandma, who she lived with, found out that the three of them had robbed a bank together, and kicked Keiko out of the house. 

So together, the three of them only had each other, besides Kimiko, who still had an older brother and sister that she talked to often. They bought their little apartment that was underneath a hair salon and lived there for four years... and they were all supposed to live there for the rest of their lives. Sure Kimiko did... but Keiko didn't know if just two people could afford the rent for the place. 

Keiko hadn't even realized that she was crying until she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up and seeing Karin. She gasped, surprised and relieved to see her on the train once again. Keiko instantly stood up from her chair and hugged the girl, Karin brushing down Keiko's hair and soothing her. 

"Let's find somewhere else to sit."