I quickly draw my phone from my pocket. A few missed calls from each of my coworkers. I call Virginia first, since she’d probably be the most worried. I chew my nails as I wait for her to pick up. Aki removes my hand from my mouth and takes it in his, which somehow spikes my nervousness, but in a different regard.

“Shiina? Are you alright?” Virginia picks up my call, sounding panicked. 

“Virginia? I’m fine… where are you guys right now?” I make myself speak, though there’s honestly nothing I’d rather do less at the moment than converse with my coworkers from my soul-sucking job. It’s not her fault, though.

“The hotel… gosh, we were thinking of calling the police on that place… they didn’t do anything to you after you fainted, did they?” 

I’m surprised by how much she cares. “What…? No, no… they took good care of me, I promise. You guys can go ahead and forget about me today, okay? I’ll… find my own way back to town tomorrow. I’ll let you know if anything happens.” We say our goodbyes and I hang up. I sigh heavily. Even speaking with my coworkers reminds me of employment. Awful, really. 

Aki squeezes my hand, and I’m brought back to my current situation.

 “...what were you saying about “everyone goes missing”?” I ask the ringmaster. He smiles knowingly.

“Only that we all did at some point. You can’t exactly quit your job and tell them you’re joining the circus, hm? Another reason we use an alias. Some of us don’t even share our real names with each other.” It’s obvious that this last fact doesn’t make him too happy, but his face doesn’t show it. 

“...”some of us”? I saw two other performers… who else is there?” I’ve been wondering just how understaffed they must be to need someone like me.

“I’m afraid that’s all of us.” Aki finally speaks up again with a shrug, tracing circles on my palm and effectively giving me goosebumps. I shoot him an odd look.

I guess that explains why they were so quick to invite me in. Only four people…? That’s hardly a whole act. Though they seemed to manage fine…

“Don’t presume to understand why we’re doing this.” Gani narrows his eyes at me, apparently reading the expression on my face. “I don’t have anything against you, rest assured… but it wasn’t my decision to induct you so easily.”

That’s… weird. He seemed quite adamant that I should join about five minutes ago. What changed…? “Um… I was just wondering if the low number of performers here had something to do with how quickly you two were to invite me into the circus… is all.”

It takes all my willpower not to pinch myself, because there is no imaginable world in which I would say any of those words in that order. Me, in a circus… I just can’t picture it. 

“I’m wondering the same thing myself.” Gani sighs. “Alright. Give yourself a few trial days here, but you won’t be my responsibility.” He shoots a pointed look at Aki. “...welcome, I suppose.” 

He stands and takes his leave with unsurprising grace, light footsteps fading away to who knows where. I turn to Aki once again, unsure what to say now. What the hell is going on here? Do I even want these “trial days”?

“...you’ll be staying, right? For now?” Aki asks, his tone bordering on hopeful.

I pause. “This isn’t exactly a choice I can make right away… I mean… There's no way the pay is good, the ringmaster doesn’t seem to like me, and I have a perfectly good job back at home. But…” I trail off.

Aki just stares into my eyes, and I know I’m too weak for this. I know that I’ll throw it all away for someone that might care.

“...But you’re here.” I mumble, then look away.

The jester looks for all the world like I just proposed marriage. “...so you’ll consider it?”

I nod slowly. “...I’ll consider it."