The two of them argue like a married couple, she decided, shifting the earphones over her ears to block out the bickering of Seven and Lotus only a few steps behind. The mismatched trio; a giant of a man, a buxom woman, and a tiny pink-haired girl, had not even crossed the threshold to Door 1 and Seven and Lotus were already at each others' throats. Clover sighed, rubbing at her reddened eyes. At least the fact that Lotus screeched so loudly and Seven's rumbling voice was loud as-is helped to muffle the sound of Clover's sniffling.

[Door 1]

There it was, in front of them. It was a small door, especially in comparison to the double-doors 4, 5, 7, 8, and 3. Clover shuddered as she thought about Door 3, and to cover her shiver, she turned back to Seven and Lotus, placing her hands on her hips. She had gone through Door 8 with Lotus and Junpei, and even from behind the glass window, she had seen how impressive Lotus had been. It kind of reminded her of one of the girls from nine years ago, and when she thought carefully, Lotus did almost resemble Ennea...

Clover shakes her head, then looking up at Seven. She hadn't gone through the same door as him yet; Junpei had, for some stupid reason, decided to go through Door 5, forcing her and Ace into Door 4. But that was over three hours ago.

Time really did fly.

"Are you ready?" She asked, her voice much shakier and softer than she expected. Green eyes flickered from Seven, then to Lotus, who both nodded. "Okay...then let's open it."

Three electronic blips, and a pull of the lever, and the three of them were in.

"C'mon! We gotta find the DEAD!" Seven was the first to call out, but Lotus and Clover were already searching frantically for the blinking light that was their salvation. Eighty-one seconds, or else...

Clover faltered, nearly feeling sick, and she stumbled over the carpet, feeling herself falling towards the ground. Flashing through her head was the image of a crushed head, bloodstained jacket, and she was going to be sick, she felt sick, Light why did you leave me why did you die why did they kill you

She felt her hand being pressed against the DEAD, and heard the beep that followed. Lotus, having pulled the lever down, regarded Clover with an expression close to worry. Seven, who had Clover tucked under one of his arms like a football, sighed, wiping sweat off of his brow.

"Phew...even though it's the third time, you really never get used to these things," he muttered, his voice rumbling in the lowlight. It was at that point that Clover opened her eyes, and realized that she was suspended in midair.

"H-hey! Put me down!" she yelled, flailing her arms around. "Put me down, Seven!"

Seven, who had seemed to have forgotten about the small girl he had been carrying, looked down at Clover, almost recoiling with shock to see that there was a girl in his arms. Wow. How had that happened, genius? Meanwhile, Clover was glaring at him with an expression dangerously close to murder (and maybe it was murderous, because she had already calculated the figures in her head), so Seven quickly decided to place the small, pink-haired girl back onto the ground.

"Er...you stumbled, so, uh..." Seven scratched the back of his beanie, looking up at the ceiling. Clover regarded him with a distrustful look, placing her hands on her hips.

"Ahem," Lotus interrupted, not-so-subtly clearing her throat. Seven and Clover both turned, almost guiltily, to the flamboyantly dressed woman, almost like she was the principal who had just caught two schoolchildren misbehaving. Her smile was almost mocking, and she laughed slightly. "Well then, shall we?"

Clover stuck her tongue out at Seven, and then followed along behind Lotus, down the long hallway that stretched behind Door 1.