"Hang up a second, guys." They all stopped and looked at me. "How 'bout we look around? Aoi might have left us some money or passports or…something. I'm sure that we could find something out." The others thought for a few minutes, unsure if that was a good idea or not. A couple seconds later, when they remembered I was leader, they nodded and looked at me.
"Whatda we do, boss?" Clover asked. I blushed.
"First...don't call me that. Second..." I pushed my way through the 4 to get to the passenger's side. "I'll look in the front over here, Clover you look in the front over there, Lotus, look over here in the back and Seven over here in the back." They all nodded. The first thing I checked was the glove box. I found multiple American dollar bills. Some were 10's, some were 20's and some were 50's. There was about $10,000 total. That should be enough.

"I found some cash!" I yelled out. "Keep working, but if you find anything, yell it out." I heard a bunch of affirmative grunts as I kept looking. "Look for passports, or anything else." I looked over at Clover for a brief second. That second took forever, as I saw her frantically searching her side. There wasn't much to look for, but she was searching everything twice, being as thorough as she could possibly be. I looked back down. 'Focus Junpei! Focus!" I searched under the seat, and near the radio/dashboard. I found what looked like a fraction etched into a cup holder. It was a 6/2.

"Wouldn't that be 3?" Clover asked, over on her side, also eyeing the number. I looked at her, questioningly. She seemed to pick up what I was thinking. "6 divided by 2...It equals 3. Anyone out of elementary school knows that." I looked at her.

"For some reason I don't think that's what Aoi was talking about." I thought for a minute, when it finally hit me. "Maybe he meant the digital root of our numbers. Well...of our old numbers anyway." Clover thought for a moment, then spoke up.

"But that would give us two options. Me and Snake in the front - 2 plus 4 equals 6 - and you, Seven and Lotus in the back - 5 plus 7 plus 8 equals 20, 2 plus 0 equals 2, or Seven and Lotus in the front - 7 plus 8 equals 15, 1 plus 5 equals 6 - and me, you and Snake in the back - 2 plus 4 plus 5 equals 11, 1 plus 1 equals 2." I nodded.

"Well, I know how much you liked to drive, but Seven was a cop, and he should drive from here on out. Lotus also wants to sit in front." I pointed at the seat I was in front of. "I...uh...I want to talk to you some more..." I said, feeling the heat rise to my face. She giggled, blushing also. A man came running up to the car.

"Um, excuse me. This kid with white hair and a tank top came by yesterday and told me to give a kid that's dressed like you this phone." He handed me a pre-paid cellphone. "You are Jumpy, right?"

"Uh, yes, I am. Thank you." He nodded and ran off. The phone rang. I answered it.

"Hey, this is Junpei."

"Hey Junpei. I'd give up looking for me if I were you. There's no way you'd be able to find me."

"I'll keep looking for you. Anyway, there are some questions I want answered-especially one for Akane to answer." I heard some commotion on the other side of the phone. Then Akane's voice.

"Hey Jumpy. I heard you had something to ask me?"

"Yeah. Why me? Why'd you choose me?" She laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh, it was filled with...pity? Well, that was the only way to describe it.

"You haven't figured it out?" Figured what out?

"Well, everyone else has had a connection to the first Nonary Game 9 years and a day ago: Ace directed it; Snake, Clover, you and your brother were participants; Lotus had twins that were in it; Seven was a detective on the case about it and helped you guys escape; and the Ninth man, Nijisaki, helped with planning it. But I knew nothing about it. I wasn't a participant. In fact, the only connection I have is you being my friend. That's it!" She was silent for a few minutes.

"You're right, I'm you're only connection to the first Nonary Game. But it's because of you I'm able to live. You see, what you don't realize is that our feelings for each other have made us closer than most of the sibling pairs that were on the ship. Also, I was on the same vessel as my brother. Remember the mix-up? There was no way I was going to survive unless you helped me. This also proves how stupid you were. If you knew I was on the boat, you could have easily figured out you were in Building Q, as you cannot be on the same vessel as I if you wished to save me. Again, with the whole send and receiving thing. You're such an idiot...a cute idiot, but an idiot, none-the-less." She giggled and another commotion started on the other end of the line.

"I heard you two had a nice talk. So, any more questions where I can call you a moron?" I thought a moment before I replied.

"No. Being called an idiot made the rest of the questions leave. However, if I have any more, will I be able to reach you by this phone?"

"Yes, I'm the only contact. It's just 2-talk."

"Okay. Just remember...I will find you."

He laughed.

"Right, you just keep telling yourself that." He hung up. I looked up to see Clover's questioning face.

"It was Aoi and Akane. They...weren't too nice." I pouted. Clover giggled. I blushed. I felt like we had found everything and pulled back.

"Hey everyone, let's get to the front of the vehicle!" They all moved to the front. "Okay, report. Seven, you first." Seven shrugged.

"I found nothing. Just the usual, a seat, a floorboard, you know..." Lotus nodded.

"Same here." Lotus finished and Clover spoke up.

"Heh, me and Junpei found a seating chart.'"

"A seating chart?" Seven didn't sound pleased. "Come on Aoi, we're not in elementary school anymore." I decided to speak up.

"Let's just try it, if only to see if it would work out. Me and Clover have found two possibilities to the seating chart. The first is Snake and Clover in the front, Seven, Lotus and I in the back." Clover was the only one to look excited. I went on before anyone could complain. "The better possibility is Seven and Lotus in the front, Snake, Clover and I in the back. This is better, as Lotus wants the front, and we're safer with Seven up there. This also gives me the chance to chat with Snake and Clover." Clover pouted as Lotus looked at me, unsure if I had different intentions, but nodded after a few seconds had past.

"You heard the man, let's go." They got to their respective doors, Seven and Lotus to the front, Lotus on the driver's side, Seven on the passenger side, Snake behind Seven and Clover and I behind Lotus.

Clover got the middle, so I scooted closer to the door as to give her the most room. We all buckled as Lotus turned the key over. She pressed on the gas.
"Sorry, it's been a while since I last drove, and being on the wrong side of the road doesn't help either." In America they drove on the right, opposite of in Japan.

"It's alright," I said.

However, Clover couldn't go anywhere without causing friction.

"It's okay. We don't have a large mass that has the potential to crush and kill us back here." It was obviously directed at Seven.

"What'd you say? You little shrimp!"

"You heard me!"

"Oh, don't make me go back-" Lotus spoke up.

"Guys, I just wanna go home. Do you think we can do that without fighting with each other?" They were silent. I decided to speak up.

"Hey, I just realized that we don't know each other's' names...well, you all know mine, but I don't know yours. I don't wanna keep calling you by your nicknames, even though they ARE cool and all." Clover was the first to speak.

"Mine's Clover. Easy, huh? My brother's is Light."

"Mine...Mine isn't important." Lotus didn't sound happy. I didn't know why, but that could wait.

"Hey, Lotus. You had two daughters, right? What were their names?"

"Nona and Ennea. I've been into the number 9 my whole life, which explains it. Nona and Ennea both mean nine."

"Cool. So you have two daughters named nine." I chuckled. "Okay Seven, how 'bout you?"

"Well, I don't really remember my name. But I was going through names in my head and Satoshi sounds good, so I'll stick with that."

"Seven, a hunch about your name isn't good enough. We'll just stick to calling you Seven." I thought about the names I DID happen to get. "Okay, so I have Clover and Light. This isn't enough to call everyone by their given names, so Light, we'll just keep calling you Snake, as Clover's name IS her codename." I started thinking about...well, everything and nothing at the same time. After a while, I realized I had bumped into something on my right. It was Clover. She was looking at me intently.
"Do you...want something?" I blushed.

"Eheh...Not really. I just..." What was I doing? I knew I was being blank minded, but other than that...It then hit me that we were on a bumpy road. The car probably moved me and I bumped her. I blushed at her and moved back towards the door, chuckling nervously. "Eh...the car moved me. Sorry." She smiled.

"It's alright; just, try not to make it a habit." I blushed again, and moved from committing to memory to reminiscing. How was I closer to Akane than Aoi was? Sure, we were best friends, but that was it...well, okay, we did inhabit some feelings for each other, but that was 9 years ago. I get the whole "I was on the same ship as my brother," but the rest...it was...I bumped against Clover again. I smiled uncomfortably, embarrassed.

"Jeez Junpei! You're nudging me so much..."

"So much! I've only nudged you twice!"

"Heh, that you know of. I count twelve."

"Really!"

"H'yeah. I should start calling you Nudgie."

"Nudgie? That has bad implications." It was her turn to blush.

"Well...it's partly based offa your name...I-E-P-N-U-J. It's mainly the N-U-J part that's important. Well, That's pronounced "Nudge," and since you're nudging me, that makes Nudgie." She beamed, though blushing a little. I was surprised. All this, in her head? Man, I would have needed paper, and that was my own name! I turned to her and whispered close to her ear.

"Has anyone ever told you you're smart?" She blushed. However, it was Snake who spoke up.

"Yes...I have. Multiple times even. Sometimes she's a little too smart for her own good." He chuckled. Lotus spoke up.

"What exactly are you guys talking about?" Snake spoke up first.

"Oh, we're just talking about how smart Akane was to put together this second Nonary Game." Lotus looked back at Snake, the speaker.

"Really? Cause I coulda sworn that that had nothing to do with the earlier conversation." Snake was faster.

"We changed topics. I could have sworn you heard it." He turned towards me. "Junpei, have you been accessing the Morphic fieldset?" He 'looked' at me like he was saying 'go with it,' so I went with it.

"Maybe. I wasn't trying to. It...just happens." Lotus was still skeptical, but I took that moment so that I could change the topic to what Snake had suggested.

"Anyway Snake...what were we talking about before Lotus so rudely interrupted us?"

"Well, the fact that she wore an upside down 9 bracelet in itself is amazing, but the brainpower, manpower and money involved...it's simply mind boggling."

"Yeah...I wonder how she did it all-"

"Ewwww..." Lotus said quietly, squirming.

"What?"

"I just realized that I've been in these same clothes for two days now. I just simply can't go on like this. I like them and all...but being in them for more than a day? That's just..." She shuddered. "I swear, next town we reach, we go into a clothing store. 'Kay?" We sullenly nodded, not sure of what else to say, or do for that matter.

It took us a long while to get to the next town. We had passed the "Welcome to California" sign as well as several rest stops, but never a real town. So when we saw the sign in the distance we all silently cheered, as riding for five hours in a car is no fun what-so-ever. As we (and by "we" I mean Lotus) drove into town, we scouted for a sign, or marker showing us where the closest clothing store was, just for Lotus. She opened her door.

"I'll run in and back out as fast as I can. Just hold tight!" Someone's stomach grumbled, and I guessed it was Seven since he spoke up next.

"Well, just be quick about it. I'm hungry, and though I can't speak for the others, they seem to be hungry as well." The three of us in the back seat nodded in synchrony. Clover saw and couldn't keep quiet.

"Ninja'd!" We all laughed, forgetting our hunger for a minute, till Lotus called out her farewell.

"I'll try to go as fast as possible!" She shut the door and ran in. It was 1:00 when she went in, and the rest of us had nothing to do. We tried everything, Eye Spy, Who's That Pokemon, Who wants to be a Millionaire, Hangman, and even Favorite Foods. The last one backfired, making us hungrier.

"Come on Lotus," I said to myself, so quiet that not even Snake could hear. When Lotus finally came back, it was 1:30.

"Well, it took you long enough!" Seven growled.

"Sorry, I saw so many cool clothes, I just wasn't sure what to buy. I finally decided on these ones." She moved her arms down in a "see what I got?" motion. She wore a green tube top, light grey sweat pants, and white and black shoes - predominantly white, but with a green stripe around the front seam.

"Oh, that's soooooo cute!"

"Thanks Clover," Lotus giggled. Before anyone else could get their two cents in, Seven spoke up.

"Don't you think that outfit is maybe a little revealing?" After he asked that, we all stared at him. I decided to speak up.

"It's less revealing than her other outfit." Lotus glared at me, and I put my hands in the air defensively, essentially saying "sorry, but it's true."

"It was just a thought man, I don't want any trouble." There was a small silence after Seven said that. Then a stomach growled. "Right! We were gonna go get some food!" Lotus looked back at everyone, making sure they were buckled, then turned the SUV on. "So where do we wanna eat?"

We looked around, unsure of where a place to eat existed. We saw a yellow sign with white letters. It looked like a Denny's, and that was a restaurant, at least in Japan.

"Guys," I said. "I think there's a restaurant to the left."

"Sounds good to me," Snake said, startling me, as he hadn't spoken in a while. Seven growled, but signaled for Lotus to drive the car over.

When he had parked in the moderately filled parking lot, we all climbed out, Clover helping her brother out of the vehicle. As we walked in the building we went from sweating profusely to almost freezing. Well, it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty cold in there, and we had pretty much gotten used to the heat. Well, at least I had. A waitress met us inside, and showed us to a table. The restaurant was half filled, making the parking lot a good prediction of how full it was. I looked around, shocked at all the people.
We sat down at the table the waitress led us to while she passed out menus. After she was finished, she pulled out a small pad and a pen, then asked for what drinks we wanted. She wrote them down in order, then turned to walk away.

"Alright, I'll have your drinks in a moment."

I turned to the others, remembering something.

"Guys, I think we forgot about Ace...Hongou"

"Don't worry, we'll get him a doggy bag." Surprisingly, Seven had come up with that, and we all looked at him oddly. "What? I can come up with funny things to say."

The rest of the time was highly uneventful. We ate, drank, and were merry, well, sorta. We plotted out our course again, then took some of Seven and Snake's left over food out to Hongou. Clover surprised me in the restaurant. She ordered one of the BIGGEST plates of food there, and downed it like it wasn't even there. When she saw my amazed gaze, she shrugged as if it was no big deal.

When Hongou finished eating, we put the tape over his mouth and started off on our long journey again - bellies full of food this time.

Hongou: That wasn't nice, Seven.

Seven: Says the guy who tried to kill 18 kids...

Me: Guys...we just need to figure out how we're going to get you back home.

Clover: I thought you had a plan...

Me: Um, yeah. Of course I do...I just...kinda lost it...

Clover: WHAT.

Me: Please review! Ouch! CLOVER!