Joker | aib

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Act one

The beach

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five

executives 

She was in a spades game. Again.

Takioka Akari absolutely loved the spades games, don't get her wrong. But she desperately wanted another heart game. She had participated in one, and she knew those were the hardest. She did not care though. The possibility of playing the nine or ten of hearts was low, but she still wanted to take the risk and end up in a hearts game.

Her cards were secured in the pocket of her cargo pants, next to a small butterfly knife she kept in case she lost her army knife. Her two spades game were the heaviest, but not the hardest games she played. The eight of hearts had a special place in her heart, as the first game she ever played and the hardest. Even though she knew she played a nine of spades, she still thought her heart game was harder, most probably because she was knew to any of the games.

Still, she rolled her eyes at the spade suit on her registration phone. At least she was going to have fun. The sport arena was large, with a small table in the middle. She stared at her phone as the instructions were displayed.

Game : 'Boiling death'

Difficulty : Seven of Spades

Rules : It is Game Clear if the players escape the venue before it collapses.

Akari frowned. She slowly started walking back, not waiting for the end of the instructions. The man next to frowned, asking himself what the instruction meant. No other player was moving from their spot. Akari turned around, catching the gaze of the man. He was wearing jeans and a dark button up shirt with a giraffe print. His piercings were the most characteristic feature of his, and it was the first and last thing Akari saw before she turned around and ran. The man's eyes widened and he followed her. They both ran and they were already at half distance from the exit when the first geyser exploded.

They both flinched at the sound but didn't look behind. When the loud explosion was heard, Akari realised what had just happened, pinning together the game with its name. She continued to run, making it inside the bleachers. But the geysers seemed to multiply. They continued to explode as the two entered the wide rooms inside the arena. Akari tried to make a run for the exit, but the man grabbed the collar of her sweatshirt and dragged her up the stairs.

"What are you doing, you idiot!" She exclaimed, but the man continued to drag her, "the exit is the other way."

The man didn't say anything, only stared down as the boiling water pushed through the doors and flooded the ground floor, almost immediately after the two started climbing the stairs. Akari stared at it wide eyed before her gaze turned to the man next to her.

"Niragi," he said, extending his hand for her to shake with a smug look, "the man that just saved your life."

Before he could even wait for her to shake his hand, she pushed him back and jumped away from her spot as the ceiling collapsed. She dragged him to one of the walls firewalls and pushed him against it, waiting for the ceiling and walls around them to stop collapsing. The firewall remained up, along with the small part of the ceiling attached to it, but Akari knew it wouldn't last for long of the water kept pushing the stone walls. Still, she turned to Niragi and extended her hand for him to shake. "Akari," she said, the same smug look he once had plastered on her face, "the woman that just saved your life."