𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎.

◇clean me up◇

"i won't make the same mistakes."

most of the attractions were pretty easy. bothersome, but not hard. dancing, arm wrestling (which you easily beat with the help of q-taro), things like that. just, with weird creatures that you chose not to question. you couldn't remember the name for the card game, but you were good at that one. perhaps your past with pokemon cards paid off. currently, you were in the lobby with sara, gin, keiji, and alice. keiji brought up the idea of tokens, leading you to consider who you should talk with. first, of course, you went straight to gin.

"big sis f/n! do you want tokens, meow?" you gently smiled. "you don't have to give me anything, gin. i just thought we could hang out, find something fun to do while we're here." he celebrated. "woohoo, meow! big sis
f/n took the bait, woof! i've been told not to do this kind of... trading money stuff, meow. it's kinda like gambling.... scary, woof. so if it'll make you happy, big sis f/n, i'll give you some for free, meow! ten tokens!" you pat his head.

"don't worry about it, gin. keep your tokens. how about i give you some of mine instead? tell you what, i'll give you some of my tokens and all you gotta do is keep me company, yeah?" he happily nodded. "okay, woof!" you hummed, pulling out your tiny wallet and counting out ten tokens. "here, keep 'em safe, kay?" he quickly put them away in his own wallet, mumbling something about keeping them safe. "wait here for me, i'm gonna talk to some others and then we'll go do some attractions, sound good?" he nodded, giving you a smile. at least, you think he was, his clothes cover his mouth.

patting his head a final time, you turned to watch sara walk back to the monitor room, presumably going to check on nao. you slightly frowned before walking over to keiji. "hey, copper." you smiled, he grinned back. "good with kids, yeah?" you shrugged. "anyways, f/n, just to test it... want to trade twenty tokens? ranger, was it? that enemy of ours said that the more of these tokens you collect, the better. put another way, who knows what'll happen if you don't have very many. and, if i have to trade, i'd like to trade with you." smiling, you tilted your head. "is that so? why?"

"cause you're cute, remember?" rolling your eyes, you pulled out your wallet again. handing it to him. "hold this open, yeah?" he seemed confused, but did as you said. having two hands free, you were able to count out twenty me-tokens. taking your wallet back, you poured them into his hand. "well, that was easy." you watched as he reached into his pocket, raising a head to stop him. "don't worry about it." he raised an eyebrow at you. "oh?" you averted your eyes, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. this felt... cheesy, despite it just seeming like a good thing to do.

"i, uh, well if there are consequences for not having any tokens.. i don't want anyone else to have to face it, so.. especially gin, he doesn't like trading them cause it feels like gambling, and i don't want him to get hurt, or anyone else. so, just take 'em." when you finally make eye contact with him again, he was grinning. "you're a real sweetheart, aren't you?" you rolled your eyes, rocking back and forth on your heels. "i'd hate for you to get hurt, y'know." you sent him a smile. "i'll be fine, don't worry about me, keiji." he sighed. "if you say so." turning towards sou's room, you stared at his door. "you should stay away from him." you turned back to the tall blonde, shrugging. "i'm not naive or weak, i won't let him hurt me or use me or something."

"i know that, but if you spend too much time around him, you'll make me jealous." you rolled your eyes, turning to realize that gin was no where to be seen. "hm, i'm gonna go find gin." before he could say anything else, you wandered off. you eventually found gin in the relaxation room, playing in the fake outdoors. you just smiled to yourself, watching for a second. he reminded you of her.

alice was sitting at one of the tables in the relaxation room. you wondered if this place was better than prison. (or as he called it, 'the clink'). he was seemingly lost in his own thoughts, so you didn't intrude. walking back out to the lobby, more people were there. reko and nao were closer to the right side of the room while q-taro argued with rio ranger (and keiji and sara watched). "dammit..! you gotta be screwin' with me!" you tilted your head at the seen. "what's goin' on?" the baseball player huffed. "f/n! this ranger guy just said we can't go back to the first and second floors!"

"i mean, you cleared 'em already, right?" it took you a minute to realize why you'd even need to. "shit, the laptop..." you mumbled. ranger seemed to hear you. "who cares! we'd just confiscate that thing!" q-taro tilted his hat down, distressed. "dammit! it was unmistakably a clue..! that laptop's the last thing i wanna let you guys take!" with that, he stormed off, and ranger went off to who knows where. keiji hummed. "bet q-taro wants to find the truth about kai." his death flashed in your brain. "..kai?"

"what a troublesome guy.. leaving mystery after mystery." sara agreed. "i wonder if kai was a good person after all..." you bit your thumb nail, thinking. "..some aspects suggested it. his anger for the victims, and resistance against the kidnappers. was kai acting for good or evil?... just whose side was he on.?" you didn't like not knowing things. and you didn't know who kai was. though, you did know his best meal. eggs benedict. "we ended up making kai a victim without knowing anything about him.."

"..but we can make inferences. friend or foe, let's consider the possibilities. he confessed to having contact with the kidnappers. so there's a possibility he was with the bad guys completely, like a director of the death game, for instance." but.. "yet, kai drew the sage card and died.." sara finished your thought. "in his last moments... he said he entrusted me with his hopes. i can't imagine him as an enemy." keiji nodded. "incidentally, sara... you really didn't have any acquaintance with kai?" sara shook her head. "huh, then how about this one? something like.. kai betrayed the kidnappers. and he was executed as an example..? he did sock miley, after all. f/n, what do you think?"

"i think... he would've died either way, honestly. i think at some point he was on the side of the kidnappers, but realized the extent of their crimes and took a stand, but i don't think they really cared if he lived or died in the first place. worst case scenario, we'll all end up dead by experimentation. best case scenario... the traitor was amongst the kidnappers, not us." sara looked at you, shocked. "one of the kidnappers.. is our ally..?!" you shrugged. "this whole thing reminds me of something i read about, the h-"
"hades incident." you and keiji both said together. "w-what's that?" you waved her off. "just another.. well, death game to put it gently. happened decades ago, apparently. organization crashed though, so probably no connection to this."

sara nodded, clearly nervous. "y'know, ranger said the rest of the attractions are open, we better get movin'. let me know if either of you need anything, mr. policeman'll be your partner anytime. 'specially you, f/n." he grinned. rolling your eyes again, you walked off. attractions were open, tokens were traded- well, given. the question was, where to start? after thinking for a minute, it clicked.

you had made a promise to spend time with gin.

"for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." -h. l. mencken