This story is a work of fiction. Similarities between characters or events to persons living or dead in your world are purely coincidental. Only those who have agreed to the above have the privilege of partaking in this game. …The contract has been sealed. The world is not as it should be. It's filled with distortion, and "ruin" can no longer be avoided. Those who oppose fate and desire change… From time to time, they were referred to as Tricksters. You are the Trickster… Now is the time to rise against the abyss of distortion.
A siren starts ringing out as panic and confusion surges through the guests of the casino people in suits are running through the crowd as if searching for someone above the guests a figure jumps across the top of the lights 3 men in black suits walk in each with sunglasses adorning their faces the figure jumps once more on to a light and stands above the crowd looking down on them with a cocky smirk on his face a briefcase held under his arm the figure wears a black ankle-length tailcoat, a waistcoat with gold accents, He also has black pants and red gloves. But the most noticeable thing about this person is the birdlike domino mask nestled on his face.
"Hey… Up there!" a guest had spotted the figure
"He's here. Move-in immediately!" one of the men in suits says into a communicator.
The figure jumps off the light and onto a platform "Good. Now get running!" a boyish voice calls out from the figures communicator
Another voice follows up with "This is our only chance!" a serious male voice this time
"Stay calm! You can get away now!" A childlike feminine voice comes over the comm this time.
"We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end." A stern female voice came through.
Through the communicator, a bunch of words came through, but they sounded scrambled
"Hm…? What was that…?" The childlike voice came through once more
"Don't worry about us. Just concentrate on getting away!" That boyish voice again.
The figure starts moving along the tops over the light the boyish voice came out the come once more
"But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move, nice work as always Joker."
The figure now identified as Joker let out a quick chuckle before he made his way across the tops drowning out the noise from his teammates Joker spots some of those men in suits come out an exit door
"There he is!"
"Just run get out of there," The childlike voice tells him
Joker starts jumping on top of these arches before he jumps onto a casino sign and flips up over the railing as he starts running towards the stairs a couple of men appear at the top of them before they start spasming for a second and turning into beefy men with a mask covering a face of darkness another one of these beefy men jumps down behind Joker
"Take 'em down Joker!" A peppy female voice says
Upon hearing this Joker gains a cocky smirk on his face as he jumps up and twists himself in the air landing on the beefy man's shoulders grabbing onto the mask he tears it off revealing glowing red eyes.
Joker kicks the man forward the man turns completely black and these red bubbles start popping off his body and his body spasms until he bends backwards as this red a black liquid explodes out of him like a fountain turning into a two-armed, two-legged metal bull the creature has a scar across its left eye as it holds onto handles connected to its body.
"Comparing power levels… No threat. Get em, Joker!"
"Moloch..." Joker mutters to himself
Then Joker pulls out his dagger "Eigaon." he muttered
Behind him, a figure rose it looks almost like a gentleman with wings almost like angel wings but black, metal spikes jutting out under each foot black and red horns that look ready to pierce through something or someone and a ridiculously large top hat the figure pulls back its hand and lowers it towards Moloch, red and black energy coalescing underneath the metal cow before exploding underneath the creature.
Moloch lets go of one of the handles as he uses an arm to keep himself steady from the blow before unleashing a column of fire underneath Joker who just stands there taking the fire, Joker pulls out a pistol from his pocket and fires eight shots into this cow before it turns to black dust
"Good you defeated them with ease." that boyish voice said
Before the childlike voice came through
"More of them!? Be careful!" She sounded panicked
Before 3 more of those beefy men appeared in front of Joker one trying to hit him with an electric baton before joker just flips out the way before grabbing onto a ledge and jumping up towards a door with an exit sign above it running towards the door and up the stairs,
Joker found himself in what looked to be a staff-only area he started to run forward when he heard that childlike voice
"What the- I'm getting a weird reading coming your way!"
"What do you mean by a weird reading Oracle?" a quiet voice questioned
"I-I don't know what it is, just be careful Joker," Oracle told Joker
"Bastion I will be fine, protect the rest of the team," Joker says through the comm
"Ok," that quiet voice Bastion mutters.
Joker takes off towards the back end of the room turning left he sees a door which he goes through walking down some stairs and turning right he sees another door and goes through that one as well watching as a man in a suit runs by on the other side of the glass he seemed to say something in his comm before running off Joker is about to continue when.
"Up ahead! Stop!" Oracle's voice filled his ear
"This is bad! Hide, Joker!"
Joker jumps in the shadows of one of the carts nearby
"You'll never get away if you keep fighting hide in the shadows and sneak on through when you see an opening"
Making sure to stick to the shadows Joker moves forward until he is almost right next to one of the men in suits
"Hey, are you sure he came in this way?" The man said
Followed by "Understood. I will continue the search!"
The man runs back the way Joker just came from
"Now's your chance! Make a run for it!"
Oracle tells him as he sprints up the stairs only to see another guard "Ugh! How many of them are there!?" Oracle voicing Joker's thoughts
Joker looks around for a way out and sees something sticking out of a pipe 'Perfect' Joker thinks to himself as he spins around and launches a grappling hook towards the grip swinging himself under the pipe and coming back around to land above it
"All right, go straight from there!"
Joker smirks as he realises freedom is so close before Oracles voice cuts through again
"Joker Stop!"
Causing Joker to immediately freeze on the spot as two more of those beefy men appear in front of him causing him to back off immediately to make some room as he does that though another 4 appear behind him
"Even you can't take on this many." Oracles words of wisdom come through the comm
"Huh!?" 'Oh, what now' Joker thinks to himself
"Joker! That weird reading from before is closing in on you too!"
Looking forward Joker sees a figure walking towards him, and he hears the sounds of heels clicking on the ground "I'll end this right now!" a familiar female voice comes from the figure as she pulls out a rapier from her side
"Joker it's her! She's the weird reading I've been getting!" 'I'm not going to question why she is here, I'm just going to be thankful.' Joker thought
The figure tosses her rapier up and catches it only to fling it towards Joker. The rapier landing inside the chest of one of the beefy men right next to Joker as the man falls to his knees the rest of the men charging towards the girl who does a cartwheel to her left to dodge the baton of one of the men pulling out a hunting rifle she bends her body sideways as she shoots one of the men transitioning into another cartwheel only to jump up above another one of the men and shoot him as she lands walking towards Joker the figure speaks
"My weak self-relied on you so much… That ends today!"
Kicking the rapier up out the third man she catches it as the blade shines in the light swinging the blade forward as she says, "Let's do this, Senpai!"
"The enemy readings have decreased?" Oracle mutters confused
"That's…" The boyish voice mutters to himself
Standing in front of Joker was two bipedal leopards with one sword in each hand wearing matching green and red capes and white underwear and in between, them flew a giant red vulture with white neck fur "Garula" The Vulture cries out
A burst of wind forms around the girl as she gracefully dodges the attack
"It's been a while since we last fought side by side. But this time, it's my turn to come to your aid, Senpai. Now let's win this!"
Joker smirks at the girl's words before he pulls out his pistol and unleashes bullets upon the enemies immediately after doing that, he hears the girl beside him whisper
"Dance"
A figure appeared behind her before white lines that looked almost like slash marks pierced through the enemies knocking them all down on the ground running forward both Joker and the girl aimed their guns at the knocked down enemies before they moved back a bit as the girl muttered "Payback time."
The two of them jump towards the enemies landing strike after strike before the girl jumps forward doing the splits mid-air as a curling ribbon appears from nowhere with the girl grabbing it as she lands doing a small cartwheel then twirls around before grabbing the ribbon with her mouth as you hear her say "Stuck the landing!"
The enemies turn to dust as she says that "I think… that's the last of them?" The figure says
Oracles voice comes on through the comm "I genuinely have no clue what just happened, but I take it you're okay? Wait- bad news! Enemy backups headed your way! You need to book it, right now!"
The girl then says "Please go. I'm going to make it harder for them to track you down. You still have something you need to do as a phantom thief, right?"
Joker just nods towards her "Then I won't stop you. Since I'm not a member of the Phantom Thieves, I'm in no position to interfere."
After saying that she shakes her head a little then jumps up onto a ventilation system looking down at Joker "However… please don't forget the promise we made, okay?"
The girl then jumps off the vent and disappears "Joker you need to get out of there! Go go go!"
Joker takes Oracles advice and runs forward up the stairs looking forward to make sure there aren't any guards he stealthily makes his way through the area peering into a window he spots a bunch of people all looking for him, he then starts sprinting his way up the staircase he can hear the guards behind him, reaching a hallway Joker looks to his left and spots an exit door running through the door he notices that the exit isn't as simple as he thought
"Through there?" He questions Oracle
"Nnh…! that's just how it is. After the commotion, the bottom floor is- "Oracle is cut off as that stern female voice finishes her sentence "Completely closed off. Hey, can you make it!"
Joker smirks at the question before "Over there!"
Looking behind himself those 3 guards from before all have guns pointed at him "There's nowhere to run!"
The guards slowly creep towards Joker before he jumps up onto the railing and makes his way over to the giant glass mural looking at the guards' Joker says "See ya!"
Bracing himself as he jumps out the window straightening himself out as the glass drops past him, he hears Oracle mutter "What a show-off"
That peppy voice from before also says "Your so reckless. You know that?"
As Joker lands he is assaulted by a bunch of bright lights as Oracle just says "Enemies here!? Wait, these readings it can't be!"
Looking forward Joker sees the police Joker instantly drowns out the noise of his teammates as he hears from the police crowd "Capture him!"
Hearing that Joker sprints away jumping up towards a ladder and he climbs it believing to have escaped the police before he looks up and sees more policemen stationed above him one of them slamming in his face with the butt of his gun knocking Joker into the crowd of polices members as Joker is restrained and pushed down onto the ground
"You have your teammate to thank for this." One of the officers says crouching down to get closer to Joker
"You were sold out." The officer continued
Standing back up he yells out "Suspect confirmed! Cuff him!"
After those words, Joker felt the handcuffs click onto his wrist.
Joker awoke to cold water being flung onto his face his vision is blurry as he looks up and sees around three men standing there the one closest to him just says
"No dozing off!"
After hearing that Joker realises he is handcuffed and his arms are behind a chair. Joker starts struggling trying to break free "You still don't get it, do you? Give it up!"
As the man is saying the last part, he kicks Joker right in the side hard enough to knock him out the chair Joker letting out a grunt of pain the officer walks over to Joker putting his foot on his head Come on cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?"
Joker glances around the room spotting a camera the officer noticing this just says "Huh? What about the camera?"
After saying this he picks Joker up by the hair "Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?"
Joker just stays quiet
"You still haven't figured it out? There are no laws here that will protect criminals like you!"
Landing a kick into Joker's stomach as the officer finishes the sentence Joker's vision starts going black then comes back as the officer says, "And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it…Huh?"
'I was enjoying it? Everything's hazy… I can't remember…' Joker thought
"You should know your place."
The officer shakes his head before he motions to a different man to uncuff Joker before he tosses Joker to the floor "Sign here."
The officer hands Joker a clipboard "It's a confession under your name"
The officer explained, "I… understand…" Joker all but whispers
The officer hands Joker a pen "Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece, We're going to make you understand… One must take full responsibility for their actions…"
The officer backs away as Joker writes down his name on the confession sign "Ren Amamiya" after signing the confession the officers move the chair behind a table and place Ren on the chair before they all leave the room.
Moments later a silver-haired woman Ren recognised as prosecutor Sae Nijima walked in the door and she sat down in front of him
"…I didn't expect it'd be you, You'll be answering my questions this time." Sae says
Looking around the room Sae spots syringes on the floor; she lets out a mutter "Those bastards…"
Before she started her questioning "Can you hear me? It seems you've been through a lot, Almost anything can happen here… and I can't stop them, That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time either, What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution, It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it."
Ren just mutter's "Of course you couldn't…" Sae lets out a small chuckle before saying
"True, There's no way I could be convinced of such a… "world" just by reading the reports, It seems you're coherent, When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another's heart? Now tell me your account of everything. …Start from the very beginning."
As Ren starts to think of when this all started, he sees a blue butterfly flutter past as well as he hears a voice in his head
"…You are held captive, A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance, This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none, But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you… I beg you, Please overcome this game… and save the world… The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds, the truth that you and your friends have grasped it all began that day… when the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of the world's future… as well as your own… you must remember."
"Huh?" Ren awoke from his nap on the train 'Work of fiction what?'
"Ladies and gentlemen thank you for riding with us today our next stop is Shibuya. This is the last stop of this line." A voice comes from the P.A system on the train
Ren starts to remember how he got here. 'Tried to save a woman from a drunk man and what does it get me a criminal record.'
"For real? A mental shutdown?" A high school girl questions her friend
"It's the truth!" The friend replies
"To a person though? That's gotta be a joke, You love all that occult stuff, don't you?" The first girl rebuts
Ren is walking through Shibuya's station square keeping his eyes on his phone so he knows where he is going, He looks up to see all the people moving around and how busy the streets are with ads flashing across all the buildings, At the sound of his phone going off Ren looks back down at his screen to see an app with a logo of a red eyeball all of a sudden the app grows covering most of Ren's phone Ren taps the logo trying to make it disappear when suddenly everything stops, No one moves it's like time has just stopped.
Ren starts looking around until he spots a bright burning flame completely blue, The flame turns into a figure with wings sprouting out from behind it and a face looking similar to his except for glowing yellow eyes appears in the fire, After it does everything starts back up like it never stopped
'I really need to cut down on the coffee.' Ren thought
Ren deletes the application on his phone before making his way over to Yongen-Jaya after leaving the station and getting to the back streets of Yongen-Jaya Ren pulls out his phone to look for his caretaker's address "Thirty-four, thirty-six, ah thirty-eight."
Ren finds the house with relative ease looking towards the house a single thought crosses
Ren's mind 'Starting today Sojiro Sakura will be taking care of me.'
Pressing the button Ren waits… and waits… and waits… 'Starting today I will be living on the streets.'
"Are you looking for Mr Sakura?" a voice from behind Ren questions
Turning around Ren comes face to face with the postman "He should be over at his Café Leblanc this time of day." The postman informs Ren
"Ah thank you!" Ren thanked the man before heading over to the café which he luckily saw on the way here as he was about to open the café door a person around his age walks out the person is male and he has dark green hair a pair of blue and white striped shorts and a light blue T-shirt with a cup of coffee on it that says 'Breakfast Buddies' "Thank you, Boss, I'm sorry for intruding once more." The boy says quietly
He walked past Ren, eyes down facing the ground as Ren just walks through the door as he does he is assaulted with the smell of coffee 'Maybe I won't be cutting down on the coffee.'
Ren also sees 3 people in the café and elderly couple sitting in the booth and a man wearing an apron as well as a pink shirt and cream coloured pants who was reading a crossword magazine
"And down is… the name of a shellfish used in pearl farming…" The Man says
The man looks up towards Ren "…Oh, right. They did say that was today."
The man stands up and puts the crossword on the bench as the elderly couple also stands up "We'll be going now. The payment is on the table."
The man just responds with "Thanks for coming."
"This place is in the back alley, so there's no worry of a car crashing in here."
'A car what? Is this old man senile?'
"There's been a string of those rampage accidents, you know. I just hope nothing happens around here." The old man continues
"I have to agree it would be bad for business if it did." The person who Ren believes to be Sojiro Sakura says
"Haha, we'll see you next time." The old man and his wife bid their farewells
Now it was just Ren and Sojiro "four hours for just a single cup of joe. So, you're Ren?" Sojiro questions
"Please take care of me Sakura-san," Ren says
"Well as you already guessed I'm Sojiro Sakura. You'll be in my custody over the next year. I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you're the one, huh? Have you been told a customer of mine and your parents know each other and- Well, not that any of that matters… Follow me."
Leading Ren up the stairs Sojiro walks into the attic "This is your room."
'Holy shit I might take my chances with the streets.' Ren thought disgusted with how dirty the room is
"I'll at least give you sheets for your bed. You look like you wanna say something." Sojiro states
"It's big." Was Ren's only reply
"It's on you to clean up the rest, I'll be leaving after I lock up each day, You'll be alone at night, but don't do anything stupid, I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble, Now then, I got the gist of your situation, You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her, he got injured, then sued you, Right? That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults, You did injure him, yeah? …And now that you've got a criminal record, you were expelled from your high school, The courts order you to move out here which your parents agreed with so in other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass, Now don't go talking about anything unnecessary, I am in the restaurant business, you know. Behave yourself for the year, If nothing happens, your probation will be lifted."
"A whole year…" Ren mutters
"Yep a whole year your sentence last's till next spring, right? That's why you're gonna be here for the coming year. We will be going to Shujin tomorrow. That's your school in case you didn't remember. We'll introduce ourselves properly to the staff there. There's rarely a place that'll accept someone like you, you know. What a waste of my Sunday… anyway, your luggage arrived a little while ago. I brought it up here for you." Sojiro said that he started walking down the stairs.
'looks like I'm living here from today onwards.' Ren thinks to himself
Looking at the cardboard box that held his luggage Ren opened it up and slipped himself into some more comfortable clothes before getting to work on cleaning his room before Ren realised it he had cleaned up most of the room and it was dark out
'Huh it is late, seems like I've been cleaning for a while.'
Walking up the stair Sojiro appears with a shocked look on his face
"What the heck? I heard you making all sorts of noise up here, but I didn't think you were cleaning."
Sojiro takes a second to look around to attic
"Actually, the place doesn't look too bad. Though it's only natural you'd want to keep your room tidy. Why don't you go to bed for tonight? You don't have anything better to be doing, right? I'm gonna close up shop and get out of here myself. I won't be looking after you if you get sick from staying up late, you got that?"
After saying his piece Sojiro walks back down the stairs and leaves Ren decides to take Sojiro's advice and head to sleep changing into some pajamas. As Ren is lying down on his bed he thinks back to how he got into this situation
'I just had to go and play hero, didn't I? Why did she listen to him when he told her to make a fake statement? Why are the police his bitches and why did he have to destroy my life?'
Ren was distracted by a noise coming from his phone pulling it out his pockets he sees that weird app he deleted earlier at least he thought he did, deleting the app for real this time Ren realises that his eyes are feeling heavy as he closes his eyes and falls asleep.
Eyes flying open, Ren wakes up somewhere unrecognizable, hearing the sounds of rattling chains some distance away. He seemed to be in a sort of jail cell as he looked around in astonishment and confusion. Ren sat up as he realised that there were shackles on his arms that weren't there before. Hearing a feminine chuckle, he turned to the cell door as two little girls in almost matching warden outfits appeared out the front of his cell. 'Now I know I'm not into this sort of thing so what the hell is going on?' Ren thinks to himself incredulously
Trying to move towards the door Ren finds himself held down by a ball and chain even still he makes his way over towards the two girls and grabs on to the bars of the cell door and sitting at a desk in the middle of the room lay an old man with bloodshot eyes elf ears and an
absurdly long nose
"Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room." The old man welcomes Ren
Struggling against the bars in a vain attempt to break free Ren just hears the girl to his right say in a haughty voice "So you've come to, Inmate!"
Followed by the girl to his left "The you, in reality, is currently fast asleep you are only experiencing this as a dream." The other girl's voice was a lot less harsh than the first one.
"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" The harsh voice came out again before the old man decided to speak again
"Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists between dream and reality, mind, and matter, It is a room only those who are bound by a "contract" may enter. I am Igor the master of this place. Remember it well, I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."
"What do you mean important matters?" Ren interrupted
"Quiet Inmate you don't get to interrupt master like that!" The girl with the harsh voice said slamming her baton against the bars narrowly missing his fingers.
"Still, this is a surprise… The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a "prisoner" of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."
"Are you kidding me?" Ren says annoyance heavy on his voice
"Haha, worry not. There is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be "rehabilitated." Rehabilitated towards freedom… That is your only means to avoid ruin…"
"How do I know you're not just a crazy old man?" Ren challenges getting another strike from the girl as she says
"How dare you say such things to our master Inmate you're not worthy to lick the dirt off his boots!" The girls face is twisted in anger
"Caroline do not mind him. Trickster do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?" Igor placates the girl Caroline before continuing with his statement
"If what you say is true, I would rather avoid ruin," Ren replies
"Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation." As Igor says both the little girls move so they are now standing directly in front of the door "Ah pardon me for not introducing the others to your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here." Igor introduced the two girls
"Hmph try and struggle as much as you like Inmate," Caroline says
"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators," Justine said
'I know they say you can't play favourites but…' Ren thought to himself
"That is if you remain obedient." Justine continued
'never mind' Ren thought bitterly
"I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion. Now then it seems the night is waning… It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…" Igor says as he finishes that sentence sirens start wailing all around the cell
"Time's up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep!" Caroline said
Ren, not wanting the conversation to be over, tries to shake at the cell door, but he just drops onto his side as his eyes feel heavy and his world fades to black as he hears the deep chuckle of Igor.