VIII (Aoi Kurashiki x Reader)

XIV

"Huh...so you guys found door one?" They'd met back up with Junpei and June who had explained what they found. Apparently, beneath the flooded floors was another metal door, number six, they claimed. All told, they had discovered two new doors: The six door and the one door.

"Vi?" June leaned in a little too close for comfort and pressed a soft hand against the shorter girl's cheek. "Your lip is bleeding! Did something happen?"

Her face lit aflame at the words. "What?!" She laughed loudly, mentally pleading with her heart to calm down. "N-No..." Santa purposefully busied himself by staring at the ceiling. "I ran into a-wall! Yeah, a wall!" She looked pointedly at Santa. Not entirely a lie, he had shoved her against a wall. "Anyway..." She cleared her throat. "Isn't it weird E Deck wasn't flooded?"

"Well, we don't know if all of E Deck is safe. We only checked around the elevator." Junpei noted, raising a suspicious brow at the large gap between (Y/N) and Santa.

Problems forgotten until later, (Y/N) actually pondered her topic changer. "It's still pretty interesting."

"You said door six was there, right?" Santa crossed his pale arms. "That means Zero planned all this out, even the sinking. That would've meant some serious remodeling of the ship's interior." For some reason, Santa seemed rather smug about his deduction.

"Still," (Y/N) agreed. "It's pretty mind-blowing."

"Yeah, I wonder how long it took... I can't even imagine how much it must've cost..." June sighed sadly, almost sympathetic to Zero.

"Woulda been a ton, that's for sure,"

Junpei hummed. "Well, that does go along with what Ace was saying. The most reasonable explanation would be that this was done by some organization with access to a whole lotta cash."

"Yeah, that would make sense..." The thought made all of them go quiet for a moment. June bit her lip while (Y/N) sighed softly to herself. Santa cracked a stiff neck, staring off into the distance.

June tapped her hands anxiously against her thighs. "I don't think it's a very good idea to stay here." She looked at Junpei with large, pleading eyes.

He bobbed his head. "You're right. Ace and his team might be back already."

"Well, June, Junpei and I could always open door one." (Y/N) stared dead at Santa- enjoying the way he squirmed uncomfortably.

"You guys leaving me behind?" He mumbled, his shoulders tensing.

She shook her head, turning her back to him. "Just kidding. Let's go." (Y/N)'s words were all the impetus they needed. Back to the large hospital room they went.

The moment they stepped inside, a tremendous voice echoed across the room. "Hey! Where the hell did you guys go?!" It was Seven. Ace was right behind him, and Clover was behind Ace, although she seemed to be hanging back.

There was something strange about them. Seven had the look of a man who'd seen a ghost. Ace was just as pale, and Clover looked as though she was only moments away from passing out entirely. For a long moment, they simply stood there, looking at one another.

Junpei looked around nervously, waiting for someone else to speak. He looked at Seven. "What...happened?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?!" Seven was trying very hard to be angry, but something had shaken him. His broad shoulders were trembling, and his voice was strained. "Snake was...Snake is..." He couldn't finish. Just looked away, his face twisted by something unreadable.

Instead, Ace spoke. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Snake's dead. He died just as the Ninth Man did."

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. (Y/N) felt her heartbeat quicken, and she realized she was having trouble breathing. She could feel cold sweat beading on her forehead and neck. June, Santa, and Junpei looked the way she felt. All three were frozen in place, their faces white.