Black & White-English Version

14-The playing cards

Chishiya seemed to never come back and I began to worry seriously.

"Why the hell are they taking so long?"

"I have no idea." Kuina answered me. "But I have a strong feeling that Hatter has something to do with it."

"Hatter?"

"Yes," she explained to me. "When I found Tatta, he looked surprised and very agitated and he was running over to find Ann.

"So?" I didn't understand where she was getting at.

"Ann isn't just very smart. She's also the one doing the autopsies."

I widened my eyes. "Do you also do autopsies around here?"

"Only in special cases."

"Wait, you don't think..." I said, connecting the threads of her speech. "You don't think Hatter's dead, do you?"

"I sincerely hope I'm wrong, otherwise I'm sure chaos will ensue."

After a while, Chishiya came back. He had a strange expression and it was as if I could feel the gears in his brain moving at supersonic speed.

"Aguni has become the new number 1 and Hatter's dead." He said bluntly and confirming Kuina's theory.

"Shit." She said, putting the chopstick in her mouth, then quickly removing it. "And now what do we do?"

"And the plan to steal the cards?" I asked.

"We will put it into practice." Chishiya looked at us. "Starting now."

"What do you wanna do?" Kuina asked.

"I want to capitalize on the confusion this news will create." He explained to us. "Let's go to Arisu's room and I'll explain everything to you." He told us heading to the door. "Oh, and of course, we'll do as we agreed. He'll be our bait, so let me do the talking."

Kuina and I followed him.

Once in Arisu's room, Chishiya sat on an armchair, Kuina and I on the sofa, while Arisu and Usagi were standing. We all listened very carefully to Chishiya's words.

He explained to us that when a new leader was elected, the black envelope had to be opened.

"All the playing cards collected by members of the Beach are kept in the safe in Hatter's royal suite. The code for opening the safe is sealed inside the black envelope." He went on, saying "The envelope is kept in a secret location. And the only time it's opened is when there's a new number 1."

Chishiya paused, then went on with the explanation. "The new number 1 opens the envelope in front of all the executives, but only he sees the code to the safe. Then, he places the paper with the code written on it into a new envelope and seals it again. It then must be signed by all the executives."

Chishiya looked at Arisu. "First, Arisu will infiltrate the royal suite. Then he'll search for the safe, and steal all the playing cards inside."

Arisu was slightly surprised, but then asked. "And how do I get the code?"

"Don't worry about that." Chishiya replied. "I'll let you know when you're in front of the safe." And he handed him a walkie talkie.

"I sure hope you're right." Arisu looked up at him. "I'm on it." He said, taking the walkie talkie.

"Usagi and Kuina will be on the lookout." Chishiya added.

"This is too dangerous." Usagi said. "They'll kill us if the see us." And she looked at Chishiya.