#and one of them was lotus's daughter and then we have aoi and light and i suspected light was snakes name bc of this one dialogue bc.

[zecretsanta]

Fic: Christmas at the Kashiwabara's

To: @miiversian​ 

From: @bookworm-2692​

I used the following prompt: the 999 cast hanging out together again for the holidays! (sans Ace bc… obvious reasons). There’s also bonus Nona and Ennea, since Hazuki is hosting the party!

This possibly isn’t quite as happy as you were hoping for - but as we know from VLR and ZTD, post-999 Junpei isn’t in a good place, so a bit of angst snuck its way in. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Thanks for this prompt! I love the 999 cast, so this was really fun to write. I hope you enjoy it, and I wish you a wonderful rest-of-December!

AO3 Link

Summary: After the Second Nonary Game, Hazuki Kashiwabara hosts a Christmas Party for the other participants of the Nonary Game. They try to enjoy themselves and get into the Holiday Spirit, but as they’re still processing what happened last month, this doesn’t always go to plan.

———

Hazuki places the last knife and fork on the table, and sighs. It’s mid-December, mere weeks after the ordeal in Nevada, where she had been kidnapped and made to play some sick game, all to ensure the survival of some paradoxical girl’s existence. That same game was also where she finally learnt what her daughters had gone through nine years prior, and why they had returned from those nine days as shells of their former selves.

She still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the other participants of the Nonary Game. Two of them had caused the original game her daughters went through – Hazuki was free to hate them unreservedly, and feel gleeful that one was in jail and the other dead, blown to smithereens. Seven was the detective who had rescued Nona from the incinerator all those years ago – for all that he was annoying and loved to rile her up, she would be forever grateful that he had saved her daughter’s life.

Clover and Light were also victims of the first Nonary Game, the same game that Nona and Ennea had been kidnapped for. Hazuki felt nothing in particular towards them, other than pity that they had been forced to go through the game twice, and relieved that they had survived. The other set of siblings during Hazuki’s game, Aoi and Akane, had also gone through Nona and Ennea’s game as well. However, while she didn’t feel much specifically towards the Fields, she felt much more strongly about the Kurashikis, even though most of those emotions were conflicting and confusing. She felt the usual pity that as children they had been forced into such a cruel game, but she also felt anger that they then staged their own version of the game, endangering a further seven people (or nine, depending on how one counted). Their game however ultimately punished the four behind the first Nonary Game, with death and life in prison, and for this Hazuki was grateful. Nine years ago, Hazuki wanted anything to punish the culprits of her daughters’ kidnapping – now she had it, and she wasn’t sure if the price was worth it.

Then there was also the question of the paradox surrounding the siblings. Surrounding Akane Kurashiki in particular. Apparently, she had died on the boat nine years ago, but Hazuki had gone with Akane (and Aoi) behind every single door during the Nonary Game. Door 4. Door 8. Door 6. One of the Door 9s. She definitely seemed real behind each of those doors, and between the doors themselves. Somehow she had died nine years ago, and also masterminded the game six weeks ago in order to save her own life when she was twelve years old. This really increased Hazuki’s anger towards the siblings – that they would put on such a dangerous game, but then not even fully explain why, or how actions now could save a life in the past. Hazuki deserved a better explanation. But she was still glad they had ultimately survived. Probably.

The final participant of the Nonary Game was Junpei. Junpei, who had been friends with Akane when they were children, before Akane had died (or something. Hazuki had resolved to not think about that part of it too much). He had apparently not seen her or even thought about her for years, and yet now he cannot stop obsessing over her. He had immediately quit school to go find her. Hazuki wishes Junpei would just let it go and get over her. She was ultimately glad that Akane had decided not to be part of their lives anymore – she just wants Junpei to join the rest of them in moving on. As it is, every time she speaks to Junpei now, he’ll either be talking non-stop about her, or otherwise moping because she hasn’t gotten in contact with him yet. He had joined Seven’s detective agency, so Hazuki hopes he will be able to keep a closer eye on Junpei, and keep him from going further over the edge.

So, despite feeling conflicted or neutral about most of the others who had been kidnapped for the Nonary Game last month alongside her, they had all decided to keep in touch, and this evening’s Christmas Party was born. Since Aoi and Akane could not be contacted, they had not been invited. Junpei was devastated when he found out, although Hazuki is privately relieved. She isn’t sure she wants to confront the Kurashiki siblings about what had happened anytime soon, so knowing they won’t be here will give her some much needed space to process those emotions. Hazuki still isn’t entirely sure why she got stuck with the hosting job – until Seven pointed out that they were the two “most adulty” adults, and thus had the most established homes out of the group, and that his was a small flat since he lived alone, whereas her house was the largest because it was where she had raised Nona and Ennea. So here she was, setting the table, and hoping that tonight would not go horribly wrong somehow.

Just then, Hazuki hears the door unlock, followed by a loud “We’re home!” in Nona’s voice, and a smaller “With Clover and Light” in Ennea’s. Hazuki looks up, and indeed sees all four of them entering.

After the Nonary Game last month, Hazuki had learnt that her daughters had been kidnapped nine years prior in order to participate in an almost-identical Nonary game. Hazuki was shocked to learn that the morphogenetic field, pseudoscience she brought up to distract Junpei from whatever his funyarinpa nonsense was, was real, and that Nona and Ennea were intimately embedded within it. More disturbing was that their abilities with the fields were the reason they, and the other sixteen children, were kidnapped for that Nonary Game. Nona had met Light during their Game, and Ennea had met Clover, although somehow (Hazuki wasn’t sure she’d ever fully understand it) they were all aware of each other through the fields.

After escaping the Game, the Egyptian woman, Alice, had directed the car to the SOIS base for questioning. Following that, SOIS had attempted to track down all 18 children from the first Nonary Game, and offered them jobs. From what Hazuki could gather, Aoi and Akane could not be found, but the other 16 young adults now, all accepted the government job. Hazuki’s daughters had been reunited with their friends from those nine hours, nine years ago, and they were all workmates now. Nona and Ennea had thus offered Clover and Light a lift back to the Christmas Party following work that day, and now they had all arrived.

“Hello, hello!” Hazuki calls out. “Welcome to my home!”

“Hello, Lotus! It’s great to see you again.” Clover ran over to give Hazuki a hug, while Light walked over more calmly, and shook her hand.

“Thank you for agreeing to host us, I’m sure your home is very beautiful.”

“I’d appreciate being called Hazuki now, rather than Lotus, but you’re quite welcome.”

After Nona and Ennea each give her a hug, Hazuki directs Clover and Light to place the Kris Kringle gifts on the coffee table, where three brightly wrapped boxes already sit.

“I’m so surprised we’re the first to arrive,” Clover comments, “since it usually takes me forever to get ready.”

“It helps that we came straight from work though,” Nona adds.

“True.”

“Even so, I would have expected Seven to be more punctual – or even early,” Light interjects, looking thoughtful.

As if on cue, Hazuki’s phone buzzes with a message from Seven. He had told the group his real name after the SOIS questioning, since by that point everyone else’s was known, and codenames no longer mattered, but then Clover had declared that he would always be “Seven” to the group, and since he hadn’t introduced himself nine years ago when he was rescuing her brother and the others, then he lost the privilege of being known by a name (or at least, it would take at least another nine years for his name to sound like a usable name). Seven just shrugged at that, and said he didn’t mind the nickname anyway, and only disclosed his name to be fair. So Seven he still was.

Seven was texting Hazuki to explain he would be late, since Junpei was more unresponsive as usual. Junpei was extremely erratic when it came into keeping in touch – he would often go a week at a time before saying anything. Seven had taken to checking on Junpei when he didn’t respond to texts, and so he was giving Junpei a lift to Hazuki’s place (even if he, quote, had to drag him kicking and screaming).

“You’re right,” Hazuki announces to the group. “Seven was intending to be right on time, but he’s picking up Junpei, and today is apparently not one of Junpei’s better days.”

Nona and Ennea glance at each other as she says this, while Clover purses her lips and looks away. It’s Light who responds.

“Well, Junpei will be coming to the right place. We’re his friends, hopefully we can distract him tonight with food and jokes.”

Noises of affirmation heard all around, Hazuki sighs with relief as the conversation smoothly continues on. As a mother to children Junpei’s age, she worries about him. He rarely seems to discuss his parents or other family, or even other friends. His focus is completely trained upon Akane, and little else seems to occupy his time. She doesn’t want to baby him, though, and does her best to treat him as a regular adult, and avoids mentioning Akane Kurashiki whenever she can.

After about twenty minutes of conversation, the ringing of the doorbell cuts through and interrupts. Hazuki excuses herself, opens the door, and finds herself face to face with a grim Seven and a sullen Junpei. Upon seeing her, Seven grins, says “Merry Christmas”, and holds out his gift for the Kris Kringle. Junpei offers a small “Hi”, and Hazuki ushers them both inside.

“Ayyyy! They’re here!” Clover calls out.

“Junpei! What are you wearing?” Light says. “The colours clash horribly – I think it’s going to blind me!”

Junpei looks down at his all black outfit and scowls at Light but doesn’t say anything. Hazuki still chalks it up as a win – he doesn’t look as listless as he did before anymore.

Nona then steps up with Ennea following. Hazuki smiles when she sees this, as it has been their dynamic ever since they were small, Nona charging up and speaking for both of them, and Ennea being quieter behind.

“Hello Seven! And you must be Junpei. I’m Nona, and this is Ennea,” Nona introduces. “Nice to finally meet you after all these years.”

“Y- years? What do you mean years?”

“Akane mentioned you nine years ago. You were the one who told her about checking if the elevator was dry, to make sure we wouldn’t drown.” Nona steps closer to Junpei. “I was one of the four who went down the elevator at first, to check on Door 2 with Ren. Because of you, we didn’t drown. Of course we’d remember your name.”

“Of course,” Ennea adds, stepping forward as well, “we didn’t imagine at the time that you’d be an adult. But it was only weeks ago for you, wasn’t it? And not years, like it was for us.”

“And what on Earth did you mean by ‘boys don’t drown’? Of course boys drown! You idiot!” Nona flicks Junpei on the nose, and giggles when he takes half a step back, eyes wide and bewilderment clear on his face.

“Wh- what? You heard all that?”

Light smirks. “We didn’t hear your conversation, but Akane certainly repeated it for the rest of us.”

Junpei groans, and drops his head into both palms, just as Clover pouts and bemoans how it’s not fair that she didn’t get to witness that conversation, and that it’s not fair that her connection to Light is not two-way, like Ennea’s is to Nona. That’s news to Hazuki. She assumed all morphogenetic field connections were two-way, since that’s what she’s witnessed for years in her daughters. Hazuki raises an eyebrow and glances at Seven, who just smiles fondly at the others.

Ice broken, they begin to move to the table. The turkey is sitting in the middle, surrounded by various dishes, including a whole leg of ham and a potato bake. There are slices of cured salmon, meatballs and lingonberry jam, roasted vegetables, halved boiled eggs, bread rolls, and frankfurter sausages. Sitting on each plate are the Christmas crackers.

Soon enough, cracks fill the air as the crackers are pulled. Brightly coloured tissue paper crowns rest atop of everyone’s heads, and terrible jokes are being shouted across the table. The plastic items inside the crackers are looked at with mild curiosity before being forgotten for the rest of the meal. Long after all the crackers are gone, Junpei, Seven, and Nona have engaged in a heated pun and dad joke war. There’s a comment shouted over that din that the terrible jokes are supposed to end when the crackers end, as everyone digs into the food.

The clatter of cutlery against the plates begins to die down as everyone finishes. Hazuki is feeling comfortably full as she looks around the table, a feeling of satisfaction at seeing almost everyone’s empty plates. Junpei’s is still mostly full of food, and it looks as though he barely touched it. Hazuki doesn’t take it as a slight against her cooking, as Junpei’s appetite has been lacking lately, and mostly feels sorry for him. She doesn’t dwell on it though, as she doesn’t want to lower the otherwise lively mood – Clover and Ennea are excitedly chatting and practicing some of the ASL that Sachiko has taught them, while Nona, Light, and Seven are chatting about what each of them got up to in the nine years since they first met.

Nona glances over at Hazuki, then looks at Ennea, and then both of them get up to start clearing the table, telling Hazuki to stay sitting. Hazuki still can’t quite believe that the “twin thing” she had joked about all those years ago was real, and not just limited to twins.

“Ah, is it Kris Kringle time?” Seven says. “I’ll grab the gifts, you four stay put”

Junpei complies – Hazuki isn’t entirely sure he was even paying attention – but Light grumbles that being blind and missing an arm doesn’t make him incapable of helping, and gets up anyway to assist Seven. Clover takes one look at her brother, and stays seated, explaining that when he’s like this, he’d rather not have help either, so it was simpler to just… let him be.

Soon enough, the table is cleared and the gifts are in a pile in the centre of the table. Ennea fetches a couple of dice and Clover takes one look at them and bursts into laughter. She points to Junpei and says “no dice”, continuing to laugh. Hazuki smiles in wry amusement and Seven chuckles at this, when the doorbell rings unexpectedly. Still standing, Ennea goes to the door and opens it, silent shock radiating from her. A shout of “No way!” from Nona, before she leaps up and runs to the door.

Curiosity piqued, Hazuki begins to rise from her seat, when Nona says, “Well don’t just stand there, let them in Ennea!”

It’s two people Hazuki was beginning to think she’d never see again. The two people who orchestrated the entire game last month.

“Aoi? Akane?”

At the mention of “Akane”, Junpei finally looks up, and sees her.

“Akane? You’re here? Why?” Junpei is just staring in shock and disbelief – which is exactly what everyone else is doing, too.

“I’m sorry for turning up uninvited,” Akane begins, but Junpei interrupts her.

“Don’t apologise for that! I’m just so glad you’re here! But… why didn’t you come find us sooner? How did you know we would all be here?”

“We couldn’t come earlier,” Aoi says sternly. “What we did was not exactly within the bounds of legality, and we couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t turn us into the police. And if you start to do so now we’re marching straight back out again. I didn’t even want to show up here and now, but Akane… she insisted. She said we had to do this.”

“Junpei, I’m so sorry. I just. I had to disappear like that.” Akane tries to be gentle but Hazuki can detect a hint of impatience in what she is saying.

“Okay so you had to leave or whatever, that’s fine,” Clover interrupts. “But like, I know Lotus wasn’t able to contact you two. Because you left. So how on Earth did you know we’d all be here? Like not to make you feel unwelcome or anything but…?”

Akane places her head in her hands, and sheepishly says “I got it from Junpei, via the Morphogentic Fields. We’re still connected.”

“Wait… you got my location via the field? Why couldn’t I get yours?”

“Well um, Junpei… I have a bit more experience with the fields…”

“What she means to say,” Aoi interrupts, “is that she’s amazing at them and your abilities are non-existent. You were only able to connect to her before because she was able to reach across the nine years and connect. You can’t do jackshit on your own. She was able to read the invitation Lotus sent you, but even if Akane was standing in a room with flashing neon lights saying ‘we are here’ you would get nothing from her, unless she chose for you to get it”

“So Akane is able to spy on Junpei whenever she likes, and he gets no say in the matter?” Light asks quietly.

Akane says nothing, and looks to the ground. Junpei glares at everyone and no one. Aoi freezes, as though he hadn’t considered it in those words before.

“No… I don’t think that’s quite right,” Ennea pipes up.

“Yeah. We’re able to block each other out if the other is annoying us too much,” Nona adds.

“So if we don’t want to be connected… then we won’t be.”

“And since we know Junpei quit uni to search for Akane, he wants to find her. He opened himself up to her. She can connect to him through the morphogenetic field because, on some level, he wants her to.”

“No!” Junpei suddenly shouts. “I don’t want her to, to, to spy on me! I just… don’t want her to disappear!”

“I can’t block Light though.” Clover turns to her brother. “Can I?”

Light looks thoughtful. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever been aware of you blocking me. Sometimes I don’t get anything from you, but I don’t know if that was intentional on your part or just…”

“So can we only block each other because our connection is equal in each direction?” Nona asks.

“But so was ours!” Junpei bursts out. “Back in the incinerator, I could hear her, and when I spoke, she responded! It’s like we were talking in real time!”

“She’s just that much better at it then you. She can transmit and receive powerfully enough that she could simulate that. I don’t think you can block her,” Aoi says. “For what it’s worth, I don’t get a choice either. She either chooses to give me something, or get something from me, and otherwise I can’t connect to her either.”

“I don’t want to be spied on,” Junpei repeats in a quiet voice, staring at the floor.

There’s silence for a moment, as though no one knows how to respond to that.

“Well, you’re here now aren’t you? So you may as well join us and sit down, right?” Seven looks at Hazuki in confirmation, and she nods. “Have you eaten yet? Yes? That’s good, I think we pretty much demolished everything here, we were just about to get on to the Kris Kringle game. Perfect timing for you to show up, Santa Claus. What have you got in your sack of goodies?”

“My. Name. Is. Aoi.” Aoi says through gritted teeth. “Yes, we did bring gifts, but stop calling me Santa!” He holds up two wrapped boxes, a cylinder and a flat rectangle, and places them on the table sharply.

“Is that another thing you stole from my brain?” Junpei retorts.

“I mean,” Akane begins, “it is a Christmas party, is it not? So gifts were an obvious thing to bring.” Junpei’s glare doesn’t abate, and Akane sighs and adds, “Okay yes, I read that on the invitation too. Happy now?”

Before another argument could get under way, Clover picks up the dice Ennea brought over earlier, and says, “Okay forget about all that. Let’s play! I’m the youngest so I should start!”

Relieved by the distraction, Hazuki raises her eyebrow and says “Sure. Provided you don’t insist on age order for the rest of it, and settle for a simple clockwise direction.”

Clover says “Deal” at the same moment that Junpei mutters “You just don’t want it to be obvious that you’re like the oldest one here or close to.”

“Oi! Just because you’re grumpy is no excuse to turn on me young man!”

Before Hazuki could continue yelling at Junpei’s blatant disrespect (how dare he!), Clover throws the dice down onto the table, perhaps harder than necessary, where they clatter for a few seconds before turning up as a one and a three.

“Aww,” Clover whines, as she pushes the dice to her left to Nona. Nona rolls the dice less forcefully than Clover, and ends up with a three and a five. She just smiles, and passes the dice to Light, making sure they drop into his hands. He rolls, and Nona cranes over to see what he got.

“First double,” she announces. “Two ones.”

“Wait, seriously?” Clover asks, and gets out of her seat to see for herself.

“She’s right,” Seven, to Light’s left and at the head of the table, says. “Snake eyes, huh? What are the chances of that?”

Light smirks. “Clearly I chose the right name for myself six weeks ago.” He reaches out and grabs the closest gift in the pile, as Seven grabs the dice and rolls.

The game continues. Doubles on the dice are rewarded with choosing a present from the centre, until they’re all gone, and then the players are free to steal the gifts from each other. Hazuki doesn’t miss how Junpei keeps on snatching the gifts brought by the Kurashiki siblings, despite the intermittent glares he keeps on sending them.

Soon enough, the timer on Ennea’s phone goes off and the game ends. Everyone stops to take in each other’s hoards. Clover has a pleased grin on her face as she notices that she has the largest hoard, with three gifts. Light and Ennea managed to snag two each, while Aoi and Junpei each have a single gift. Hazuki, Seven, Nona, and Akane all have no gifts. Ennea immediately hands one of her gifts to Nona, seated across from her, while Light offers one of his gifts to Hazuki, seated across from him. After a beat, Clover notices everyone looking pointedly at her, sighs long-sufferingly, and gives a gift each to Seven and Aoi.

The group then opens the gifts. Hazuki unwraps the small package from Clover, and finds a deck of playing cards. Hazuki turns to Clover to thank her, but is greeted by the sight of Clover staring suspiciously at a packet of chips, and then putting one in her mouth. Almost immediately, she yells at Junpei about the chilli flavour while simultaneously offering them to everyone around her. Aoi absent-mindedly takes a chip and eats it without flinching while fiddling with the three-dimensional puzzle he received from Light, trying to pull it apart. Next to Aoi, at the end of the table, is Akane with the mini succulent that Ennea bought.

Just then, a loud shout sounds out. Nona is holding what appears to be a Pringles can, but instead of Pringles inside, is a giant stuffed snake. Nona glares at Aoi, while he just grins and offers her a thumbs up, leaning back on his chair and thoroughly enjoying himself. She stuffs the snake back inside the Pringles can, closes the lid, and throws it at Aoi. It hits him in the face, dislodging the lid, so the snake leaps out again. Aoi falls off his chair, and glares at Nona, and then at his sister when she also starts laughing.

Hazuki tears her eyes away from the sight, and looks back at Light. He received the bottle of wine she had bought, and is sniffing it to identify it. He seems to sense that she is watching him, as he turns to face her and thank her for the gift.

“A joke book!” Ennea exclaims from Hazuki’s left. “And they’re not even good jokes. They’re terrible puns and dad jokes. Almost worse than the Christmas crackers earlier! Seven, why do you wish for me to suffer in this manner?”

Seven just laughs and holds up the notebook and coloured gel pens he received from Nona. “Your sister has just granted me the means to create even more jokes, and worse ones. Just you wait for next year!”

Ennea groans, dropping her face into her arms. “Just kill me now. End my suffering, please,” she jokes.

Hazuki laughs and looks beyond Ennea to Junpei to see what he received. He’s holding yet another book, looking between it and Akane and back again.

“What’s wrong with it, Junpei?” Hazuki asks.

“It’s a Sudoku book!” Junpei exclaims. “It’s like she’s taunting me about last month!”

Clover starts laughing. “Oh man. That would’ve been terrible for any of us to receive since we’ve all been in that incinerator – but especially you!”

Junpei glares again. “Akane! Did you do this on purpose?”

“Do what?” Akane asks serenely. “I did indeed exchange money to obtain that book… but I didn’t purposely give it to you. You kept on grabbing it yourself!”

Aoi smirks. “She was pretty sure you’d go for the one from her though.”

“Hey! Don’t expose me like that!” Akane turns in her seat and playfully hits her brother, before turning back to Junpei. “I’m sorry, this wasn’t meant to cause distress. You at least don’t have a time limit for any of these.”

Junpei scowls. “I guess.”

“Junpei – you’ve been trying so hard to find Akane,” Hazuki begins. “Now that she’s here, why are you being so hostile towards her?”

“I- I don’t… she’s just confusing! Why a Sudoku book? Why does she get to disappear and then come back without warning? Why is she allowed to spy on me? I don’t understand!”

Aoi leans over to Akane, and quietly says, “I think we’ve overstayed our welcome. We should go before we make things worse.”

Akane nods and stands. “Hazuki, thank you so much for opening your home to us. It was lovely seeing you all again one last time but it’s time for us to go.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Aoi adds. “Merry Christmas, happy holidays, all that jazz.”

“Wait.” Junpei gets out of his chair. “What do you mean by ‘one last time’? Are you leaving again? Why’d you come back if you’re only going to leave again? Why are you leaving me?”

Akane just looks heartbroken as Junpei keeps on talking. Junpei’s arm reaches up, reaches for her, but stops before touching her. Akane doesn’t look at Junpei, mumbles another apology, and turns around and back towards Hazuki’s front door. Aoi offers Junpei a final, “Sorry, man, we both wish we didn’t have to do this,” before following his sister out the door. Junpei’s arm continues hanging in the air where Akane used to be, before it drops to his side. Junpei bows his head, and Hazuki can see his body shaking, while everyone else stays sitting at the table in stunned silence.

Clover is the first to break the silence. “They’re… gone. Just like that. They’re gone.”

Seven gets up, walks past Hazuki to Junpei and grips his shoulder. “Hey man. How are you holding up?”

Silent sobs continue wracking Junpei’s body as he struggles to draw breath, let alone respond. Seven draws him into a hug, enveloping him and shielding him from the stares of the others.

“I think we’ll head home now,” Seven says, not releasing his hold upon Junpei. He meets Hazuki’s eyes over the top of Junpei’s head. “Thank you so much for your hospitality. I hope you have a wonderful holiday. Thanks everyone for an enjoyable evening. Come on, Junpei.”

One arm still around Junpei, and they too leave.

“Poor Junpei,” Ennea whispers.

“How did Akane change so much?” Nona wonders. “She’s nothing like what she was nine years ago.”

“The incinerator,” Light says. “None of us can know exactly what she went through in there.”

“But… she survived, didn’t she?” Clover asks. “She’s here now, we did the Nonary Game last month to save her life. So she shut it off. So it’s just like what happened when Junpei shut it off for us last month, or when Reed solved it for Ennea’s group nine years ago, right?”

“There are infinitely many timelines where she died,” Light says. “There’s only one where she survived.”

“But that’s this timeline! She survived here!”

“I still remember her dying. I remember her screams and I remember Aoi collapsing on the floor when the door opened and all he saw was ash. I also remember Akane surviving. I imagine if I can remember Akane dying, so can she. She probably fully remembers burning to death until she no longer existed. That would change a person.”

“I remember her dying,” Ennea mumbles. “Nona remembers her surviving.”

“Y-yeah. I think I can understand how she would remember dying too,” Nona says.

Hazuki doesn’t know what to say. She didn’t even find out about the first Nonary Game until she had already been through her Nonary Game, and even during her game she didn’t have the pressure of either finding or sending information through a, a, a pseudoscience! These four had that extra pressure, as well as being actual children at the time.

The silence stretches for a moment longer, and then Light says, perhaps a little too brightly, “This was a wonderful evening, Hazuki. However, I think we need to head home now as well. It’s late.”

Clover startles out of her thoughts and agrees. “You’re a wonderful cook, Lotus! If that’s what Nona and Ennea had growing up, they’re so lucky.”

Hazuki smiles. “Thank you. Happy holidays, and get home safe.”

“We will! I’m driving!” Clover grins. “Bye Ennea! Bye Nona!”

“Bye! See you soon!” Nona and Ennea chorused.

Once the door closes behind the Field siblings, Hazuki begins chewing her lip, worried.

“Did I somehow make it worse for Junpei, doing this?” she asks her daughters.

“No, Mum,” Nona says. “I think it was good for him to actually interact with people again.”

“Besides, you couldn’t know that Akane would show up, nor that that would affect him like that,” Ennea adds.

“I suppose,” Hazuki concedes. She still isn’t entirely convinced, but it isn’t just Junpei she worries about. Everyone who has been through a Nonary Game will carry those scars for life. They just have to take this one day at a time.

She wraps her daughters up in a hug, reminding herself that they’re still here, still alive. One day, this will all get easier. They just have to get there.

#zero escape #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #miiversian #bookworm-2692 #zecret santa 2020 #submission

[edogawatranslations]

999: Alterna (2) - Part 9, Chapters 7-9

Table of Contents | Previous: Part 9, Chapters 4-6

Chapter 7

I finally understood why, nine years in the future, my brother kidnapped Jumpy and the others and recreated this terrifying game.

It was all for the sake of saving me.

Watching me in the present, my brother realized that my consciousness and Jumpy’s from nine years in the future were connected through the field.

However, in order for this miracle to be possible, multiple conditions had to be met.

First, Jumpy had to be infected with the Angel Fever virus, and eventually reach Stage 3. I guess my brother was somehow able to transmit the virus into Jumpy’s body. The incubation period of the virus was five to ten years, so at least that much time was needed for the plan to work.

Next, Jumpy had to be placed in the exact same situation I currently found myself in. For that, my brother had no choice but to prepare this large stage and kidnap Snake, the detective, and the rest. Lotus must have been chosen to take the place of her late daughter.

Furthermore, there was one more condition. Unless my emotions reached a fever pitch, I wouldn’t be able to connect with Jumpy through the field. That was largely out of my brother’s control.

But still, right now, I was connected with Jumpy. That meant...

Even the darkest corners of my heart were lit up with passion. Flickering between this world and the next, my heart fluttered with joy.

I want to live!

That was my desire.

I wanted to live so that I could see Jumpy one more time.

>>>

At last, I succeeded in reconfiguring my Rubik’s Cube to match Akane’s.

[121]... [120]...

Two minutes left.

I stopped twisting the cube and took a deep breath.

Please, reach Kanny!

I focused on the cube in my hands and began unscrambling it.

<<<

All of Jumpy’s thoughts were conveyed to me. My hands started moving on their own volition. As I watched on, the faces of the cube were getting unscrambled. Almost like magic.

And finally...

“Yes! Done!” I had solved the puzzle with 60 seconds to spare.

“Kanny, how’d it go? Did you unscramble the cube?”

“Yeah, I fully solved it! Or rather, you were the one who did it for me. All I did was copy your moves... Now I just have to scan my bracelet on the <RED>.”

“Then go!”

“Yes!” I left the altar and leapt at the numbered door. “Please open, please open, please open...”

Praying, I touched the <RED> and pulled the lever. It slid all the way down.

The door slowly opened, emitting a harsh metallic sound that now brought me a strange sense of comfort.

I didn’t know when they had come down from the ceiling, but my brother, Light, Nona, and the detective were there to greet me on the other side of the door.

>>>

Only 60 seconds remained.

The warning siren blared, and all the lights in the room began to flicker chaotically.

“What are you waiting for? Get moving,” Lotus said, sitting before the altar. “With that puzzle out of the way, you guys can open the [9] door with the [6] bracelet.”

“But...” Seven had a look of pity in his eyes.

“Hurry! Or are you going to let everything go to waste?”

“Lotus, it’s okay! We can escape with you too!” I grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the numbered door.

“Hey... What are you doing?”

“Trust me, I know,” I said, as I brought Lotus’s wrist over to the scanner.

“What do you know?”

“This door won’t be opened by a digital root of [9]. Remember how Hongou couldn’t open it with the [2] and [6] bracelets?”

“Ain’t that just because he didn’t solve the puzzle first?” Seven asked as he placed his left wrist on the <RED>.

“No, I don’t believe so,” Snake said as he scanned the [6] bracelet in his right hand. “It’s programmed so that after either one of the two doors is opened, the lock connected to the Rubik’s Cube activates. That’s how Hongou explained it nine years ago.”

“Then why didn’t it open?”

“The settings were reprogrammed this time. After all, Santa has no reason to kill us.”

Why did Santa take Clover with him when he left this room? I found that decision odd. Santa had the [3] and [6] bracelets in his possession. He could have easily used them to open the numbered door, and yet, he didn’t. He left the [6] bracelet in the room, because he knew we’d need it later.

I thought back to Zero’s words.

“The exit is hidden somewhere on this ship. Seek a door. Seek a door that carries a [9].”

It wasn’t a [9].

I looked back at the character written on the door.

It was a [q]..[11]

I turned around and checked the countdown.

[10]... [9]... [8]...

I brought my left wrist to the scanner and slammed the lever down with all my might. The door opened with a clang. The <DEAD> was set up right behind it.

We rushed out of the chapel and scanned our bracelets on the <DEAD>, but it was still too early to relax.

“This way, hurry!” Seven led us up the spiral staircase.

The time limit should have already passed, but for some reason, nothing exploded.

[11] (TN: The letter “q” and the number “9” in Japanese are both pronounced “kyuu,” so Zero’s announcement is more ambiguous when heard in Japanese.)

Chapter 8

The <DEAD> was right outside the door. I rushed to press my bracelet against it.

“Everyone, hurry—”

I turned around to yell, but immediately noticed that their eyes were still glued to the other side of the door.

“Akane? Where are you, Akane?!” Aoi wailed, staring into the chapel.

“Back away! Door’s closin’!”

Restrained by the detective, Aoi desperately struggled to get back into the room.

“Akane... Why...” Aoi wept as the door shut.

“What are you saying? Aoi, I’m right here,” I shouted out, but my voice couldn’t seem to reach him. “Why...?”

“Hey, there’s a skull on your bracelets,” the detective pointed out.

“Crap! Light, Nona, let’s move!”

The three of them sprinted to the <DEAD> and scanned their bracelets.

“What happened? The door opened, but Akane wasn’t in there!”

“It’s my fault...” Nona started sobbing. “It’s my fault she’s...”

“Don’t cry! I’m right here, I’m still alive!”

As if he sensed my presence, Light turned in my direction. “...Akane?”

“Yes! Can’t you see, I’m right here!”

And yet, my voice still couldn’t reach them. Light tilted his head for a moment, before turning his back to me once more.

At the sound of an explosion, the floor violently shook. Black smoke drifted through the gaps around the door.

“Let’s go. The ship won’t stay afloat for much longer.”

Everyone started to make their way up the staircase. I frantically chased after them.

My entire body felt hot, almost feverish. But that heat was all I felt. The exhaustion and pain that once afflicted me had disappeared. Even though I was running for dear life, I had no trouble breathing—as if this body wasn’t mine. It felt like I was watching myself in a dream. That strange feeling clouded my head.

I looked down, having realized that something was wrong. Much to my surprise, my legs had largely faded from view, so the floor was clearly visible through my feet.

“What’s going on...?”

The confusion inside of me peaked. I was on the edge of losing my mind.

—“Don’t go spouting that crap about fate. We can change the future with our own hands, however much we want.”

Jumpy’s words from the future suddenly replayed in my mind.

“Wait... Don’t tell me...”

I stopped in my tracks and looked up.

Schrödinger's Cat. As long as the box remained closed, whether the cat is alive or dead would stay an unresolvable mystery. That paradox represented the overlapping states of life and death. Perhaps my existence had yet to be confirmed.

The future wasn’t set in stone. The timeline where Jumpy never got infected with Angel Fever, the timeline where he didn’t participate in the Nonary Game, the timeline where he gave up on escaping halfway through... All of those futures surely existed. He wouldn’t necessarily be able to save me in nine years. Until that moment actually occurred, nobody could determine my fate.

That was why right now, I was neither alive nor dead—like a ghost. Most likely, that would remain true until the day Jumpy saved me in nine years.

“Hey!”

The detective’s voice from overhead snapped me out of my trance. I looked up to see Nona climbing over the handrail, motioning to jump off.

I looked down. The seawater that had penetrated the ship from the explosion was swirling into a vicious vortex. Nona couldn’t swim. If she fell, she’d be met with certain death.

“Stop! Stay calm!”

“It’s my fault... It’s my fault... I’m so sorry, Akane...”

As Nona sniffled, she jumped off the handrail and into the air. The detective reached out to grab her but didn’t make it in time. Just like that, she was sucked into the raging whirlpool below.

“Nona!” I screamed out her name while clinging to the handrail.

>>>

We rushed up the spiral staircase with only one goal in mind. My legs flew, my arms swung wildly, and my eyes stuck solely to the path in front of me.

As I ran, Seven’s voice reached my ears.

“Hey Junpei, mind if I ask you somethin’?”

“What’s up?”

“That [9] door from earlier. Why’d it open?”

“That’s right,” Lotus added. “We used four bracelets to activate the <RED>. [5], [6], [7], and [8] make 26, so the digital root should’ve been [8].”

“It wasn’t the number [9] that was scribbled on the door. It was the letter [q].”

“The letter [q]?”

“Computer programming uses hexadecimal sometimes, right?”

Under the hexadecimal system, after the number [9] came [a]. Then came [b], [c], [d], and so on. In base-10, [a] would represent [10], [b] would be [11], and [c] would be [12].

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Instead of the base-16 hexadecimal system, think about it in terms of base-30.”

“Base-30?”

“After [16], or [f], continue using letters instead of adding a digit. For example, [h] would be [17], [i] would be [18], and so on. Continuing that pattern, [q] would be—”

“[26]!” Seven yelled, counting with his large fingers.

“Exactly.”

“Look, up ahead!” Lotus shouted, pointing forward.

Waiting at the top of the staircase was a single door. Blinding rays of sunlight poured in through the frame.

“The exit!”

I picked up the pace.

Chapter 9

I spent what felt like an eternity straddling the line between life and death.

My memories of everything after the events of that day remained hazy, most likely a result of my Schrödinger's Cat-like existence.

Time marched on, and as the fateful day approached, my existence became more and more defined. I’d never forget the look of shock and joy on my brother’s face the day he saw me in the bathroom.

However, my ghostlike presence didn’t change. Minor events would affect our future on the fated day—each time that happened, I would contract a high fever and my existence would go back to being hazy.

“I’ll save you, no matter what it takes.”

But I had no idea of the dreadful plot my brother was concocting for that day...

>>>

We stumbled through the door leading outside and were greeted with intense sunlight that pierced our eyes. I squinted and shaded my face with my hand.

Colors began to paint the scene before me. The blurred view slowly but surely took shape.

“This is...”

“What? No way...”

“How?”

We found ourselves on the rooftop of a decrepit building. A nostalgic scene stretched out, and far into the distance, I could make out the recently completed Tokyo Skytree.

“Hmm... I don’t hear any waves, and I don’t smell any saltwater either... That means we’re—”

“Yeah, this is that experimental facility in the city.” Santa walked out from the shadow of the water tower. “I didn’t have the cash to buy and renovate an entire ship, so I borrowed this abandoned building.”

Clover appeared beside Santa.

“Brother!” Upon seeing Snake, Clover rushed over to where we were, about to burst into tears. “I’m so glad you’re alive...”

She flew into Snake’s chest and began to sob. Snake smiled and affectionately tussled her hair.

Santa’s eyes, focused on the siblings’ reunion, appeared to be tinged with loneliness.

“Sorry for dragging you guys into this,” Santa said. “Don’t worry about the bombs. There weren’t any inside you to begin with.”

He took out a device resembling a remote control from his pocket. The moment he pointed it at us, our bracelets detached from our wrists and fell to our feet.

“See ya.” Santa gave a small wave with his right hand turned his back to us, and stepped back into the building.

“Where are you going?”

“Junpei, I leave the rest to you,” Santa replied, ignoring my question. He slowly descended the spiral staircase.

“Hey, Santa—” I head towards the door, hoping to follow after him.

But then, someone else appeared in his place. A girl of about high school age. Although I had never met her, I immediately recognized who she was, since she closely resembled the young girl from nine years ago whom I saw through the field.

“...Nona?” Lotus’s voice was close to a whisper. “Are you... Nona?”

“Mom... You can see me?” The girl seemed surprised as well.

“How...?” Seven appeared to be at a loss. “You died nine years ago falling off that spiral staircase—”

“I saved her back then.” Another person appeared through the door frame. “But since my existence was still hazy, saving her caused her existence to become hazy too.”

Akane smiled happily at the heartfelt embrace between mother and daughter.

“But everything’s okay now. Schrödinger's Cat lives. The box has been opened, and now, everything has become reality.”

“Kanny...”

I inched over to her.

There was something I wanted to tell her once we escaped. But my chest felt tight, and the words stuck in my throat.

Illuminated by the sun, Akane’s blushing face slowly turned to face mine.

Seeing my eyes dart back and forth, she gently moved her lips.

“I’m back, Jumpy.”

Our two elongated shadows intertwined.

The faint scent of sweet olives lingered in the air.

[9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors: Alterna - The End]

Next: Project Wrap-Up

#999 alterna #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #nine hours nine persons nine doors #zero escape

[zecretsanta]

To: @cammieanime

From: @oolb

Hi there! This is for @cammieanime. I just LOVE Seven and Lotus and I’m glad you do too, so I wrote something about the two of them meeting up after the events of the first game. It was really fun to write, so I hope you enjoy!

—

It wasn’t often that she went out, honestly. Raising two daughters by yourself wasn’t an easy feat, even though they were already past 18 and didn’t really need any more raising. Truth be told, the thought of being away from her daughters made her nervous, especially given the events that had transpired only 6 months ago… Hazuki – or Lotus, she’d taken a liking to that despite the bad memories the name was associated with – considered herself to be a strong-minded woman, but there wasn’t a soul in the world that wouldn’t be shaken by the Nonary Game.

Funny. Now that all had passed, the number nine kept on showing up in repeatedly in her life… often she caught herself thinking that maybe the game had never ended and this was just a sick version of the Truman Show.

“Or maybe you’re getting a bit paranoid, mom,” Ennea said as she put the car into park. “You have your cell phone, right? You’ll call if you need me?”

“Eh? Ennea, you’re acting like the mom here.” She laughed and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead. “I love you. Tell Nona I love her too.” And then she grabbed her purse, her coat and jumped out of the car before she could change her mind and ask Ennea to drive her home.

‘Blue Ocean’ was a really fucking stupid name for a bar, Hazuki thought, yet it was her destination nonetheless. What would the ocean be other than blue? Well, maybe green, maybe muddy brown, but still. Something else about the name bothered her, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Still, for such a gaudy name, the Blue Ocean was rather… plain on the inside. Some lopsided fish stared down at her from the wall as she walked in, but that was pretty much all that the Blue Ocean had going for it. Pity. She’d seen fake ships with better décor. Hazuki set herself down by the bar and ordered a pint of beer. On the television screen behind the bar, some soccer match had just started its second half. Perfect. It would be just her, her beer, and two teams she’d never heard of playing for a sport she didn’t care for. If this was what it took to make her feel like a regular person again, Hazuki was all for it.

Yet halfway through her pint of beer… “Well, I didn’t think I’d be running into the demon again so soon.”

Oh, she knew that voice. Hazuki ran her thumb over her rings and gave a little laugh. She stared down at her beer. “I think it’s too early for a reunion, Seven.” Then she gestured loftily to the chair next to her. Not that she thought that Seven was a particularly interesting company, but she was in a good mood.

“Oh, you’re offering me a seat? That’s unexpected.” He shuffled into the seat a little clumsily, a man of his size looking out of place on the dainty bar stool. Seven turned to face her with a grin. Since the last time she’d seen him at the Nonary Game, he’d… changed, somehow. A little bit. It was as if the wrinkles near his eyes became just that much more apparent in the bar’s dim light.

“Good to see you’re wearing regular clothes this time around.” Seven chuckled and smoothed his hair down with a broad hand. He was no longer wearing the beanie and overalls, though his fashion sense still leaned towards “comfortably baggy”.

“I can wear whatever I damn well want,” Hazuki said, sipping her beer. “Plus, belly dancing is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“I believe ya.” Seven gave her a look. He waved down the bartender and asked for the wine list.

Hazuki nearly spit out her drink. “You’re ordering wine? Really? And I’m the exhibitionist grandma.” For some reason, the thought of a guy like Seven sipping Pinot Noir (Chardonnay? Whatever, who fucking cared about wine anyway) seemed absurd to her. She thought him to be the beer guzzling type.

Clearly, he seemed to think the opposite about her. “Well, I was gonna ask you to join me, but seems you’re all set.” He shrugged. “Don’t diss my wine. Red wine is good for the noggin.” He tapped the side of his head. “If it wasn’t for this thinking machine up here, we would have never gotten out of that confinement room.”

At this, she scoffed. “Please. I was way better at those puzzles than you.”

Seven gave a noncommittal grunt as the bartender slid him the menu. He squinted down at it, lips pursed. He slid his finger down the list and something crossed his expression. “This is gonna sound crazy, but d’you feel like you’re being haunted… by a goddamn number?” He flipped the menu to her. “Nine different types of wine on the list… sometimes I think I’m losing my mind.”

“Ha! You’re not the only one.” She gestured in a conspirational fashion at the television. “Ten minutes ago, number 9 on the red team scored a goal.”

Seven turned to her, a little unnerved. “Really?”

“Tch! I can’t believe you fell for that one.” Seven frowned for a moment but, surprisingly, they shared a moment of laughter. She’d be damned. Laughing with enemy.

“Y’know…” Seven started after ordering a glass of his fancy wine, “I gotta say… I’m sorry I said you looked like a half-naked raisin. I mean, it was true, but I’m still sorry I said it.”

“Nice of you to admit that.”

“Hey, I’m feeling rather generous lately. I guess that’s the side-effect of surviving a Nonary Game. Glad to be alive.” He gave a shrug, which looked a little like a mountain yawning. The man glanced at her, as if trying to gauge something from her expression. “Say, how’s that… how’s that treating ya.”

“How’s what treating me?”

“Y’know… surviving that fucking mess.”

Hazuki lowered her eyes from the television screen. She ran a finger around the mouth of the pint glass, pondering the question. And also pondering how much she wanted to tell Seven. He was still a stranger, after all, despite what they’d been through.

“It’s fine if you don’t wanna talk about it. I get it.” Seven said suddenly. He turned away, drumming his fingers on the counter. “Your kids were in it. You were in it. It must’ve been like living the nightmare all over again. Hell, I don’t even know why you got wrapped up into it… I mean. Junpei, that’s obvious. Aoi too. Those weirdo siblings, they were part of the original mess. And Ace too.” He listed the people off on his fingers. “I mean, the only weird part of the equation is you.” He was practically muttering now, speaking to himself.

Hazuki raised an eyebrow. “Seems like you’ve been thinking a lot about this.”

“I have, actually.” He gave a quick glance over his shoulder and leaned in. “Junpei and I are… Junpei and I have teamed up. Sort of. We just… we just want to get to the bottom of this.” He scratched the stubble on his chin. “I can’t say much, but I feel like… this Nonary Game wasn’t the last of them.”

Hazuki’s stomach sank. “What?”

“I mean, I can’t say much, but… yeah. Just a hunch.”

God. Another Nonary Game. First her daughters, then her. Maybe she should call her mother soon just to make sure everything was okay.

She examined her glass. “I hope I have absolutely nothing to do with the next one.”

Seven laughed. “Hell, I hope so too.”

“Maybe they’ll write us out of the next two games and give only vague hints about our whereabouts and existence.”

Seven’s eyes widened and he scratched his chin. “Uh…”

She shrugged. “That was a joke. Don’t think about it too hard.” The smile faded from her lips and she paused. “You know, I do wanna talk about it. The Nonary Game, I mean. I think I’m ready.”

He waved his hand in a broad, inviting gesture. She took a deep breath:

“It was awful, and I would rather lick this bar’s floor than spend nine hours stuck with those idiots again, but… honestly, part of me… well, I felt closer to my daughters. I mean, I think it was important for me to go through what they had gone through. It sort of—sort of breaks my heart knowing just what they went through, but it killed a mystery that has been haunting me for years. To some degree, I guess.” She pursued her lips. “Closure. I guess that’s the word. Closure.”

Seven nodded slowly. “You know, I can respect that.”

Feeling a bit uncomfortable after that word vomit, Hazuki took a swig from her beer. “Well, respect it or not, that’s what I feel about that crazy bullshit. My two cents. How about you?”

His wine had arrived. Seven swirled it around in the glass before answering, watching the little rivulets of wine slide down the sides. “I just think we’re part of something bigger. Not me or you, specifically, but… What we’ve been through. I don’t think we fully understand it yet. Maybe we never will.”

“I suppose asking you to go more into detail isn’t allowed?”

He grinned. “Heh. Yeah. Sorry, Lotus, you’re pretty, but I ain’t riskin’ my job for you so soon.”

“It’s Hazuki.”

“Hazuki. I remember that.”

She paused. “Is… your real name classified information too?”

Seven laughed at that, a big, booming laugh that had always gotten on her nerves during the Nonary Game. “I s’pose you wouldn’t believe me if I actually said it was Seven, would ya?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Heheh. See?” He grinned. “Told ya.”

Somebody at the other side of the bar suddenly cried out—“Oh!” Both Hazuki and Seven jumped, until they realized the person was reacting to the television screen. Hazuki and Seven swung around to see a goal being scored. By the red team—player number 9.

“Huh.” Seven’s wine glass was raised and he kept it there for a moment, staring at the TV screen. “That’s… that’s… huh.”

“Blue Ocean,” Hazuki said suddenly, her eyes wide.

“What?”

“Blue Ocean. It has nine letters. That’s what was bugging me.”

“Oh.” Seven blinked. “I thought you’d be bothered by—well, I mean, Blue Ocean is a stupid name—“

“Yes! That’s what I said!” Hazuki raised her arms in exasperation. The gold bracelets on her wrist jangled noisily. “Thank you, Elephant Man.”

Seven chuckled at that. He raised his wine glass. “A toast to the Blue Ocean?”

“That’s lame.”

“Uh… to Zero?”

She raised her glass. “To the Funyarinpa?”

“What the hell is a Funyarinpa?”

“You don’t know about the Funyarinpa?” She scoffed. “Ask Junpei later. He knows.” She clinked their glasses together; both of them gave a hearty sip.

Seven leaned back in his seat. He cradled his wine glass, and then let out a huge sigh. “Let’s just hope we’ll never have to deal with any of this bullshit ever again.”

“You know… I can actually agree with you on that.” Hazuki said, nodding. A life without another Nonary Game—they’d paid their dues. They were done.

#zero escape #9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors #cammieanime #oolb #zecret santa 2017 #submission