Prologue: The Ace of Hearts

March 21 – Afternoon, Clear

"Yo, so that bullshit Komaeda was spoutin' was true, Boss?!" A rough-looking young man with bleached hair, no older than perhaps 17, was shouting, his hands clenched in front of him in disbelief. He was only one of many others who shared his rough-and-tumble look, most of the men in leather and girls in revealing clothes and fishnets, all of whom quickly chimed in, their voices a cacophony of demands and questions. The target of their loud group inquiry was a young woman, who unusually stood at least a few inches taller than nearly every member of the mass of people, her vibrant purple hair tied up high in a ponytail. The woman looked over at her shouting compatriots, a firm glance of lilac eyes being all she needed to cause them to suddenly go silent and meek, as if a lion had turned its gaze on a pack of zebras.

"It ain't bullshit, because yeah, it's true," she said in response. The girl took a seat on the steps of an abandoned building in the small, unused parking lot she and her fellows had made their main hangout. The group remained silent, their attention rapt on the woman they had named their leader, hanging on every breath as they awaited an explanation. "I'm getting sent to some backwoods town in the middle of nowhere for a year because my family doesn't trust me to 'behave' while they're gone."

The response garnered the reaction the gang leader had been expecting; anger, bewilderment, and desperation. Some of the members began to curse out her parents, some wondered out loud why they didn't simply find someone to keep an eye on her, and others even began to swarm their boss, crying and begging for her not to leave. After all, it had only been a month since another of their members was suddenly forced to uproot and leave, and now their linchpin, the one who practically formed their group, was likewise leaving. Reassuring them that she'd only be gone for a year, the young woman managed to finally get herself some space before calming the group. There was still little less than three weeks before she had to leave, after all, so they still had time together before she'd be off to her destination.

March 21 – Evening, Clear

"Welcome back, young mistress." The voices of a few maids at work rung out through the foyer of the mansion the purple-haired girl returned to, her suburitō resting on her shoulder and school bag in her hand. A gentle grunt of acknowledgement was her only response to the workers who were bowing before her as she made her way upstairs and to her room, where she undressed from the school uniform she never bothered to wear properly.

To a stranger entering the room for the first time, it'd be almost as if they entered an entirely different world, as the young woman's room was decorated so strikingly different from the rest of the mansion; dull and subdued colors permeated every inch of it, from the walls to the decorum. Numerous pieces of personal exercise equipment were strewn about, and the shelves that contained books and magazines of all kinds were simplistic and almost boring.

Even the bed that the girl collapsed onto once she was undressed was simple and dull, with plain brown sheets and a pair of ordinary pillows. Though she was the heiress to a prestigious and highly-successful business conglomerate, she held no desire to be any such scion. Money didn't bring happiness or satisfaction, nor did fame and prestige, particularly since she didn't earn any of it. In fact, one could say that it brought the complete opposite; after all, tonight, like most nights, her parents were nowhere to be found. "Working hard" as usual, she assumed.

A soft sight escaped the girl's lips as she swaddled herself in blankets, deciding to sleep early tonight. As she began to drift off to sleep, thoughts swirled in her head, wondering exactly what sort of place she'd be moving to in a few weeks... Boring, she imagined; even in a big city like Tokyo, she typically just spent her time hanging around with her gang, or getting into fights. What sort of excitement could she possibly find in a small town in the middle of nowhere that she'd never heard of, before?

April 11, Morning, Clear

A simple train ride was all that was necessary to get to her destination; after all, this town was only in the next prefecture over, so a plane ride wasn't necessary. Deep down, the young woman somewhat hoped she'd get to take a plane; after all, she hadn't been on one since the last family vacation to Okinawa when she was eight years old...

Recalling such an old memory brought forth an irritated snort from the girl as she waited for her train; such a time was long passed, as it had been years since her family had gotten together for any sort of occasion, let alone a recreational one. Usually the only time she saw either of her parents was when they were stopping at home for one reason or another, and rarely they did so together. In fact, she couldn't recall the last time she'd seen both of them together. Hell, she didn't even receive the news about this trip in person; instead, her mother decided to let her know via text messaging.

The girl's growing irritation was, thankfully, cut short, when she noticed her train arrive. Making sure to board in time distracted her long enough for the thought process to end, and for her mind to set itself on a number of other topics that seemed to flow through her brain at a swift pace, her attention rarely sticking to one for longer than a minute. It was this unfocused train of thought that began to slow her cognizance, causing drowsiness, and eventually sleep...

April 11, ?

As her awareness began to slowly return, the first thing that began to catch her attention was the change in ambience. The telltale clacking and occasional bump of a train was gone, and she could tell she was no longer moving at the speed she was back on the railway. Instead, her surroundings seemed to be moving at a slow, gentle pace, and the hum of what she recognized as an expensive car's engine had replaced the train. Despite that, no sense of alarm went off in her head, allowing her to calmly open her eyes and take in her new surroundings.

The first thing her gaze noticed was that nearly everything in sight was blue. From the walls, to the ceiling and floor; even the wisp-like mist outside the windows of the car she found herself in was of a blue color, albeit noticeably brighter than the deep, navy blue that decorated every inch of the vehicle's interior. Admittedly, it was incredibly gaudy to her, as it almost seemed to be an assault on her senses.

The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't alone in the car; a pair of bizarre individuals shared the space with her, one more so than the other. Directly opposite from her, separated by a small table, was a small, strange man dressed in a sharp, black tuxedo with large, bulging eyes and a nose that had to be the length of her forearm. To his left sat a much more normal-looking, if eerily-beautiful, woman with silvery-blonde hair and bright, golden eyes, dressed in an attendant's outfit in the same shade of blue as their surroundings.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," said the man, as soon as he noticed the young woman was awake. "Ah... It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny." As he chuckled, the young woman aimed to interject, but oddly found herself unable to speak... Or rather, unwilling to speak. It was almost as if her surroundings were so relaxing that she simply didn't have the energy to do more than listen.

"My name is Igor... I am delighted to make your acquaintance," the man said, continuing to speak, seemingly unaffected by whatever forced the girl to remain silent. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter... It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future." Dream and reality? Mind and matter? What sort of nonsense was he talking about? The girl understood almost nothing of it, but she wasn't sure she was meant to. Was this some sort of hyper-aware dream she was having? Was this her subconscious's way of fucking with her? She didn't get much time to think on it, however, as the man's next words seemed to command every inch of her attention.

"Now, then... Why don't you introduce yourself?" Just then, the fatigue that kept the young woman from speaking was suddenly lifted, but at the same time, she felt obligated to reply properly. Instead of the rebuttal and questioning she would've normally intervened with, she gave her name, as requested...

"My name's Yui Minamoto."