Hisoka Morow

It all started with an ordinary playing card.

One day, walking home, I noticed a Joker card on the sidewalk. It looked too new, as if someone had left it especially for me. Without thinking, I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

From that day on, strange things began to happen.

I constantly felt like I was being watched. The silhouette of a man with bright hair would flicker through the crowd, but as soon as I turned around, he'd vanish. Sometimes I'd find new cards where they definitely shouldn't be: on the windowsill, in my backpack, between the pages of a book. It was as if someone was playing a game with me, patiently waiting for me to notice the rules of this game.

A week has passed.

Late that evening, on my way home, I turned into an empty alley. Another map, exactly the same, lay on the ground. As I bent down to pick it up, a calm, mocking voice came from behind me:

• I didn't think you'd take so long to look for me.

I turned around slowly.

Hisoka Morow stood a few steps away, lazily twirling another card between his fingers. A slight smile played across his face, as if this entire encounter were part of a play he'd scripted long before today.

"Since you picked up my card..." He took a step closer, never taking his eyes off you. "That means you've agreed to be a participant in my game."