The Fourth Card-

Interlude 1

The Queen of Hearts

Minato Arisato… to say that I have encountered a person like him before would be a lie.

Apathetic, stoic, aloof, detached, and emotionless. Any one of those words can be thought of as a perfect description of him. Yet, at a moment's notice he can throw all of that out the window.

Brave, relentless, insane, sympathetic, and stupid… All of these are also a part of the make-up that is Minato Arisato. Yet, at the same time they are not.

His entire personality is like a mask, one mask after another that he throws on to satisfy the person or the situation at hand.

Minato Arisato is a person that has no true self. He has no value of self-worth, no motivations, no ambitions, nothing…

I don't understand it. I don't understand how someone can live like that.

I am the heir of the Takagi's and I am a genius. Yet, I cannot even begin to figure out the enigma that is Minato Arisato.

I think back to our first meeting. My initial assumption was that he was simply another unremarkable quiet individual that preferred to keep to himself and avoid confrontation. Then I saw him go out of his way to defend that gun otaku from Tsunoda and his goons.

That was when he caught my eye.

When I heard that he had joined the kendo club I wasn't surprised. Humans are complex creatures and there is more to them than what meets the eye. I understood that. I thought that Minato Arisato like everyone else was made up of many different layers, that he had his own motivations, his own goals, and ambitions hidden underneath.

I only found out how wrong I was when the apocalypse arrived.

The first thought that came to my mind was fear. I was afraid, I wanted to panic and run away like the rest of my peers but my pride as a genius, as a Takagi wouldn't allow it.

He was different.

Fear was a concept that did not seem to bother him.

He was different from everyone else.

While everyone was fighting for their own survival, he fought because I had asked him to.

The way he fought. From first glance, it looked like he fought without fear, with remarkable bravery. But that wasn't the case at all. The truth was that he fought with a reckless abandon. He fought without even a single inkling of self-preservation.

It was frightening to watch.

He has no motivations, no ambitions, no future goals, no dreams. He doesn't care about dying. He doesn't care because he has nothing that he cares about.

He had fought because I had asked him to fight. If I had not called out to him in that classroom, he would not have left. If I had not asked him to defend himself, to defend us, he would not have done it.

It was ridiculous. Incomprehensible. And yet, it was true.

If he continued on like this, it would only lead to one thing.

His death.

And that scared me.

"Takagi-san, you are still awake?"

Busujima-senpai's voice brought me back from my daze. I let my eyes drift over my senpai's towering figure as she took a seat next to me on the couch.

"Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"…Are you?"

I dodged the question, my pride not allowing me to show anymore weakness. I had already humiliated myself enough at school earlier in the day with my breakdown.

She remained quiet with a contemplative look on her face. We must have sat silently in the darkness for a good five minutes before she finally answered my question.

"I suppose that I am. There are a lot of things that are on my mind."

I wanted to ask her what but I didn't pry.

"It's the same for me then I guess."

She gave me a curious glance but did not say anything more.

We simply sat quietly in the darkness, listening to the occasional sounds of gunfire and explosions occurring outside the apartment.

I shuddered to think about what we would have done if it weren't for Shizuka-sensei. While I had skeptical thoughts about what kinds of friends Shizuka-sensei could have that possessed military grade weapons in their apartment, I was still thankful nonetheless. It would have been a terror to spend the night outside with the situation as dire as it is.

The sound of a small melody took my attention away from my thoughts and back towards my senpai as I watched her hum a familiar tune.

"Hey senpai, can I ask you something?"

She gave me a surprised look as she stopped humming, and then a thoughtful one before finally deciding to settle for a smile.

"Only if I get to ask you something after."

I sighed. Of course she would want something in return. I was no good when it came to dealing with types like her.

"Fine, fine, looks like we're playing twenty questions then."

Her smile never left her face.

"So, what did you want to ask me?"

"It's… about Arisato."

She raised an eyebrow at me in surprise before giving me a sly grin.

"Oh my, so you're interested in my kouhai eh? So, that's you're type Takagi-san?"

I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks as I furiously tried to deny the blush that had begun to appear.

"W-w-what!? No, no no! T-that's not what I meant at all!"

Busujima-senpai only continued to chuckle at my expense.

"Calm down Takagi-san, I was merely teasing. You're reactions are just simply too funny for me to resist."

I sighed as I leaned back against the couch. I really was no good when it came to dealing with types like her, it reminded me too much of mother. She always could get a rise out of me, and much to my displeasure, Busujima-senpai seems to have the same ability.

"Heh, no but really, what about Arisato-san?"

I tried to muster up a glare, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect as it only made senpai chuckle even more.

"It's just that… The way he acts."

Senpai looked at me with confusion evident on her face.

"What do you mean?"

The question hung in the air as I fidgeted in my seat, unsure of whether or not I wanted to voice out the thoughts racing through my mind at the moment.

"I just mean that, at this rate… Arisato's going to get himself killed."

Senpai had a thoughtful look on her face.

"I suppose that's possible, Arisato-san does have a tendency to be reckless."

That was probably an understatement.

It was peculiar. I had rarely if ever spoken to him, yet after today, I find myself worried about his well-being. Not just Arisato's, but everyone's, Takashi, Miyamoto, sensei, senpai, and even Hirano. After only a day, I found myself getting attached to everyone in our little ragtag group. I suppose that's what they called survivor's camaraderie.

"Arisato… He doesn't take his own well-being into account at all. It's like he doesn't hold any value in his own life. It worries me that someone can be like that. He's going to get himself killed one of these days..."

I said the final sentence with a tone of finality. I was half-expecting her to tease me again but the serious look on Busujima-senpai's face quickly put an end to that train of thought.

"He will be fine Takagi-san. If he does end up in a troublesome situation, then it will simply be up to us, his friends to help him out."

I had nothing to say to that.

The confidence that senpai had said that with made it seem like she whole heartedly believed that nothing could happen to us. A part of me wanted to believe her, but the logical part of me quickly got rid of that notion. It could be considered a miracle that we managed to even escape from the school with everyone in one piece.

Eventually, the odds would catch up to us and our luck would finally run out. And when that happened, I had no doubt in my mind that the first one affected would be him.

How could someone be so… So apathetic when it came to their own life?

It was a chilling thought.

"Takagi-san, is it alright if I asked my question now?"

I blinked. Right, we had made an annoying agreement like that. Begrudgingly I nodded.

I thought she would ask me something stupid so that she could tease me again, but much to my surprise she didn't.

"What do you think of me?"

I blinked again. I was a bit caught off guard by the question. I quickly regained my composure though and thought about her question.

"Uhm... I think that you're really talented. I respect you a lot and I can see why a lot of people look up to you."

"I see..."

She had replied in such a quiet voice that I almost had to strain to hear her. I didn't miss the almost sad like look on face. I wasn't really sure how to respond to that so I didn't say anything.

An awkward silence hung in the air with the conversation now dead. We probably sat there for a good 10 minutes before senpai pretended to stifle a yawn as she stood up and wished me a good night as she headed back towards her bedroom. As she began to leave, I thought back about our earlier topic of conversation.

"Do you know..." I could see senpai stop walking and turn her attention back towards me from the corner of my eye. "What could cause Arisato to become like that?"

Senpai had a faraway look in her eyes as she gripped the hilt of her bokken.

"Everyone has a reason for why they are as they are Takagi-san."

I didn't think much of what she said at the time.

I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night. Neither did anyone else for that matter. Well, excluding Marikawa-sensei, she slept like a log; liquor tends to have that effect on people.

It didn't help that I was never a morning person to begin with.

Breakfast wasn't much, while Marikawa-sensei wasn't that bad of a cook, it still wasn't up to my usual standards. Though, I suppose with the situation as it is, having a good meal should be the least of my worries.

"So, what do you guys want to do until the meeting time?" Hirano asked as he continued to tinker with one of the rifles that he had found in the apartment. Really, did the idiot have no clue as to what proper etiquette was? Couldn't he at least have waited until after breakfast before breaking into his gun otaku mode?

"Shouldn't we just wait here?" Marikawa-sensei's usual cutesy voice echoed through from the kitchen as she continued frying more eggs. "It would be a lot safer for us to just wait until it's time."

I had to agree with the nurse for once. I had no desire to venture outside if I didn't have to. While I did not doubt Busujima-senpai's ability to protect us, after yesterday, I did not have any desires for more near-death experiences.

"Yes, I think that would be for the best." Busujima-senpai's commanding demeanor squashed any potential opposition.

Thanking Marikawa-sensei for the meal, I gave her my now empty bowl and dirtied utensils.

Feeling slightly more energetic now that I had a full stomach, I decided to take advantage of sensei's computer, or rather her friend's computer.

As I powered it on and waited for it to load up, I wondered how Takashi and Arisato were doing. Were they alright?

Well, I would find out later on in the day so no point in worrying about it now. Might as well do some research and see if anyone knows what's happening on the net.

The police station, just as I expected, was packed. Officers and people were running in and out of the building in an almost endless fashion. Every police station in the city probably had its hands full running in full gear with what's been going on.

Sitting on one of the benches next to Hirano, I pulled out my phone. 7:10, Takashi and co. were late, again. It took another 15 minutes of waiting before we finally made out Takashi's silhouette in the distance.

"You're late."

I ended up blurting that out by mistake.

"Yeah, sorry guys, we ran into some… personal issues along the way." Takashi said with a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his head.

Whatever Takashi had meant by that, no one bothered pressing him about it.

"Yay! The gangs all back together now!" Marikawa-sensei exclaimed as happily as ever.

As everyone was getting reacquainted, my eyes eventually hovered over towards a certain blue haired boy. While everyone was engaged in some type of conversation with one another, he was just standing there by himself. Quite awkwardly I might add.

I felt a little bad, so I decided to talk to him.

"So, where did you guys end up staying yesterday?"

He looked at me with a blank expression before responding in his usual apathetic tone.

"My apartment."

He was as open to a conversation as ever.

"I see." I dryly remarked.

With a sigh, I sat down on a nearby bench and patted the spot next to me. Unsurprisingly he obliged and took a seat next to me.

"Things have been rather hectic lately, and then you guys got separated from us…" I began to twirl my hair as I looked away because this was a little embarrassing for me to say. "So I didn't have a chance to say this earlier but, thanks for saving me Arisato."

If he heard me he didn't give any indication that he did. Frowning, as I didn't exactly enjoy being ignored, I turned back around and saw that he had his attention fully fixated on something across the street. Curious as to what had captured so much of his attention, I tried to follow his line of sight and ended up staring at a brown haired girl sitting on another bench. I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit annoyed.

"Hey Arisato…" I tried to keep the tone of my voice neutral but I don't think that I did that good of a job from the look of surprise on his face. "You know it's considered bad etiquette to stare at another girl when you're in the middle of a conversation with one right?"

I was expecting an apology but what I got was a look of confusion. Did he really think I wouldn't notice him checking out another girl?!

If I wasn't irritated before I definitely was now. With a huff, I stormed off from my seat and walked over towards where Busujima-senpai and Miyamoto were talking. He could stay sitting there by himself for all I cared.

Eventually, I would find out that he wasn't looking at the girl but at the mp3 player she was holding….

Author's Notes-

Hello everyone. So I just wanted to thank everyone for their reviews and compliments, I had a lot of fun reading through them. The Mp3 player one got a good laugh out of me, ah ha. Anyway, this chapter is one of the few interludes that I will be incorporating throughout the story to show it from a different point of view. But, the majority of the story will still be from Minato's point of view. I would say to expect to see one of these every 3-4 chapters or so. Uh, yeah that's it, till next time!

Minato x Mp3 OTP right? lol.

-SFX