~The Next Day Joker's POV~

I yawned slightly while walking down the street in my civilian attire. Just a (F/C) T-shirt and shorts with a black hoodie tied around my waist. I was allowed a day off since the...incident yesterday took a lot of my energy to resolve. I walked into my favorite cafe and sat at my usual booth. The cafe itself wasn't that popular and it was located in the back roads. It was a small cafe, but it was quiet and calm. The familiar smell of coffee relaxed me. "Ah. Morning (L/N)-San." The owner of the cafe greeted. "I already told you to call me (Y/N). No need for formalities." I said chuckling slightly. "Ah, right. Sorry (Y/N)." He said. "No problem Boss." I said smiling at him "I already told you to call me Sojiro." He said. I chuckled slightly. "That's fair." "So what'll it be? The usual?" He questioned. "Yep." I responded pulling out my book. "Coming right up." He said while chuckling. The smell of fresh coffee swirled around causing me to smile slightly. After a few minutes of silence he placed the cup of fresh coffee beside me. "Enjoy. Let me know if you need anything else." He said before going back to what he was doing. I continued reading my book while sipping on the coffee when my phone rung. I picked it up. "Hello? Who is this?" Karma questioned on the other end. I smirked and chuckled to myself. I had slipped my phone number in his coat pocket when I had him pinned the other day. "Awww. Does Mr. Detective not recognize me?" I questioned in a cheerful tone. "J-Joker! How? When!?" He questioned. I giggled evilly. "I'm a great pickpocket. But I can also put things in pockets. Oh and don't think you can track this number. I have a few of my friends working to keep the signal safe." I said. Sojiro just shot me a glare. He knew who I was and what I had been through but he didn't care so long as I didn't bring trouble to his cafe. I was always curious as to why he didn't turn me in but it wasn't broke so I wasn't going to attempt fixing it. "Just how are you so good at this!?" He questioned. "I've been doing this for years copper you can't touch me." I said with sass and cockiness in my voice. "Well don't go blowing up my phone now that you have my number. I'm a busy girl. You're lucky you caught me on my day off. At this time I'd be in a meeting right now." I explained rolling my eyes.

"You get days off?" He questioned. I shrugged. "Not really. I just told everyone that I'm taking a day off because of the...incident last night." I said slightly snickering. "Okay. What happened?" He questioned. "Why are you so interested?" I questioned being cautious. "Well you were laughing your a*s off about it the other day and you sound tired." He said. He can tell I'm tired just by my voice? I thought smirking slightly. "Wooooow. You really are a good detective if you can tell I'm tired just by my voice. But yeah. It took all my energy to deal with it." I said rolling my eyes. "Okay now I've got to know what happened." He said. "You're really curious aren't you?" I questioned. "It's my nature. Would you prefer me asking personal questions and interrogating you?" He fired back. "That's what most detectives do when they talk to me. This is a first." I answered honestly. "Well I'm not like most detectives. And not every criminal gives me their phone number. This is also a first." He shot back. "Well I'm not like every criminal. And fine. You really wanna know?" I questioned. "Yep." He answered. "Let's just say I'm never letting one of my friends near tech again." I growled. "Can I inquire why?" He questioned. "She caused one of the computers to go rouge and nearly killed ten people." I answered in a monotone voice. He burst out laughing on the other end. "H-how does that even happen?" He questioned. "That's what I said! Because I have no idea how she did it either! I just showed up to find everything in chaos!" I said laughing myself. "I just walked in to find everyone screaming and running around like headless chickens with her in the middle of it all trying to fix the problem and making it worse. I run in and stabbed the computer but that didn't f*cking work! It started attacking me!" I explained trowing my arm in the air. "How the hell does a computer attack?" He questioned snickering. "By controlling the other electronics in the area and making things TEN TIMES MORE CHAOTIC THAT IT ALREADY IS!" I shouted. He seemed to be losing it on the other end. "Oh my God. I haven't heard of something this bad since Jr. High." He said. I hummed slightly. "Jr. High? Care to tell?" I questioned. He went silent for a minute then I heard him chuckle. "I thought you knew everything?" He questioned. Ohoho. Trying to pull a fast one on me huh? Nice try detective but you're going to have to try a little harder than that. I thought. "Oh trust me I do. It's just more fun hearing it from you." I lied. Truth is I don't know anything further back than sixteen years old. Sure I've heard stories from Rio and the others that were in his class but they always were kinda tight lipped about it.

For a while we chatted and talked. He tried to interrogate me a few times but I either dodged the question or answered as vaguely as possible. I checked the time. "Oh dear it appears I'm out of time. I must be going now. I hope we can talk again soon. Feel free to call me some time. Later." I said before hanging up. I saved the number under Karma and thanked Sojiro for the coffee. "So who was that this time? You messing with another detective?" He questioned crossing his arms. I smiled. "You know me so well. Yep. I'm messing with a real famous one this time." I said. He sighed. "Just don't get caught (Y/N)." He said. "Aww. You should know by now." I said with a small smile. That smile turned dark and my eyes held insane mischief in them. "I never get caught." I said in a dark tone. He sighed again. "That over confidence might get you killed you know." He said in a concerned tone. I went back to normal. "Aw. You're worried about me. But don't worry I'll be fine. Later Sojiro." I said waving to him. He waved back. I walked around the streets for a while deciding to do a little shopping while I was out and about. All I really got was some sweets. Once I had a bag full of sweets I went to the park and sat in a tree eating them for a while. I decided to read a little too, eventually finishing my book. I closed it with a satisfied sigh. "What a great conclusion to a great story." I said to myself. I noticed my bag of sweets was empty and decided to check out the Dark Knights website.

Looking for targets is harder than you might think. I've gotta do background checks, make sure they are worth going after, and so on so forth. I chuckled slightly. It still shocks me how many people like seeing me kill. You'd think I wouldn't be loved by the public but no. They wait and watch. They wonder who I'll go after next. It really is Kira all over again isn't it? I thought. I sighed slightly. "Humans are weird. I'll never understand them." I said aloud. Night would come soon but I was bored out of my mind. I groaned. "God why is it when I finally get time off I have nothing to do!?" I questioned. I decided to head back to the hideout to brainstorm my next move. Although it may not seem like it I did take Light's words to heart. A powerful rival could be my undoing. I walked into the cavern in uniform with Flame and Breeze flanking my sides. These two were like my guards whenever I was in the hideout. It was just precautions. I sat at the head of the table in the council room thinking. Flame brought me a chess board at my request. I started messing around setting up the black pieces in front of me and the white pieces on the other side. By messing with Karma I'm challenging the most officiant detective agency in all of Japan. One that's headed by Tadaomi Karasuma. He's well known and has a lot of pull in government branches. I thought. There are a lot of powerful people connected to that agency as well. But there are rumors around these people that would typically, no scratch that, definitely put them on my hit list. People like Akira Takaoka, a government issued police instructor. Charged with training new recruits and preparing them for the force. Of course there are the rumors that he's been beating said recruits. Kotarō Yanagisawa, a famous scientist that's rumored to have preformed illegal experiments on human beings. Not only now, but in the past it's also rumored he created some kind of super weapon that could've destroyed the world. But the dude's a genius and completely untouchable in court. Gakuho Asano, I can't remember what kind of job he has now but Asano told me about all the s*it he pulled back in their Jr. High year. He personally asked me to target his father. He doesn't have much relation to the agency but he's one of their resources. And there is rumors of that weird assassin in the city recently. I've actually heard that he's been targeting people on Karasuma's command. My thoughts trailed off again as rumors and theories piled on into my head. "Breeze, Flame, can you two step outside for a minute. I need to be alone to think." I said my eyes never leaving the bored. "Right." They both responded getting up and leaving. I sat there going over my thoughts. And then of course there's Karma. Not only smart but strong too. I've been able to get the jump on him through these past few days but if it gets down to head to head, fist to fist, I'm done for. I'm good at fighting when it counts sure but my strength is in mind games and the fact I feel no fear. That's when it hit me. Karma. Karma was the key to winning this. He's the detective agency's trump card. Their Ace in the hole. If I can take him out I win. I smirked slightly. "Now we're getting somewhere." I said to myself. I picked up the white king from the chess bored. But the question is how do I use him to shift things into my favor? Sure I can continue messing with him but that will only lead to defeat. He's smart enough to eventually figure out my patterns and be able to predict my moves. One of my advantages right now is the fact he can't tell what I'm going to do. I can't just flat out kill him either. He'd do some major damage before I manged to off him and his death would cause a feeding frenzy at the agency. And it'll cause a lot of them to be out for my blood. Even some from my own organization. So what? What can I do here? I thought. That's when an idea stuck me. At first I dismissed it instantly. But it kept coming back. And the more I thought about it. The more it seemed like it would work. I formed a plan. An evil smirk spread across my face. I started chuckling to myself. "I love it when a brilliant yet crazy plan comes to mind." I said to myself standing up and leaving the chess bored there.

I drove all the way to my house a little ways off from the hideout but nice and far from the city. I walked inside and placed my stuff at the door already in my normal civilian attire. I went into my room, slipped on my gloves, and grabbed an old book from inside my desk. It had a red cover with a black sword on it. My old field journal. This book would be key to my plan. I sat at my desk pulling out a piece of paper, a pen, and a black envelope. I set my journal off to the side. I know Karma has that power as well. It's obvious at this point so I won't have to worry about it that much. Besides most of the stuff in that old book should sound like gibberish thought up in the mind of a broken and insane girl. But by talking to me over the phone he has no idea that he's given me the ways to easily trap him. I was able to gather that he loves to read. And he's very curious as well. Not only that but determined to find out more about me and solve this case. Yes, this just might work. I hummed to myself as I started to write on the piece of paper. I made sure to make my handwriting as neat as possible. I would have to use a mask I haven't used in many years for this plan. Once I had finished the letter I sighed and signed it with a name I haven't used in years besides with Sojiro. (Y/N) (L/N). I put it in the envelope and sealed it with my classic solid dark (F/C) seal. I finished up preparations and went to bed. Tomorrow here we come.

~Flame's POV~

I walked into the council room after Joker left. She seemed excited about something. When I walked in I noticed something...odd so to speak. The chess bored I had gotten for her. Only it was set up strangely. The entire white army was knocked off the bored...all except for one. The white king. Which now was set up next to the dark queen with the black army behind them.