Joker | aib

いち

Act one

The beach

いち

one

Eight of hearts 

When she was young, Takioka Akari loved Kyoto. She'd run freely in the fields of cherry blossoms. She'd draw and paint the beautiful temples every chance she got. Her grandmother, a kind woman living immersed in tradition, would take care of her. She taught Akari how to sew, how to fish, how to dress elegantly and arrange every small detail of her kimono. The young girl loved it there.

Until her grandmother died.

She had been forced to go to the funeral ceremonies, dressed in the same attired her grandmother had taught her how to put on. She'd been eleven at the time, but she understood so much more of what was going on that what her father thought.

Since that day, she hated everything related to Kyoto, especially her family's business. When she would step into the city, her father would take her to their home, where she would learn the customs of the family. She was the only child of her father's, and he wanted to make her useful. She was no man (something everyone seemed to remind her), but she had power. To the present day, she dreaded the moment she would step out of the car, her father's men waiting for her. And the dread continued, into training, into her studies, even into the silence that pressured her heart when she'd sit at dinner, alone with her father, none of them uttering a single word.

That dread, that horror, would only vanish when she'd find herself back in the crowded streets of Tokyo. Weirdly enough, it calmed her. She was a quiet girl, always hating when there was too much noise or too much people. She liked being alone, with her books or with her university work or with her music. But after the horrible days, even weeks sometimes, learning how to fight, how to kill, how to use blades she knew she'd never use in the future, all in the silence her father pushed her into, anything but the silence she loved so much would calm her.

This particular day was no different. She'd just arrived back to Tokyo from a dreadful weekend in Kyoto, parked her car and ran to her apartment for a shower and new clothes. She hissed when the hot water hit her back, and she quickly turned the knob all the way to the left. She wanted cold water. When she was done with the shower, she stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel. She turned her back to the mirror in the bathroom and froze, catching with the corner of her eyes the ink that coated her back. It was small, smaller than one ones she used to see on her father's workers. Two koi fish ; a lotus flower ; red, white and black. It was a simple tattoo, much to her father's dismay. He didn't think it was traditional enough (even though to Akari, it was too traditional), but she thought it was perfect.

She turned around, not wanting to see the proof of her cruelty permanently inked in her back. She quickly walked out of the bathroom and got dressed, wanting to go on a walk to clear her mind. She put on a pair of green cargo pants and a sleeveless turtleneck. After drying her hair and doing her usual make up, she put on her leather jacket and combat boots before taking her phone and headphones. When she put them on her ears, she groaned, hearing the familiar beep announcing the lack of battery. She sighed and let them fall on her couch before walking to the small cupboards. She rummaged through them until she found an old music player. She stared at for a second before shrugging and taking the wired headphones that were attached to it.