Chapter Text
Junpei had a pretty good head on his shoulders despite the situation. Even though he sometimes got scared and panicked he always picked himself up and worked on solving the puzzles. He thought that those around him were strange, not exactly dangerous. He was lucky enough to navigate to the 9 door without much incident, though he was unable to escape.
Before he knew it he was back in front of the 5 and 4 doors. “What is going on here? I could have sworn I was…” Junpei said to himself. He looked up to find the others just staring at him with confusion etched on their faces. Snake and Clover on the other hand glanced at each other before looking back to Junpei. Could they know something Junpei was not aware of in the moment. Shaking his head Junpei approached them hoping to find some answers.
“I had a feeling something like this would happen. It looked like you recalled something that you should not have been able to. Would that be a correct assessment?” Snake said resting his hand on his chin. Junpei noticed Clover looking away, seemed she would not give anything away that easily.
“A lot of things actually. I just have no idea what any of this means, not that I can really talk to anyone about it.” Junpei responded glancing at the group behind him. They had forgotten the strange encounter and continued to argue about who would go through the doors.
Snake sighed and considered if it was right to explain everything. “What is the last thing you remember? If I am right, you may be similar to both me and Clover, though the specifics will have to wait until a later time if you want to go through door 5 with me. There are certain individuals that could use it against us.” Snake asked keeping his voice low.
“Made it to the 9 door but got stopped as someone banged on this coffin.” Junpei responded. He hesitated to explain that Santa had betrayed him, Seven, and Clover.
“Hey are you guys done over there? I thought it was your idea to go through these doors.” Lotus called out with her arms crossed. She still hated the idea of going through the doors but had no choice in the matter.
Snake laughed quietly as he rejoined the group, Junpei and Clover following close behind. “My apologies. I would like to go through door 5 with Junpei. Ace, please watch over Clover for me.” Snake said joining the group. Clover was silent, though it was clear that she hated having to separate from Snake. Before long she headed towards door 4.
“Be safe, alright.” June said after Seven, Snake, and Junpei scanned their bracelets. With a quick nod Junpei pulled the lever and stepped through the open door. Even though the sight of the body was gruesome he ignored it and raced to find the other device to shut off the countdown. By the time he found it his heart was racing and he struggled to catch his breath.
“Over here!” Junpei called out as he scanned his bracelet. Seven and Snake arrived shortly after, scanning their bracelets before the lever was pulled. Their bracelets beeped as the skull symbol disappeared. “That was not pleasant. I hope we do not need to do a lot of these.” Junpei said taking the chance to observe his surroundings. He was standing in a hallway with a few doors dotting the walls. Only the one at the end was unlocked with a sign reading: First Class Cabin.
“You can go on ahead Seven, I need to discuss something with Junpei. We will catch up with you soon.” Snake said. Seven had nothing to say and walked inside the room, the door closing behind him. “Now that we are alone, I can explain in better detail. You managed to both read another timeline but also send that information to yourself. Most people are unable to access that space. It seems as though you were able to recall far more than should have been possible, good chance that is the reason you were brought here.” Snake said. None of it made any sense to Junpei. He never experienced something like it before finding himself on the ship.
“I understood nothing that you just said. There might be some kind of truth in there.” Junpei said rubbing the back of his head.
“To be expected, I suspect you will learn more as you go on. Find me during the next reset and explain what you saw. We should get a move on and get out of here.” Snake said making his way into the next room.
The next few hours went by without much incident as Junpei solved puzzles until he came upon doors 1, 2, and 6. For the second time Junpei created the drawing in order to pick whichever door he wanted without making everyone upset. In the end he chose door 1, heading out with Ace and Clover. For some reason something felt off about the two of them, though Junpei had no idea why. It took only a few minutes for Junpei’s ruse to be uncovered by Ace, a result he was not ready for. Clover seemed distant and avoided working on the puzzles only to take interest in the axe laying in a pool of blood from the body of the supposed captain of the ship.
Either way Junpei was left to do most of the work as usual. Eventually they were able to escape and return to the central staircase. Clover had insisted on heading to door 2 taking Seven, Santa, and June with her. Shortly after Ace and Lotus headed off leaving Junpei waiting outside door 2 alone. Next thing he knew he was on the floor with Clover standing over him, axe in hand. The back of his neck felt warm as he could feel blood flowing freely down the sides. His consciousness fading Junpei once again ended up in front of the same two doors.
He instinctively reached over to his neck finding no sign of injury. He paid no one any attention as he made his way towards Snake forgetting that Clover was standing next to him. Seeing her caused him to stop in his tracks, something Snake quickly picked up on. “Clover, do you mind joining the others for now?” Snake asked. Junpei just listened to her walk past him like nothing had happened.
“Thank you for that.” Junpei said after regaining his composure. His new memories were starting to get in the way of the goal of escaping the ship. If he was unable to get over this fear the chance of failure would just increase.
“What did she do to you?” Snake asked not out of anger but concern.
Junpei considered keeping quiet about his death but remembered the promise she made. “You went missing and she could not accept that you might have been dead. Her suspicion and anger caused her to snap and kill Seven, Snake, June, and myself. I am still no closer to figuring this out when I started.” Junpei said. It was already getting to be too much. Certain events even started merging into one another.
Snake frowned at the news. He had no knowledge of anything Junpei said after exploring the first-class cabin and casino. It was the only thing that stayed consistent through the stories. “Santa what are you doing over here?” Snake asked hearing Santa approach them.
“I may have been listening in on your conversation. With your actions lately I had a feeling that something was going on, though I never expected it would be this bad. Unless you want to completely lose it you need to listen to me.” Santa said fighting his urge to shout. His answer sounded like he knew more than he was letting on.
“Fine, not exactly sure what that could mean.” Junpei said unable to hide his uncertainty. Snake sighed as Junpei still had yet to understand what was going on.
“Take doors 5, 8, and 6. I have already said more than I should. Hopefully this does not change anything drastic.” Santa said before walking away. Everything was just odd, though Junpei had nothing else to work with. If it could make the nightmare end sooner Junpei was willing to do anything that was required.
And yet again Junpei followed the same routine of solving the first two puzzle rooms, faster than before. It was not long before he reached a divergence by joining Clover and Lotus at door 8. It lead to a laboratory with Clover getting stuck in the experiment portion of the room. It was there that Junpei learned more about the theory Snake had tried to explain to him along with information about Prosopagnosia. Both sounded pretty important to the purpose of the Nonary Game. Before he knew it Clover accidentally started a fire causing him to panic to open the side door to the experiment room. By the time they had managed to escape the room had started filling with smoke. “What is wrong with you? I could have died in there you know.” Clover asked before rushing off down the hall. As much as he tried Junpei had not forgotten what she could do if pushed to the limit.
Finally making it back to the next set of doors Junpei kept his original choice of going through door 6 mainly to spend time with June. Ace was forced to join them to get the correct digital root to open the door. This time he found himself in the engine room. Almost immediately June collapsed as she was overcome with another fever. “Good to know you listened to me. Look I am sorry for all of this. This is all so I could help someone close to me, you probably have no idea what I am talking about.” Santa said keeping his voice low enough to not be overheard by Ace. Like he said Junpei was confused as he started working on unlocking the door. All the climbing and loading coal had exhausted him by the time he opened the door leading to the cargo hold unsure of what he might discover.