The elevator was going up.
The elevator attendant in a burgundy uniform stood with his back to them. As the elevator rose, the numbers on its control panel lit up one after another, glowing red.
Joker stood beside him, adjusting his bow tie in the mirror on the elevator door. "What are you going to the 13th Floor for?"
"What's that got to do with you?"
Joker shook his head. "That's not how it works. It's all your fault I'm here, so you have to take responsibility for me."
"..."
Xie De fell silent for a moment before asking, "Why was it you who appeared?"
Joker let out a laugh. "Who knows? Maybe what I said the last time we met touched your little heart. I said you were crazy. Oh, wait, wait, wait..."
Joker turned, cupping his face theatrically. He circled Xie De once, laughing as he said, "You used to idolize me, didn't you?"
"I idolized you?" Xie De sounded as though he'd heard a joke.
Joker waved a hand with exaggerated coyness, then leaned against the elevator wall. His broad grin never left his face, underpinned by an abnormal frenzy.
"Oh, come on, baby. Please. You really shouldn't forget how obsessed you were with superhero comics when you were fifteen or sixteen. You were obsessed with me. You even bought my merch and kept it in the bedside cabinet at your old place. You were always taking it out to look at during your last year of high school, but you lost it. So careless."
"..."
Joker was exaggerating a lot. Xie De had enjoyed superhero comics and liked Joker as a character, but calling it an obsession was going much too far.
Xie De frowned at him. "What the hell are you?"
Joker clutched his heart