VIII (Aoi Kurashiki x Reader)

XII

Just what they needed, more things to scavenge for. This was a puzzle room, to be fair. Nothing else on (Y/N) and June's side stood out, little to no options, she returned to the window overlooking Santa. Luckily, the room below had a plethora of cords needled into the mannequin. "Santa, can you check the power cables over there? Does the cord have three prongs or two?"

"What are you bitchin' about?" Santa huffed, tilting his head up towards the window.

"Just check the end of the cords." Dropping down to crawl on his knees, (Y/N) could barely stifle a laugh. Lean as he was, crawling on all fours didn't suit him.

With a growl, he unplugged one of the many chords. "This ones got two of those little metal thingies."

"Perfect!" Santa retracted his head, awkwardly smacking it against the metal of the machine above. Cursing the air blue, he looked back at (Y/N). "Can you unplug that and bring it to me?"

"Sure thing." Finally standing up from the tile, Santa followed the path the chord in his hand took. "Well, bad news. I can unplug it, but it's connected to the main computer, so I can't bring it to you."

"Dammit." She slammed her first against the glass.

"How about just the plug?" He snapped off the end of the chord and triumphantly waved it at the window.

"What?"

"The connector."

"You, jerk!"

He smirked, padding over to the metal gate. Their fingers brushed as he handed the object across, and if his hand lingered, (Y/N) didn't mention it. She snapped the connector onto the cord and returned to June. "Thanks, Vi." June bent under the table and easily slid the power cord into the wall.

With a press of a button, the monitor roared to life. The grey screen shifted to black as little green words worked their way across the screen. "Weird. I didn't expect it to be that easy. After all, it's not connected to the main computer."

"It's probably a wireless display." June pointed out.

"Ah, you're right... that slipped my mind for some reason." She tilted her head back towards the screen, the text had stopped, ending with the word 'Pass' and a colon. "It needs a password." Cracking her knuckles, (Y/N) took the spinny chair.

"There must be a hint around here..." June glanced left then right. "I'll look around."

"That would be great." (Y/N) smiled, spinning the chair back towards the monitor. "Meanwhile..." Laying her calloused hands across the keyboard brought her back.

"And that's Caesar Cipher." Ten-year-old Eiji ran his finger along the sketched chart on the computer paper.

"Kinda reminds me of Hexadecimal." (Y/N) giggled, leaning blissfully into the leather of the computer chair she was in.

"Wanna try writing a sentence out?" The raven tapped his chin, his eyes lighting up. "Ah, I know. How about 'Eiji is the best brother ever'?" (Y/N) scowled, to which he laughed, throwing his head back. He pouted. "Meanie..."

Earning a slap to the back of the head, (Y/N) turned back towards her notebook, opting to write a simpler sentence in her favorite looking shift; seven. Her tiny fingers picked up the pencil and she scribbled the words down in her sloppy handwriting. She only had to glance at the chart a couple of times, so the seven-year-old was rather proud of herself. Haughtily, she tore the paper from its rings and handed it to her brother. 'AOHUREFVB'

Caesar Cipher engraved in his mind, he didn't even have to look at the chart he'd drawn out. His lips twisted awkwardly, forcing a lopsided grin. "You're welcome, Bubs. Pretty soon you'll be better than me!" He laughed his warm laugh, his voice cracking halfway through.