Destino

Chapter 1: Ace

"I'm just kind of confused," Ace says blankly.

The man in front of him looks up from the scroll he's scribbling on, black pen pausing on the paper, beaming. "Hmm about what~"

Ace stares at him incredulously. "About why I've been restrained to this chair up for the last 1 and a half days?" he says pointedly, struggling a little against where he's tied rather firmly to the chair.

"Ah that!" The man rolls the scroll up to look at the one underneath, where Ace's supposed transgressions are written down. "Knocking over an apple cart –"

"– Which I helped pick up and promised to work at tomorrow to make up for the ruined produce," Ace reminds him. The lady hadn't even been upset about it. She'd laughed and chatted with him as they cleaned up the mess and let him take one of the bruised apples as he left.

The man chuckled and reached for another marshmallow; throwing it inside his mouth and hummed, "Oh really! Sowry~ Maybe I'll investigate it sometime later~".

"That's not fair," Ace argues, almost laughing, because what the hell is happening.

"Whining will get you nowhere in life~ But these goodies sure will!" the man added and threw another piece into his mouth.

Ace made an indignant noise – psh him whining? These uniforms were hiding his glorious muscles, if the officer saw them, he'll definitely think twice before using the word 'whining' to describe him.

"This also says something about stealing a dog?" The man quirked an eyebrow and smiled at Ace. "Whose dog?"

"I didn't steal any dog," Ace told him. He's starting to lose feelings in his arms so he kind of wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible, preferably with his release. "I opened the door to the bar and the owner's dog ran out and got lost."

"Bosco is out there in the wilderness with no one to protect him~ Imagine how lonely that will be~" The man shook his head disapprovingly; though the smile was still plastered over his face. "I cannot forgive you for making such an adorable creature sad!" The officer pouted and stabbed the pile of pancakes lined up next to the documents.

What kind of an officer eats like they're in a cake buffet during an interrogation?

Ace sighs. He'd run his hands over his face but he's a bit tied up at the moment. "Okay, officer –"

"Call me Byakuran~" he offered cheerfully and pointed a marshmallow in Ace's face before biting half of it off. "I'd offer you one but..."

"Yeah." Ace understands, not everyone is immune to getting diabetes. "Byakuran, let's say that you arrest me."

"But Acey~ I've already arrested you~" Byakuran pointed out while laughing, which is true. Byakuran and his lackey came across Ace at the bar and the other boy threw him over his shoulder and carried him all the way to where he is seated currently. Oh yea, not mention that Byakuran ate almost half a cart of sweet things along the way. Ace had never been arrested before but that's probably not how the procedure should be like.

"Alright, so I'm arrested." Ace licked his lips, trying to think. "What happens now?"

Ace was a wanderer. He's got some wandering to do and only in town for the night as he runs a tight schedule. And by that he means he finds the best places to eat and then moves on without paying.

"Ohh, don't worry too much about it!" Byakuran waved his hands and laughed it off.

"..." Not worrying after being arrested seemed a bit too much to ask for.

"If you want, you can get out right now~" Byakuran continued chucking marshmallows in his mouth with a few pocky and cake assortments once in a while.

"Seriously? Howwww?" Ace was getting excited and an excited Ace was not a good sign.

Matter of fact, the ropes tied around him were starting to show signs of tearing.

"It's simple~ You just need to pay $100 000~ Normally it's $150 000 but since you're so cute, I'll give you a discount~" Byakuran winked, not pausing in his consumption of glucose.

Ace shivered, he was not used to people being so... Flirty? Though, the said flirty officer seemed more interested in the assorted sugary goods than him at the moment. Phew, what a relief.

"Um... Can you give me more discount if I show you my muscles..." Ace was on the verge of throwing up inside but for the sake of his freedom he was willing to cast away his pride and pay using his body. (Inner hoe?)

"Sowryy~ No can do~" Byakuran chuckled and stopped his endless pursuit of shoving sweets down his throats. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, Byakuran analysed the tied man in front of him,

"But~ I do know a way in which you can easily win $100 000 while you're on bail~ Oh yea by the way, did I forget to tell you? Your bail application was passed this morning~ So yeaa, you're free to go~ But yea don't forget about your sentence hearing in 6 months~ And here if you're interested~" Byakuran casually blasted the unexpected news straight in Ace's face and handed him a flyer? Instinctively, Ace bit the flyer with his mouth since his hands were pretty occupied at the moment?

"Umsjs... Sow can yuu untiew mie nouww?" After a few moments, Ace processed the information thrown to him and asked dumbfounded, while shaking his hands behind his back.

"Ohh~ Sowry~ Forgot about that~ Man, these marshmallows sure does wonders to your brain~" Byakuran chuckled before untying Ace, removing the flyer from Ace's mouth and placing it in his numb hands.

"Well then I guess this is bye for now~" Byakuran waved cheerfully...

Ace wasn't really sure how but he ended up on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back and the flyer in his hands. He never had much luggage to begin with; and what he had brought with him was being "investigated" under the alias of his alleged crimes. Should he really take that questionable officer's words and go to this 'money-winning opportunity'? All that was on the flyer was simply this competition that will be commencing next week, along with a set of detailed rules related to the said competition.

Ace was not a big fan of close reading, he was one of those people who never once read the terms and conditions of any contracts he signed. But even he managed to pick out the words '$500 entry fee per person'. $500... That was a lot. He could somehow gather that amount, but should he really resort to selling his precious belongings?

He needed to make $100 000 in 6 months. That meant he had to make a lotttt of money, and even if he worked his ass off everyday it wouldn't be enough. (Around $555.55 per day). Ace never went to university. Hell, he didn't even manage to graduate from high school! But that didn't stop him from pursuing his freedom and wandering from place to place. The most he earned in a day was $20 and that was only because he found the note on the streets. Getting a job that paid well seemed to be beyond reach for him.

A soft hint of orange caught his eye and snapped him out of his thoughts. Though what he was wearing was what really stood out. Was he a prison guard? Now he's actually curious... Worse comes to worse, he should prepare himself mentally for prison life.

"Sir..." Acting on impulse as per ever, Ace approached the said officer.

"Out of sheer curiosity... May I please know what it is like to be in prison. Seeing that you work there you must have a pretty good idea right?" Real smooth Ace thought as he continued the dry, single-sided conversation.

"I mean for example if someone as good looking as me got dumped into prison would there be any dangers. Like as in, dangers to my manhood?" Seeing that the man wasn't yelling at him to fuck off, Ace took it as a sign that the man didn't abhor his company completely.

After what seemed to be like eternality of Ace talking to himself about this and that, the man finally showed some emotions other than apathy. Just when the man was going to kindly inform Ace to transport himself somewhere else, something unexpected occurred.

Ace fell asleep in the middle of enquiring about how showering works in prison. Literally fell asleep standing up, with an arm in midair while saying "Like in showers what if..."