Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 14: Playing Hearts

The various shades of brown suffocated the room holding the executives. The meeting room was a dreaded place for the logical and the honored place for the devoted. In most meetings, you would find yourself standing by the side of Aguni or Danma to avoid having to fully integrate yourself with the group, but it was different today. The meeting would be different today, and not only because of Arisu's meek presence in the corner of the room, but also because of the context hidden behind today. Chishiya raked his overbearing stare over your sagging body. For once, there was something other than feigned ignorance in his gaze as he grew perplexed but didn't question the new sitting arrangement. The militant whose spot you took sighed deeply to regain his anger and instead went to stand near Niragi's chair - knowing that any argument with you would be a losing one when in front of Aguni.

Watching the few non-executive members trickle out of the room, you pulled on the edges of your sweater to cover every inch of exposed skin. Arisu sought your eyes from the other end of the room, careful to not catch the attention of anyone else's, but Chishiya's eyes were already waiting for him. He raised his hand in a comical greeting, a thin smile spread on his lips, which somehow did calm Arisu's beating heart. Nodding your head in the direction of your friend, you provided your own strained smile before redirecting your attention over to Mira.

"We took the two of spades, six of spades, four of diamonds, and two of clubs," she presented, swaying her head side to side with each card passing through her fingers. Her coal-black hair danced to the rhythm of her steps as it cascaded down her back and covered the exposed midriff from behind. Her hand laid out the cards before the Hatter, waiting for him to reach for them before making her way over to her own chair. "So far, the existence of any face cards has not been confirmed."

"If there are no face cards, then only the ten of hearts remains," uttered Kuzuryu. His gaze remained on the cards in front of Hatter, never raising above that line to avoid any confrontation from the recently explosive man.

"The ten of hearts... it hasn't appeared in any game yet," Mira reminded, letting her words settle amongst the crowd. You could feel the peering eyes of Chishiya on your side, silently asking for your knowledge on the games, since he didn't have much luck coming across them.

"If the ten of hearts hasn't appeared yet, then maybe there is a reason for it. Perhaps it's not in Tokyo," Ann inquired, her eyes evading those of the others but letting her theory play into the conversation. Her idea was not a rarity amongst the group, but after days of scouting beyond the city and no games being found, the theory died down.

"No game arena has been found outside the 23 districts," Kuzuryu argued, letting his glasses slightly slide down his nose before raising his head to look at Ann directly.

"That only means we haven't searched far enough."

"We are not changing the plan," Hatter settled with an annoyed tone of voice. His gaze raked over to Ann, challenging her to continue. "The search for the other game arenas in Tokyo will continue. Keep an eye on visa expiration, and we wait for the ten of hearts to show up. My visa needs to be reissued soon."

With his closing statement to the disagreement, Ann settled back into her nonchalant pose, while you could feel the unrest of the militants. Catching Aguni's gaze, you quickly looked back down to continue on the act of indifference. It was laughable how obvious they were with their plan, as Niragi basically announced it to the world with his ego.

"Respectfully, there is a way to earn a visa," Mira started, gaining the previously lost interest of the Hatter as her eyes glazed over with mischief. "A hearts game... is a game that plays with people's minds and emotions. We use a decoy we know will die and fix the game so that you survive. After all, (y/n) cleared the seven of hearts game along with many others. If they can do it, then anyone can!"