VIII (Aoi Kurashiki x Reader)

XIII

Honestly, it wasn't her fault. She'd never said to increase the voltage but, oh well. Whether it was her fault or not, she was still extremely worried. Peering through the window, she wasn't sure what to do. "Vi!" June called, from her left. (Y/N) sprinted over to one of the heavy metal doors. "Look at the light, it turned green!"

Yes, it had. The door leading into Santa's room had been unlocked by the Emergency System. Grabbing the handle, she threw the door open. "Santa! Come on!" He nodded from the other side, dashing through the cloud of smoke. Stumbling up the stairwell, he collapsed on the other side and June hurriedly closed it behind him. (Y/N) dropped down next to his shaking body. "Santa! Are you alright?"

He looked up with watery eyes. Santa covered his mouth, bracing for another coughing fit. "No-" He coughed again. "Do I look like I'm okay? What took you so long?!"

"S-Sorry!" She apologized, helping the oldest to his feet.

"Guys, I think we should go. That fire isn't going to stay in there forever." June urged them, already pulling open the exit.

Grabbing (Y/N)'s hand, Santa hauled her out the door. They slammed the door behind them, all three collapsing against the wall, breathing heavily. (Y/N)'s heart was pounding in her chest and her whole body felt weak. She inhaled gulps of clean air. With each one, she could feel her body begin to calm down. "All right, let's go." Santa coughed once more and dropped (Y/N)'s jittery hand.

They nodded to each other, and started off down the rather plain hallway they'd found themselves in. Before long, they found a few doors but all of them were locked. Soon, they'd tried all the doors but one. The final door sat in the corner of the hallway. (Y/N) grabbed the handle and was about to pull it open, when-

A voice cried out behind her. It was a male's voice but it was too bubbly to be Santa's. "June!" Junpei grinned, waving his hand frantically. There, at the end of the hall, three human figures were running towards them. Clover, Seven, and Junpei. They stopped short in front of them to catch their breath. "What are you guys doing here?!" (Y/N) looked at Santa who looked equally as puzzled. Before she could speak, Clover did.

"Guys, could you come over here?!" She was standing near a small hallway that branched off to the right. The rest of them ran over to her, curious what she'd found. There was something on the wall at the end of the hallway.

"A map of the ship's interior," Junpei muttered, no doubt comparing it to the similar map in his pocket. The upper left corner of the paper read C Deck. It was most likely a map for the floor they were on. Door seven and door eight, the map confirmed what they already knew: Both doors eventually led to the hallway they were currently in. In fact...

"Isn't that what I said?" Seven crossed his thick arms over his chest. "Until we find door nine, Zero ain't gonna split us up. We might get separated for a little while but we'll see each other again."

"Otherwise we can't open door nine, that's how the game works." (Y/N) caught on.

They looked at the map of the ship's interior again. As she looked more closely, her surprise gave way to weariness. One by one, the others saw what she'd seen. As one, they all moved back toward the door. She pulled the map off the wall, put it in her pocket, and followed the others.

The six of them stood in front of the door, arranged in a semi-circle, Santa stepped forward and took hold of the door. He spoke without looking back at the other five. "Ready? I'm gonna open it."

They nodded their silent assent. With a deep breath, Santa threw open the door. They poured through the doorway and into the room. Even without looking around, each one of them knew where they were. They were just where the map had said they would be. The same room they'd been in not so very long ago.