take me back to eden | niragi x oc

十三

By late afternoon the next day, everybody crowds to watch Hatter as he leaves for his game. He postures himself like a well-loved king in the back of a slowed-to-a-crawl car, basking in the cheers of the crowd, waving and high-fiving. The people holler and bounce and thrill at simply the close proximity to him, let alone the slight brush on his touch. Hiyori situates themself by Niragi's side, both standing behind most of the bustling crowd. They push up onto their toes to look over the people as Hatter's car passes by. Niragi rolls his eyes at the theatrics, leaning back against a column with a bored sigh.

"He really makes a show out of it, doesn't he?" Hiyori notes, dropping back to their feet and leaning in so he can hear them.

"Were you expecting anything less?" Niragi drawls, dark eyes opening and setting down on them. Hiyori's head bobs side to side, humming in consideration.

"More actually - maybe fireworks, a long trailing flag with his face on it, a whole swell of orchestral music as he rides off."

Niragi snorts a laugh and Hiyori grins at the sound.

Hatter doesn't come back that night. Hiyori's sure there would've been fanfare then too if he had. They're not sure what to think. Maybe he'd just slipped in when everyone else was too drunk or high to realise, or perhaps he'd been such a mess that it'd have been disgraceful to see and he'd ordered his lackeys to keep anyone from seeing him.

For only a moment, they consider that he might've lost his game and died.

They shake off the thought. It's silly. It'd be chaos already if that were the case. Besides, it's only morning after all, and Hatter with his drinking habit often slept late into the day, sometimes not being seen around the Beach until noon.

As they walk around though, they notice a kind of tension amongst the executive members as they whisper covertly amongst themselves and look around cautiously in case someone is trying to listen in. Hiyori spies Tatta racing through the Beach, quick and panicked and not slowing for long enough so they could ask what's wrong. Concern takes spark in their chest.

They catch Niragi as he's heading towards into an elevator and squeeze in after him, thankful for the privacy in the small space.

"Is something going on?" They ask, searching his face. There's a sparkle in his dark eyes, something akin to excitement, though they're still unsure why. His tongue swipes across his mouth and he leans in to set a hand on their shoulder.

"I'll come talk to you later, okay?" He says casually. They frown, and press on.

"But something is going on, isn't it?"

He pauses, considering as he looks at them. His head tilts as he relents to their concerned gaze, "Yes, but don't say anything. It's meant to stay hush-hush for now."

"But what -"

"Later, okay?"

The elevator dings open and Niragi moves towards the open doors where Last Boss stands waiting for him, squeezing their shoulder before letting go. Last Boss glances at them and Hiyori smiles weakly at him as the doors close. The smile drops as soon as they're left alone, letting the elevator take them back down.

They're tense the rest of the day, waiting for the second shoe to drop or for the rug to be pulled from under their feet. It's been hours and they haven't seen any sight of Hatter's idealists or Aguni and his top militants. Even Arisu is up there with them, locked in the council room for some meeting that everyone else is being left in the dark about. They end up sitting with Usagi and Kuina, waiting impatiently, mostly deaf to the conversation the other two are having. Kuina makes an errant comment about the militants and Hiyori is quick to jump to their - well, Niragi's - defence, claiming he wasn't as bad as Kuina made him out to be.