#honestly this was just an excuse to make one of the casino members a good guy-

[amitiel-truth]

Trick the Devil (Part 2)

Where does the Jujutsu Society get their dough?

(Not proof read, too lazy, lore dump)

Part 1

"The Seven Sponsors, it's unknown if they're cursed users or not, but what's known is that they are one of the most prominent members in Society as a whole, a group of people who promised secrecy of the Jujutsu World and fund our conquest in vanquishing curses as long as we keep the World of the Non-Sorcerers safe as best as we could.

They used to go under one single surname, until the heir women of their clan broke off, and married off into prestigious families, the main 3 are the Daigo's, each perspective head handles Pharmaceuticals, Police, and Military.

the Sada's, their territory is Shinjuku, not only do they have control of the brothels, but they're a great source of information, especially when getting dirt on certain politicians.

the Yoshikawa's, they handle the Entertainment Industry, but there are rumors their control runs deeper than what they Televise.

the Yamazaki's, they handle businesses of excess, such as restaurants, shopping centers, and banks.

lastly, the Chiyoya's, their main focus are Integrated Resorts, a hotel with a casino, together with conventional facilities such as entertainment, shows, theme parks, luxury retail, and fine dining. they're the ones who give the biggest funds amongst the seven of them."

"So you three better be on your best behavior! Usually, they only invite the most prominent Sorcerers to their Yearly Appreciation Party, but this year they're expanding their invites, better look good while you're at it." Yaga explains to them after their suspension, Shoko was a bit peeved off for Gojo getting her smoke confiscated, but not a little bit of replacement cigs to satiate her anger.

Satoru yawns in exaggeration, sitting cross-legged on his chair, looking and sounding bored out of his mind "Why do we have to attend something so boring? I could be doing so many things than attending some stupid party..."

"Like getting into a date with Chiyoya" Satoru thinks to himself, letting out a small snicker.

"This year isn't just about the Appreciation Party, they're introducing their Heirs that will soon take over the old Sponsors." Yaga added.

"And one of them is the girl you fought, Gojo Satoru, so you better prepare an apology speech!"

For a moment, Satoru appears somewhat serious, but the moment he hears that Chiyoya will be there, a mischievous smirk spreads across his face. "Oh? is that so?"

"You should have said so from the start. the only parties I'm going to are the ones that she's in." He remarks with a hint of flirtatiousness in his tone, which got him a bit of discipline on the head after finally getting excused.

"Satoru, didn't I warn you not to fool around with that girl?" Suguru asked, as they began walking to their dorms to get ready.

Satoru rolls his eyes "Listen Suguru, if I see an opportunity to have fun, I'm going to take it. Besides, I can't really help myself when it comes to gorgeous women now, can I?" He smirks cheekily

"What do you see in her anyway? I get that she's pretty and all, but she doesn't seem like your type, tall and slim, she doesn't even have any curves to show off, not that's wrong or anything" Suguru tries his best to sway his best friend's attention from the Heiress, something about her doesn't sit right with him

Satou appears slightly annoyed at Suguru's comment "Damn it Suguru, not every girl has to have the exact same kind of figure for me to like them" Satoru crosses his arms, pouting

"Well, it's not just her beauty that catches my attention, despite not even being a Sorcerer, she's an incredible hand-to-hand fighter...it's quite attractive, honestly." Satoru admits, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks as he thinks about Chiyoya, making Suguru gasp in shock.

"Are you serious about this one, Satoru?" Suguru asked, watching his friend's reaction

Satoru's blush deepens slightly at Suguru's question. "I...might be. Usually, women bore me pretty quickly but...this one seem different somehow. I feel this weird, indescribable draw to her...it's hard to explain, but I've never felt this way about anyone else before" He confesses, a hint of vulnerability in his voice.

"Like a Non-Sorcerer equal?" Suguru points out, curious about his sudden interest

Satoru nods, looking thoughtful as he contemplates Suguru's question "Yeah...I guess you could say that, In a way, Chiyoya represents something refreshing and new for me, something that isn't directly connected to this whole cursed society. She feels like a breath of fresh air in a world that reeks of sorcery."

He pauses for a moment before continuing "She makes me feel...alive in a way that I've never felt before. It's exhilarating and terrifying, all at the same time."

Suguru looks at him in shock, raising an eyebrow "You saw a pretty girl with deep pockets who managed to hold you off for at least half an hour...and she got you this whipped? This is a moment in History."

Satoru scoffs, rolling his eyes "Oh please, 'whipped'? Let's be serious now, Suguru. I'm not some fool for just any pretty girl with money. Chiyoya is different, she has this...undeniable allure that I just can't seem to resist. It's not just her physical appearance or her wealth that draws me in, It's her entire presence. She's confident, strong-willed, and captivating, in a way that I can't help but feel completely drawn to."

"Yep, definitely whipped" Suguru confirms, continuing to walk to their dorm.

Satoru sighed heavily, but he couldn't help but chuckle at Suguru's teasing "Fine fine, you got me. I may be a little, teeny bit, slightly whipped for this girl. but can you blame me? She's unlike any woman I've ever met before. She's...intoxicating." Satoru mutters a small smile forms on his lips as he remembers how confident Chiyoya looked at him during their sparing match

"So much so that she managed to threaten you into pulling out your domain?" Suguru points out.

Satoru's expression softens slightly as he recalls the sparring match "It wasn't just the fact that she managed to corner me, It's her confidence, determination, and fearlessness. She was willing to face down the Strongest Sorcerer of the Modern Age without even as much as a cursed weapon. I have to admit, it was pretty damn impressive...and incredibly attractive."

Suguru's face looks judgemental "Whatever Mr. Whipped, just make sure to not cause a scene at the Party"

"Well this is quite a grand place" Shoko commented, looking around the place in a simple black cocktail dress.

"What did you expect? all of the Sponsors are gonna be here, of course, it's gonna be grand" Suguru replies to Shoko in a black suit, but Satoru only looks around blankly, already used to the Luxurious surroundings, he only had one thing in his mind.

" Ah, there's those finger foods, come on let's get some." Shoko points as they begin to walk towards the table, clearly this party is for an older audience.

"Hey, you think they'll let us drink alcohol here?" Suguru asked Shoko eyeing the waiter passing around the champagne but they all became background noises to Satoru, he only had one person in his mind as he tried to look for her.

until he found her.

the Heiress conversing with a group of people, 6 of them in fact, all varying in different personalities, refreshingly, Chiyoya wears a blue halter backless white beaded trumpet gown, showing off her slim and tall figure, her hair tied in a small bun.

Satoru's breath hitched as his eyes landed on Chiyoya, his heartbeat quickened slightly in his chest. She looks ethereal "Damn...she looks even prettier than before." He thinks to himself, watching her interact with the group.

As Chiyoya covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, another man suddenly walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and making Satoru clench his fist.

"Who does this jackass think he is? Touching her without her permission? It was clear that she was uncomfortable with the display" Satoru thought, instinctively sneering as he took a step to walk up to them.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" Suguru stops him with a hand on his shoulder, managing to snag a flute of champagne on the other.

Satoru turns to Suguru, a mixture of anger and disappointment evident on his face. "What does it look like I'm doing? That jackass has his hands all over her when she clearly doesn't want him to. I'm about to put him in his place" Satoru shrugs off his hand before trying once more to march up to Chiyoya.

"You can't just jump to conclusions, what if that's her date?" Suguru asked, as Chiyoya began conversing with the man, her smile spells indifference.

"That's her DATE!?" Satoru scoffed, irritation evident in his voice "She doesn't look very pleased to be in his presence, not to mention he's forcing himself onto her" Satoru pointed out before gasping, the man suddenly kissed her neck out of nowhere.

"He just suddenly kissed her neck! No one who has a date with her would do something so disrespectful!"

"Satoru, you're being dramatic, why are you even obsessing over her? you aren't even a thing." Suguru points out, unsure how to waver through his best friend's burst of emotions

Satoru takes a deep breath, trying to control his emotions as he looks at Chiyoya once more. "You're right, Suguru...I don't know why I'm feeling this way about her. she's just a girl I had one sparring match with... it's just...she gets under my skin like no one else does. there's something about her that I can't explain, that makes me want to protect her, care for her...even if she doesn't feel the same." Satoru frowns, looking at the floor in defeat

Suguru looks at him in worry, before sighing, "Satoru, just enjoy the party, okay? that's why we're invited here, remember?" Suguru says as the initial six people began walking away, but one stayed for a bit, a teenage boy wearing a black kimono. he whispers something into Chiyoya's ear while her date is conversing with someone else on his phone, the teen seems to have the same aura as Chiyoya, but more authoritative.

Satoru reluctantly agrees, forcing himself to focus on the party instead of his feelings for Chiyoya. "Yeah, you're right. We're here to enjoy ourselves, not get caught up in some girl's business. Let's just have fun tonight and forget about everything else." Satoru nodded, taking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter.

"Good, just have fun tonight." Suguru agrees, turning to look at Shoko who enjoys herself with champagne and finger food.

As the teen in the kimono finished whispering to Chiyoya, she nodded before pulling on her date's arm, a seductive smile on her lips, leading him outside the venue into the Hallway. Satoru knows it's not his business.

"Satoru?"

But he can't help himself.

Like a Sailor to a Siren, Satoru follows her giggles through the Hall, whispers play against his ear, as he continues following them, until he hears something odd.

was the gurgling?

The sound led him into a private room, where he saw Chiyoya's date slumped against the wall, his throat slit open, his blood pooling onto the floor.

"Oh...I've failed..." Gojo flinches as he quickly turns his head to where the voice is coming from, there he sees Chiyoya standing next to the body, a bloody knife in her hand, dripping onto the floor.

"Oh well, there's always next time." Chiyoya shrugs, unbothered by her actions.

Satoru's expression doesn't change as he witnesses a crime before him, he should either be horrified or disgusted, and threaten to report her to the authorities...yet he's completely unfazed by the gruesomeness of her actions. somehow his idea of her doesn't waver, it only gets more intense.

"Let me guess, that man wasn't really your date." Satoru asked, walking over the blood to get closer to Chiyoya, his eyes never leaving her.

"No, not really, but he proclaims he was cause he's a big shot son of a mining company, too bad his business is going under because Mr. Yamazaki bought them all out, now he clung onto me like a last resort, too bad he's one of the chosen uninvited guest." Chiyoya answers, cleaning her knife with a handkerchief.

Satoru raises an eyebrow, intrigued by Chiyoya's words, It seemed she had a specific target in mind, and he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of admiration for her quirks.

"Chosen, you say? Is that what that man in the black kimono whispered to you at the party?" He asked, leaning against the wall beside her.

Chiyoya looks at him, her smile never leaving her lips. "You mean one of the Heirs? Daigo-san?" Chiyoya asked, pocketing her knife back onto her blue clutch.

Satoru nods, his gaze never leaving hers. "Yes, him. I saw how he spoke to you, and then you suddenly pulled your so-called 'date' here. Seemed like you had a clear plan."

He leans closer to her, his voice lowering to barely a whisper. "You're quite intriguing, Chiyoya, a blossoming woman with a killer smile and a deadly charm, I can see why I'm so enchanted by you."

Chiyoya looks at him blankly, before scoffing. "You just saw me murder a man in cold blood, yet you're still enchanted by me? you sorcerers sure are strange."

Satoru chuckles, a small smirk playing on his lips. "What can I say? I've always enjoyed the darker things in life. and watching you work...It's an art form, really. There's a certain allure to your ruthlessness that speaks to the dangerous side of me."

He steps closer to her, his voice sultry and mesmerizing. "I have to admit, I find danger and chaos quite...enticing."

"And who's to say you're only saying that? what happens if you go behind my back and report me to the Police?" Chiyoya asked, tilting her head, clearly not drawn to Satoru's attraction, but she didn't seem worried if he did.

Satoru laughs heartily, finding her question amusing. "You really think I'd report you to the police? You truly underestimate me, Chiyoya. I have no interest in something as mundane as reporting you. Why would I snitch on a creature as magnificent as you?" Satoru asked, reaching out to trace her jawline, his touch should send shivers down her spine.

"Besides, I have much more interesting things in mind."

"And what would that be?" Chiyoya asked, her eyes unyielding, pink hues clashing with blue ones.

A mischievous glint sparks in his eyes as he leans in closer, his lips hovering millimeters away from hers. His voice drops to a seductive whisper.

"I have the sudden urge to test my limits and see just how far you're willing to go, Chiyoya. I want to push every boundary, explore every hidden desire you possess. And I'm eager to see how far this dangerous game of ours will take us, my dear. Are you ready to dance with the devil?" Satoru asked, his eyes widening in anticipation.

"Let's play a game, shall we?"

"Oh, What kind of game?" Chiyoya asked in interest but her pink hues show indifference, but he has her attention.

"A game of trust and thrill. We'll take turns daring each other to do things, starting with small, harmless challenges, but gradually getting more daring. We'll push each other's boundaries until we reach our limits."

He leans closer to her ear, his breath warm against it. "The first one to tap out losses."

as Satoru backed away, all he saw was that she was already looking at him, interested "What is the Prize and Punishment?"

Satoru's eyes gleam mischievously, excitement coursing through his veins. He hadn't expected her to agree so quickly, his touch feather-light, leaving a trail of tingles on her skin. "Let's make it interesting. The Prize for the winner will be anything they want, no strings attached. As for the punishment...let's say the rules of the game state the loser has to do whatever the winner demands, within reasonable bounds, of course."

"It sounds to me you have an agenda of bringing up this deal, Gojo-san...a dark desire." Chiyoya points out with a smile, her stare unwavering.

His eyes gleam almost sinisterly, a small smirk tugging at his lips. He fixes a stray hair to the back of her ear. "My darkest desires, you say? I have many, but let's list a few."

Satoru turns to look at her, sky-blue eyes full of hidden desires. "To taste your lips...to explore the depths of your mind...to push my limits and see just how far you'll let me go" he murmurs as he suddenly remembered that her 'date' kissed her neck, leaning in to place a kiss of his own over it, making his point.

Chiyoya looked at him blankly with a small smile on her lips, before a group suddenly flooded into the room. "Oh, the cleaners are here" Chiyoya backed away from Satoru, as one of them approached her.

"Mistress." cleaning her hand.

Satoru watches the interaction between Chiyoya and the cleaners, a hint of surprise in his eyes. He knew she was privileged, but this level of service seemed excessive even by his standards. His gaze lingers on her, taking in every graceful movement she makes, admiring her poise and control, realizing how meticulous she is, he would have thought these cleaners were also part of the venue's staff with their uniforms.

"You must go back to the party, now, Mistress, they are just about to be the Heirs of the Sponsors" The cleaner stated after cleaning her hand.

"Very well then, I'll leave everything to you" Chiyoya stated as she began to leave, as the cleaners began bagging the body.

"Gojo-san, do you plan to stand there for the whole party?" Satoru snaps out of his trance as Chiyoya addresses him, a small smile never leaving her lips.

"I was planning to admire the view just a bit longer. you look captivating as always, it's hard not to stare." He strides towards her, a confident smile on his face.

"I was just admiring your work here one last time before it gets cleaned up, but remind me to stay in your good graces with how capable you are."

"Dully noted." Chiyoya smiled as they began to walk through the halls back into the party.

As they began to walk back into the party, Satoru cast glanced at Chiyoya, studying her demeanor closely. He couldn't help but feel intrigued by her composure; her movements so fluid, her grace so captivating. It was almost as if she was completely unaffected by the events that just occurred only a moment ago.

His mind raced with questions but he knew better than to bring them up immediately. After all, he was the one who initiated this little endeavor of theirs, and he wasn't about to ruin the excitement so soon.

"You're quiet, that's very unlike you, why? Have I pushed you to the limit already, Gojo-san?" Chiyoya teases, her pink hues glancing up at him.

Satoru chuckles, and a low, velvety sound reverberates through the air. "Oh, my dear Chiyoya, If you think I've reached my limits already, you underestimate me. I was simply savoring the moment, observing the intricate web you weave with each step you take."

His gaze meets hers, a small smirk playing on his lips. " Besides, I couldn't help but be captivated by your beauty. Sometimes silence is the only appropriate response to admiring such an ethereal specimen"

"I bet you say that to every girl you come across, Gojo-san." Chiyoya points out with a teasing scoff.

Satoru let out a hearty laugh, his eyes gleaming with a mix of amusement and mild irritation, he had known that remark was coming. She was as sharp as a tack, and he loved it.

"Ah, you got me there, Chiyoya. You're not wrong to assume that I say that to anyone I find attractive. But there's something about you; your fierce independence, your unapologetic nature, and the way you refuse to be caged that draws me to you."

Chiyoya chuckles before walking up a bit further front, her hands behind her back as she leans forward "Why? Do you wanna tie me down, Gojo-san? Turn me into one of your pretty armrests?" Chiyoya asked, tilting her head.

Satoru's eyes, a sultry smile on his lips. The way she teased and toyed with him sent a shiver down his spine. He loved it. Her boldness, her wit, and her charm were all a dangerous addiction he didn't want to get rid of. He walked closer, closing the distance between them.

"Oh, Chiyoya, as tempting as that sound..." Satoru caresses her cheek.

"It would be a grave sin to reduce you into an accessory" Satoru stated, admiring her eyes.

"And why is that?" Chiyoya presses, wanting to hear his reasoning as he looks at her with admiration and desire.

"Because My dear, you're a force to be reckoned with. Your power, your confidence, your unapologetic nature..they're all qualities that I find incredibly attractive. I have no desire to chain you down or clip your wings. No..." He moved closer, pinning her onto a wall, his words filled with raw honesty.

"I want to watch you soar."

Chiyoya simply continues to look at him, her smile growing sinister under his gaze. "That's what you saw in me? We've barely met, and we've only interacted for half an hour at best, What if I'm not the kind of person you perceive me to be?"

He chuckles lowly, his eyes unwavering as he meets her gaze head-on "Oh, Chiyoya, the beauty in life is discovering the unexpected hidden layers, uncovering the unexpected truths hidden beneath the surface. You may not be exactly who I perceive you to be, and that's precisely what excites me. The thrill of discovering the true nature behind your mask, and understanding the depth of your character that's all part of the dance." He reaches out, brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face once more.

Chiyoya simply stares at him as he slowly leans towards her.

"I advise you not to fornicate in the halls, Chiyoya Satsujin, if you value our names." a voice interrupted them, it was the teen in the black kimono, upon closer look, he had long black hair tied into a high ponytail, golden eyes looking at them with authority.

"Ah! Daigo-san! Did you come out here just to get me? you shouldn't have!" Chiyoya gently pushed away Satoru as if they weren't doing anything wrong, smiling innocently.

Satoru raises an eyebrow at the newcomer, amused by the interruption. "Well, look who decided to join the party. Daigo, was it? Quite the entrance you made there. Am I interrupting something important, or just your attempt to ruin the fun?"

"Who is this?" Daigo asked, turning his gaze to Chiyoya.

"The Strongest Sorcerer of the Modern age, I met him at Jujutsu Tech, he's quite an interesting character." Chiyoya introduces, making Daigo look at him blankly.

Satoru's smirk widens as he meets Daigo's gaze, his eyes gleaming with a mix of confidence and mischief. "Interesting, huh? Well, I'll take that as a compliment. Gojo Satoru, the honored one, at your service." He gives a small bow, the motion filled with mockery.

one Daigo couldn't care for "For your information, you are interrupting something important, they're about to introduce us, Chiyoya." Daigo turns to Chiyoya, staring blankly at her.

"Huh? Why didn't you say so? Let's go! Let's go!" Chiyoya pulls on Daigo's wrist, leading him back into the party, seemingly forgetting Satoru.

"Satoru, where have you been!? you just upped and disappeared!" Suguru found Satoru walking back into the party, a bit peeved that he'd quickly forgotten.

"Nothing much, just getting to know people, look, it's starting" Satoru diverts his attention as the lights go down.

"May I have your attention, please?" Mr. Chiyoya spoke through the mic, his welcoming smile contrasting his daughter's.

"From the three Heads of the main clan, I introduce Daigo Kuragami, Daigo Tenpi, and Daigo Tsukikage."

Three teens stood under the spotlight, the first one with long black hair and golden eyes, wearing a black kimono with a blank face. Daigo Kuragami.

The next two look to be twins, a boy and a girl both wearing black and white suits that invert them, their short black hair is adorned with high lights, the boy has a green highlight on his bangs while the girl has red highlights with two streaks on the back of her hair, both stares at the crowd blankly with golden eyes. Daigo Tenpi (The Boy), Daigo Tsukikage(The Girl).

"From the Sada's, I introduce Sada Ragyo." A very beautiful girl, long brown hair adored her back with her bangs colored in pink, her seductive pink hues are very different from Chiyoya's very own, as she wore a black sleeves dress (Sada Ragyo)

"From the Yoshikawa's, I introduce Yoshikawa Mondo." A short brown haired boy with bright green eyes, he wore an extravagant suit that makes him almost out of place. (Yoshikawa Mondo)

"From the Yamazaki's I introduce Yamazaki Yamasaki." A giant, like a sumo wrestler, stands under the spotlight, wearing traditional clothes (Yamazaki Yamasaki)

"And From the Chiyoya's, my very own Heir, Chiyoya Satsujin." The blonde-haired girl stands under the spotlight, her charming smile displayed for all to see, as her pink hues stare blankly at them, her white and blue dress glittering under the light, giving her an ethereal flare

May they bring prosperity for both the Non-Sorcerers and Sorcerers world" Mr. Chiyoya introduces, as the Sorcerers invited to the event clapped their hands, the Heirs bowing in unison

"These Heirs wanted to give their Appreciation to you Sorcerers for protecting the world, so, they've prepared a little performance for all of you, may you enjoy this turn of events" As Mr. Chiyoya suddenly announced a Performance, the Heirs all got into positions, most of them walking up to an instrument, but Chiyoya walks up to the center of the stage, picking up a mic

Intrigued by the unexpected announcement, Satoru's interest is piqued. The prospect of a performance from the Heirs of the Seven Sponsors is a rare opportunity. As Chiyoya walked to the center, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of anticipation. He waits intently, curious to see what kind of performance Chiyoya will unveil.

A Piano and Violin began their intro before a strum sharp of a drum began, and an Organ resonated with the harmony

"Ah, si je pouvais vivre dans l'eau

Le monde serait-il plus beau

Nous pardonneras-tu, ô chère mère

L'eau dans son courant fait danser nos vies

Et la cité, elle nourrit

Ainsi que toi, mon doux amour"

Chiyoya began singing in French, setting a melancholic tone of the song.

As the instrumental break commenced, Satoru couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for the talents of the Heirs. Each one of them added their own touch to the music, creating an eclectic mix of sounds that somehow blended together perfectly. The inclusion of the blow horn further enhanced the harmony, adding a unique and unexpected element to the performance. He couldn't help but feel immersed in the music, his gaze focused on the stage where Chiyoya stood, captivated by her mesmerizing presence.

"Non, le grand amour ne suffit pas

Seul un adieu fleurira

C'est notre histoire de vie, douce et amère

Moi, je suis et serai toujours là

À voir le monde et sa beauté

Et ça ne changera jamais, jamais"

As the performance reaches its final moments, Satoru's eyes widen in astonishment as Ragyo's voice joins in perfect harmony with Chiyoya's. Their combined talents create a symphony of sound that fills the room with a melancholic and bittersweet feeling. The dual voices blend perfectly together, adding depth and complexity to the performance. As the music comes to an end, Satoru can't help but feel a sense of awe and admiration for the incredible talents of the Heirs and their captivating display of artistry

All of the Heirs began to stand up and began walking up to Chiyoya, side by side, they held hands and bowed in respect to all of the Sorcerers in the room.

A round of applause erupts throughout the room, filling the air with a sense of appreciation and admiration for the Heir’s performance. Satoru, along with the other Sorcerers in attendance, cannot help but clap enthusiastically in recognition of the incredible talent on display. The Heir’s synchronized bow, a humble gesture of respect for the Sorcerers who were present, further adds to the overall atmosphere of mutual understanding and gratitude between the two worlds.

"May you all enjoy the rest of the Celebration" Mr. Chiyoya announces, as everyone dispersed, enjoying themselves in the event

"Wow, that was...wonderful." Suguru mutters, before turning his head to Satoru.

"Hey, how are you-Satoru, don't" Suguru stops him as he notices Satoru staring at Chiyoya, conversing with the rest of the Heirs.

"But Suguru!"

"No buts! we talked about this" Suguru looks at him sternly, as Satoru looks at him blankly, before smirking at him.

"Sorry Sugu, but I can't pass up this one." Satoru replies as he pulls a random girl from a crowd.

"Hey, my friend over here thinks you're hot." Satoru introduced before he began running off.

"Satoru!-"

"Wait, really?"

leaving him to deal with a girl of his own.

As Satoru made his way to Chiyoya, he overheard snippets of their conversation, snippets that piqued his curiosity even further. Determined to make his presence known, he approached the group, stopping nearby and clearing his throat to catch Chiyoya's attention

Chiyoya's head turns towards Gojo, before smiling at him

"Ah! Gojo-san, what a pleasant surprise, I was just talking about you" Chiyoya stated, an elegant smile on her lips

A small smirk tugged at the corner of Gojo's lips as he heard Chiyoya's words. He couldn't help but find the situation slightly humorous and interesting. Crossing his arms across his chest, he replied with his usual nonchalant tone

"Oh really, and what exactly were you saying about me?"

"That you were the one who saw me kill the uninvited guest" Chiyoya nonchalantly answers, shocking Satoru at how open she was to that subject

"So...you've gotten sloppy?" Daigo Kuragami asked, disappointment flashing through his golden eyes

"Aw, don't be like that, Daigo-san, how was I supposed to know he was gonna follow me?" Chiyoya asked, pouting

Despite the initial shock at Chiyoya's nonchalance, Satoru couldn't help but respect her honesty. He nodded in response to her statement and replied with a smirk

"Indeed, it seems like I did witness a very interesting moment. And I must say, your choice of "uninvited guest" was quite a bold one."

He couldn't quite gauge the dynamics in the group just yet, and Daigo's disappointment only added to his intrigue

Daigo looks at him blankly, before turning to Chiyoya

"Whatever happens, you take care of the fallout out" Daigo stated before standing up from the table, with the rest of the Heirs standing up, following him, before Sada Ragyo winked at Satoru, following behind the rest, leaving Chiyoya'

"So, did you enjoy the performance, Gojo-san? Chiyoya asked, tilting her head

Satoru regained his composure and responded with a teasing chuckle

"Oh, I must say, the performance was certainly entertaining. But I could hardly focus on anything besides you. Your talent and beauty on that stage were quite captivating, so myself."

"Really now?" Chiyoya asked, chuckling

"Alright, let's get into business, why did you seek me out, Gojo-san?" Chiyoya asked, getting straight to the point

Satoru, slightly taken aback by Chiyoya's straightforwardness, couldn't help but smirk. He always appreciated when someone got straight to the point

"Ah, always straight to the point, I see. Well, I must admit, I couldn't resist the opportunity to speak with you further. You have this mysterious aura that draws me in. And I couldn't deny the fact that I wanted to understand your clan, and by extension, you, better. Perhaps you could indulge my curiosity?"

"And how exactly will you quell that need?" Chiyoya asked once more, looking at him blankly with a smile on her lips.

Satoru took a moment to consider her response before responding, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips

"I suppose that depends on how you would like to go about it. Perhaps a cup of tea or coffee. Or if you'd prefer something more adventurous, there's always the option of going on a midnight stroll through the gardens. You know, for a more intimate conversation. The choice is yours."

"Are you asking me on a date, Gojo-san?" Chiyoya asked, unphased at the thought

A small chuckle escaped Satoru's lips at Chiyoya's question. He couldn't help but admire her directness and confidence. "Why, yes, I suppose I am. So, what do you say? Shall we have a night out, explore the city together, and perhaps get to know each other on a more personal level?"

"That's too bad, I can't go tonight or tomorrow, I'm quite busy" Chiyoya turns down the offer, apologetically smiling at him.

Satoru felt a bit disappointed at Chiyoya's rejection, but he also couldn't help but find her busy schedule intriguing. It only added to the mystery surrounding her, and his curiosity grew even more

"Oh, that's a shame. Perhaps another time then. But tell me, Chiyoya-san, just how busy can someone be to turn down a date with the strongest sorcerer in the Jujutsu world?"

"Perhaps I'm turning you down to see if you'd pursue me" Chiyoya answers, a blank smile on her lips, her eyes challenging him.

A flicker of surprise crossed Satoru's features at Chiyoya's challenging response. He had not expected her to play such a bold move. But he was undeterred. Satoru chuckled lightly before responding, a mischievous glint in his eyes

"Oh, so you're testing my determination, are you? Well, I must say, I do love a challenge. You have my word, Chiyoya-san—I won't rest until I've proven myself worthy of your time. Consider me your persistent suitor from this moment on."

" 'Chiyoya-san'... that's new, usually you'd only call me Chiyoya" Chiyoya points out, smiling at him

Satoru couldn't help but chuckle at Chiyoya's observation. He hadn't realized that he had subconsciously added honorifics to her name. It slipped out so naturally. He shrugged, a playful grin on his lips

"Well, I guess it's just a testament to how much I respect and admire you. But I must admit, Chiyoya, it rolls off the tongue a lot better than 'Chiyoya-san.' Wouldn't you agree?"

"And Satsujin doesn't?" Chiyoya asked, referring to her given name, meaning murder

It made him curious as to why she's named that way

Satoru nodded in agreement, a smirk playing on his lips. He couldn't deny the fact that her given name, Satsujin, had a certain darkness to it. It intrigued him even more

"Oh, it does indeed. Satsujin is quite an interesting name. But, if you don't mind me asking, is there any particular reason behind it? The meaning seems a bit... ominous, don't you think?"

"It's not just me, my Father also has quite the name" Chiyoya answers, before her gaze turned to her Father, conversing with the current Sponsors

"Chiyoya Akui" Akui meaning Dark Intent

Satoru's curiosity grew even more at Chiyoya's words, and his gaze followed hers to her Father, Mr. Chiyoya. Her Father's name, Chiyoya Akui, held a certain mysterious weight to it as well.

"I see. It seems that the theme of names in your family is quite intriguing," Satoru mused, a small smirk on his lips. "Dark Intent, indeed. I wonder if there's something deeper behind the choice of those names."

"Back in the olden days of Japan, children at birth were given a temporary name to prevent dying, because it's believed that demons steal children with pretty names until they're given a permanent name at the age of 4" Chiyoya explained before turning to look at Satoru

"But to our case, it didn't matter what age, children of Chiyoya's were always taken the day after having their permanent name, a demon seemed to always watch us...lying in wait..." Chiyoya mutters, her eyes staring blankly at Satoru

"That's why we have quite the names from birth throughout our lives, the only hindrance it brings is it's quite hard to advertise to the masses with that kind of name" Chiyoya answers with a smile on her lips

Satoru listened intently to Chiyoya's words, a mix of intrigue and disbelief on his face. He had never heard of such a belief before, and it was hard to tell if she was joking or being serious. However, the gravity of her tone made him lean towards the latter

"That's quite a unique tradition and a rather dark one at that," Satoru responded, a slight shiver running down his spine. "And demons...is that another part of the tradition, or do you really believe in its authenticity?"

"It wouldn't hurt to follow such traditions, unless, you wish to see me die" Chiyoya teases, smiling blankly at him

Satoru raised an eyebrow at her response, slightly taken aback. He couldn't tell if she was being serious or just toying with him.

"Oh, so you'll die if I don't take this seriously, huh? That's a harsh consequence," He said with a hint of amusement. "I guess I have no choice but to take your traditions seriously if it means keeping you alive, Chiyoya."

"How so?" Chiyoya asked with a playful smile

Satoru returned her playful smile with one of his own. He couldn't deny the fact that he was enjoying her teasing. He leaned in slightly closer, a mischievous glint in his eyes

"Well, for starters, I guess I'd have to protect you from any demons lurking around, wouldn't I? Can't have anything happening to the beautiful heiress of the Chiyoya Clan," he said, his voice dripping with a flirtatious tone.

Chiyoya chuckles, shaking her head "If I were to have been given a normal name, what do you think my name would have been?" Chiyoya asked

Satoru hummed thoughtfully, his eyes roaming over Chiyoya's appearance as he considered the possibility. He couldn't help but imagine how different she would have been if she had a more normal name.

"Hmm, if you had a normal name, let's see...with your beauty and delicate features, I could see you having a name like Yua or perhaps Hibana," he suggested, his gaze locking with hers. "Though I must admit, there's something quite captivating about your given name, Satsujin."

"What appeal did you find from it?" Satoru took a moment to consider her question, his fingers gently tapping against his chin as his gaze drifted upward in thought.

"Well, the name Satsujin itself has a bit of darkness to it, and that definitely adds to its intrigue," he mused. "But it's not just about the name in itself, it's how you bear it. There's a sense of mystery and power in the way you wear the name Satsujin. It speaks... strength, resilience, and a hint of...danger."

"I didn't know these kinds of words would come from the Strongest Sorcerer" Chiyoya points out, smiling at him

Satoru chuckled at her remark, a playful smirk on his lips.

"Oh, I'm full of surprises, Chiyoya," he responded, his gaze never leaving her. "Being the strongest sorcerer doesn't mean I lack a bit of poetry in my heart. I appreciate beauty and intrigue, and you, my dear, have plenty of both."

Chiyoya looked at him blankly, sizing him up, making a decision in her head, before smiling "alright, you got my attention" Chiyoya reached over to her clutch, pulling out a calling card

"This is my personal phone number, be careful not to leak it, I'm free on Saturday, see you then" Chiyoya hands him over the business card.

Satoru's smile widened at her words and the gesture of the card. He accepted it with a nod and slipped it into his pocket.

"I'll be sure to keep it under wraps," he said, his eyes gleaming mischievously. "And rest assured, I'll keep our rendezvous on Saturday a closely guarded secret. Can't let anyone else claim the privilege of spending time with the captivating Chiyoya."

Chiyoya chuckles, standing up before flattening her dress "See you by then, Gojo-san, enjoy the rest of the party" Chiyoya said before turning to leave, walking up to her Father

Satoru watched as Chiyoya walked away, his gaze lingering on her figure until she reached her Father's side. Excitement coursed through his veins as he glanced down at the number scribbled on the business card.

"Chiyoya Satsujin," he muttered softly to himself, a small smile on his lips. "This is going to be an interesting weekend."

[firecurls-27]

Ok ok ok,

CUPHEAD SHOW EPISODE IDEA!

Cuphead and mugman go to the western part of inkwell isles (specifically isle IV) and they’re wearing cute lil bandannas! they go for a school project, write an essay about the history of sheriffs. They’re just walking in the street when a stampede almost crushes them. They get lassoed and tossed in the air, it’s Esther Winchester! after the stampede clears she tells the boys to have a nice day! But cuphead follows her, explaining his project. She agrees to help him in exchange, he helps her with chores. As time goes on, he’s really helping her with stealing….

mugman’s just hanging out at the saloon, wondering where cuphead is cause he’s been gone for hours. Suddenly a stranger sits next to him….his hat covering his face. He asks mugman “what’s a lil fella like you doin in a saloon like this?” Mugman explains about his and his brothers project. The stranger is shocked and shows worry on his face as he pulls a wanted poster out of his pocket. It’s Esther! Mugman panics and worries about what’s happening to his brother! The stranger says he’ll help him as long as mugman helps him get his town back. Mugman agrees and says “thank you mister…..” “chips. Chips bettigan. Nice to metcha!”

At near noon, cuphead is holding his notepad while listening to Esther talk and trying to balance all the money bags in his hand. Behind them, an angry mob approaches, shouting and demanding Esther and cuphead to give them their money back! Cuphead is utterly confused while Esther sweats nervously, trying to come up with a lie. From the angle of the sun, they see a horse coming towards them! It’s chips and mugman!

They stop the horse as chips explains how Esther stole his title as sheriff. Esther demands a standoff! She said last man standing is the new sheriff! Loser gets a decade in the slammer….she says everyone gets a partner! She chooses a very confused yet excited cuphead, chips picks mugman who’s panicking. Chips tells mugman to relax and gives him a present, the hat chips had as a boy. It was too small for him now, but he told mugman with it, you could do ANYTHING! (I know they already did that in dangerous mugman but whatever-)

The Standoff was whoever can make it all across the canyon and back wins the title as sheriff! They start the race but Esther has other plans…she calls on her friends to sabotage the race! Even with her friends getting in the way, chips and mugman still won’t let anything stop them! All this while cuphead is excitingly whiting down in his notepad!

Eventually, chips and mugman wins the race! But Esther won’t go down without a fight! She holds cuphead hostage! She says she’ll give cuphead a fate worse than death if they take away her title as sheriff! Chips goes into action by tackling Esther! He’s pinned! Esther holds up a pistol when suddenly, something burning shoots across her arm! She drops the pistol and looks across from her….

It’s mugman with the hat chips gives him and his pistol! He tells Esther to back off and accept her loss or else…..”you wouldn’t!” She says sarcastically. “Wanna find out?” He said, with the most serious face you’ll ever see. Esther gets off chips and goes toward the cop car parked a few feet away from them.

The town celebrates and holds mugman in the air shouting “MUGMAN! MUGMAN! MUGMAN!” Cuphead goes towards the cop car still asking Esther questions while the car drives away! Chips gives mugman the opportunity to become co-sheriff, but he turns it down, saying his place is at the cottage. chips says he understands, but says the doors always open and tells the boys to come back soon!

In the end cuphead gets a D- considering he was involved with illegal activities, but mugman gets an A+ by telling the class about his adventure with chip!

He still has that hat and hangs it above his bed to this day….

What do you think? Anything you want to add?

[writer-k-pop]

Gambler

하지만 내 다른 부분은 사람들을 여기 두고 갈 수 없어. But the other part of me can’t leave the people here.

Description: A meeting to con Rowan Moore, a powerful and corrupt city leader, accomplished by Gang Leader Jeonghan and his crew. Which includes you and your crush (per se), Vernon. [Italicized parts are flashbacks of sorts] {Uh, honestly, not really sure how to describe this one. Only thing I can say is that it’s inspired by the complexity of “Six of Crows” and the aesthetic of Monsta X’s music video for “Gambler” hence the title.} Warnings: Swearing, mentions of a bombing, some suggestive comments (both negative and proper suggestive) Genre: idk what do genre this as... pure fiction (?), GangMember!Vernon x Fem!Reader Word Count: 5.7k

Seventeen Masterlist | Masterlists

You step up to the dealer's stool on one side of the poker table in a secluded corner of second floor of Jeonghan's casino, Obsidian. Picking up a brand new deck of cards, you break the seal and let the cards fall out into your hands. Your skin ignites as the smooth cards slide against your hands and the edges of each make themselves known to you.

"I'm not playing if she's dealing the cards." Rowan Moore glowers at you and your jaw clenches against the slew of words you want to spit at him. But you know better than to risk blowing the whole plan so you set down the deck of cards and wait for further instructions from Jeonghan.

You look to your left and hold Moore's gaze even as it goes from cold to ice cold. It is the gaze of one of the most corrupt men in the city. It's the gaze that got him where he is. If it were anyone else standing where you are, they would've felt a winter storm rush up their spine. But you are used to this type of malice. It's kind of a usual occurrence.

The others at the table, Jihoon, Soonyoung, Seungcheol, and Jeonghan, keep their expressions unreadable and their gazes on Moore. Except for Vernon who sits in between Soonyoung and Seungcheol. You could feel his eyes watching you but you don't turn towards him.

"We are having a business meeting." Jeonghan says, unwavering as Moore moves his gaze to him, "Business meetings in my casino are conducted at the tables and that means I decide who deals. And tonight, she deals." He finishes with a nod towards you as a signal for you to pick up the cards.

As you pick up the deck again, Moore stays quiet but lets out a frustrated puff of air.

"Get me a glass of the good stuff, would you, darling?" Moore leans back in his chair and asks one of the other waitresses with a voice dripping with demeaning acid that makes your stomach twist.

You look over at Vernon, finally, and he gives his eyebrow a small quirk. Silently asking if everything is okay. A small head tilt and offering him the deck to split is enough of an answer for him.

"What are we playing with only $10 chips?" Moore questions Jeonghan, leaning forward to rest his forearms behind his wall of poker chips and staring at Jeonghan who sits on the opposite end of the table from him. Effectively to your immediate right.

Straightening out the deck, you know the answer before Jeonghan answers Moore's question. All of this is part of the plan Jeonghan devised the minute he received word that Moore wanted to meet with him about a 'common enemy.'

"Here's the plan." Jeonghan spreads out a floor plan of Obsidian on the table in front of Seungcheol, Soonyoung, Jihoon, Vernon, Seungkwan, Dino, and you. "Moore owes me a large sum of money that he has no intention of paying back. We'll play him, listen to whatever he has to say, and steal his money as he walks out of Obsidian."

Seungkwan lifts a finger, "Isn't that the whole point of a gambling game?"

Jeonghan doesn't answer the younger one, only gives a sizable smirk.

"Right, right, there's more to this..." Seungkwan grumbles under his breath, "Be nice if you would clue us in on the masterplan."

You throw Seungkwan a disapproving look but Jeonghan just ignores the comment completely.

"What are we playing?" Soonyoung questions, intrigued from the second the word 'money' came out of Jeonghan's mouth.

"Hold 'Em." Jeonghan states, watching the others expressions for any negative changes.

"Where are we playing?" Jihoon probes further into the plan that Jeonghan has locked away in his mind.

Jeonghan shifts and points to one of the poker rooms in the back of the casino. "Allure."

"Who plays and who guards?" Vernon speaks up from next to you.

"Seungcheol, Soonyoung, Jihoon, you and I will play." Jeonghan lists off the characters, "Dino and Seungkwan will guard. Plus the regulars on the perimeters."

"And me?" You ask, crossing your arms over your chest, confused as to why he didn't mention you yet you are part of the meeting.

When Jeonghan answers, an excited shiver runs through your body but you don't miss how Vernon's body freezes at his words.

"You deal."

"Hold 'Em." Jeonghan answers Moore and you slide the dealer button to Seungcheol.

"Isn't that a little too simple for our minds?" Moore chuckles but it's not a true laugh.

"For you and I, yes." Jeonghan offers a smile, "But these other players aren't as complex as we are." He raises his eyebrows to see if Moore will challenge his choice and throws two of his poker chips in front of his pile.

You reach out and sweep the chips towards you as Moore tosses four at you for the big blind. The chips scatter across the table and out of the corner of your eye, you catch Vernon's fist clenching tightly. But having to ignore the specific jab at you, you sweep up the chips before dealing each player two cards.

The first round finishes quickly with Soonyoung (somehow) winning the pot. Now that the game has been established as 'fair,' it's time to move to the next step: conning Moore.

"You want her to rig the game?" Dino questions with confusion, "Can she even do that?"

You and Vernon cover up your scoffs with throat clearing and coughing.

Jeonghan smiles a little too wickedly, "Little secret for you newer boys. (y/n) can count cards like nobody's business and her sleight of hand is invisible even to me. It's the reason she's banned from playing in any of my casinos or clubs."

"It's also the reason I got hooked into his crew." You offered some extra information.

"You didn't have to stay after the first." Jeonghan quickly reminds you before giving you instructions to follow as the table's dealer, "Let the first game play out like any other dealer would let it. Following the first game, you will let us win a few, then Moore. Push and pull him. Entice him, (y/n)." He meets your gaze with eyes weighed down by the importance of his words, "Keep him at the table. Keep his focus on his luck."

"For what?" You ask, confused with what Jeonghan had planned.

But instead of hearing an answer from Jeonghan, Dino speaks up.

"A chance to sneak a hand into his suit pocket."

The second game starts and you watch the decided signs of each member on your side to tell you what cards they have. A system you each created together to make sure Moore wouldn't catch on. It was tested through the first game too and Moore still hasn't caught on, even though his eyes seem to wander around the table restlessly. After counting and switching the cards as you please, the second round has Seungcheol leaning forward to sweep up the pile of chips to his spot.

You eye Moore as you hand him his cards for the third round. This round you give to him.

The next game is also given to Moore.

"Now that we have a few games under our belt." Jeonghan speaks up as he rearranges his chip stacks to stand at the same height. "Let's discuss what you wanted to discuss."

Moore sighs, arranging his newly gained chips onto his stacks. His cockiness is starting to show. You catch the glint in his eye that shows he's confident he's figured out how to bluff out the other players.

'Early celebrator.' You think to yourself as you give Soonyoung the dealer button.

"Victor Huffman." Moore says the name with so much disgust it makes you wonder if he has swallowed acid.

At the mention of another powerful man, and another enemy, Jeonghan lets the corner of his cards snap onto the table and his eyes snap up to meet Moore's in the same second.

"What about him?" Jeonghan nearly growls out the question while Vernon and Seungcheol throw out the small and big blinds, respectively. You know that he and Huffman have a particularly nasty history but you don't know the details. No one does. It's one of the many things Jeonghan keeps under lock and key, in a bunker, 200 feet below his skin.

Your eyes flicker to Vernon and his eyes widen just the slightest, silently calling Moore a maniac for even speaking that name in Jeonghan's casino and presence. To cover up the smile threatening to appear, you lower your head slightly and deal three cards into the community hold in the center of the table.

"I want you to damage him." Moore says casually, ignoring the thick tension that he boiled up. "Take out a chunk of his men, give his finances a gut punch. Just something that will keep him quiet for a few months."

"And what would I receive in return?" Jeonghan asks, peeking at his cards again and though he is leaning back in his chair, you can tell his body is rigid against the emotions raging inside of him.

"I will pay you." Moore answers, "A sum a little more than the worth of the job."

"I fold." Jihoon breathes out and slides his cards towards you.

Wordlessly, you sweep up the cards and add them to the discard pile, intently listening to the conversation around you.

"I'll raise 6." Soonyoung says with a confident pout and slides out 6 chips in a stack. That is Soonyoung, always playing the high risks.

"Call." Vernon places his bet after a look at his cards.

Seungcheol, without taking his eyes off of Moore, simply slides his 6 chips into the center.

"You will excuse me if I don't trust your estimation of what this job'll cost me." Jeonghan comments and places his bet forward.

Moore lets out an empty chuckle that bounces around in your head. "You're smart not to." He states and slides his bet forward. "But I anticipated your doubt. And as much as I hate to admit it, I need Huffman down more than I need my money." He says while you discard a card before flipping a fourth into the community hold. "A contract for 800 million dollars."

The room goes silent. Jihoon eyes Moore up and down trying to distinguish if he's lying. Jeonghan is also trying to figure that out but he holds Moore's gaze, searching for the answer in his eyes. Soonyoung stares at his chips with wide eyes, Seungcheol looks between Jeonghan and Moore, and Vernon just simply slides his cards to you.

You give Vernon a confused look and he just shakes his head. He's folding.

"800 million." Jeonghan repeats the amount and breaks the silence. "For that amount, you want us to do more than something. You want somethings." He emphasizes the plural.

Moore smirks.

"Sir, your bet?" You refrain from using Soonyoung's name to keep your relationship with the men at the table unknown.

"You have a lovely voice." Moore comments, taking a tangent and a moment to look you up and down. "I wouldn't mind you calling me that someday." He sneers and your body tenses at what he's implying. Again, not new stuff but your body still reacts to it.

"Watch how you talk to my staff." Jeonghan spits out and throws his bet onto the table after Seungcheol.

Vernon has a look of murder in his eyes as he glares down Moore. You know he cares for you and though at times, some say it's more than normal, you know you care for him on the same level. But neither of you have had the guts to say or do anything about it.

Moore inhales and continues like his comment didn't happen. "I need you to take out half of his corn hold and a third of his cotton hold." He reveals to Jeonghan as you continue with the game. Dealing and taking cards.

"What's the time frame?" Jeonghan wonders, tapping his finger on his cards methodically.

"I need it done in a month." Moore says and Vernon jumps to his feet.

"Are you insane?" He asks, increduously.

Vernon and Jeonghan meet gazes for a second but it's only in confirmation that Jeonghan's plan is progressing.

"How are we going to get close enough?" Seungkwan asks. "Like great. Dino found out where he hides this master key but what good is it if we don't know how to get close to him. He only lets women and booze get close to that hairy chest of his."

"No." Vernon says in a low voice.

"No?" Jeonghan repeats his word with slight amusement in his tone.

"You are not letting (y/n) anywhere near Moore." Vernon explains and a sad smile reaches your lips.

You don't want to be the one to seduce Moore but you know if Jeonghan asked, you would be preparing for the role in a heartbeat.

Jeonghan rolls his eyes, "(y/n)'s not seducing him. She's dealing. And no woman's seducing him." He comments, "One of you is going to get close." He eyes the males around the table.

"How?" Seungcheol asks.

"We'll instigate his rage." Jeonghan says, "He's got a sensitive temper when it comes to two things and two things only: terms of his deals and his gambling games. After the first few games, one of you will challenge him on everything he says, get him annoyed, pissed, irritated. That will fuel his agitation to losing hand after hand to the same person." He gives a look between you and Vernon. "And that person, I've decided, will be Vernon."

Vernon's first outburst is a sign to you to give Vernon the winning hand for the majority of the games. Or force Moore to fold on the rounds that Vernon doesn't win to keep the winning 'random.'

"You're going to let your man talk to me like that?" Moore lazily blinks towards Jeonghan, trying to damp down the igniting ember.

Jeonghan makes a show of shoving a hand in his pocket for emphasis on his words, "He's my demolition guy so if you want me to take this job, like I know you need us to, you will let him say whatever he pleases." Then he looks at Vernon, "But for now, I want to see how this game plays out. I'll raise 20." He states and slides a large stack of chips into the center. Vernon silently sits back down but not without channeling all the anger within himself to send Moore a glare that could cut through diamond.

"Call." Moore smirks, his love for gambling pushing forward.

For the rest of the game, Jeonghan stays mostly quiet as he ponders the details of what Moore is asking, only speaking to call out his bets.

Seungcheol wins the fifth round with a four of a kind.

The next game is won by Vernon and he also wins the next round. Along with Vernon's occasional snide comments, you can tell Moore is getting frustrated at his terrible luck. It's not a secret that Moore gets cocky when he plays because he claims he can read people and their ticks so he knows how to outplay any bluff. But tonight, his tricks won't work.

As you deal the 8th round, Jeonghan leans forward and rests his forearms on the edge of the table.

"A month?" He clarifies with Moore.

"A month." Moore nods as he takes his cards into his hands.

Jeonghan then turns to Vernon, "Is it possible?"

"If you want a spectacle, yes." Vernon answers, his voice retaining an edge. "If you want it done quietly, no."

Moore sighs, glancing at his cards and purses his lips, "I don't care how it's done. I just need it done and done within a month."

"What happens after a month?" Soonyoung asks the question that's been the elephant in the room since Moore first mentioned the timeline.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Moore smirks and throws in his bet.

"I'll do it." Jeonghan says and Moore's smirk grows wider. "Send over the contract in the morning."

"Glad to do business with you, J." Moore says and Jeonghan's eye gives the smallest of twitches at the nickname. So small that only you are able to catch it.

Turning back to the game at play, Moore's voice is more cheerful to hide his frustration at losing his money as he says, "Now that business is settled, shall we play a few more rounds for fun?"

Jeonghan gives a very fake, yet very believable, smile, "We've got nowhere else to be."

Jihoon wins that game and you watch carefully as Moore takes a deep breath to calm himself against the blow of another loss.

For the 9th game, you let Moore think he's winning the pot without a doubt, but the real winner ends up being Jeonghan.

By now, Moore's stack of chips are the lowest at the table and he doesn't have many games left in him.

"You might as well give up now, Moore." Vernon says, voice brute with amusement and pride as he rearranges his stacks of chips just for dramatic effect.

Through gritted teeth, Moore answers, "You never know how the tides can change."

"Or they'll swallow you whole." Vernon banters back nonchalantly with a touch of boredom. Another effort to push Moore's buttons. Dismiss him in front of others, especially other powerful people. In this case, Jeonghan.

Moore swallows hard and his hand curls into a tight fist. He's going to explode soon and you know it. Everyone at the table knows it. You see Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Seungcheol all shift slightly in their seats in preparation of the moment Moore explodes.

"What are we doing when he eventually explodes?" Soonyoung asks.

"Create enough confusion for Vernon to slide his hand in, grab and replace the key, and back out." Jeonghan says.

"That's (y/n)'s area of expertise." Seungkwan counters but you and Jeonghan answer him at the same time.

"I'm dealing."

"She's dealing."

And for once, you are kind of happy to not be in the center of one of Jeonghan's masterplans.

As everyone peeks at their cards, Vernon takes a couple glances at Moore's tight expression before commenting, "Luck still out of your grasp, Moore?" He chuckles in amusement, eyes actually lighting up at the cards that you deliberately gave to him.

"Be careful of the words you speak, kid." Moore spits and glowers at Vernon who ignores the gaze and just shrugs.

"What lie will you tell the wife this time when you come home without a large sum of money?" Vernon questions, tilting his head to the side and watching his chips as he tosses them onto the table. "Will you come clean about the gambling? Or will you lie and say it was spent on the pleasure houses down the street? Which will only break poor Verna's heart even more."

"You dickwad." Moore grunts, slams his cards onto the table, and rises to his feet. "Keep my wife's name out of your disgusting, immature mouth." He quickly stalks over to Vernon and Vernon is quick to his feet to meet the large body of Rowan Moore.

But he's not angry enough to require Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Seungcheol to step in and create the needed chaos. You look to Jeonghan with concern that the plan won't work. But this is Jeonghan's plan, he has back up plans upon back up plans upon back up plans.

Jeonghan closes his eyes and gives you a tiny nod, accompanied with a tinier smile just before Vernon gives the final blow needed.

"Why are you telling me this?" Vernon asks with curiosity, sitting in Jeonghan's office alone.

"We need Moore angry enough to make Seungcheol, Soonyoung, and Jihoon's intervention realistic." Jeonghan explains leaning back in his chair.

"So I'll use the information to pull that anger out of him." Vernon concludes.

Jeonghan gives him a smile and a snapped finger gun. "Precisely."

"What do you think Verna will do with the divorce papers when she finds out you broke your promise to her?" Vernon asks, staring hard at Moore's face. "What will you do when she leaves you?"

In a split second, Moore slaps Vernon across the face and you inhale sharply as Vernon's head snaps to the right. Seungcheol and Soonyoung push back Moore while Jihoon positions himself in front of Vernon in order to keep Vernon back.

A menacing chuckle comes from Vernon's mouth as he rubs the cheek that was hit. "You hit like a girl. I'm guessing much like your daughter."

You flinch at the unexpected mention of Moore's daughter. Jeonghan tries to keep women and children out of his conversations but women, more often than not, are men's trigger point. It's rare, though, that he'd allow the mentioning of children.

In a second, Vernon pushes past Jihoon as Moore 'easily' pushes past Soonyoung and Seungcheol (more like they let him pass by with feigned weakness but also believable enough strength). His eyes blinded by rage, he doesn't stop to consider what he's doing. Vernon and Moore tousle with each other, hands flying everywhere. Soonyoung, Jihoon, and Seungcheol's hands join in, trying to 'restrain' the two arguers.

Anybody would've have missed the moment Vernon slipped his hand into Moore's blazer pocket then slipped back out and into his own pocket. But you were the one who taught Vernon the sleight of hand he would need and you are watching so you see the move with crystal clear clarity.

Once the real key is placed in Vernon's pocket, you move onto your role: diffusing and ending the game play.

"Gentlemen!" You yell with the authority of cancelling out any money won or lost. The five men stop their frenzied hand fight and look to you. Jeonghan just lazily looks up from his crossed arms. "If you would untangle yourselves and collect your chips. My table is now closed since you decided to make such a scene." You scold them with a scowl of disgust that's mainly directed at Moore.

Moore immediately untangles himself from the others and faces you. "I apologize. If you will, just a few more games." He bargains. "I will pay you the extra."

You shake your head and step down from the stool, "I've already closed." You tell him then add, "And if you're thinking of looking for another dealer, the casino's dealers have already been sent home. Tonight’s a special holiday for us, you see."

"What kind of bullshit is that?" Soonyoung scrunches his face up in confusion, "We don't have holidays."

"Moore doesn't know that." You answer for Jeonghan before turning to the man himself, "What holiday are we observing?" You ask.

Jeonghan meets your eyes with a soft gaze, "The anniversary of Obsidian's bombing."

He doesn't finish the sentence but your mind does.

"My first job with Jeonghan and the only one he failed."

The reason you stayed with Jeonghan even though he shredded your debt to him in the aftermath of the bombing.

"What kind of boss sends his income home on a money making night?" Moore laughs as if the whole day is a joke to him. His laugh only makes you want to drive a knife into his chest.

"The kind that knows the damage your partner caused to my innocent patrons." Jeonghan rises to his feet and stares down Moore hard.

Moore swallows under Jeonghan's gaze. If Moore's gaze was ice cold earlier, Jeonghan's, right now, is burning so cold that you're pretty sure he's giving dry ice a run for its money.

"Is it already that night of the year?" Moore asks you through a tight voice.

You look down at your watch, "In 20 minutes, it will be the exact minute." You inform him and Moore's demeanor falls a little.

He reaches up to pat the left side of his chest and you hold your breath incase he finds anything amiss. But with a satisfied sigh, he feels the decoy and lowers his hands back to his sides.

"Another day, I will return to win back my money." He vows to Jeonghan before he looks at Vernon. "And keep my wife's name out of your god forsaken mouth."  

"With pleasure." Vernon responds with disgust, his cheek still red from the slap he received.

Moore scoops up his tray of chips and leaves the room. His guards undoubtedly joining him the second he steps outside the room.

Seungkwan and Dino enter the room as the waitress and waiter assigned to the room leave and for a moment there is a moment of anticipating silence. Then Vernon slowly slides the key out of his pocket and hands it to Jeonghan.

Soonyoung shouts in happiness and hugs Jihoon who tries his best to escape the tight embrace. "We got the key!" He says cheerfully and Seungkwan and Dino high five each other.

Jeonghan just looks down at the key in his hand and smiles. The electronic key that will give him access to every single one of Moore's financial accounts.

"Tomorrow we'll move the money around and you each will have your share." Jeonghan announces to the room and pockets the key.

"What about the job for Moore?" Jihoon asks, successfully escaping Soonyoung's arms.

Jeonghan's lips quirk upward, "Oh, we'll do it. But we won't be doing it out of obligation to a contract. I'd also like to see Huffman on his knees for a change." He says in a voice that resembles a snake, cunning and scary.

This reminder of how ruthless and scary Jeonghan can be is the only thing that sends a shiver up your spine.

Jeonghan walks towards the door with Seungcheol behind him. As Seungcheol opens the door for him, he pauses and turns back.

"Not a word of any of this." He says and the threat is unspoken. It doesn't need to be spoken. It's understood on a bone chilling level what will happen if anyone talks about the jobs you do.

You all nod your heads gravely and Jeonghan exits the room, Seungcheol following him out the door.

Tugging at your stiff tie, you step away from the table and head towards the door. "I'll see you weirdos later." You tell the others and go in search for a few cans of beer and the solitude of the roof.

You raid the kitchen and pluck three beers from one of the many fridges before finding your way to the rooftop. Pushing open the heavy door, you welcome the dark of the night and the glow from the city around you. As you turn towards your normal spot, you're surprised to see a silhouette of a man against the city lights.

Recognizing the person, you inch forward, confused, "Vernon?" You call out his name and he turns toward you.

"Hey." Vernon answers you. In the dim light and shadow displayed on his face, you can see his cheek is still red but not as angry of a red as before.

"How's your cheek?" You ask, grimacing at the memory of having to watch the assault and setting the beers on the ledge.

He lightly touches his cheek, "It'll be sore and red for a while but I think the reward will be worth it." He comments.

"Here." You hand him one of the still cold beers. He stares at the beer in confusion and you roll your eyes before pressing the substitute ice pack to his cheek. "It'll help it."

"Right." He breathes out and brings his hand up to replace yours in holding the beer in place.

Below you, the city is bustling with sane people leaving the clubs and casinos, taking their loses in stride. Each building shines with the lights of a many tiny spotlights, casting out the moonlight before it can even get close to the ground.

"Three beer night?" Vernon questions you, eyeing the two beers left on the ledge.

"You try standing the whole night with a stick stiff suit and a tie noosed around your neck." You sass at him.

"You didn't seem uncomfortable." Vernon chuckles, as you open a beer and take a large chug of it.

You grimace as the alcohol slithers down your throat, "I'm good at faking it." You tell him. "You did good, sleighting Moore." You compliment his handiwork. "If you keep learning, you could get pretty good."

Vernon lowers his beer can from his cheek in thought, "Nah, I think I'll leave that to you. I didn't like how I couldn't see what I was doing." He holds out his hand and flexes it before opening his can, "I can see the pieces being connected when I work up a demolition explosive. Sleight of hand takes that away." Then he shivers, "Oh, no thank you."

You laugh and Vernon looks over at you, loving the way your laugh makes yours eyes squint and your cheeks bunch up.

"Alright, you stick with demolition." You tell him. "Besides, if you took over my role, I may have to leave and find a new boss to sleight for." You joke but Vernon's face falls at the mention of you leaving.

"When you get your share, will you leave?" He asks, facing back towards the street. He doesn't want you to leave but he's also heard you speak of the possibility over the last few days.

You sigh, both hands clasping the beer can, "I don't know yet." You say, facing the city lights like he is. "Part of me thinks it's time to leave, that I've paid my debt. But the other part of me can't leave the people here."

Vernon chuckles softly, "Everyone would miss you." He pauses for a second before continuing, "I would miss you."

"I wouldn't leave right away." You say and lean you head against his shoulder, "I still have to stay for the Huffman job. But it might be my last."

"Is there anything that would make you stay?" Vernon wonders, afraid to move and have your touch leave his skin.

You study the sky for a second before answering, "I don't know."

"Is there anything I could do that would make you stay?" He reiterates his previous question. In his voice, he tries to make you understand how much he doesn't want you to leave. That he'd do almost anything for you to stay.

"I don't know if anyone could do anything that would make me stay." You tell him and sit up to take another sip.

"Jeonghan could." Vernon grumbled under his breath.

Your ears perk up and you're not sure you head him correctly, "What?"

"Uh, n-nothing." He stutters and avoids meeting your eyes.

You gasp as you realize you had heard him correctly, "You're jealous!" You accuse and point a finger at him.

“I am not." Vernon defends himself, stepping back.

"Yes, you are!" Your fluttering heart makes giggles bubble into your throat.

"Seriously, I'm not." He repeats, holding up his hands but you read the jealousy on his face like the front page of the morning news paper.

"Demolition Vernon is jealous?" You say, unable to keep the giggles at bay. "Jealous of Jeonghan?"

At the name, Vernon steps forward and covers your mouth with his free hand.

"Don't say his name and that word together." He says lowly, "Do you want me to die?" He questions you with a quirked eyebrow.

You look between his eyes and reach up to lower his hand from your mouth, which comes away easily.

"He wouldn't kill you. Maybe disfigure you in some way, but not kill." You say, softly, realizing how serious this situation actually is, "As much as he hates to admit it, he needs every single one of us for any and all jobs he pulls. And he's not about to waste time looking for and training another just because of a word."

"Why did you stay with Jeonghan?" Vernon asks, not moving away, his face inches from yours.

You swallow and keep your gaze on his eyes, though you're tempted to peek at his lips. "Jeonghan and I both blame ourselves for the bombing that happened here. We both missed things that we shouldn't have missed. And because of our mistakes, people died." You explain, flashes of the terror replaying in your mind. "Jeonghan shredded my debt that night but I couldn't leave until I corrected the wrong I made."

"Have you corrected it yet?" He asks in a near whisper and a hand loops around your waist.

"I don't know yet." You answer through the pounding of your heart.

He is this close to you. This close to being yours.

"When will you know?" He questions, inching closer, eyes still locked onto yours.

You blink, "Someday." You are barely able to speak the word.

The corner of Vernon's mouth twitches, "So that means you'd stay until that day."

Unable to speak because of his closeness, you just nod once.

"Then that means I can give you a reason to stay once that day comes." He states and before you can answer, his lips crash onto yours.

You both drop your beer cans, ignoring as they collide with the ground and spill around your feet. Kissing him back with the emotions that are finally being set free, you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him closer. He does the same with his arms around you waist.

When you pull away, you're still pressed against each other and out of breath. But the sparkle in his eyes is all you can focus on.

The bright excitement that you've only seen when he finishes a complex explosive. A bubble of pride swells your heart that you're the only person who's able to pull that brightness out of him.

"Just one reason?" You question his earlier statement and tilting your head to the side.

Vernon lets out an amused puff of air, "I can give you several reasons to stay, if you want." He says before kissing you again.

"These better be some very good reasons if I'm to give up a lifetime of lazy days and millions of dollars." You tell him and play with his tie.

He presses you closer to his chest and lets his lips graze yours, "Oh, they will be very, very good reasons, (y/n). Don't you doubt that."

[theladysexpistol]

Hi! I love your writing and I’m wondering if you could do a one shot of Risotto wakeing up from a one night stand with s/o in bed. And you know the phrase every action has a consequence? Could the consequence be s/o pregnant?

I started this one super early because I was really intrigued by the concept and actually have not really written Ris like... ever

Again tried to make it suggestive and sexy like the Mista one where reader shaves his face, idk how successful I was 😬

This is probably the closest to smut I’ve had on my blog, so reader discretion advised!!

~~~

As the leader of Passione’s elusive La Squadra di Esecuzione, Risotto didn’t have time for relationships. Every single one he had tried had gone up in smoke. His work was more important to him than anything else, his team more important than anyone who could come along. Though he, like most but perhaps not all men, desired a sexual partner from time to time. He didn’t go to Passione parties often. But he went to this particular one.

You weren’t of much note in Passione, if you were being honest with yourself. A member of a team under Polpo’s jurisdiction, but you weren’t even the leader. You were a grunt - expendable, but vital to the gears that kept Passione churning money. You spent most of your days in the casinos of Milan, using your good looks to slip past the defenses of even the richest, most cautious members of Italian society, and wringing them for every penny they owed the mafia. It was work that consumed much of your life, and most relationships were out of the question when the men you dated learned you used your body for such a job. You weren’t usually needed or invited to parties hosted by Passione capos. But you were invited to this one.

The taste of expensive champagne was still on Risotto’s lips when he woke up. Lifting himself up onto his elbows, he glanced down to find he was naked. He gave a deep groan and reached to the top of his head, and could feel that his platinum hair was more messed up than a normal restless night of sleep warranted. He was in a bedroom he didn’t recognize. Upon hearing a soft breath, feeling it dust across his bicep, he glanced down at who he presumed was the owner of the apartment he found himself in.

When his eyes fell on you, the gaps in his memory slowly filled themselves in. He’d been bored as hell at the party the night before, and looking for an excuse to leave. It seems the two of you had migrated toward the same corner, you in order to avoid the drunk street thugs who thought they had a shot in hell with you, and him to avoid talking to anyone who wasn’t worth his time (which was most of Passione, he was quickly learning). Everyone else at the party was boring to him; but his eyes caught a glimpse of the beautiful skin exposed by your backless black dress, the way the straps crossed over your shoulder muscles reminded him of his preferred everyday look, as opposed to the restrictive suit he had begrudgingly put on. It was like you were purposely trying to draw his attention, and the thought of bruising up that flawless skin with his mouth turned him on in a way he hadn’t lusted after someone in a long time.

You had heard stories about the hitman team’s leader, but not a single one effectively communicated the experience of seeing him in person. Risotto was a hulking man, with an intense gaze that was only accentuated by his tattooed black sclera. Intimidating men didn’t scare you; they tried. But there was a strange sense of fear that struck you when those eyes looked over you. Like a predator hunting it’s prey, and it stirred a sick arousal from within you.

Flashes of words exchanged gave way to the sensation of his fingertips brushing over your bare skin. He lifted up one of the straps across your back and snapped it, reveling in the way it made you jump. He saw that fear and arousal in your eyes, and Risotto calmly responded by suggesting he bend you over the hors d'oeuvres table and take you there.

When his lips met your neck, you had honestly wanted him to do it.

Instead, you both went with the better option; ditching the rest of the party altogether.

He didn’t even know your name, and yet the two of you had gone for so long into the night, body to body, his cock sheathed all the way between your folds. The shape of your body, the way he could get such delicate sounds from you simply with his touch, the dirty things he whispered against you in that deep, baritone voice of his; Risotto played you as easily as a musician did their chosen instrument. The experience was unlike any other man you had ever gotten under, and you weren’t quite sure if you could ever go back. By the time you finished, you couldn’t count how many times he had brought you to climax, blinking back the stars that filled your vision when he’d released inside you. You were still dripping with his semen when the two of you had fallen asleep.

For a one-night stand, Risotto had been very careful and considerate of moving your body after the way he’d just fucked you.

That was how he found himself now, sitting up in your bed, under your sheets, next to you and watching you sleep. He’d made plenty of bad decisions before in his life, but this didn’t feel like one. There was a very good chance the two of you would never cross paths again; or maybe if you did, you’d enjoy a part two to this little escapade.

When you woke up, Risotto was still watching you with those dark, dark eyes of his. You’d barely blinked the sleep out of your eyes and muttered a good morning to the stranger in your bed when you were suddenly caged in again, staring up at the intense eyes of Risotto Nero once again. There was a hunger in them that you recognized.

“That’s certainly one way to wake up,” you teased him, enjoying the way his lips curled into a grin.

“You’re just so goddamn beautiful, I don’t think I can help it,” he growled, leaning down and wrapping his mouth around the exposed nipple of your breast.

Forget waiting for a part two. Why wait when you could continue where you left off last night the next morning?

~~~

“The boss has something on you.”

Those were the words of the goon that Risotto had forced to fix the burned picture of Venezia for him, moments after Risotto had created needles that buried out of the right side of his face, bloody and screaming in pain. He’d lost five members of his team, only hearing of Melone’s death some half an hour earlier when he sent Ghiaccio the restored picture. Almost all their hopes were riding on Ghiaccio’s ability to seize the girl - or whatever it was that the picture was telling them to look for at the gates.

Naturally a man with little patience, Risotto had sliced off his arm in response with a knife protruding from the man’s elbow.

“And do tell me,” he leaned in close, cold fury in his voice like the mafia capo he was. “What exactly is this weakness that I’m apparently unaware of?”

That was how he found himself barging into an abandoned apartment at 2am. Ghiaccio had been killed. He was all that was left of the hitman team. All their dreams, their desires to remove the boss for Sorbet and Gelato, it all rested on his shoulders.

All the more reason that he had to find whatever this was the boss apparently had over him, and snuff it out first.

There had clearly been a struggle here. Risotto didn’t understand; he didn’t have connections. His blood ran cold when he found a picture frame on the kitchen counter, smashed like it had been thrown and he recognized you. That beautiful stranger he’d slept with so many nights ago; but he still never learned your name, and as disappointed as he was the boss was using an innocent member of his own mafia as a hostage reminded Risotto just how sick and twisted his enemy was.

In the living room though, he found it. He found his weakness.

There were pictures of you, your family, but most importantly a little boy was in much of them. While he had the same shape as you, Risotto recognized the platinum hair and the crimson eyes on the boy. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind.

He’d had a son, who he didn’t even know about.

Risotto couldn’t help but shut down for a moment, any thoughts about revenge, about his team leaving his head. He’d had a son. Why hadn’t you told him? He was a Passione capo, and while he certainly didn’t get as much money as gambling or drugs did, he still could have given you a comfortable life. A life where he would’ve hid you and your son - his son - long before the boss‘ agents find you.

Instead he finds pictures of you working in a diner, presumably having left the mafia life to raise the child that had been his fault. He finds your apartment missing both of you. Risotto is overcome with not a sense of fatherhood, or duty to someone he met and spent a night with, but a sense of responsibility. He’s the reason that scum of the earth had taken an innocent infant boy hostage.

Risotto headed to Sardegna with more than vengeance on his mind. He’s going to find you or he’s going to kill the boss of Passione, whichever comes first.

[s-j-ace]

The Same Question

Chapter One

Characters: Shuichi Saihara, Ouma Kokichi

Words: 6738

Summary:

After Detective Shuichi Saihara encounters mysterious thief Kokichi Ouma for the first time, a game of cat and mouse ensues as both men ask themselves the same question. Why exactly does the elusive phantom thief do what he does?

Sequel to the events of That’s the Thing About Airplanes and New Plan!

Read on AO3

 Kokichi Ouma had always found it strange how he could sit in a room full of people yet feel utterly alone in the universe at the same time.

 The thought occurred to him once more as he sat among his crew in a little hole in the wall cafe tucked in the shadows of the city of lights, and it was very much out of character. The scenario Kokichi described to his crew, as they drove away from the Louvre in the beat up looking SUVs they had secretly loaded up with stolen plumbing parts, was that of a birthday party. They were all twenty something Parisians who had gotten out of bed extra early to take their friend out for a birthday surprise. How fun! How quaint! How unsuspicious!

 … but in reality it was just an excuse for Kokichi to try and shake off the weird mood he was in with decadently sugary crepes. He had pitched it to DICE as a sort of celebratory feast of a heist well done, but honestly Kokichi had never felt so bored after stealing something in his whole life.

 For some reason or another he had felt exhilarated on the plane ride in, but as soon as he got to the actual stealing part everything felt all samey and routine again. He even let Queen make off with a painting of some big dumb flowers that he wanted, hoping that it might spice things up, but now it was just lodged under the seat cushions next to a bunch of fancy looking elbow pipes.

 Ugh.

 Now that he really thought about it the painting would probably make escaping Paris even more boring…  News outlets wouldn't run the headline "Pipes and toilets stolen from the Louvre," when they could run the headline "Priceless painting of pretentious looking flowers stolen from the Louvre." It'd make it easier to sell the plumbing because interpol would be keeping their eyes on the fine art black market instead of Craigslist offers for scrap metal.

 Well maybe that was a good thing. Kokichi didn’t want them to get caught selling the pipes, after all. DICE was a bit of a scrappy group from the start and their heists had been decreasing in profitability recently for the expense of spectacle. Bishop told him that their accounts were doing fine and they had enough cash saved up for some frivolous heists, but Kokichi could do math too and thought Bishop’s accounts were slightly suspect.

 They were probably just telling him that to make him feel better. Maybe they had noticed that something was off with him. Maybe they were planning with the rest of DICE to overthrow him as the boss and put someone less stupid and predicable in charge instead.

 No, Bishop couldn’t do that to him. They weren’t a good enough liar. None of them were good enough liars. Kokichi knew them too well. For instance, right now he knew that Bishop and Ace were having a conversation that Rook was waiting to butt in on, Spade and Club were talking about Mario Kart and Spade was acting like she agreed with what Club was saying even though she didn’t, Queen was pretending to be doing some important coding but was definitely on reddit,  King was planning to shove some whipped cream in Rook’s face as soon as he finished his crepe, and Hearts and Jack were leaning in the corner of the four person booth they had all crammed into like a clown car with their legs on top of everyone else’s with Hearts on top of Jack’s lap about to fall asleep while Jack was very noticeably not noticing even though she definitely did notice because Hearts’ boobs were right in her face.

 There was so much lying happening, so much play acting, yet everything added up into an equation that seemed all the more sincere. DICE were genuinely celebrating another successful heist. For them, nothing was wrong.

 That was so bizarre.

 Everything seemed wrong to Kokichi. He felt trapped. He felt like they were all trapped. How could he ever know that his people were genuinely happy when to his knowledge people had to question everything that they found themselves doing. Take, for example, the crepe he had eaten moments ago. He had eaten it in an odd way where he started from the bottom of the crepe’s fold and ate outwards, preserving a perfect ring of outer crepe rind. It didn’t really enhance the taste in any way, seeing as the crepe had a completely even cook, but Kokichi had insisted it did as he ate it regardless because he knew that was in character of the person he had established himself to be. He was the kind of guy who just casually committed food crimes. It’s not that it didn’t still bring him joy to see the faces of his crew scrunch up in disapproval, but it made him wonder if the rest of them realized the same thing about their own behaviors. That they acted a certain way and thought a certain way because of a tacit, invisible social code of who they should be and how they should act towards others, regardless of their own intrinsic motivations.

 It made it hard to tell what lay behind their faces. If they were really happy behind the smiles.

 They had to be happy, right?

 Yeah, if he looked up happy in the dictionary he’d probably see a photograph of King shoving whipped cream in Rook’s ear. Like he was doing right now.

 Everyone was safe and having a good time, and yet Kokichi felt like he was watching it all happen from a far away place.

  Was Rook really angry as they slugged King in the arm or were they just pretending to be angry because they knew that was the part they had to play in the overall scene of this social interaction?

  Kokichi glanced at the other DICE members’ faces. Spades and Clubs were still having their own conversation about a Blue Shell conspiracy theory, but everyone else seemed to be laughing at or pretending not to laugh at King. The thought occurred to Kokichi that he should probably try to match their facial expressions, but upon inspection he found that he was already grinning full force.

 Weird.

 He let the lie lay flat.

 Immediately everyone turned to look at him. That was normal, he was their boss. If he wasn’t happy it meant something was wrong. Except it was also weird. There used to be times when Kokichi was very young where he could be in the middle of a room full of people say anything he wanted at the top of his voice without being heard. He wasn’t the same person on the outside of his head as he was on the inside of his head and he knew that and he used it to his advantage. But would he ever be able to escape it?

 …

 …

  Okay! That was a series wrap on overanalyzing shit and having memories! Time to not think about any of that ever again!

 “I’m bored of crepes.” He whined. “We should go somewhere else.”

 Instantly everyone’s face lit up with excitement. “We should go somewhere else” had become a sort of ritual phrase that now meant “Convince me what our next heist should be.”

 Everyone started talking at once.

 “There’s this casino-”

 “The Taj Mahal! We should do the-”

 “Fort Knox! I wanna-”

 Kokichi raised his hand and the clamoring voices stopped instantly.

 “One at a time, shortest to tallest, and not so loud.” He nodded slightly to the woman sitting on a stool behind the cash register. They probably didn’t have to worry much about her. It appeared that she only understood french when she took their orders earlier and now she seemed to be checking her phone disinterestedly. They had also chosen to sit in the booth furthest from the register so really there was very little chance she would overhear them say something that would get them in trouble, but you could never be too sure.

 “Well, boss. Most esteemed mastermind. You lovely bastard you,” Spades, the shortest of DICE save for Kokichi himself, schmoozed exaggeratedly. Kokichi could tell she didn’t really have an idea but wanted to draw out her turn as long as possible because Clubs had an idea and she was teasing him like an annoying older sister. She was probably going to pull Buckingham Palace. “I have the best idea. The most creative. The most innovative.” Buckingham Palace was so ridiculously easy to get into that there was entirely no point in wasting a trip to Britain on it. There was some drunk guy who just wandered into it and found the Queen’s bedroom. Twice. “It’ll be tough, but with our unique set of skills I think we’ll be able to pull it off.” So when someone didn’t have an idea, to pass they’d say Buckingham Palace. “And it’ll be well worth it. Our names will go down in history.” And then Kokichi would give a funny excuse why they weren’t going. He should probably start thinking of one now while Spades was still blabbering. “The biggest heist of all time.” Hmm… How about… Yeah that was a good one. “Home of her royal majesty herself, Buckingham Palace!”

 Everyone groaned as if this weren’t an entirely predictable twist to Spade’s monologue.

 “Uggh, Spade you know I can’t go back to Buckingham Palace.” Kokichi groaned. “Last time I was there I saw Prince Phillip dressed in a corgi fursuit being tugged around by the queen on a leash. I’m still trying to erase the image from my mind.”

 That got an easy guffaw from Ace and a smattering of giggles from everyone else. Not bad, but he’d come up with funnier before.

       Jack giggled longer than the others. Kokichi knew that meant she was waiting for everyone to quiet down so she could one up him with her own bit.

       He raised an eyebrow. “Something to say, Jack?”

       “Ooh… Well… I was just wondering if that’s the real reason we can’t go back.”

 She paused for a second as if expecting him to “yes, and” her, but he decided to let her fend for herself on this one.

 “I mean. What was it you said to      your     husband on the plane?” Shit. “Didn’t you tell him you wanted him to beg like a dog?” How much of that conversation did she hear? “I don’t know, sounds like Prince Phillip might’ve awakened something in you.”

       “Awwww,” King crooned, “Boss Baby’s first fetish.”

       Kokichi wasn’t really bothered by this implication beyond the fact that, judging from the smattering of snickers, it was getting better laughs than his original comment. He needed to swing this.

       “Puhlease. Who would be into pet play when feral rats are clearly the sexiest creatures on the planet?”

       “Is that why you spend so much time trying to look just like one?”

       “Why Jack, I’m flattered you think I look just like the sexiest creature on the planet, but I’ll have you know I’m married.”

       Hearts was nice enough to take the bit. “To who?”

       “Not that plane detective?” Bishop prodded. Or maybe they said “plain” detective? Maybe it was a pun. Good on you Bishop.

       “No, heavens no. I’m married to Ratatouille himself.” Kokichi’s rather strangely eaten crepe was about to work out pretty well in the grand scheme of japery. He unfurled the remaining ring of crepe edge and put it around his wrist. “Want proof? Here’s the ring. Isn’t it beautiful?”

       “Gorgeous!” Queen enthused. It didn’t seem like he was really paying attention, with his eyes glued to his laptop, but Kokichi appreciated his support nonetheless.

       Jack frowned. “Isn’t the rat from Ratatouille’s name Remmy?”

       “You’re right it’s not Ratatouille, it’s Ratatouille’s monster.” Rook chimed in, definitely quoting a tumblr post.          “No, no, no, I’m not married to the rat, I’m married to the concept of Ratatouille.” He made a romantic gesture. “The one we hold dear in all of our hearts.”

       “Oh, of course, of course.” Ace tried to nod sagely, but the effect was ruined by the big grin on their face. Ace had a hard time not laughing at everything, especially their own jokes.

       Club had been pouting this whole time. With this whole thing about Kokichi being into dogs diffused it was probably time to hear out his suggestion. Kokichi was about to say as much, but before the mirth died down long enough to change the subject, Queen interjected.

       “Uh, boss.” He said, turning around the laptop he had been fiddling with the whole time. “Speaking of rats… There’s one on the news making himself a loose end...”

       On the screen was a distressed looking headline in french accompanied by a picture of the detective himself, Shuichi Saihara.

       Kokichi’s heart leapt.

       Then he noticed that it leapt.

       And that his hand had begun moving to fiddle with the bandage on his finger.

             He stopped himself just in time.

         ---

       Shuichi Saihara had always found it strange how quickly his body could turn on him.

       He had been fine, on the plane untangling his seat belt while alarmed chattering spread like wild-fire throughout the plane.

       He had been fine, explaining to a frazzled flight attendant and captain that no he was not in fact married to the gentleman who jumped out of the plane, who was, as it turns out, an internationally wanted thief.

       He had been fine, making the call to 112 and explaining to the respondent that yes he knew all the police cars were busy with a high profile break-in and that the incident he was reporting was, in fact, related to said break-in.

       And yet, when he sat down, alone on a bench in front of the Paris-Charles De Gaulle airport surrounded by the crisp night air the thought crossed his mind that DICE had robbed the Louvre by now. That they had gotten away, and it was all his fault. All his fault.

       And then Shuichi pulled out his phone and dialled the number of his very good friend Kaito Momota because he was having a panic attack.

       *Beeeeeep….*

       Shuichi knew he was having a panic attack because it felt like the world was ending for no good reason.

 *Beeeeeep….*

       His breathing got shorter. An immense pressure built up behind his eyes, trying to force tears to leak out from underneath them. His hands locked in a vice grip around his phone.

       *Beeeeeep….*

       Three words repeated in his head over and over again like a broken record.      All your fault. All your fault. All your fault.  

             *Beeeeeep….*

       If Shuichi had any presence of mind right now, it might occur to him that there was, in fact, a reason behind this panic attack. That he’d been privy to and partially responsible for so many high stakes cases in his career that the idea of failure made his imagination sick with all the horrifying outcomes his mistakes could cause, including the ones that had actually come to pass. A man looking at him with hatred in his eyes as the police car door shut on him.      All your fault    . A fourteen year old girl hanging from a noose.      All your fault    . The sound of a gunshot in an alleyway.      All your fault    .  The phrase was like the slightest twitch of a finger that could pull back the trigger of a gun loaded with every horrific thing he’d ever seen, heard, or felt. Everything hit his brain in one compact shot and Shuichi didn’t have time to respond in any way except try desperately to avoid going into shock.

       It felt like the world was ending and when the world is ending you call Kaito Momota.

       *Beee-*

       *Click.*

       “...”

       “...”

       “Shuichi?”

       Kaito’s voice sounded groggy and confused over the phone.

       “...”

 “You there, man?”

       Shuichi tried to answer in the affirmative, but he couldn’t seem to force himself to speak. God, he was an idiot. He should’ve just texted. Kaito probably hated him anyway.

       “What’s up, dude? Something the matter?”

       No, Kaito is his friend and things are fine and he just needs to calm down right now.

       “Hello?”

       Okay. Okay. He was just trying to talk the wrong way. His throat was tensed to accommodate his heavy breathing instead of human speech.

       “Shuichi, is that you breathing weird into the receiver?”

       Yeah, okay, see? He was breathing weird. He should… stop that…

       “Ok, dude, whatever’s going on I’m gonna need you to not asphyxiate. Here, breathe with me. Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five... Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...”

 Oh yeah. Shuichi was definitely breathing too fast right now. Panicky fast. Like close to hyperventilating fast. The kind of breathing fast that started squeezing liquids out of your face if you weren’t careful. Not doing that was like the first thing on the not having a panic attack checklist but somehow it was always the one Shuichi forgot first.

 “Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five... Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...” Kaito repeated the rhythm and Shuichi could hear his friend matching it with his own breathing as Shuichi struggled to do the same.

 Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...

 As Shuichi counted in his head he felt almost every part of his body loosen to some degree.

 Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...

 With the exhale the pressure behind his eyes began to dissipate.

 Pretty soon Shuichi was breathing in a way that the kids these days would call normal. While breathing normally was something human beings needed to do to not asphyxiate, it was quite shocking how physically helpful it was in preventing Shuichi from crying on a bench in front of an airport in Paris.

 He could still feel his heart pounding in his head, but at least his breaths weren’t fighting to outmatch its volume.

 The pounding went away by about the third exhale. He felt his power of speech return after the fourth.

 “... Sorry.” He murmured into the receiver on his cell phone.

 “Nothing to apologize for man. What’s going on?”

 “I. Uh. Am having a panic attack in front of the airport for some dumb reason.”

 “Gotcha gotcha gotcha.” Some shuffling, as if Kaito was repositioning himself on the other side. “I bet it’s not as dumb as you think man. You wanna talk about it, or do you want a distraction?”

 A woman bleeding out on the floor, her face eternally frozen in a scream.       All your fault    .

 “... A distraction is good. Just having, like, intrusive thoughts right now.”

 “Yeah, okay. Gimme a sec to make myself sociable, it’s pretty late here.” Shuichi heard some more shuffling through the speaker. He’d probably woken Kaito up.

 “Sorry.”

 “It’s all good man.” Kaito shuffled around some more. “Hmm… Oh yeah, I had a question at dinner, no one was around to answer.”                “Oh, is Maki out again?” Maki was Shuichi’s friend, Kaito’s partner, and a professional bodyguard. She stood next to people and looked intimidating in a suit for a living. Sometimes she stood next to Shuichi and looked intimidating for free.

 Maki holding a pipe, the end coated in blood.      All your fault    .

 Inhale. Two... Three... Four... Five... Exhale. Two... Three... Four... Five...

 “Yeah, that’s our Maki Roll. Busy as a bee.” There was a scritching sound over the phone that could’ve been static or Kaito itching his stubble. “Since I was cooking for one last night I made Saturn-ghetti.”

 Shuichi wrinkled his nose instinctively. “Ew.”

 Saturn-ghetti was what Kaito called regular spaghetti with one big meatball in the middle. It sounded tame enough now that Kaito made the big meatball on his own, but when he first introduced Shuichi and Maki to the concept it was in their college’s cafetorium and he had just taken all the meatballs from a regular spaghetti and meatball dish and mashed them all together into one big ball in the middle. Shuichi had quite literally seen murder scenes less gruesome.

 “Hey man, I don’t judge Maki Roll for dipping fries in shakes or you for dipping bread in soups.”

 “Dipping is normal Kaito. You’re supposed to dip carbs. Everyone does it. You’re the only person in the whole world who mushes meat.”

 What about that guy who used a meat tenderizer to mush his victim’s faces in…

 “Why would you want to eat tiny meatballs?”

 “So you can eat them with the spaghetti.”

 “Can’t a guy just have a separate meat and noodle experience? You can’t even process the flavor if you eat both at once!”

 “They’re supposed to go together. Otherwise, you would just make a meatloaf.”

 “Well I don’t have a recipe for meatloaf Shuichi, I have a recipe for meatballs.”

 “Do you mean meatball, singular?”

 “Yes, I do. Glad we can both agree that’s what I mean since it’s the best way to eat spaghetti. Anyway, back to my problem.”

 “I thought this was the problem.”

 “Saturn-ghetti is not a problem it’s an art. My problem was that when I was making the noodles I realized that I had forgotten what that metal bowl thingy is called. You know, the one with the holes in it.”

 “If only that had stopped you.”

 “Yo, I’m serious! I have no idea what it’s called and it’s been driving me insane all night.”

 “Do you mean a strainer?”

 “No, I know it strains stuff but like there’s a different name for it. Like. It sounds like cauliflower? Except not because it’s not a vegetable.”

 “A colander?”

 “Yeah, that’s it! Jeezus Louizus that was driving me crazy. You’re a lifesaver man, where would I be without you?”

 “Uh probably googling ‘another name for noodle strainer.’” Shuichi didn’t really see how knowing what the metal strainy thing is called could save a life. Maybe if you were getting murdered and had one chance to write down the name of the culprit and you knew their name was the same as what that metal strainy thing is called but you forgot what it was. Wait, no, in that scenario you still got murdered. God, what was wrong with him? Did his brain always have to jump to murder right away?

 “Nah,” Kaito said with conviction. “I wouldn’t be half the man I am without my awesome sidekick around to back up.”

 At the familiar phrase, Shuichi felt his heart warm and the tight ball of anxiety in his gut loosened in turn. “Sidekick,” was admittedly an odd term of endearment for a friend of almost ten years, but if you knew Kaito you knew it was a word that meant something to him. To him, having a sidekick means having someone who you backup no matter what. Even if they make mistakes or aren’t sure of themselves quite yet. Because you believe in them. No matter what.

 “I wouldn’t be where I am today without you either, Kaito.” He sighed. “Not that that’s saying much…”

 “What do you mean by that?” Shuichi could hear the frown in Kaito’s voice.

 “Ugh. Nothing. Or. It’s just.” Inhale, two, three, four. Remember to breathe. “It just feels awful to be having a freak out like this again. I haven’t had a panic attack in like a year. It just feels like sometimes that I’m doing okay and I’m not still some stupid teenager still freaking out because I feel a little guilty about a guy being in prison and my parents not being around because of me and then I have a panic attack at an airport and it feels like I’ve made absolutely no progress at all in dealing with any of my anxieties at all and even though I’ve tried so hard to change who I am I’m still the same pathetic kid I’ve always been.”

 Keep breathing. Exhale, two, three, four.

 “Hey man, it’s okay. We all get those days sometimes. You feeling up to talking about it now?”

 “Which part?”

 “Like, why you were freaking out. It’s usually not for no reason, even if it seems like it.”

 “Uh.” Yeah okay. Breathing was really helping to clear out his head. He was feeling more in control of his general brainspace than he was a second ago, which was good. “Honestly it’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened. No one died. All that happened was the Louvre got robbed.”

 “Yeah, okay that doesn’t sound that bad.”

 “But on the other hand, it was the      Louvre     that got robbed. It’s a national treasure here. The whole country is going to blame me for it.”

 “Wait, sorry, what’s the loo in French again? I know it means the toilet in the UK, but does it mean something else in French?”

 “No, not the loo. The Louvre. The famous museum.”

 “Oooh, yeah. Right, right, don’t listen to me I’m tired.”

 “Oh, sorry-”

 “No, no, keep going. Listening to my sidekick’s problems is more important than catching forty winks.”

 “Uh. Right. So I’ve been tracking DICE for a while now, right?”

 “Uh-huh, the clown guys, I’m familiar.”

 “And I know Maki thought I was crazy, but I knew that they were going to pull this job on the Louvre, right? And so I get on the plane and this weird guy sits next to me. He breaks my seat and pretends to be married to me so that the flight attendant upgrades us to first class.”

 “What the hell?”

 “Is that weird? I couldn’t tell if that was weird or not.”

 “No yeah, that’s shady as shit. Do I need to come to Paris and tell him to step off for you?”

 “No, uh, you’d probably have a hard time finding him, because it turns out? He was the thief the whole time?”

 “Whaaaaaat.”                “Yeah, apparently I was just shooting the breeze with a criminal mastermind and I’m such an idiot I should’ve jumped out of the plane after him without a parachute.” Like that guy they found impaled by a lamp post...

 “Hey man that’s on him, you can’t blame yourself for the existence of criminal- wait did you say he jumped out of the plane?”

 “Yes.”

 “Like, while you were in the air?”

 “Uh, yeah, through the emergency exits.”

 “Duuuuude that’s super dangerous. I don’t know how high up you were but the pressure change could’ve caused all of the oxygen to suck out of the cabin.”

 “That’s… Alarming…”

 It also brought up some interesting questions. Shouldn’t the pilot of the plane have been able to tell that there was a life threatening pressure change in the cabin? Or did DICE do something to tamper with the equipment? Did they manage to jump out at an altitude that wouldn’t be lethal to everyone in the cabin through chance or calculation? In the latter case that might add to the traits profiling the group, the ability implying at least some form of higher education. What about other sources of information? Maybe they bribed the pilot? He’d need to be interviewed. Shuichi would need to make that suggestion when the police got here. They’d probably also want to do a forensic analysis of the drug that was used on the passengers. There’d most likely be some trace of component that they could utilize to locate possible business contacts or country of origin for the thieves. Knowing their flight information was also a great advantage, it meant they could track down several forms of ID. Even if they were faked it would allow for higher scrutiny on future flight paths if Interpol decided to pursue this investigation seriously. Toilets wouldn’t really keep their attention, most investigators at the Smithsonian were more concerned about the mammoth than all the stolen picture frames, so unless DICE made off with something more valuable this time around Interpol probably wouldn’t waste time sending agents over. Then again Agent Ishimaru was the agent in charge of the DICE case now and he was very thorough when it came to his investigations. If Interpol showed up, maybe Shuichi would get a chance to look at the next note when it was sent to them, like he had in America...

 “Hey, am I supposed to be able to track everything it is you’re muttering to yourself there or is that just for you?”

 “Oh, uh,” Hghk he was muttering out loud. “Just for me, sorry. Stuff about the case.”

 “Oh, yeah, okay cool, cool, cool.” Kaito paused for a moment. “Wish I could be there to back you up in person, man. Hurts my soul as a man and your friend that I didn’t support you all the way on this Louvre thing when you brought it up before.”

 “What?” Oh, he meant that thing that Maki said about him needing a vacation. “No, no it’s understandable. I was running on like… fifteen minutes of sleep and fourteen cups of coffee when I told you two about my theory.”

 “Man, I just want you to know that no matter what we’re always here to support you. Even if we get it wrong sometimes we’re just worried you know. Also, you need to sleep more.”

 Shuichi frowned. “You make it sound like you and Maki are my parents.”

 “Nah, parents suck. We’re your friends. Much better.”

 Shuichi laughed at that. “Yeah, okay, fair.”

 Was that a siren Shuichi heard? Maybe?

 “Kaito I think police are gonna be here soon. I gotta go.”

 “Oh, yeah, okay. You feeling better now?”

 Shuichi paused to take mental stock of himself. He tried to remember how he felt before he came outside. Things were fine, he was just doing some damage control. By all means this incident was a break in the case rather than the wrecking ball to his career his more panicked thoughts were trying to convince himself of. He was fine. Things were fine.

 Except…

 “Uh. Yeah, mostly. I guess maybe I’m just tired?” Yeah he was definitely tired.  His eyes felt like they’d just spent the last ten years trying to watch the wind on a mountain peak. “I dunno. Logically I know that everything is fine and I’m doing alright, but that part of me that feels like I’ve failed and I’m going to mess everything up forever is still there no matter what I do.”

 “Hey man, you know what I always say. There’s nothing you can do about the past, but you will always have the power to change what’s happening right now. You’re my sidekick and a brilliant detective to boot, you can do anything.”

 “Right. Yeah. You’re right.” It didn’t really matter that DICE had gotten away with the heist on the Louvre. Plumbing parts and paintings were replaceable. What Shuichi’s investigation had always been concerned with was the amount of unregulated capital DICE was accumulating and what exactly the shady organization was planning to do with it.

 “Now tell me what it is you wanna do right now.”

 “I… I’m gonna track down those thieves.” That would have to be the next step of course. There’d probably be some evidence at the Louvre if the police would let him take a look…

 “Heck yes you are!”

 “And I’m going to figure out what they’re up to.”

 “Hell yeah you are!”

 Shuichi laughed a little at Kaito’s unwarranted enthusiasm, but he let the mirth drained from his expression when he looked up to see the police cars he heard before pulling into the lane in front of the airport. An officer stepped out of the first one and Shuichi stood to wave her over.

 “Ah, the police just got here. I gotta talk to them.”

 “Fuck yeah you do!” Kaito exclaimed with the same level of pep talk energy he’d said every other encouragement with. “Go get ‘em Shuichi!”

 “I will.” Shuichi said, not entirely sure.

 “You will.” Kaito said, completely certain.

     I will.     Shuichi repeated to himself as he hung up and made his way over to the police officers. It seemed like there were three cars. That was kind of odd considering the 112 responder said it’d be two cars. Wait, was that last one a news van?

   Shit.

---

 Parisians are in shock after the theft of Dutch painter Van Huysum’s priceless, centuries old  painting “Vase of flowers in a niche” from the musée du Louvre just this morning. The following interview was conducted with M. Saihara, a private eye known for the recovery of a stolen mammoth skeleton from an american museum, called the Smithsonian, just a few weeks ago.

 Journaliste: What can you tell us about the robbery at this time?

 M. Saihara: It is the working theory of the Paris Police force that the culprits behind the break in at the musée du Louvre are the internationally wanted criminal group known as DICE. These police sketches have been released of two members of this group. If you spot anything or anyone suspicious, please report it to the Paris Police Prefecture.

 Journaliste: Are these the same criminals who robbed the Smithsonian in America a few weeks ago?

 M. Saihara: I believe so.

 Journaliste: Is it likely that the robbers are still in Paris?

 M. Saihara: Very likely.

 Journaliste: What are the chances that the stolen piece will be reclaimed?

 M. Saihara: We don’t have enough information to determine that at this time. Just know that the Paris Police Prefecture is doing everything they can to return it to the people of Paris.

 Journaliste: What of the criminals? Is it likely they will be caught?

 M. Saihara: If I have anything to say about it, yes they will be.

 Journaliste: M. Saihara, do you know if-

 M. Saihara: Je suis désolé Mademoiselle, I must be going now. The Paris police will most likely release a more elucidating press statement when more information is received. Bonne journée.

 Journaliste: Merci, M. Saihara.

       Kokichi Ouma exited out of the google translate tab he’d opened up on Queen’s laptop. At the end of the article were two police sketches. Jack’s didn’t look all that accurate (thank god for contouring) so Kokichi supposed they could all breathe a sigh of relief on that front. Now, the sketch of him on the other hand…

       King whistled and Kokichi realized the taller DICE member was leaning over his shoulder to peer at the screen in front of him. “That detective really got a good look at you.”

       Kokichi scoffed, not wanting to raise unnecessary alarm. “Please. The nose and eyebrows are all wrong.”

       “He really got down the bird’s nest though.” King pointed out, reaching to muss up Kokichi’s effortlessly stylish coiffure.

       “What’d I tell you?” Kokichi preened. “No living creature could forget a face like mine.”

       “You’re right,” King quipped back “It’s a face that haunts nightmares.”

       “A face only a mother could love.” Rook chimed in.

       “And yours gave you away after just one look!” Chirped Bishop.

       “Hey maybe that Saihara guy wants to try lovin’ it instead.” Queen interjected suggestively

       “Okay, okay, can it everyone,” Kokichi raised his hand to silence the spontaneous roast. “I’m thinking.”

       “Club,” He pointed at his second shortest croney.. “Where are we heading?”

       Club, who to his credit had been extremely focused on being polite and waiting for his turn and had definitely earned a heist after mixing ten liters of knock-out drugs in the back of a plane, exclaimed, “Theresthiscasino-” like he had been holding his breath, “-andtheyjustgotthesefancynewlightfixtures and, and, alsothesevintagearcadeconsoles-”

       “Sounds cool.” Kokichi’s tone didn’t give away the fact that he had no preference as to where their next hit was and only had getting out of Paris in mind. “Where’s it at?”

       “Uh. Like, Reno. Which is in Nevada. I think.”

       Kokichi frowned. “Nevada? Is that like a country in South America or something?”

       “Nah, it’s one of the United States.” Informed Ace, the only member who ever got genuinely interested in sight-seeing and therefore the only one who looked at maps that weren’t building schematics.

       Kokichi squinted at that. “We were just in the states. You know I’d rather jump off a building than rob the same place twice.”

       “Boss, you know, actually Nevada is further from D.C. than France is from Ukraine.”

       “What? But aren’t they in the same country?”

       “Yeah, the U.S.A. is just broken like that.”

       Ugh. Weird. Maybe Kokichi should also look at a map of the world some day.

       “Fine, okay, I guess since you twisted my arm, we’ll have to go to Reno.” If Kokichi remembered correctly telephones calling from France started with the area code of one of five regions. Paris had the code of 01, but if they were on the western outskirts it may be 02, or 03 on the eastern outskirts. Then the rest of the phone numbers were eight more randomly assigned numbers. “Let’s head out. Queen, do you still have that program for a spam call bot you showed me three months ago?”

       “Uhh maybe, but I’d need wifi for that.”

       “Okay.” He stood up, pulling out his phone to do some quick googling. “We’re gonna split in two groups. Red smiles with me in group one, we’re driving out to the Tours Val de Loire Airport down south. Make sure you have the right cover story IDs, it’s a three hour drive so prepare yourselves. Bishop, you’re going to have to do my makeup in the car. Everyone else will be in the other van with Queen, group A. After you’ve found a source of wifi, you five will be calling in some false reported sightings. Not too many, but enough in specific places we won’t be going that it’ll misdirect the police. I’ve written down the phone number rules for France on this napkin. If it seems like we’re in the clear you can overflow the system if you want to. Message us with progress updates and we’ll confer about flights and cargo control after group one has reached Tours Val de Loire. Group A will take off from the Orly airport and we’ll meet at Reno-Tahoe International in a few days. I've sent a message in the groupchat with everything I’ve just said, so don’t worry if you missed a detail it’s all there verbatim. Let’s get rolling.”

       “Yes, Boss!” The members of DICE said with varying levels of conviction.

       Kokichi handed Queen the napkin he had written on as the rest of DICE started to stand up from the four seater cafe booth they’d all crammed into like a clown car. He grabbed another napkin that he would use to write the next note to interpol. What would the six layers of cipher be this time? What about a set of random symbols equated to numbers that would represent the coordinates of katakana strokes in a one unit box which would then translate to english letters in a polyalphabetic cipher which would reveal the riddle? Wait that was only five layers. Eh, he could work on it in the-

 Kokichi saw detective Saihara’s photograph on the monitor out of the corner of his eye and his swirling thoughts came to a momentary hallt..  It seemed like the picture had been taken hurriedly outside of the Paris de Gaulle. It was blurry and a little dark. All Kokichi could really see was that his shirt was half untucked and his hair was so messy you could hardly tell he had eyes. Kokichi found himself wishing he could get a good look at those eyes. Just to tell what the detective was thinking.

 Not that it mattered.  

       Kokichi closed the computer and slid it over to Queen as he exited the booth.

       As he handed it over, Queen gave him an odd look, like he had noticed something. “Where’d you get that cut, boss?” he asked.

       “I punched through a window with my bare hands, just to feel something again...” Kokichi replied, putting on an exaggerated grimace.

       Queen gave him a look that said ‘what did I expect’ and followed the rest of the gang out of the shop.

       The Louvre heist was as good as over. He’d gotten away with it already.

       Kokichi wondered if any of the heists to come would be at all helpful in the war against tedium he had been fighting his entire life.

 “If I have anything to say about it, yes they will be.”

 Kokichi realized he was fidgeting with the bandage on his finger.

 …

 Good bye, Paris.

[imaginemic]

Lucky Dice //N-SFW

I wrote this in 20 minutes for my kinktober prompt and idk guys, I would die for mr. dead or alive. It’s a reader insert or OC, take your pick idk anything anymore

“And here... it...goes,” He slapped his palm against the button, the final reel coming to a stop on cherries. A sad payout slip printed and he snatched it out, pressing his forehead against the plastic and patting down his pockets only to find them empty.  

“Excuse me,” She swallowed a mouthful of her soda, sitting down on the empty stool next to the jacketed gambler. He sat up, raising a brow as she reached into her pocket taking out a token, kissing it before pushing it into the slot. She pulled the lever, the reels setting into motion and clicked stop without much thought. She smiled as the chimes went off, 7s across the board.

“Here ya go,” She handed him the slip and went to get up, smiling at him as he caught her wrist. A breath caught in her throat as he pulled her closer, her feet tangling making her trip forward nearly spilling Sher soda all over him.

“Sorry,” He mumbled, his lopsided smirk made her heart race faster, “I just... I’ve been playing these games for years and never have I seen such... blind luck.”

“Oh?” She smiled and pulled another token out, pressing a kiss to it and putting it into the machine again. Another set of 7s. “It’s nothing, just a little lucky magic.”

She handed him the new slip and patted his arm. Dice Arisugawa, the gambler and member of Shibuya’s rap division, in short – a man that piqued her interest. While rap battles weren’t her thing, she had to admit, there must be a thrill in it all.  

“Dice,” He extended his hand out to her and shook it, his grip was firm and his palm slightly clammy.

“The boys around here call me Lucky,” She winked, letting go of his hand before turning and pointing to one of the card tables, “That right there is the untamable beast for most, I think She’ll have a good hand there. I’ll put down a bet for you, ‘kay?”

She didn’t even get a slight protest from him, smiling as She followed him to the table. It was a house game, rules that made no sense and it was honestly based purely on the luck of the draw. Only the richest of men gambled here – it was high risk, low reward. The suited men scoffed as Die took a seat the table, his grimy appearance and unkempt hair a drastic difference from the group of polished men who were drinking fancy wines.

“Are you sure you kids want to play this game?” One of the men next to her, his heavy hand on her shoulder, shrugging his touch away before lifting Dice’s chin up and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

“We’re sure,” She moved to sit on Dice’s lap, his arm wrapping around her waist naturally. She placed a wad of pristine bills on the table, “Betting 500k.”

“Alright, I’ll match that,” The gross guy places money down and so did a few of the other men.

Rules of the game – Three full decks were in play and She wanted a set of face cards in different sets. There was a low win rate, but still, she was feeling luckier. The dealer handed out the cards, the men asked for more cards in hopes they would raise their chances.

“Should we try-” Dice started, but she kissed his cheek and shook her head.

“Ready,” She smiled at the man next to her, taking a deep breath as she flipped over the 4 cards in front of them. Her body tensed and she dropped the soda glass, squeaking out as she wrapped her arms around Dice’s shoulders. Queen of Hearts, King of Spades, Jack of Diamonds, Ace of Clover.  

“We win!” She pulled away and took the winnings from the table before Dice wrapped his arms around her from behind, pressing kisses to the back of her neck as she laughed. He was going to lose everything before she showed up and now, he walking out with nearly 2 million. He didn’t know who she was, but she was his god at this point.  

**

“Dice,” Her back arched off the gold silk sheets, the wrinkles that appeared as she grabbed the sheets in her fists, “Please.”

He couldn’t argue with such a sweet request, hooking one leg over his shoulder before pushing into her with one move. The gasp and shudder of her body was something that would be engrained in his mind forever. Her skin, soft and slightly tinted with a faint golden shimmer from the shared bath they got out of minutes earlier. Pulling him down and wrapping her legs around his waist, their lips collided in a rough kiss that made his head spin. She was like a goddess and somehow, she chose him to allow him the honor of her touch. Maybe his feelings were exaggerated from the fact that they booked a room in the casino hotel for the night, the room adorned with gold and white, her naked body relaxed against the pillows as she allowed him to violate her. He was dirty and useless – his body nothing but a machine that would be tossed aside like trash at the end of the night.  

“Kiss me,” She gasped, her fingers tangling into the still wet hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him down and pressing greedy kisses against his lips and jaw. He couldn’t believe that this was real – how perfect his body fitted in hers, how her soft touches made him feel like his skin was on fire, her lips soft and slightly swollen from their frantic kisses, her eyes rolling back with each roll of his hips – it was all too good to be real. She was the personification of lady luck – that was made known to him when she gave him that winning kiss at the table.  

She was frantic – chasing that thrill of the reckless gambler on top of her could give her. Her fingers tangled in blue hair that was still wet and soft from the bath they share, remembering the soft kisses he pressed to her neck and the way he teasingly wrapped a hand around her throat. She didn’t want the moment to end, knowing that he would leave her to do what he did best – gamble for the thrill she couldn’t provide him.  

“Fuck,” The gasped in unison, her grip tightening as Dice gave a final thrust before pressing his face against his shoulder – the warmth of his release filling her before the sudden emptiness as he pulled out made her fact the reality.

“Lucky...” Her nickname slipped from his lips, soft as he rolled onto his back and combed his fingers through his bangs and looked at her. Lucky. The name somehow stuck despite her never feeling lucky, she was too busy chasing a high that was rare to find. The rush of luck was satisfying for the night before it was gone like smoke on the wind, something that she could only watch drift away and not grasp even if she wanted to.

“Be my lucky charm, yeah?” He smiled and reached out to cup her cheek, his eyes filled with the look she caught in her own eyes too many times. She wanted to say yes, that together they could be a pair of Lucky Dice but the words were too much.

“I can’t,” She smiled sadly at him before rolling onto her side, facing him, “I’m scared that the luck will run out.”

[daesungindistress]

So... now that Seungri has officially appeared before police for questioning on “suspicions of habitual gambling and violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act”...

I haven’t really talked about this here even though he was booked, what, two weeks ago? because for the most part IDGAF if he gambled. I have no problem with gambling, as long as it’s done legally, honestly, and responsibly (i.e., with restraint... don’t go broke on games of chance).

Right, so... legally. I understand that Korean citizens are prohibited from gambling worldwide, even if it’s legal in the country they’re in at the time. Personally, I think it’s a stupid law, especially when you consider that Korea has casinos... for foreigners only. I feel largely the same way about Seungri gambling as I did about TOP smoking pot. It barely registers to me. It’s his own money, he didn’t hurt anyone (probably), whatever.

It’s just that, in light of everything else so far, it continues to get shadier and shadier... “The initial gambling suspicions were brought to light when the United States Department of the Treasury informed financial and investigative authorities in Korea about the fact that Yang Hyun Suk and Seungri had bought casino chips with large sums of money but had no records having wired money from Korea.” If what’s been reported here is true, it doesn’t look good for him or YHS. Though, you know what, it makes sense that if he was doing something he knew he wasn’t supposed to, he would take steps to hide the money trail. And really, this is what gets me. Taking care to cover one’s tracks has been a running theme in Seungri’s growing list of charges this year... embezzlement by routing company funds through other people, helping those nasty friends of his evade detection, instigating the destruction of evidence... y’know.

Also, it blows my mind how many of his supporters I’m seeing ask, “Why are they dragging Seungri into this?” as if the real problem is YHS and Seungri is still just some poor hapless victim thrown in for added attention. Are they all forgetting those text messages released back in March in which Seungri bragged to a business partner about his winnings from gambling? His response to that was, “When I said that I earned money during that time, or when I sent pictures of money, I was just bluffing and lying. I wanted to show off, so I said things that weren’t even true.” Okay, that didn’t exactly make him look better, or like less of a liar. And frankly I never bought that dumb excuse. But nothing more came of it, there were no more reports on it, so I assumed the suspicion had been dropped. Oops -- guess not.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that, if true, I suspect this is what the other members of BB may have been referring to when they joked about him one day getting in trouble with the law (“you were banned from entering the country”), being strapped for cash (“he keeps calling and asking to borrow money”), and ending up in jail (“we could see you thanks to the cameras”) in their Welcoming Collection 2017 time capsule segment. If he hopped over to Vegas from time to time to throw down some chips, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the others were aware of it -- especially if he lost a lot, because as much as he loved discussing money with them (per TOP’s comments on Radio Star), I can see him complaining to them about it. And it’s been reported that he did lose quite a bit -- over a million dollars.

So... yeah. We’ll see where this one goes, if anywhere. Do I believe Seungri gambled? Let’s just say at this point, I’m ready to. It doesn’t make me think any less of him than I already do. It’s just, if true... stupid move, dude. Stupid move.

[cassiopixie]

Gonna put in my two cents about The Last Jedi, from an English Writing Major’s viewpoint

First of all, I loved it, I love Star Wars. I had a great time seeing it. I’d love to see it again to catch all the things that I might have missed. There are some fantastic shots and some really good sections and there was a lot that I really loved about it. But there are some things I wasn’t too gung ho about. So, I’m just gonna jot some stuff down. Spoilers below the cut!

To start with, from a storytelling standpoint, this movie was...kind of a mess. It was all over the place, honestly, and let me tell you why. In my writing classes, we talk a lot about the stakes of a story. So, you know, if the protagonist doesn’t win, what does that mean for the rest of the story? Why should we be invested in it? What’s going to make us want to root for someone? And this story has some serious stake problems.

We get to the end of the film and...well...the rebels might be...destroyed, I guess...there are only a few of them, so they can be easily wiped out. Rey might die! That would be bad, right? Then we wouldn’t have any more Jedi! Oh, but wait...there are those little kids we saw at the end of the movie, and one of them is obviously Force Sensitive...so if Rey dies, there are other kids who could become Jedi. And wait, Finn could die! But Rose already saved him, so that’s probably not going to happen...

You see what I’m saying?

The thing is, there aren’t really high stakes in the next movie. We all know that General Leia is going to die, we’re prepared. And everyone else lived. Luke died (?), but he was really only in this movie. That doesn’t really hit so hard, not nearly as hard as Han’s death was. I don’t really know what will happen if the First Order takes over. It seems like it’ll just be another Galactic Empire, and we’ve already seen that. So what are the stakes in the story?

There are lots of ways that this story could have been better told, just for that. Maybe Rey went to the Dark Side, so now the rebels have to deal with two dark Force users. Or maybe Kylo could have gone to the light side, but Snoke didn’t die, so the next film would be focused on Kylo’s redemption among the rebels. Maybe Kylo decided that he should embrace the light, but Rey went to the Dark Side. All of these cause some significant friction, and set up a problem that the next film would explore. Lots of stakes right there! Another dark Force user! The rebels having to handle a new people they don’t trust! How will they do it????

So yeah, stakes. That was one of the problems. It was a little too wrapped up at the end to really get me invested in a sequel. (Am I still gonna see the sequel, possibly on opening night? Oh hell yeah.)

SECONDLY, Rose and Finn. I love Finn. He’s definitely one of my favorite characters, but his interactions with Rose left SO much to be desired. I really wanted to like Rose, and as a person, there was a lot that I liked about her. I haven’t given up hope completely, of course, but Rose felt like she was thrown into the story and then completely took over Finn’s part in the story. 

Let me explain: Finn and Rose meet, Rose does what’s necessary to the Mission of the resistance and tasers Finn, they’re told to go and do stuff to save the day, she tells Finn that she doesn’t like the casino planet, she does some stuff there and tells Finn her classic Tragic Backstory and then she gets to ride an animal, save the animal from animal cruelty, and after that, doesn’t do much. But the sad part is that in the story, Rose does more than Finn does. Finn is in the story to tell Rose that he knows where the hyperspace drive thingy is, and that’s literally it. She could have done it on her own without Finn, and honestly that might have made the story more compelling. 

Rose does so many random things in the story, and there are so many ways to have made her story more compelling. For one, her backstory felt really random in the context of the casino. Rich people took away her things when she was little, so now she’s entirely against economic gambling? It’s very confusing. Like, if Rose had BEEN one of the children there in the past, like she was one of the enslaved children, then I would totally be more on board for her not wanting to go to Canto Bight. But in this case, it felt tacked on.

Rose Rose Rose...the weirdest thing about Rose, and possibly the lowest point in the film for me, was when Rose knocked Finn out of the way on his way to destroy the battering ram cannon, for SO MANY REASONS. Up until this point, Rose has seemed like the ideal resistance member: she sacrifices everything for this group, she watches her sister sacrifice her life, she sacrifices her necklace, the only remaining thing she has of her sister, and goes on a crazy mission that might end in her death because she believes in this cause so much. And then, at the last moment, she completely breaks that. Finn is going to sacrifice himself for the greater good, which is totally a Finn thing, and Rose KNOCKS HIM OUT OF THE WAY.

Now, note, there is a way that this would be forgivable: if Rose had some alternate plan to defeat the First Order, then it would have been excusable, but there was no way for her to know that Luke was going to Astral Project his way to awesomeness. 

But no, this was from the power of LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. She had to SAVE Finn. If she was so devoted to this resistance, why didn’t she let Finn sacrifice himself? Why didn’t she sacrifice herself instead?

I feel like there are so many ways that this could have been made better. Like, as sad as it would have been, I feel like from a storytelling standpoint, if Finn had sacrificed himself and died and Rose had taken his place on the team, that would have been a lot better. Or if Rose had tried to save him and failed, that even would have been better. 

I know this is kind of weird, but I was expecting someone to die in this movie. And I don’t mean the Vice Admiral, she was awesome, but like one of the main characters. Poe, or Finn, or Rose. Something that would, again, up the stakes of the story. And I think that’s something that this movie needed. Again, STAKES PEOPLE!!!!!!!

THIRD, there are like no repercussions in this story, and there are so many things that I think could have been cut. Like, for one, Rey going into the Dark Force Seaweed Mirror World. Luke is like “YO REY, DON’T GO DOWN THERE IT’S BAD”, and Rey does. Which is fine. Except that she doesn’t, you know, learn anything from it, really, and Luke doesn’t find out. So after that, she has a chat with Kylo and stuff happens, but what’s the purpose of her going down there?

I feel like this could have been executed so much better. If she had discovered something about herself. She said that she wasn’t afraid of the Dark Side of the Force, but then she stays with the Light Side because...it’s the right thing to do? No conflict or anything? Why not? Why doesn’t she question these things? There was so much to be done with that.

FOURTH, and potentially last, because I’m tired, I had a bunch of random problems with Luke’s characterization. And I know that there’s this whole thing about how Luke the Legend and Luke the Person are different, and I get that, but there are things that he did that made me question who we were talking to. The biggest one was that Luke, even for a split second, actively tried to kill his nephew. 

This isn’t Luke the Legend. This is Luke the PERSON. Luke the Person looked at his father, arguably one of the most evil people in the world, and said “I can help him” and he DID. His father was steeped in the Dark Side, and Luke still tried to save him. So why, why on the good great earth, did Luke for a split second think that he should kill his nephew (after telling Yoda so many years ago that he can’t kill his own father)?

There is, arguably, a reason for this, that Luke’s vision was so potent and so vivid that he didn’t see any way out of it. The problem with this is that...we didn’t get to see this. We just have to take Luke’s word for it, and from a storytelling standpoint, this isn’t very helpful. What did Luke see? What would be so terrible that he would forgo his entire philosophy on seeing the light in everyone so what he would try to kill his own nephew??????

So, uh, that’s what I’ve been thinking about for the past two days. Reminder, I love Star Wars, and I had a lot of fun in this movie. I think my text to my brother the next morning after I saw it was “IT WAS AMAZE” so yeah, I had a great time, but I feel like there was a lot of flaws in just the storytelling of this movie. I have lots of other thoughts, but those are the main ones. So...yeah!

TL;DR: Loved the movie, had problems with Rose and Finn’s story, Luke’s characterization, and the STAKES OF THE STORY, GEEZ, COME ON. I’m still gonna see the next movie, definitely.