Thank you to everyone who is reading and especially reviewing/commenting on this story! To my Ao3 reviewers from last chapter MellieCrescent, AngelBoy, and Kitten_Otaku those were some of the nicest comments I have received in a very long time and I read those comments every week to motivate myself to come up with new content for this story. The first time I read them I was so happy I was almost in tears and showed each of my friends your overwhelmingly kind and encouraging words! I truly hope to update this story on a more regular basis and comments like yours keep me thinking about this story instead of putting it on the back burner like I have so many other stories. I am usually a notoriously slow updater but I will do my best to put out quality chapters even if it takes me a while to write them in hopes of being worthy of such high praise. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations and hopefully I'll get started on writing chapter 4 very soon!
Chapter 3: Evaluating Potential Allies
"So far so good, but why wouldn't it be? My inside knowledge basically guaranteed things were going to go my way. Third's as paranoid as they come so it made sense that he'd come out to meet me but if he hadn't his insides would be painting the rubble right now. Actually if I wasn't looking for allies and just blew him up without calling him away I wonder if there would only be eleven players when this officially starts or if Deus would choose someone completely new to replace Hiyama" Minene muttered to herself as she watched the debris burst through the sky and listened to the terrified shrieks that followed the explosion.
As the minutes ticked by Minene watched the gathering crowd of spectators and listened to the approaching sirens. "Ah so there you two are…as if I really would have been able to take out the two people who managed to become God in other dimensions so easily. Well I've accomplished what I came here to do so may as well move on to the next task on my list" said Minene as she watched Yuki, Yuno, and Akise take cover under a large tree near the spectators but a safe distance from the burning building.
"Thank goodness people are getting out" Yuki sighed in relief as people flooded through the various doors of the hotel.
"Yes but I don't see any of our classmates among them" said Akise worriedly as he scanned the crowd of fleeing hotel guests and staff.
"I can't get the door open!" screamed Hinata as she violently twisted and pulled on the door handle.
"The windows won't open but maybe we can break them and jump for it" suggested Mao as she lunged for the chair that accompanied the desk in their room. "Ahh!" she shrieked as a piece of the ceiling came crumbling down mere inches from where she had previously been standing.
"Oh God! There's a fire! Somebody help! We can't get out!" the girls heard a muffled voice scream.
"Hinata" Mao called out as her voice rose in panic.
"We'll be fine! Grab our phones and try to call for help!" instructed Hinata as she desperately began kicking and pounding at the door. "Help! We're locked in!"
"Hang on! There seems to be a computer malfunction but I have a master keycard!" someone called from the other side of the door.
"That's great" Hinata sighed in relief. Both girls huddled by the door and listened as the stranger inserted the card. A disheartening whir caused Hinata and Mao's hearts to plummet into their stomachs. The cruel sound repeated as the seconds that felt like minutes passed by.
"I-I still can't get the door open!...I-I'm sorry but I have to get out of here but don't worry help is already on the way!" said the stranger.
"No! Wait! Please don't leave us!" Mao cried as they listened to the footsteps thud away. "Oh-Hinata"
"It's ok, he said help will be here soon-ah!" Hinata started but cried out as a large crack loudly popped and zigzagged through the wall behind her bed's headboard.
"I don't want to die here" Mao's voice cracked as fear spread through her body causing it to tremble.
"Nishijima I need you to form a barrier and keep everyone who was in the hotel or could have seen something here for questioning" instructed detective Kurusu.
"Of course but sir you can't go in there! Leave the burning hotel to the fire department!" Nishijima called back.
"There's a class of students trapped on the ninth floor and I'm the only one who can get to them in time!" Kurusu shouted as he fought against the panicked civilians exiting the building. 'Damn it! I should have come straight here and prevented this from even happening! I tried to save that girl and uncover which players were meeting tonight but all I managed to do was waste time and put more lives in danger! I know I can't save everyone but maybe sparing a class full of children from burning to death will help ease my conscience for what I'll have to do later' Kurusu thought angrily as he kicked down the door to the manager's office. He raced for the computer and quickly slipped a flash drive into the usb port that immediately unlocked every electronically controlled door in the building. Once the flash drive was inserted Kurusu made a mad dash out of the crumbling building.
A high pitched click sounded from the door and Hinata eagerly tried the door handle again. With ease the door swung open and the girls followed the stream of pushing and pulling students to the stairs.
"Ouch!" Mao groaned as she was slammed into the wall of the stairwell while attempting to descend the crowded stairs.
"Are you two alright!?" Kosaka yelled from several stairs beneath them.
"More or less! Where are Yuki and Akise? Weren't your rooms close to each other?" shouted Hinata as she helped Mao battle through the stampede of students.
"I haven't seen them!" Kosaka called back.
"Oh God the fire-you don't think it started in their room?" asked Mao as her face became ever paler.
"With Akise's smarts and Yuki's luck they're probably fine" Hinata said shakily as she looked behind her in hopes of seeing their elusive friends.
"Finally! We're out!" shouted Kosaka as he slipped through the open door and splintered off from the other students.
"Look there they are!" said Mao as he spotted the boys underneath a large tree.
"Yuki! Akise!" Hinata called out as she, Mao, and Kosaka approached the tree. "I'm so glad you made it out! We almost had a panic attack when we met up with Kosaka on the stairs and you two weren't with him!"
"Yeah we got really lucky that Miss Gasai was doing a room check and didn't get locked in with the rest of us and then once she realized something was wrong she came back and broke open our door for us!" explained Yuki.
"Wow I guess that makes you their hero but why did you stop to help them instead of going for help or just getting yourself to safety?" asked Hinata.
"Well he may not have told you this but last year before Yuki met any of you he and I made a promise and ever since then Yuki's become the most important person in my life and there was no way I could have just ran off leaving him in danger. And there was no point in calling out for help when the fire alarms and explosion were enough to bring help" replied Yuno blushing slightly.
"So what was I a bonus?" asked Akise almost snidely.
'It was just sheer dumb luck that you happened to be sharing a room with my beloved Yuki. That's the only reason I ended up saving you too' Yuno thought bitterly.
"Now now don't give her a hard time, if I was in her position I can't say I would have done anything different if Hinata had been in danger" spoke up Mao.
"Well Yuki way to hold out on us!" said Kosaka as he roughly slapped Yuki on the back. "You should have said you had such a hot friend and asked her to hang out with us long before now!"
"But-" Yuki started but was cut off by Hinata.
"Yeah you should totally start joining us for lunch when we get back to school and let us get to know you!"
"Any special promise friend of Yuki's must be a part of our group! Is there anything fun you'd like to do outside of school? We could take turns planning events we each enjoy as a way to become close friends quickly" added Mao.
"Interested and excited as we all are to assimilate Miss Gasai into our circle of friends I think we should all call our families and let them know we're alright. Better they hear from us about what's happened then hear about it on the news or from the school staff" said Akise as he pulled out his phone.
"You're right! My Mom's pretty laid back but even she might freak out over something like this" agreed Yuki. 'Besides I don't remember making any special promises or even really talking to Miss Gasai before tonight and I would hope if I ever said or did anything with someone as beautiful, athletic, and academically smart as her I would never forget it'
'What's this?' Yuno thought to herself as she clicked the buttons that navigated her phone.
11:30 p.m – Yuki's friends invite me to become a member of their group. I'm not keen on them but any chance to be closer to Yuki is one worth taking!
11:35 p.m. – Akise suggests we call our parents to let them know we're safe. Yuki agrees but looks at me nervously. Is he afraid his friends and I won't get along?
'What is this? All this just happened a few minutes ago but I didn't type it'
Yuno scrolled up to read previous entries.
10:45 p.m. - I went to check on my darling Yuki but couldn't get a good look because Akise questioned me and blocked the doorway.
10:50 p.m. – The keycard to my room doesn't work. Oh no! Something's wrong and Yuki could be in danger! Hang on my love I'm coming to save you!
'This is strange…I didn't type any of this'
Yuno scrolled down and continued to read the listed entries.
11:37 p.m. – I pretend to talk to my parents to tell them I'm safe while Yuki talks to his Mom. Hearing her voice must help him relax because he looks less nervous now.
12:00 a.m. – The police begin to question us. We are separated but I wonder if Yuki will tell them about my saving him or just give them the facts about being locked in and talk about what he saw and heard.
3:00 a.m. – After everyone is accounted for we spend the night in a nearby motel. Yuki looks exhausted. Sleep well my love and rest easy knowing I will always have your back so there's really nothing to be afraid of with me watching out for you!
'According to these times not only have I not put these entries in myself they haven't even happened yet!' Yuno looked up to see Yuki bring his cell phone to his ear.
"Hey Mom, I know it's late but there was an accident at the hotel" Yuki started to explain.
'Better do what my diary says and play along' Yuno decided as she dialed her home phone number and began leaving a message.
"Hey, it's me. Your flash drive worked like a charm. Every single person made it out of the hotel alive" Kurusu spoke into his cell phone.
"Good. Then have I begun to earn your trust?" replied the voice on the other end of the line.
"I don't know if I can blindly follow someone who's cryptic, won't meet in person and has me address him by a number instead of a name but for now I'm willing to take small leaps of faith since your intel was good and you're not looking to take lives needlessly" stated Kurusu.
"I can accept that and in time we will meet in person and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have. Take care and I'll be in touch" said the voice before hanging up.
So I was looking through some of my old stories and saw I used to talk about what was going on in my life or running through my head when I was writing the chapters and I thought it might be fun to start doing that again! When I came up for the idea for chapter 1 I was very excited and thought people are really going to like this story I can't wait to get it posted and then after it took a couple months to get my first comment I thought well maybe they don't like it as much as I thought they would and took a little break from writing. When I wrote chapter 2 I was again excited because since this story wasn't popular I didn't feel any pressure to update regularly or worry what my readers would think since there were so few of them and it almost felt like I was writing the story just for me which is something that I haven't done in quite some time. Then I got such wonderful reviews on chapter 2 I started feeling pressure to write chapter 3 and worried since I knew people actually cared about this story now that it wouldn't live up to their expectations and I would disappoint such amazing people who took the time to tell me how much they were enjoying the story which is something I would never want to do. But I finally managed to buckle down and write the chapter and soon I'll know if people liked it or not but either way I plan to start work on chapter 4 shortly so true to my writing process I will be sitting down with a notebook and watch my Future Diary dvds and wait until inspiration hits me like it has for the previous 3 chapters. Thank you all again for supporting this story and really giving me such outstanding reviews that I constantly reread and smile about all the time!
