03/12/20XX

A simple dream would be nice once in a while.

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room, Hachiman"

Or maybe no dreams if that's asking for too much.

"Pay attention when the master is speaking!"

A baton hits the door in front of me, hard. But it doesn't budge. "This again?" I'm in a cell this time. The blue pair scowl while the 'master' gives me an unsettling grin. "I suppose introductions are in order now." He moves his nose over to the twins who step forward. "To your left is Caroline, to your right, Justine. They serve as wardens here."

"Ha, I doubt someone like you could ever break out of there!" Caroline laughs while pointing her baton at me. The cell? I'd rather stay in here than be out there with you. "The duty of the wardens is to protect inmates. But you," Justine narrows her eye at me, "you are an intruder." Not like I want to be here.

Igor stared me down while Caroline and Justine moved aside. "It would seem you've awakened to another's power..." The Death card appeared in front of me before it faded away. Igor closed his eyes before continuing, "How you managed that so soon remains a mystery. Heh heh, you truly are an Anomaly." What is he talking about? "I would love to observe your growth but unfortunately," he pauses to rest his head on his hands, "only those bound by a contract may access our services." A contract? This place is super shady!

"What sort of prison offers services to its prisoners?" What is with this place? The 'Velvet Room'? "Heh, the state of this room reflects the state of its occupants hearts," Igor looks around the room before facing me again, "And a prison is what you have brought forth." How is this my fault? "Ugh what a mess..." Igor's laughter fills the room.

Igor begins tapping his fingers on his desk, "The world is not as it should be. It is filled with distortion and ruin can no longer be avoided." He stops tapping and gazes at me again. "Ordinarily some rise up to oppose such a fate... we refer to them as Tricksters." Igor's grin widens if that's even possible. "This place exists to assist these Tricksters and help them develop their strength." Then why am I here?

"So you want me to fight off some sort of ruin?" Igor's resulting laugh felt like it was directed at me. "We don't expect much of you, Hachiman. You are not the Trickster we were preparing for. You are an Anomaly, an Interloper if you will." Saw that coming. A bell starts ringing all around and it starts feeling harder to stay awake. "This will have to do for now." I can hear Igor's cackling as my vision blurs.

"I can't wait to see what role you'll play."

03/13/20XX

After I ate breakfast, I read while using the tv for background noise. Tricksters huh? Gimme a break. The door burst open and Kasumi waltzed in. "Good morning Hikigaya-senpai!" "Yo." I'm almost starting to get used to this. Almost. "Aw you already ate?" Kasumi sets down her bag and opens it. "Oh well, more for me then." She takes out an absurdly large bento box and I stop reading to gawk.

"You're going to eat all of that?" She isn't exactly the biggest girl. I'd say she actually looked pretty thin. "Yup! I always burn off the calories during practice so I need to eat enough to sustain myself." She begins devouring it. Gymnastics must be pretty intense for her to eat like that. Kasumi takes a break to speak, "Sumire usually prepares these since I... well..." She went back to eating. So Kasumi really can't cook.

"Haaaaa." "Remember to breath." I see where her energy comes from. "I was going to share it with you but you already ate. We could've raced!" There's no way I could keep up with that! "So what happened? Is today your shift?" I asked her. Kasumi looked surprised before she began looking around the room, "Uh, Sumire has somethings to take care of today," she looked back to me, "so it's just me today."

I continued reading while Kasumi cleaned up her mess. She might look prim and proper but she doesn't hold back with eating. "Hey Hikigaya-senpai?" I look up from my book. "Yeah?" What's she thinking about? "The other day when you helped us, you demonstrated some amazing coordination with that maneuver you pulled." I what? "I honestly don't think I could've done that if I were you." Seriously? "Aren't you a gymnast? One of the better ones of our age group?" She grins while eating up the unintentional praise, "Yup!"

She became a bit bashful afterwards, "...But that's only with gymnastics. This is a bit embarrassing but..." she grabs the hem of her skirt while looking down... before shouting in my face, "I can't even ride a bike!" Wah! Wait really?! "I tried to hit a baseball before and missed every time!" I can picture a chibi Kasumi trying these things. Heh I kind of want to see that. "I also don't know how to swim..."

"You're saying you perform gymnastics," she nods, "not just the basics but stuff that takes practice and patience," She nods twice to that, "and fail when other activities are involved?" She scratches behind her head before adjusting her ribbon. "Well not every other thing but..." She knocks her head with one hand while sticking her tongue out, "teehee!" Ugh! What an unexpected attack... Who taught you that?! "Are you ok?!"

"So," Kasumi folds her hands in her lap, "I'd like to make a request." Oh? "And what is this request?" Something about the wording grabbed my attention. "I want you to teach me how to ride a bike, among other things." Careful with your phrasing! "I feel like learning these will help me improve as a gymnast." It... probably can actually. "Try asking Sumire then." Taking requests on my own again would... not anger anyone this time around, huh. "I tried one time but she wouldn't believe me!" I don't believe it either. "Not you too!"

"Can't you ask someone else?" Anyone can teach this stuff. Kasumi looked a little tired at that question. "I tried but my father is pretty strict on who I can socialize with." What? "Why's you father strict about that?" Are the Yoshizawas an upper class family? "He wants me to focus on improving my gymnastic abilities and thinks people will be distracting. And that makes other people afraid to approach me I guess." Oh its one of these...

"And that makes me an exception how?" Shouldn't I also be considered a distraction? "Well one of the blessings of this... incident," Kasumi looked away with that last word before smiling back at me, "Is that it forced us to interact!" Is that really a blessing though? "Oh and I can help you out too," Kasumi tried again after she calmed down, "Once you've recovered, I can teach you some gymnastics in return." That sounds like a lot of work. Too much work at my current level. "Oh uh, *ahem* I'll have to pass on that offerrr..." what's with the quivering lip? "It sounds too..." Is that a tear? "Haah ok," I slump my shoulders in defeat. "Yes! You won't regret it. I promise." She's back to her cheerful self instantly. I'm already regretting it.

"Ok Hikigaya-senpai, I need to get going. I forgot to tell my father I was visiting today. Bye!" She darts out of the room. Is Komachi going to be like that when she gets older. A meeting between those two must never happen. I lay back down when something jabs at me. Another surprise attack? I grab at whatever is behind me and pull back a card. Doesn't this look like...? Wait! my bookmark! Flipping open the book I find the death card still there. Huh?

I put the two cards side by side and spot the difference. Death and Faith. The silhouettes are similar but I can guess who they're supposed to be now with the faith card having a ponytail. So I've obtained more power... for what though? Am I supposed to engage in card duels with these?

03/16/20XX

Its been quiet for a couple days. When those two don't visit I usually spend the day reading while trying to tune out the news playing from the tv. Today was a little different. The nurses let me use a crutch to try to get some exercise. "W-whoa..." almost fell over right off the bat before catching myself on the wall. Again. "Oof" I fell towards the bed after a couple steps. I need to distribute enough weight on both sides so I don't fall over. Again. "Ugh." That's a third failed attempt. Maybe if I were proficient enough I can- "Good morning Hiki-" I hear a couple gasps and rushed movement, "Hikigaya what happened!?""Hikigaya-senpai!" I couldn't help but laugh a bit at this situation.

"You guys don't need to be so close..." after the sisters helped me up I told them that I wanted to try walking using a crutch today. "If you fall over and we're too far away you might get hurt." Kasumi responded. "Do you want to be here even longer Hikigaya?" was Sumire's reply. These two are making it hard to move though. "Just give me a bit a space at least." And then we got to the stairs. "..." Please stop with the smug looks.

Finally made it outside. It's raining but not bad enough to be a nuisance. "Doesn't this make you feel... gloomy?" I hear Kasumi say, "it's darker and there's not as many people around. And it's wet." Not really. "It quieter and there's a nice ambience with it. I like to take my time with these... moments of calm," I respond. I can hear Sumire making a 'hm hm' sound as I assume she nods. "That's if you aren't running around trying to find shelter though." We headed back after some time.

It started getting late so I was about say goodbye, "so you're the young man responsible for this..." but things can never be simple. A man was standing in the doorway with a stern look. "Father!" I turned to Kasumi. Father?! Theirs?! Her father's expression mellows out a bit. "Shinichi Yoshizawa," he bows, "I thank you for rescuing my daughter before she could get hurt." I stared at him for a few seconds and take a quick glance at Sumire before looking back at their father. "Daughters, rather." He looks over at Sumire before turning his attention back to me. "U-uh, it was not a prob- er well, it could've been worse Mr. Yoshizawa."

"You aren't at all what I pictured from Kasumi's description." Mr. Yoshizawa sized me up. What did Kasumi tell him? "However, Kasumi seems to think highly of you. I hope she is not mistaken, Hikigaya-kun." He left us alone. "Well he doesn't pull punches." Sumire looks... disappointed? "I should be going too Hikigaya. See you later." She dodged the question. I really don't want to make assumptions here..."Hey Kasumi?" She looks a bit flustered. "I-I should go too! Bye Hikigaya-senpai!" And she rushed out the door.

I sat in bed thinking about what had happened. I don't know the full story between them but should I get involved? Sure I have a couple obligations towards the pair but this feels outside that scope. Hm. I'll hear them out if they decide to reach out. It's the least I can do since they didn't just up and leave after the accident. I heard a couple chains snap and the two cards appeared in front of me. It looks like the silhouettes gained a little bit more detail.

"And here I thought you would get lonely." Me? Lonely? Nice joke. I look up to see Sojiro standing there. "Nice to see you too." I can see that smirk you know. Sojiro takes something out of his pocket and tosses it to me, "Here, got a delivery for you." I almost drop it before catching it properly. It's a smartphone. "Jeez Sojiro... what would've happpened if I dropped that!?" I unlock the phone, seems like it's in a fresh state. "Your parents sent this after I told them your last one broke," How generous...

"I left out the actual details of your accident since I didn't want to stress them out even more than your previous situation." Ok. Maybe Komachi hasn't heard of it then. "That and you seem to be doing better." He looks me up. "Yeah , I can walk with a crutch now at least." Heh. His surprised expression is a nice change. "Well don't over do it. So," Sojiro takes a seat, "What's up?" Might as well fill him in.

"You work fast kid." Sojiro whistles at my story. "Anyway, I put my contact information in that phone. Everything else is up to you. Now then," he turns towards the exit, "I just needed to drop that off. I still have to close up shop so I'll see you in a few days." Sojiro leaves the way he came. This phone looks like a newer model than my last one. Other than Sojiro's info there doesn't seem to be much on it. Didn't know if I was getting another one anytime soon. I set up a few things on it and turned in for the night.

A/N: Sorry mobile users. Was editing this on pc and it felt empty. Hopefully it doesn't look too mashed up. See you in a couple months(hopefully sooner next time).