Alarms are blaring loudly as Joker makes her way along the catwalks of the casino. So far, the heist had been going very well. Very well. However, she has a feeling that things weren't going to end as well as they started. Joker - her codename, for starters - has already gotten the rest of her team out of the casino and back in the real world a bit ago, so it was just her. Not that she couldn't handle herself. Her shadowy friend helped dispose of the security that littered her path - dark strikes knocked them down in moments, or a well-placed shot from her gun.
Well, time to get out there. There's a window that needs smashing.
She jumps, and she's surrounded by police.
Damnit.
Yu was going to have her head for this.
"Heheh...poor little phantom was sold out. Wonder who it was?" A policeman swaggers up to Joker, gun trained on the thief. Without the bravado that the shadows provide, she is a small and lithe girl. Still, what she had managed to do earlier...
"Sold out?"
"Still don't get it...well, there'll be time to think of that in the station."
She lowered her head and held her hands out, expecting handcuffs. She did not expect the butt of the handgun thudding into her temple knocking her out instantly.
"Wake up!" Joker groaned, eyes bleary. She went to rub her eyes, but she could not move her hands. Her vision cleared to reveal that she was strapped to a chair, and two burly detectives were next to her.
"I said, WAKE UP!" The other detective shouted in her ear, before kicking her in the side and sending her to the ground.
"Well, well...theft, arson, assault, murder...the list goes on and on, doesn't it?" The first detective snarls, spit flying as the second kicks Joker in the side a few times, cries of pain echoing throughout the interrogation room. A few kicks later, the first detective pulls Joker back up and unties her hands. She rubs her sore wrist as the second detective lays a sheet of paper in front of her, clearly stated as a confession.
"Write your name."
"What?" It was the first few words she had said during the interrogation, and the first detective slammed the table, pencil rattling.
"Sign your damn name! This'll make sure you're kept good and safe. But I'd hurry up...you're not leaving this unscathed." At this, the two detectives leave, leaving Joker and the piece of paper. She rubs her eyes, fishing for the pencil. She glances over the confession. Seems like if she signs, she's going to be locked up for life. Regardless of her innocence. Well...
She signs 'Akira Kurusu', and her isolation is interrupted when a figure comes in.
"Hello Sae. Or is it Prosecutor Niijima?"
"Hmph. I wish this was under better circumstances, Kurusu."
"Well, I have some questions," Sae moves to sit down across from Akira, looking her in the eyes.
"About what? I thought you knew enough from your sister."
Sae scowls and continues, "Don't mention her. We're going to have a talk about this later. How did you learn about...that world? How did you pull off your...thefts?"
Akira's mouth opens and shuts a few times, eyes focusing. She glances left, and there is...a blue butterfly.
"You are a slave...whose future was sealed in advance. A slave of Fate. This is an extremely unreasonable game...and you have almost no hope of winning." Time seems to freeze.
"However, if you can hear my voice, then there's still a chance...please, win this game...and save the world. The key to reverse your fate is the memories of your bonds...the truth you grasped with your friends...everything began half a year ago...the day when this game started...please, bring back your memories...for the future of the world...and you."
And Akira wakes up on a train.
Instinctively, Akira Kurusu knows several things. That she's on a train for Shibuya, she is sixteen years old, a second year transfer student at Shujin Academy, and that she was a member of an incident. As she recalls the memory her face twists behind her glasses. There was some asshole harassing a woman at night, and she stepped in. She pulled the guy's hand off and he tripped, clearly drunk. Got a cut and blabbed something about police connections. Next thing she knew, she was in court and the woman she helped was testifying against her. Bam, down on her permanent record, expelled from school, and told to move away. Her parents said it was fine, and her she is on a train to Tokyo, leaving her in the care of a Sojiro Sakura.
Damn...damn it all. What an asshole.
Strange...application aside, including that weird fiery figure of herself, Akira finally winds down the alleys to Sojiro's cafe - Cafe le Blanc. Pretentious french name aside, it's a cozy establishment, with booths and a bar where Sojiro presumably works. At the bar is a a grey-haired woman typing away at a laptop, and Sojiro is laughing at a joke she made.
"Haha...that's a good one, Narukami."
"I'm serious! They're actually going to adapt it for television. I mean, I can't believe it but..." the woman stops talking to notice that Akira has been listening in for a moment.
"Oh! Hello. I'm Yu Narukami. Who're you?"
"I'm Akira Kurusu. Would you happen to know where Sojiro Sakura is...?"
"That'd be me," The man straightens his back and nods, "So, you're Akira, huh? I'm a friend of your parents'. Kinda surprised that punk I'm supposed to be looking after is you, but I owe your parents a favor."
Akira tilts her head. Has she met him before? All the commotion lately has left her scrambled.
"Well, Narukami," Sojiro continues, "it's closing time, and I've gotta show the kid here where she'll be staying for now."
"I hear you, Sojiro. Thanks for the coffee and curry as always." Narukami packs her laptop into a bag and stands up, heading out the door.
"See you around, kiddo."
"Well, this is your room. It's kind of a mess, but it's your mess now. But a word of warning - do anything stupid, and you're outta here, favor be damned." Sojiro slams the door shut as Akira's bag hits the ground, dust settling. Might as well get started cleaning it up before school tomorrow.
Damn, that application's still here? Didn't she delete it before? Well, whatever.
As Akira drifts off to sleep, her mind keeps going back to the incident. She did what was right!
When Akira opens her eyes next, she's in a cell.
"Welcome," an ominous voice booms through the bars, "to my Velvet Room."
The voice introduces itself as Igor, and the two little girls introduce themselves as Caroline and Justine. Akira tries to listen as closely as she can, but there's only so much a girl can take.
"Will you fight against the world's corruption?" Akira's head snaps up at this and Igor extends a hand.
"Of course I will."
"Wonderful. Let us see the power of your...rehabilitation into a free woman."
The Velvet Room fades away as the shrill beeping of Akira's alarm clock makes itself known.