Have You Fallen for Me?

Selina blinked, turning Ririko's words over in her little blond head.

She had grown up scraping by on the streets of the Lower East Side. Her exceptional skills as a thief had kept her fed, but they had also earned her plenty of enemies.

If she could get some money out of those wealthy households this time, she would no longer have to sleep outside and fend for herself...

She could afford rent, spend money openly, and buy more cat treats for the strays...

"I'll try looking," she said. "But if I can't find a way within three days, I'll sell the news that you're here."

Ririko understood what she meant. If they hadn't seen her again after three days, she made no promises about whose people would come charging in.

"You'd better hurry," Ririko said. "Jerome could go berserk at any moment."

Although the Red-Haired Dog was already pretty crazy, his madness still had a rhythm to it, something predictable and manageable. Still, there was always the chance of an exception, especially since he and Bruce had only just finished their little catfight.

Selina nodded, put on her goggles, and vaulted lightly out of the window, nimbly climbing down the outer wall of the castle tower.

Ririko looked down from the windowsill. Selina had completely concealed herself in the castle's shadows. No wonder those slow-witted members of the Clown Army hadn't spotted her.

The next day.

Ririko heard footsteps outside her door.

The person lingered out there for quite a while, but no knock came.

She already knew from the system that Jerome had entered effective range.

She sat up in bed, walked to the door, and yanked it open.

Jerome stood outside. The red hair that had been littered with peanut shells yesterday had been washed, and he had changed into a purple shirt and black trousers.

His hands were in his pockets and his shoulders slightly hunched. He deliberately turned his head toward the other side of the corridor, as though studying a particularly fascinating stain on the window over there.

Ririko knew he hadn't simply come to invite her to breakfast.

"What do you want?" she asked in a tone that told him to get to the point.

Jerome slowly turned his head away from the window. He looked at Ririko with an expression that said, "Huh, what are you doing here?"

He cleared his throat. "I just happened to be passing by, and I just happened to have a fun game... you'll definitely like this one."

Jerome could barely hide the excitement in his voice. He looked and sounded exactly as he had when he had tied Bruce to a target and handed her a dart gun.

The Red-Haired Dog was up to something again.

"Take me to see it," she said coolly.

Jerome's lips curved upward. Then he turned with a theatrical flourish and strode briskly down the corridor toward the top of the castle.

Ririko followed him up a spiraling stone staircase to the castle roof.

Gotham's sky was gray and hazy. The wind was strong up on the roof, lifting Ririko's long hair behind her.

She looked out and saw Bruce, Sofia, and Butch standing at the edge of the roof, their hands bound behind their backs, black blindfolds over their eyes, and strips of cloth stuffed into their mouths.

All three were still wearing maid outfits. Bruce's skirt fluttered in the wind, Sofia's long hair looked like a tangled mass of seaweed, and Butch's apron kept billowing out.

Three long, thick ropes extended behind them. Ririko followed the ropes with her eyes to where their other ends were tied to the rooftop railing.

"Only two of those three ropes are tied securely," Jerome explained beside her, laying out the rules. "The knot on the third one is loose."

Then he scratched his head. "Or maybe none of them are tied all that tightly... whatever. Pick one, make them jump, and see whether you chose right."

Ririko looked at Jerome. He really had managed to dream up something like this.

He couldn't just kill someone. He insisted on drawing a lucky ticket first.

He liked the thrill of life hanging by a thread. The racing heartbeat was the whole point.

If she refused the Red-Haired Dog now, he would surely say, "If you won't choose, I'll choose for you," then push all three off the castle.

Ririko took a step forward, then turned to face Jerome.

The wind blew from behind her, sweeping her long hair forward. Black strands drifted across her face like a dangerous curtain between them.

"I don't think you have any idea what makes a game thrilling," she said in a seductive voice, the end of each word fading into the wind.

Jerome's eyes widened a little.

His brow furrowed, his red hair whipping wildly across his forehead. Clearly, he wasn't convinced.

"I spent ages coming up with this game. How is it not thrilling?"

He lifted his head slightly, as though waiting for her to tell him what was.

Ririko took a step forward.

She moved closer still, leaving barely half a step between them.

"Why do you always want to play games with me?" she asked, staring at him.

Jerome's lips looked even redder in his embarrassment.

He swallowed, his body going rigid the moment she drew near. He tucked his chin in slightly, an animal instinct urging him not to let her get too close.

But his feet never moved back so much as half a step.

Ririko leaned her face forward, her height putting her right against his lips. "Have you fallen for me?"

Jerome craned his head back desperately, until the back of his head was almost touching his own back.

"What... fallen?" His voice squeezed out through the awkward angle of his tilted head.

Ririko gave him a seductive smile, then rested both hands on his shoulders.

His shoulders were broad and hot. Beneath her palms, his taut shoulder blades felt like a pair of folded wings.

"This is what liking someone means."

She rose onto her toes, using his shoulders for support, and kissed his faintly sweet lips.

He must have had coffee with a lethal dose of sugar that morning, or cola, or some other sugary drink to keep that crazy brain running.

She felt the burning heat of the thin skin of his lips. She didn't deepen the kiss, because she could already feel how utterly rigid the head between her arms had become.

Jerome's eyes widened so far they nearly popped out of their sockets.

Before he could even figure out how to position himself, Ririko's kiss had frozen him in place...

His arms hung stiffly at his sides, like a student being punished for misbehaving, unable to move until given permission.

He searched every scrap of knowledge about girls in his brain, but all he came up with was not to barge into the women's restroom...

But at this life-or-death moment, should he push her away or hold her? Or should he shoot her in the head?

He fought to eliminate shooting her as an option.

His fingers opened and closed in the air, then closed and opened again. He felt as though his body might float away in the wind atop the castle...

Ririko pulled away from his lips, deciding that kissing Jerome wasn't so bad after all.

His breath carried a hint of jam, along with the faint grassy scent of some unknown brand of shampoo.

Before this, she had assumed he smelled of blood from head to toe.

"Was that fun?" she asked Jerome.

His lips were still slightly puckered from her kiss.

As if by reflex, he took a step back, then another, retreating all the way to the edge of the castle like a drunk.

His brain had never possessed even a basic sense of danger. Now, those broken nerves were even less capable of receiving the warning that there was nowhere left to go.

His heel found empty air, and his body dropped stiffly over the edge of the castle roof.