After a long ride on a tricycle taxi, they reached Rico.
As Hirune looked around she couldn't help but wonder how a place so close to Triste looked so much fancier. Everywhere she looked there was either, multiple strips of gold on buildings or utilities, or bright multicolored lights in certain shapes.
She couldn't help but think that everyone here lived a lavish life while everyone back in Triste fought for a couple cents every couple of days.
She looked at Kala, "So which one is the place were looking for?"
Kala looked around then curled her lips, "It might seem crazy what I'm about to say."
Hirune shook her head, 'Of course, I, an idiot, is stuck with her, another idiot.' She thought. Then she glanced around for anything that resembled a casino...
Everything looked like a casino, even the cars.
"Kala," Hirune said, "Would you mind explaining how Ellen expects us to find the exact casino we're looking for?"
Then she saw 3 huge spires, each one of them being made out of pure gold that shimmered in the artificial light. Each spire had lights that said one word, the one to the left said "WELCOME", the one in the middle said "TO", and the one to the right said, "RICO!"
Hirune stared at the 3 spires and nearly had a heart attack not wanting to deal with another Triple Red Peaks situation. Then she sighed as she saw that the 3 spires each had a golden cylinder that went up into the sky and connected to what seemed like the bottom of a huge upside-down dome.
'What in the world could be up there that's so important?' Hirune thought while looking back down. She looked at Kala again and she seemed to be wondering the same thing.
"I think that'd be the answer to your question," Kala said while looking up.
"Really now? I couldn't tell, really especially considering that it's the most eye-catching thing here," Hirune responded with a cheeky smirk on her face.
"The sarcasm isn't very appreciated," Kala responded as she started walking. Hirune following behind. As they walked down, they realized that this place wasn't very kid friendly. Which was to be expected considering that everything was a casino, but you'd expect them to have at least one small part for them.
Hirune glanced around more, seeing almost everyone on the street playing cards, and the few that weren't gambling and almost getting ran over were either mopping around or trying to flirt with everyone they saw. She tapped Kala on the shoulder, "Hey do you know if we need any sort of ID verification?"
Kala suddenly stopped causing Hirune to bump into her. She looked at Kala in the face, and she looked pretty nervous. "1. You have no idea, or 2. We do and we're very much underage." Hirune guessed and Kala nodded slowly.
Hirune looked around for someone, anyone that looked sketchy. After all there was bound to be someone selling fake IDs in a place like this.
As they kept on walking, Hirune not telling Kala about her fake ID plan because she thought Kala had enough common sense to figure it out, she spotted a sketchy guy in a trenchcoat in an alleyway. "Kala, look! We can get our fake IDs there." Kala looked and shrugged.
"We probably don't actually need any sort of identification considering what this place is."
Hirune gave her a questioning look, "How would you know that? I haven't seen a single kid walk into any of these casinos. Instead, they've all been standing and waiting outside."
Kala shrugged, "Suit yourself. If you really want that fake ID, go ask him for it. I'll be waiting at..." She looked around a little then pointed at one of the few restaurants around, "At that restaurant. If you need anything scream."
Hirune nodded and fell further behind Kala as she slowly started to walk towards the alleyway. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't scared. Not because she thought the guy would do anything, she could easily defend herself, but because she had to actually talk to a stranger and admit to needing help with a crime.
'It's not that bad, just a fake ID. I've already murdered someone in cold blood this is just... Something light.' Hirune thought as she took a deep breath and spoke to the guy.
"Excuse me? Sir?" The man turned towards her, his face never visible and answered.
"Which service do you require? Faking an ID? Fake money? An assassination? Maybe even a wild night?" Hirune's body shuddered, who in the world was asking for the last two? Then she realized where she was and it made sense.
After a second of hesitating she said, "Uhh, I just need a fake ID." The man nodded and took a fake ID out of his pocket while saying, "No questions." She looked at the fake ID confused, then her blood went cold as it already had a picture of her on it.
"100$." The man said.
Hirune gulped, "I don't really have money, I was just curious as to how this worked. You can have it back now."
"That's a lie," The man said. "No one comes to a seller out of curiosity. Also, there's no returns. So, you'll have to pay in a different way somehow."
'Why was I expecting it to be free here?' Hirune thought. After all, back in Triste, everyone gave her what she needed (besides money) for free or for something she had that they wanted, but she had to get used to this. She wouldn't be in Triste as often anymore; she had to somehow pay.
She slightly opened her mouth trying to get her words out but couldn't. She sighed, not being able to speak out of fear of not being able to pay the price. She glanced around and saw an antenna on a roof.
She then looked back at the man for a second and said, "Sorry, but what are the payment methods?"
The man responded, "The payment methods are either money, or your body."
She nodded, then said while glancing at the antenna on the nearby roof, "Devour Distance." The Devourer Jaws came out from her heels and swallowed her like a vicious beast that hadn't been fed in a millennium and spit her out near the antenna on the roof.
Then her face went pale as alarms started to blare. She looked down at the fake ID and saw that it had a tracker that would automatically activate the alarms if even 1 foot away from the owner.
She quickly threw the ID as far as she possibly could, then turned to look for Kala. As she spotted her and was about to mutter Devour Distance to get to her and tell her about what she just did, a hand wrapped around her mouth and nose from behind her while holding a cloth covered in alcohol.
As she desperately attempted to use the Devourer Jaw on whoever was behind her, she felt it droop down on her hand like a freezing cold liquid. She kicked and squirmed but couldn't do anything as she lost her strength and eventually consciousness.
***
After roughly 5 minutes Kala started to look around for Hirune wondering where she was. 'It shouldn't take your average person more than 5 minutes to get a fake ID.' Kala thought, then she raised her eyebrow, 'Well she isn't normal but she's close enough to be able to take less than 5 minutes.'
She walked towards the alleyway and saw the man that was selling her the fake ID standing there.
"Um... Excuse me, do you perhaps know where a short girl with half black, half white hair went? She's my friend and I'm looking for her." Kala said, looking concerned.
The man glanced at her, then pointed in a direction. "Thank you," Kala responded as she started running in that direction.
It took her a couple of minutes she still didn't find her, as she looked down at her feet with worry, she spotted a small white rectangle in the corner of her eye. She walked towards it and picked it up, instantly recognizing what it was. 'Hirune's fake ID? If this is here, she's got to be nearby somewhere!' Kala ran around desperately searching for Hirune, then she was suddenly tackled to the ground.
"You're under arrest for buying a fake ID. No questions asked, the police here don't take until we hit the jackpot designated to you." Kala struggled for a bit, then stopped, remembering that even if the rules here were different, not resisting was still the better choice.
***
Hirune slowly woke up, questioning why she didn't see Namulenza this time when she fainted. She shook her head, that didn't matter right now, what did matter was seeing where she was, and getting out.
She looked around carefully, completely ignoring the guy sitting on the sofa to her left. She was shackled to the wall, her back directly onto it with no movement available. As she looked around, she saw the room was like an old timey home. Kind of like hers back in Triste, with flower-patterned curtains and carpet that were mostly brown, the patterns being a dark yellow. The sofas also having a similar pattern but with a dark red color. Besides that, the place was nothing special, just a nice king-sized bed and a basic looking door.
The guy cleared his throat, "Excuse me young lady, but we require your utmost assistance."
Hirune finally looked at the guy. The guy's wearing a black tuxedo, top to bottom brimming with black diamonds. Wearing a short top hat covering his smooth slicked back hair and shadowy eyes with a weird mark right below his left eye that looked like a jester hat. Wearing black pair of glasses that have beads that flop down a little and around the back of his head. He also has 2 tiny square black gem earing's.
She looked at him, "What about you just let me go. That seems simpler."
He laughed at her darkly, "I'm sorry Young miss but you're not getting away until you help me with a heist on the dome casino up above us."
'The dome casino? He also wants to take something from there?' Hirune thought as she glared at him. He was definitely up to no good, which she wasn't either, but if she was going to be a bad person she'd much rather do it with Kala.
"Yeah, no," she said as she made small Devourer Jaws come out of both of her hands that ate the shackles off of her.
She landed on the floor and instantly tried to devour the wall to escape, never turning away from him. Yet with a snap a bunch of dark shadowy hands came out of the ground and roof holding her arms, legs, and stomach region and held her in place.
Hirune glared at him again as he walked towards her, "Well? What do you say? Will you help me?"
Hirune focused up, closing her throat, then making the Devourer Jaws come out of her throat and attempt to devour the hands. Yet with another simple snap the same hands covered her mouth.
Then as she glared even harder at him, she notices his eyes looking at her clavicle. "Is that the... No, it can't be."
He unbuttoned her shirt and stared at her body up and down. Hirune's eyes widened as she desperately tried to move but couldn't.
"Woah, excited now, are we? I'm guessing you can also see the jester. Quite a surprise. Yet you do seem to be a bit of a troublemaker," He his hand on her side, after a second Hirune felt a burning pain on her side that almost instantly froze over. As she looked down to see what he did, she caught a glimpse of a jester mask mark on her side as he pulled her shirt back down.
Then the shadow hands let go of her, allowing her to finally move and talk. "What'd you do?" Hirune asked with endless levels of hatred in her voice.
The guy chuckled, "Well first of all, I'm sorry for my bad manners. My name's Mr. Comedian. As to what I did, I just simply put the Protection of The Jester mark on you. Making it so we can't hurt each other, and so if one of us does get hurt, the other will be alerted. It also gives me commands over you, but I promise with my life that I'll never use those."
"So, what if one of us dies? And what if I don't trust that you won't use those commands?" Hirune asked in a serious yet nervous tone.
"Then we both die, and the shadow jester consumes the both of us in an excruciatingly painful way," He answered as he laughed malevolently. "As for the trust, that's something I'll have to earn."