As “Hillary” turned his focus to the rest of the room, Clover breathed a small sigh of relief. She pondered the information they’d just been given; although the rules didn’t seem to be exactly the same, it seemed as though this Nonary Game was most similar to her third one. Were these ‘zones’ different to the puzzle rooms she’d encountered previously, she wondered? Zero III’s comment about running out of time made her uneasy, and she figured it was best to get started as soon as possible. Judging by everything she’d heard, one could probably not enter a “zone” alone, so who should she partner with? She stared at the rest of the players - other than Sundown and Hilarius, there was a shy-looking girl who looked to be around Clover’s own age talking to a blue-haired teenager. There was also a tall - compared to Clover, at least - blond man… and of course, Santa.
As ridiculous as it sounded after everything that had happened between them, she had to admit that Santa was probably the most trustworthy person in the room at the moment. Even if she was still at least a little suspicious of him, he wasn’t a stranger to her, and she felt safer teaming up with him than with any of the others.
"Hey…" she whispered, moving closer to Santa as she addressed him, "D’you think we should explore?" Of course, they likely still needed at least one other person to access the puzzles, but Clover felt it was a good idea for them to stick together. At least for now.
Aoi couldn't decide whether or not he should be alarmed by anything the rabbit had to say. Having been Zero once, he knew all about the 'mysterious' entity's habit of bluffing and blowing the whole deal out of proportion in order to frighten the 'players'. Of course, even if he didn't really know exactly what was going on, he couldn't find himself able to take it seriously.
Even as he thought that this entire thing may be revenge against himself, he couldn't find enough cause to worry. If that were the case, where was Akane? Perhaps if she showed up, then he would become concerned. One should keep a cool head in these situations, after all.
Or, at least, as cool as they could keep it, what with having the temper of an angry teenage boy and all.
It was still a possibility, too, that he knew exactly what was going on. Either way, acting calm and collected until provoked might be suspicious.
Not that he wasn't suspicious to a few certain somebodies already.
As Clover addressed and moved closer to him, he broke out of his thoughts to look down at her. Having a look around the place probably wasn't a bad idea, so he nodded, uncrossing his arms that had crossed themselves while he'd been in thought in order to put his body into motion.
"Yeah... that's not a bad idea. Let's go."
He hadn't bothered to whisper.
