zero's assistant

pink-clovers:

“You…what…?” Clover asks, weaving her fingers together and flicking her eyesight towards Aoi, and then towards the white tablecloth, and then towards Aoi — a cycle of sorts.

She doesn’t have much to say about turning Santa or June into the police, because she’s not quite sure what she’d get out of it, and she remembers how Hongou got off nine years ago. It’s as if the experiment never happened, as far as the legal system was concerned.

It wasn’t fair. Clover sighed softly, standing slowly and running her hands over her face.

“I think I need some fresh air,” she announced, tossing her hair. “You coming?”

“…”

Nothing. That’s what he wants to say, but somehow his mouth has formed a tight line, he is unable to form the sufficient words. What was running through her mind right now? Was she thinking of turning him in? Where would she take him if he went with her?

But it wasn’t as if she’d come prepared. It wasn’t like she’d have a can of Soporil and a gas mask on the ready. And he’s stronger than her, too, he’s almost a hundred percent sure of that, so really, what could she do?

But he is still suspicious at heart and he doesn’t trust her action, so he replies, “Nah. I think… I think I’m gonna stay here.” Probably for the best anyway, he thinks. He feels slightly giddy, ready to faint or throw up (possibly both) at any moment’s notice.

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

san-taclaus:

pink-clovers:

“…y’ really think the police’d believe it?” Clover frowns slightly, closing her eyes again (the lights feel unnecessarily bright all of a sudden). “‘Yeah, officer, I got kidnapped by these two siblings so that one of them could access these morphogenetic fields — no, don’t ask me what they are — to save herself in the past from burning to death in an incinerator’ — I’m sure that’ll fly. Like a bird.”

When she opens her eyes, she looks at Aoi’s face, and he looks like he’s in pain, and like he’s telling the truth — but he’s lied to her before.

“I dunno. But the evidence is there, so even without the morphogenetic field shit we’d probably still end up in jail if we get caught anyway. Best lawyers in the world wouldn’t be able to help us.” He’s simply stating the truth, while he and Akane could attempt to clear their case they didn’t have any solid evidence on the first Nonary Game in the first place, so it wasn’t like they could convict Hongou (who knew whether he would fess up to the police or not?).

To Aoi, Hongou is a volatile man and if he’s going down, he at least wants to bring Hongou with him. Because, really, it’s all Hongou’s fault, he’s why Aoi is in such a predicament now. He can’t help but think that maybe without Hongou’s involvement, maybe he could have been normal (or as close to normal as you could be with no parents). They’re useless wishes, he can’t change things now, but the thought still remains.

“What evidence?” Clover frowns, tilting her head to the side. “You’ve got the word of, what, six people, and that’ all. S’not like the police can go ‘n take fingerprints or something.”

Besides, Clover thought to herself, would she go to the Japanese police, or the American police, anyways? Would the Japanese police even have jurisdiction in Nevada? Clover sighed, hanging her head slightly.

“Six people is enough. Hell, you could probably make a case of half that many.” He knows that there’s not a lot the authorities can do besides looking for them, looking for traces of a boy and girl that supposedly disappeared out of nowhere. Even if he and Akane put their best efforts forth to cover their tracks, there is still the chance that they will be found out. They must be careful, and getting dobbed on isn’t going to help their case.

He’s surprised that he hasn’t up and left already, really. It would probably be best for him if he did.

He makes to stand up, but he’s met with a throbbing headache and swaying vision that makes his mind reel. “I-I,” he begins, but he cuts off there, mouth opening and closing much like that of a fish.

Should he leave? Or stay?

His intoxicated mind wasn’t sure.

After a few more seconds of looking around with a dazed expression, he finds himself slowly sinking back into his chair, putting a hand on the table to steady himself.

pink-clovers:

“…y’ really think the police’d believe it?” Clover frowns slightly, closing her eyes again (the lights feel unnecessarily bright all of a sudden). “‘Yeah, officer, I got kidnapped by these two siblings so that one of them could access these morphogenetic fields — no, don’t ask me what they are — to save herself in the past from burning to death in an incinerator’ — I’m sure that’ll fly. Like a bird.”

When she opens her eyes, she looks at Aoi’s face, and he looks like he’s in pain, and like he’s telling the truth — but he’s lied to her before.

“I dunno. But the evidence is there, so even without the morphogenetic field shit we’d probably still end up in jail if we get caught anyway. Best lawyers in the world wouldn’t be able to help us.” He’s simply stating the truth, while he and Akane could attempt to clear their case they didn’t have any solid evidence on the first Nonary Game in the first place, so it wasn’t like they could convict Hongou (who knew whether he would fess up to the police or not?).

To Aoi, Hongou is a volatile man and if he’s going down, he at least wants to bring Hongou with him. Because, really, it’s all Hongou’s fault, he’s why Aoi is in such a predicament now. He can’t help but think that maybe without Hongou’s involvement, maybe he could have been normal (or as close to normal as you could be with no parents). They’re useless wishes, he can’t change things now, but the thought still remains.

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

She found him, although if Clover was honest with herself, she had no idea how she did it (and it almost felt like he had found her instead).

Clover opens her mouth to speak, but she’s having trouble forming sentences and all she can manage at first is a half-hearted mumble. It vaguely occurs to her that she’s still somewhat under the influence of a fair-sized quantity of alcohol, but in her state the recognition doesn’t go much further.

She clears her throat. Okay, girl, say it properly now.

“Yeah, I found you, and y’know y’should be thankful I…di’n’t called the poleece ‘r somethin’…”

So much for saying things properly. Clover ticks things off on her fingers as she talks, although her fingers feel like there’s sludge instead of blood running through them.

“Kidnappin’, ‘n disturbin’ the peace, ‘n….I’unno, proxy to murdurrr’r somethin’…”

Four ticks. Just like her namesa—, no, not quite. Clover frowns slightly at the miscounting, and then giggles airily to shrug it off.

The police. The police. Now, there’s some doubt in Aoi’s mind that she’s still going to go and tell anyway, she’s going to tell the authorities and ruin everything.

“I know what we did,” he mumbles, mood growing lower by the second. This topic upset him, almost depressed him every time it was brought up, the thought of being behind bars after working to get their lives back for years felt terribly wrong somehow. “I don’t need you tellin’ me.”

He feels a little nauseous now, he’s not sure if it’s alcohol or the sheer thought that the second she leaves he could say goodbye to any hopes of rebuilding his life again, although it’s probably easier to just blame it all on the alcohol.

“You think we wanted to do that stuff?” It’s little justification for what he and Akane have done, he knows, but he still can’t help but bring up the topic anyway.

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

Clover balks slightly at being so close to Aoi for a moment, but it’s a natural response (or maybe it’s the alcohol, it’s the perfect suspect) and so she tries to not read into it too deeply.

“No more fevers?” It’s a vague memory (she’s not even sure if she’s remembering it right, maybe it’s the alcohol talking), but she remembers June being particularly faint of heart during the Nonary Game.

That’s good, she wants to say, but she can’t quite bring herself to say it. Somehow, she thinks that this is an awkward topic for Aoi, and maybe she’d best drop it.

“Where did you two go,” she says, “in thhhhe Nnnervvaa….”

She can’t quite finish her sentence without slurring it, and she cuts herself off (to spare the humiliation? she would really like a glass of water right now).

“….mm.”

Aoi feels his head spin again and he sets the glass down, blinking in some hope that it’ll ease the blurriness creeping into his vision.

“Nope. None since,” he replies, not noticing that had they been in the Nonary Game at the time he would’ve blown his cover because Akane only fainted once but he’s seen the multiple timelines so often now that they almost seem to blur into each other.

She doesn’t finish her next question, but he has enough intuition to finish it for her (although he doesn’t say it out loud, she still seems awfully quiet and that brings him a twinge of dissatisfaction, he likes to think that Clover is constantly happy and energetic).

“Does it really matter? You found me.” He laughs, but it’s a choked laugh and it catches in his throat. That stage of euphoria from the alcohol is winding down now, and he puts a hand to his temple as if to soothe the throbbing in his head.

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

“Yeah, but,” Clover leaned forward, supporting her chin with both hands. “…You’re the one with the answers, ain’tchya?” A pout was rapidly forming on her face, and she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

“…So then,” she begins her sentence although she’s not sure what she plans on saying, “is June, …alive?”

“You betcha,” Aoi says, finding himself moving in to close the distance between them (almost kissing distance, he thinks, almost). But when she sighs, he finds himself reverting back to his previous position, and he spends her brief pause helping himself to a little more alcohol.

“Yeah. Better than she’s ever been.” That isn’t really true; there a times when they’ve been a lot more better off emotionally, he reminds himself, and there’s some odd cloud of melancholy hanging over them both now, he finds (or maybe it’s just him, maybe Akane’s just going along with it to make him feel better, and he hopes that isn’t the case).

He’s glad she’s alive, really; he’s not too sure what would have happened if she died. Maybe he had more ability with the fields than he thought or maybe it was just some image constantly being projected into his mind, but he still sees the gangly teenager digging at the ash before him as if it’s gold, as if he needs it to breathe. And that image still frightens him, even though he knows there’s no chance of it happening now, because Akane’s alive, she’s not a pile of dust at the bottom of the sea.

He doesn’t realise that he’s gone quiet and that he’s staring down at his glass, avoiding Clover’s gaze.

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

Clover’s expression is still conflicted, and it continues to switch from sad to angry to nervous in the blink of an eye.

“You’ve got Asian glow,” Clover murmurs under her breath, and then clears her throat.

She tries to think of something to say, something to add to the conversation, but what can she say about something that has been admitted to being just a big setup?

“Anything else…?” Clover finally settles for throwing the figurative ball back into Aoi’s side of the conversational court.

Aoi raises an eyebrow for a moment, a little confused as to what she means by asian glow— but after a moment the term clicks in his mind and he laughs, filling the silence until Clover speaks again.

“I could be asking you the same question, y’know,” he shot back, partially draining his glass as he did so. “I could talk about this for days and you still wouldn’t know everything.”

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

She’s almost jealous.

(When she forgets about the obvious repercussions.)

She’s almost jealous, or rather, slightly taken a back, and maybe a bit irritated, that there’s two siblings out there who are just as close as she and Light. Closer? No way.

“…Never mind,” she says, but it’s clear there’s something on her mind. “So then…”

So then why didn’t you kill Hongou, she wants to ask.

“…it was all just a big setup?”

If Aoi were not under the influence of alcohol, he would’ve frowned — but instead his face is flushed, and he makes a noise that’s somewhat like a choked laugh. However, his expression soon returns to a solemn one, and clears his throat before replying.

“Yeah. I guess you could say that.” Bigger than a setup, he wanted to say, it was a big grandiose plan that had taken 9 years and a hell of a lot of money to set up. But somehow, he finds that the words don’t come out of his mouth. “Isn’t that pretty obvious?”

The words are a little brash, but his judgement feels somewhat impaired and he wonders if it’s because of alcohol or nerves (possibly both).

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

“Uh-huh.”

Normally, Clover would probably react much more strongly to what Aoi had just said, but her head was already starting to spin and she wasn’t sure if it was because of the alcohol or because of the sheer amount of information Aoi had stuffed into her brain in the past few minutes.

“Guess it’s a good thing you left an axe,” she says, and she means it like a joke but she’s also somewhat sincere.

Clover shakes her head, as if she’s trying to shake her daze off, and looks up at Aoi, eyes bright but still slightly unfocused.

“Our goals,” she repeats; since it’s one of the last things Aoi said it’s one of the first things in her memory. Their goals.

That’s right, there were two of them. And Aoi’s bracelet was [0] — or was it [9]?

There’s something about the way she says guess it’s a good thing you left an axe that makes him feel cold, but he does his best to shake it off with more alcohol. He’s beginning to feel a little giddy, but he tries to take little notice of it and attempts to direct his attention back to Clover instead.

“Yeah, our goals. What of it?”

(Source: san-taclaus)

pink-clovers:

san-taclaus:

Oddly enough, Aoi finds that he doesn’t react. He finds some amusement in the way she falls back onto her chair with that dazed expression, but otherwise he finds that he doesn’t feel worried, or anxious, or anything like that. Maybe it’s because the secrets are finally out in the open, and it brings him some odd sense of relief (although there’s still that slight suspicion that maybe, just maybe, she’ll go off and tell the authorities and they’ll have to run, again).

“You’re the one who wanted answers. Don’t you dare try and run away now.” He drains his glass, pouring more of the wine into the flute. “Anyway, even if you did, it wouldn’t’ve worked. Even if you figured out that Light was in the coffin and you got him out of there, you still had Hongou to deal with. Plus, I don’t think you would’ve been able to figure out the trick with the 9 door.”

Clover lets out a sound that sounds a bit like a hiss, a grunt, and a wail, all mixed up into one vocalization, and tries to sit up straighter in her chair, rubbing her temples to preempt what she’s sure will soon turn into a huge headache.

Even as she’s trying to process what Aoi’s saying, she mechanically shovels cake into her mouth with the fork, staring at each bite as if maybe it holds the meaning of life or all of the answers to all of her questions.

“How’re you so calm about it?”

She pauses, and Clover’s voice is softer than usual as she speaks.

“I could’ve killed you. I did kill you. In my head a few times. Pictured what it’d be like. You could go into Door 5 too, along with that other creep.”

“Because I prepared 9 years for that situation, that’s why.”

Maybe that wasn’t the right way to say it. No, to put it in better terms, he had that constant worry in the back of his mind that that would happen, and over time it seemed to have faded. Mostly because he was sure their plan would succeed, that there was no need for Clover to go and do something like that.

Even so, he flinches at her words, completely aware that they’re a physical attack on him.

“That wouldn’t’ve worked, anyway. We didn’t put bombs inside any of you but Nijisaki and Kubota.” He brings his glass to his lips, pausing before adding, “One of our goals involving the second Nonary Game was that no innocent person was killed during the course of the Game.”

He goes quiet, unsure of where to direct the conversation next.