Joker | aib

しち

Act one

The beach

しち

seven

'death to any traitors '

"Do you know long we've been here?"

"I don't down," muttered Akari with a shrug, almost falling asleep, "around two weeks... I think."

She had been unable to sleep that night and she couldn't find her sleeping pills, so she decided to sit on the rooftop of the main building of the resort, admiring the starry night. Aguni found her right before dawn and sat down next to her, slightly worried by the fact she had gotten no sleep at all (not that he would ever acknowledge it). The two were sitting down, feet dangling from the edge of the building as they watched the sun rise.

"Twenty six days," said Aguni.

Akari eyes widened, the information waking her up a little, even though she knew she hadn't been there for so long as she got to the borderlands a few days after Aguni and Hatter. She hummed, her head nodding slowly. She leaned down, propping her elbows on the floor to support her body. "That's a lot", she mumbled, letting her body fall completely flat against the roof, bringing her hands to massage her tired eyes, "Do you think people realised we are gone?"

The man didn't say anything, making Akari drop her hands and look at him. When he felt her stare, he shrugged. The young girl rolled her eyes and straightened her arms, leaning on them as she let the sun kiss her skin. Silence washed over them as they comfortably stared at the rising sun until a loud bag resonated behind them. Akari quickly looked behind to see Niragi stumble on the roof, rifle on his shoulder as always. She rolled her eyes as he made its way towards the two, sitting down next to Akari. She straightened her posture and stared at him as he mumbled under his breath. Aguni rolled his eyes when Niragi threw his arm over Akari's shoulder and leaned into her. The young woman grimaced and slightly pushed him away.

"You reek," she muttered, fumbling closer to Aguni to try to get as much space between her and Niragi, "how many drinks did you have?"

"Too little," said Niragi with a laugh, to which the other only rolled their eyes.

When he had finally fallen silent, Aguni and Akari didn't try to speak, not wanting to awake Niragi from his trance. The three stared at the horizon, the city visible from where they were sitting. At one point, niragi let out a sigh.

"Hatter's pissing me off," he said, out of the blue, making Akari turn to look at him.

"What happened?" She asked, slightly worried.

"I went to take a shower after my game," he said, explaining how the spades game had him covered in filth and blood, "thinking that I'll give him the card after. He started banging on my door right after I stepped out of the bathroom, so angry that I didn't give him the card. He started muttering about some sort of conspiracy against him... I swear he's mad."

Akari looked away, her gaze falling to her hands. She didn't dare look at Aguni, knowing of their friendship. The man remained silent after Niragi's rant. Akari hoped that her thoughts weren't going to come to reality. He's slipping, she kept telling herself before simply shaking the idea out of her mind. Niragi had told her before of his thoughts on Hatter, some thoughts she didn't share with anyone. She would always disregard them, telling Niragi's he's just mad that someone had more power than him. But slowly, she started seeing the way Niragi did. Hatter wasn't in his right mind anymore.