Joker | aib

いち

Act two

alice and the dormouse

いち

one

'tag'

Akari's wound still hadn't healed.

While it wasn't bleeding anymore, any sudden move would make shear pain erupt in her abdomen. She kept tightly wrapping her torso in bandages every morning, just to keep the area safe from any other wounds she might get during the games. Her walk had developed a small limp in the couple of days that had passed since the game due to the fact that she tried not to lean too much on her right side.

Another blade had make its home on her belt. She seemed to have abandoned her army knife and gun at the beach lately, but she would never forget her tantō. The first time she laid eyes on it, she didn't remember the eight of hearts game, from where she had gotten it, but the ace one. It was the first time since her childhood that she had rushed to the bathroom before spilling the contents of her stomach. However, she took it everywhere afterwards.

She had convinced the other executives she was physically alright to participate in another game, but Aguni didn't want her out of his sight, so she ended up with him and another militant she didn't bother learning the name of. The three had been the first to the game venue, an apartment complex called Toei Sendagaya. While the other militant decided to lean in the lobby, next to the mailboxes, she took a seat on the railing before entering the building. She was seated comfortably on the thick concrete railing with her left leg underneath her and her right one swinging away from the wall. Her body was in itself leaning against the closest wall even though she was seated on the railing. Her shoulder was pressed against the cold concrete wall, and she sighed, satisfied with her long sleeved button up. She forgot her glasses once again, but not her music player. Her headphones were on her ears, messing up her hair (even though her hair was always messed up, waves sticking out in every direction). Her eyes were closed as she hummed to the songs on her playlist.

She heard footsteps from minute to minute, but she didn't open her eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed when the song changed. It was a completely different style from her usual aggressive music, and the words were in a language she did speak but didn't recognise at first. She opened her eyes, head dropping to look at the music player in her lap. It was a Korean song, one her mother loved and used to play all the time. The tune seemed awake a few memories as she started humming it unknowingly. She closed her eyes and continued listening the song in silence, still ignoring the players that gathered in the lobby.

A pair of footsteps stopped before they could make it to the lobby, a few feet away from her. She could feel the person's stare, but didn't stop muttering the words of the song under her breath. The person disappeared a few seconds later, took their phone and sat in a corner. A few more footsteps resounded around her, but she paid no attention.

She heard the voice of a boy, his words muffled my the Korean lyrics of her song, but the loud footsteps that made the voice stop made Akari chuckle. Aguni sure knew how to make an entrance.

"There's a lot of people here, maybe there's a doctor," she heard as her song ended. She opened her eyes slightly to take a peak at the people that just came in, her hand pushing the replay button. She leaned over a little to peak behind the wall she was leaning into. She could slightly see Aguni and the other militant, along with a few people she didn't care about. With their backs turned to her were two boys and a girl. She didn't get to analyse them more as their phones chimed. At the sound behind him, the blonde taller man turned around with a frown to catch Akari's stare. She looked down to her phone quickly.