Clover's third Nonary Game had concluded. All the participants had reached 9BP, and they'd escaped - well, they'd left Dio behind, but he had tried to blow them all up - but they'd returned to the facility for some answers. Quark and Tenmyouji - no, he was Junpei - had gone back to Earth. Clover hoped Akane's plan to get her and Alice back to their original time would work. She was desperate to see her brother again, or at least be able to contact him through the Morphogenetic Field. So Clover was more than a little distressed when she found herself in an unfamiliar bed, but with a very familiar weight around her left wrist. With shaking hands, she pulled out the note slipped beneath the watch around her wrist. She registered that it was a five this time. Would this game use digital roots, or did she have five BP this time?
Welcome to the Nonary Game. I am your gracious host, Zero. I thank you for your participation in this game.
Clover's heart sank, although some part of her knew she shouldn't be remotely surprised. Talk about déjà vu. The note had triangles and numbers scrawled at the bottom; some sort of a clue? She sighed and started to examine the room. There was a small box at the bottom of her bed. The other side of the room had an identical bed and box, and there was a door in the wall between them. It seemed as if the occupant of the other bed was still asleep. Clover figured there was no point in trying to wake them. After all, if this was anything like the other games, her fellow participant was probably still under the effects of Soporil or some other drug. She supposed she was too, although her dizziness could just as easily be attributed to the after-effects of Radical-6. (When Light found out about the Radical-6, he would probably murder Akane on the spot, Clover thought.)
She took a closer look at the box at the foot of her bed and quickly pressed the triangles in the order indicated on her note. "Wow. That was kind of anti-climactic," Clover joked to herself to keep calm as she pulled out the keycard and read the note. "Like, back in my day we had to navigate torture rooms and escape incinerators! Even the Ambidex Edition's first room was more hardcore than this!"
It would be only polite to wait for the other person to wake up before escaping, right...? In the meantime, Clover explored the door at the back of the room. A closet, bathroom and toilet - nothing helpful.
"Give me a P..." Clover began as she stared at the pipe under the sink, but trailed off as she realised nobody was there to complete it. She couldn't believe she was missing Seven, of all people. Deciding it was time for her roommate to wake up, Clover returned to the main room.
"Hey, uh... Can you hear me...?" she said loudly, slowly approaching the other bed. No response. She reached the bed and shook their shoulders lightly and stopped suddenly as she had a proper look at their face for the first time.
Santa- no, Aoi Kurashiki!
Clover staggered back in horror as she stifled a scream of shock. "N-No... No way... Why the hell is he here?!" But the more she thought about it, the more obvious it became. Zero. He had to be Zero. And he and Akane had kidnapped her for yet another one of their Nonary Games.
She shook him again, more violently this time. "Hey! Wake up! I said, WAKE UP, YOU FUCKING JERK! WHY ME? WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ME?!?! WHERE'S ALICE? WHERE'S LIGHT!?!" As Clover got progressively angrier, the pitch of her voice increased, "YOU'VE GOT TEN SECONDS TO EXPLAIN YOUR PATHETIC ASS BEFORE I MAKE YOU REGRET EVER KIDNAPPING ME!" By the end of the sentence, her voice had become a furious high-pitched screech.
If this didn't wake Santa up, nothing would.
