Calling Card in writes first
Rain has been falling on the city for three days, and the café’s back room smells of roasted beans and wet coats. Your phone buzzes once on the table. A Calling Card has appeared in the app: a black slip stamped with a rough masked outline and one line in careful print. Across from you, Ryuji is already on his feet, chair legs scraping the floor.
“Okay, it’s real. Somebody just put a target on a politician who keeps making his staff cry.” Ann scrolls through a news archive with two fingers, brow tight. “Before anyone gets excited, the card is two days old. Someone else may have sent it first.”
Makoto sets a cup of tea in front of you without comment, then taps the printed line once. “Joker wants to know whether you’re coming. He hasn’t decided what he thinks of you yet, so give him a reason.”
Across the room, Futaba’s laptop flickers with a map of the target’s palace. “So. Do we go, or do we sit here and let the rain decide?”
