BLUFF [AIB]

Stage One: XVII

[Started: 1/3/2023]
[Ended: 1/4/2023]
[Song: Annie by Dan Romer.]

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Alice In Borderlands
BLUFF
STAGE ONE: Rubatosis
"The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat."

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Chapter Seventeen
"The Plan."
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Perhaps, Hatter was right. Maybe he wasn't so mad after all.
All the executives, including Arisu stood in the meeting room. Y/n stood close to Arisu her arms crossed defensively as she looked at the dead body on the table. It was Hatter, as cold and dead as a corpse.
"What do we do now?" One of the executives asked.
Mira looked at Kuzuryu. "What we've planned. Everyone moves up a number making Kuzuryu 1."
"I say we be a little more democratic." Niragi suggested. "I mean, who's to tell us differently. This guy?" Niragi moved over to Hatters body hitting him with his gun repeatedly.
"Enough!" Aguni ordered.
"This place isn't a democracy, so why start now?" Ann asked.
Niragi ignored her. "I nominate Aguni for leader...so who wants Aguni to be our new leader."
Only the militants raised their hands.
"Then who would you rather huh? Him?" Niragi pointed to Kuzuryu. "Or her? The newbie Hatter so desperately wanted to impress?!" He pointed his gun at Y/n.
She barely even noticed it. She was to busy looking at Aguni.
The dead look in his eyes. The pure inferno of rage and hatred for everything around him. And the emptiness surrounding it. She had seen that look a million times in the mirror. She knew then that Aguni knew something the others didn't.
Mira smiled. "I did overhear Hatter say he wanted her to be leader after him."
"I vote for Aguni to be leader." Y/n suddenly said.
"What?" Arisu looked at her like she was crazy.
Niragi smirked and walked over to her standing very close. He looked down at her as if trying to figure her out. He was to stupid to get far. "Now how about the rest of you?"
A man with tattoos, called Last Boss, unsheathed his katana. Both him and Niragi went around to the executives intimidating then into voting for Aguni. Niragi moved over to Chishiya pointing his gun at him.
"And what about you?" Niragi scowled. "Damn I hate those condescending eyes of yours. Are you looking down on us Chishiya?"
     He smirked. "You guys are pretty stupid."
    Niragi held his gun closer.
Chishiya put his hands up. "I vote for Aguni. Is that what you want to here?"
Last Boss lunged at Arisu making him put his hands up.
"This is not a democracy." Mira stated.
Niragi turned around pointing his gun at her. "Well majority wins."
Aguni finally spoke up. "Enough Niragi....it will be announced that I am the new leader tonight."

The process of making Aguni leader came to a close. After Chishiya changed Y/n's bandages she was left alone to rest. The wounds were healing well and she could walk in her own. All she had to do was be careful not to rip the stitches.
     The door to her room clicked open and Kuina stepped in. Y/n sat up in bed.
     "I thought I'd keep you company." She sat sitting down in the bed.
     Y/n smiled. "I was getting a little bored."
     "Well Chishiya's talking to Arisu about the plan right now. When he's finished he'll probably come here..." Kuina trailed off seemingly thinking of something. "While we're alone I want to talk to you about something."
     Finding her words a little concerning Y/n listened intently.
     "I don't want to rat him out but I want to tell you this so that in the future things might be easier for you two." Kuina said her tone serious and stern.
      Tilting her head Y/n silently questioned her.
     Kuina sighed leaning back on the headboard of the bed. "I like Chishiya better when your around. He's more expressive and kinder, I think it's because he's happier around you."
     'No way.'
     "I don't understand."
     "What I'm trying to say is, Chishiya really likes you and cares about you. I need to know if you feel that same way." Kuina looked back at her.
'Holy shit.'
Y/n opened her mouth to talk before immediately closing it. She didn't know what to say. For such a long time she spent her life despising people. Before this place she had no genuine friends but now she did. She was trying to be better and happier.
When she thought of Chishiya a lot came to mind. She cared about him, that she knew for sure, any other feelings that stirred for him she didn't understand yet. Above all she didn't feel Kuina was entirely right. For the time he could like her but Y/n saw it as a temporary thing. She piqued his interest. And like all interesting things when you look at it for so long it becomes normal and you move on.
"Kuina, it will pass."

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     Chishiya walked into Y/n's room to find her and Kuina on the bed laughing about something. A smile tugged at his lips. It was only alone with the people she trusted that Y/n genuinely smiled like that. Otherwise it was the fake distance smile, like the one she used the day they met.
     He often thought of that day, the day she didn't seem to remember. But he didn't blame her, she probably saw hundreds of people, she can't remember them all. But he remembered her. It wasn't often that he found someone as complex as her in the normal world, especially not in a hair salon. He recognized she was smart enough to see he was different and was able to tell just what he wanted. She was meticulously observant but not for manipulation purposes.
     Frankly she was also the only stylist that had given him what he wanted. He tried person after person. All of them tried to talk him out of it. Some even agreed to it and gave him something different. But Y/n did exactly what he asked. She obviously didn't like it but did it anyway.
     Perhaps that why he liked her so much. She was observant enough to understand him on some level. And he couldn't help but be attracted to her watchful eyes.

     Kuina and Y/n looked at him as he closed the door. "Arisu knows the plan."
     Kuina nodded. "And it happening today?"
     "When Aguni is announced as the new leader." Chishiya nodded before looking to Y/n. "I'll get you when we're ready to leave."
     She looked a little skeptical. "And you think we can just walk out of this place?"
     He chuckled. "With the chaos that's about to unfold? Without a doubt."

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