A/N: I decided to play around with an AI to help me write out this chapter. It was surprisingly helpful! Even when some of the stuff didn't make sense with context, it gave me several ideas to build off of. It's why I'm able to share this as early as I am.

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Perception: Part II

The group found no keys, no clues, and nothing else of value on the body. They continued onward, walking slowly and cautiously, watching every shadow for movement. After a few minutes they came across another intersection. Benitsu peeked around the corner to see if there was another thug for her to stomp. She signaled for everyone to wait before going to investigate. She was careful to scan the area before proceeding, making sure there weren't any more surprises waiting for them. When she was satisfied she went back to report to Minato.

"Looks like it's all clear."

"Well then," Minato said. "Let's continue."

They proceeded down the corridor until it opened up into a large room with four doors and a single window. The walls were occupied full bookshelves and cabinets. There were also several tables and chairs scattered throughout the room.

"Looks like we wandered into a library." Minato surmised. "This is probably the central hub Matsu mentioned we'd wander into."

The group walked past the boarded-up windows and into the center of the room where a table was set up. Minato pulled out a chair and sat down, looking over the papers that were laid out on it. One of which was a map of the maze they were in. Or rather a torn piece of one.

"What is it?" Kazehana asked.

"Looks like Jigsaw left us a map of the maze. We're going to have to use it to navigate our way through this place more safely I think, and from the looks of it there are more pieces of it."

"Great, now we have to go on a scavenger hunt to go on another scavenger hunt. Ugh." Benitsu groaned.

"At least now we won't need to contact Matsu as much. Let's hope this first shred of the map is enough for now." Minato said as he got back to searching through the papers.

Benitsubasa approached him and leaned against the table. She folded her arms and tapped her foot, glaring at the torn piece of the map.

"What's on your mind?" Minato finally noticed and looked up from his reading.

"Do you really think we can trust these maps they leave us? I mean, they could be lying about any number of things."

"Like what?"

"Well…they could be lying about how many pieces there are or even if there are anymore. Like that piece on the table could be the only one. Then we'd be stuck wandering around in circles forever. That piece could be missing a crucial part of the puzzle that will lead us to a dead end without it."

"...Hmm." Minato said. He paused before continuing. "I don't think we have anything to worry about. I think we can safely assume that the map is accurate. Jigsaw wouldn't have left it out in plain sight if we weren't supposed to use it."

Benitsu's eyebrows scrunched up. "...Okay…but there's always the chance we're going on another pointless wild goose chase."

Haihane's mind began to drift again, thinking about everything that happened. After a moment her eyes softened. Her shoulders sank and she sniffed as she wrapped her arms around herself. She kept quiet, her chin sunk against her chest, looking on as Minato's hands scrambled through the documents.

"What's wrong?" Kazehana asked her friend, worried for her state of mind.

"I…I just thought of something." Haihane said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What is it?" Benitsubasa asked.

Haihane didn't respond, only took a deep breath before speaking again, "I...don't think this is just a maze anymore. Our teamwork is being tested. We should maintain caution with our decisions from this point on."

The group fell silent at her statement. Haihane closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears as she remembered how she felt when she woke up and after having a near-death experience for a few moments. How she felt a lifetime had passed even though the ordeal only lasted mere seconds. She felt warm but she knew there was something more than that, something deeper that she couldn't put her finger on. Now, in her current state, she felt that same warmth she experienced after being winged by Natsuo. Only stronger…

Minato put the paper aside and glanced over at her. She looked down at him with red eyes and a sad face.

"It'll be okay, Haihane," he said reassuringly. He smiled at her reassuringly and patted her arm comfortingly. "I'm gonna get us out of here."

She nodded slightly at his words and took another deep breath before letting it out slowly. She felt as though there was something she was forgetting. Something important that she knew would help them find a way out of here, but it just wouldn't come to mind…

Benitsubasa watched as Minato sat quietly with his eyes closed and arms crossed, trying to think of something he could use to get them out of their predicament. She was about to walk away to look for something else to use for weapons when she spoke up, "Do you mind helping me look around for some stuff we can use to defend ourselves with?" The pinkette stretched out her back.

"Yeah, sure." he said, rising to his feet.

"Thanks." She said, walking past the other Sekirei and towards the lines of dusty shelves.

"You're welcome." He said, following behind her. The others joined, following his lead.

They started at one side and worked their way through the rows, Minato's lantern scanning past each book spine for information. They looked like they had been there for decades, and the mustiness in the air dryrotted many.

"I've never been in a library before," Haihane said to no one in particular.

"Neither have I." Kazehana replied. "I always thought they were boring and stuffy places. Plus you can't enjoy a good smutty romance novel with a drink in them.."

"Agreed." She Benisubasa said, closing the book she had just flipped through. "There's no point in looking in books unless they have pictures. It's all just boring text. No thanks."

"Oh, there's always a point in looking in books." Minato said.

"Why's that?" Haihane questioned.

"Well, for starters, it can teach you a lot of things you might not find anywhere else."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"Nothing that can't be looked up on the internet I bet."Haihane rebutted, "Ever since that became available, books became obsolete. They're paperweights now as far as I'm concerned. Plus the internet has porn too."

"Oh, you don't know what you're missing. There's a lot more to life than sex."

"You say that because you're a virgin." Benitsubasa mocked.

"That makes absolutely zero sense."

"You're an idiot."

"You're the one who thinks it's stupid to learn from a book."

"That's different."

"How?"

"Well...because books are so outdated and old-fashioned."

"So?"

"So…well…it just seems silly."

"How does it seem silly?"

"It's a waste of time and it's a waste of paper." Benitsubasa snickered quietly as she approached an endcap at the other side of the bookshelves. She pulled out a journal and opened it. A key fell out from the pages within. She squatted down and picked it up, then glanced over at Minato who was still rifling through the shelves with the others. "Found a key."

"Nice, let me see it." Minato said. The pinkette held the key out to him and he examined it.

"Does that mean we don't need to check every book for anything that might lead to the exit?" Kazehana said with a snicker as she glanced back at Minato.

"I don't know. Maybe Matsu can shed some light on things?"

"Do you want to call her?" Kazehana asked.

He shook his head. "Yes, and no. I don't want to put her in any more pain than she's already in."

"But we need her now." Benitsubasa argued. "Without her we'll just be going in circles for longer than we can afford!"

"I know... just give it a bit. If she had something important to tell us she would have got back to us by now."

Kazehana walked off towards another shelf after leaving another barren. As she reached up for another volume, something caught her attention. Her eyes narrowed in thought before reaching up again. She pulled out another book and opened it, looking at its contents before dropping it back on the shelf and moving on to another one. She continued through row after row as the rest had been doing, until she came to one that rattled when she lifted it. Opening it, she found it was a box disguised as a religious tome, likely something a flask would be hidden in. The space inside contained a small collection of keys the size of a pocket watch: Nine in total.

She plucked them out and inspected them before setting back the tome she harvested them from. All were engraved with Sekirei symbols. Besides the three different colors they had been marked with, they were identical copies of each other.

"Found more!" Kazehana exclaimed. She walked over and set the keys on top of the map. "These must go to something too." She smiled triumphantly at Minato who nodded with a smile of his own. Before long about half the remainder of the several dozen books had been flipped through and shaken with their covers outstretched.

"Good, guess we can start looking for a door or something," Benitsubasa said before pulling out one last book. When she did it didn't come out all the way, it just tilted at a 45 degree angle like a lever. An unlatching noise was then heard at the back of the room. "Huh?" She peered down the aisle as a secret passage was slowly unveiled itself behind a bookshelf in the distance.

"Great job, Benitsu!" Minato cheered her on as he and the others hustled over to inspect the passage with her, lantern in hand.

"What now?" Kazehana said, folding her arms under her chest and leaning back against a shelf, looking at Minato expectantly. She wanted to go in and see if she could find anything useful for their next attempt at getting out of this maze, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more she was supposed to be mentioning, something that was nagging at the back of her mind that she was missing, something important…

"Let's go back to the table and discuss our next move. Haihane's right, we need to keep our heads together for this trial." Minato sighed as he looked back at the table and marched back to it with the others.

"Oh...okay." Haihane replied, giving him a blushing nod before sitting down with her hands folded in her lap. She gave another glance back at the group as they continued to ruffle through books.

After a while some bouts of circular logic on the group's part with their attempts of discussion, Benitsubasa rose up from where she had been sitting, "We should check the other end of the maze. I suggest we split up in teams of two." She said, stretching her back again as she turned to walk away from them.

"No, I don't think that would be wise." he went on to explain. "We only have one lantern, so one team wouldn't be able to see."

"That would be a good point if I didn't bring that pighead's flashlight with me." she said, pulling the tool out from her pocket. "I snatched it after I gave him a chiropractic adjustment, remember?"

"That's all well and good, but something tells me it doesn't have all that much battery power anymore. The last thing we'd need is for it to burn out on you. When you shown it towards me earlier it looked quite dim."

Benitsu crossed her arm. "Not as dim as #88 I'm betting."

"Musubi is not dim!"

"Saying that makes you dimmer than her now."

"At least him being a man is an excuse for him being flat chested." Kazehana quipped.

Benitsubasa shrugged at that remark, but she seemed to think better of arguing back, "How about we split into two groups? I'll watch Minato's back while miss airbags and miss Krueger watch theirs?"

Minato shook his head and folded his arms under his chest, "No. I'm not comfortable leaving anyone out of my sight. We only have one radio. The other team without it would be at a disadvantage without a direct line to Matsu."

Speaking of her, she got awfully quiet. Minato wanted to contact her again, but dreaded the result.

Benitsubasa crossed her arms across her chest, "We don't have a choice then. Ring her up, Minato. We're sitting ducks without her."

The ronin grit his teeth and hung his head.

"I say we cast a vote." Haihane said. "All in favor of contacting her raise your hand."

The decision was unanimous. Even Kazehana had her hand raised, albeit with reluctance.

"That settles it then." he sighed as he thumbed the button and held it away from his face to avoid the incoming shriek.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHRGGGGHHH!"

His heart felt like it had been stabbed through, hearing her wailing in agony and not being able to help. "Matsu... I'm so sorry..." he said, filled with sorrow and regret. He knew that the moment he heard the sound of her voice he was going to cry uncontrollably, but he couldn't allow himself to feel that way right now. That was something Jigsaw was no doubt counting on in this test. He would not let this break him. He would be strong…

Haihane placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's alright," she said softly, "she's going to be okay."

Minato closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning back around to face them, tears saturating in his eyes. He did his best to keep them from leaking and exposing him as weak, but he couldn't keep them from occasionally streaking down his cheeks.

"Hi...Minato...I was...ghh...wondering when you'd get back to me."

" I was hoping -" He hiccuped. "I wouldn't have to..."

"Hey now, don't cry. You've been doing very well. Found the secret passage faster than I would have, actually." She reassured him soothingly. "It's going to be okay."

"You know how I feel about you and the others being hurt because of me." he sniffled. He wiped at his tears before continuing, "You're beautiful, smart, and sexy as hell. I'm sorry I didn't have the guts to say that until right now."

"Oh, you flatterer…"

"Uh, guys in case you've forgot, we're kinda on the clock here." Benitsubasa pointed out aiming up at a digital clock hung high on the wall over the shelves. "We only got like 15 minutes left! Talk about something useful!"

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized.

"Are you two done flirting yet?" Kazehana asked with a playful scoff.

"It wasn't flirting! It was a heartfelt apology!" he argued with a pout.

"Uh huh, whatever you say, Minato."

Minato gritted his teeth and looked up at the clock on the wall once again. Benitsu was right, just under 16 minutes left to solve the puzzle of this place. "Matsu, we found a piece of the map. It looks like floor plans for the old university we're in. I assume it's important?" He asked, holding up the paper he had ripped out of the journal he had found and showing it at the camera above in hopes she could zoom in.

"Yes it is, Minato." she answered over the radio following a brief pause, her voice heavy with whimpers. "There are three pieces of it hidden throughout this place."

"What do they lead us to?"

"It's not so much leading as it is pointing out hazards of each test you'll face. I found a lot of them, except the ones listed on that map. They appear invisible on my monitor, so I'm guessing Jigsaw wants to test your aptitude and perception as well. He probably wants to see how well you can adapt to unforeseen problems."

Minato frowned at that but said nothing. He looked around at each member of the team. They had a good thing going thus far, so he didn't want to risk upsetting things by saying something wrong or stupid that would ruin their chances of success. They had already encountered one hazard due to Benitsu's carelessness, unless being nearly ambushed by one of those pigheads counted as the second.

"Yeah, that seems quite accurate considering every test is supposed to teach us all some form of 'lesson'." he said with finger quotations. "Also, we found a bunch of keys when we were searching this place. What do we need them for?"

"The one Benitsubasa found unlocks the door behind you guys. It leads to a long hallway that breaks off into a cross little more than half way through it. At the end of each intersection is a keyhole corresponding to a specific color. You need them all to reveal the next piece of the map somewhere in the hub."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Not exactly..."

"What's the catch, Matsu?"

The entire thing is littered with pressure plates that trigger booby traps. That map you have? Find all the pieces and you can spot them all."

"I'm not sure if we have that kind of time on our hands to find them all, though." He cleared his throat. "In any case, just what kind of traps are we dealing with?"

"Giant spear headed lances that drop down from the ceiling. Same for the walls. You know, the usual."

Minato huffed out a breath. "How long do we have to get through them?"

"Not too long." she said regretfully. "I should be able to put the trap on a thirty second delay. After that, well, you know what happens then."

"We all get skewered Indiana Jones style?"

"Indeed."

"We might be able to beat it if we'd had some way of knowing which plates are traps and which ones aren't."

"That is true, but we don't have the time to disarm every plate. The clock is ticking for us all. Even if we took 10 minutes to get through them all, Jigsaw would just keep raising the stakes until we ran out of time anyway."

"What else are we dealing with?" He asked once again.

"The rooms leading to the final two pieces of the map have an electrified fence clinging to the walls, fire pillars, pressure plates that blow holes in your face, and half a dozen other ways to kill you, including more goons." She sighed. "The only place I don't have eyes on, surprisingly, is the corridor you need to go down to free me. I can see some, but I be there are too many to count in my current state of mind. And expect all of that once the path to me is revealed. Trust me, that map is essencial."

"Fire pillars?! Are you for real?!"

"Dead serious."

"He went through all this effort just to test me of all people? I still can't wrap my head around it." his eyes flashed open realizing something. "Won't those fire pillars set the whole place on fire given the crap under my sneakers?"

That particular area doesn't have any on the ground thankfully, though I'd recommend wiping off the soles of your shoes before going down it. Don't want to leave a trail, you know?"

"Fair point." Minato huffed out, making a mental note.

"Okay, good. Now what kind of plan are we supposed to come up with for crossing through it?" Haihane asked, tilting her head at the doors behind them. They couldn't even see the backside of the hallway as dark as a cavern during midnight.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing." Benitsubasa added. She looked down at the radio, arms folded. "Do we need to bring the keys #03 found with us?"

"Yes they'll deactivate the hazards surrounding my cell permanently as well as unlatch a tumbler on my cell door. In order to do it with time to spare, you need 3 people, one for each direction the hallway leads down: North, East, and West. One must also stay behind for reasons Jigsaw didn't reveal to me. You should both have nine keys with 3 different colors. Take three that don't match. You'll need to bring the lantern with you because the place is still very dark and you won't be able to see."

"Okay," Minato started, rubbing his chin as he tried to think of a solution. "So we head into the corridor until we reach that intersection and one has to stay behind."

"Sounds fine by me." Benitsubasa agreed.

"So, who stays behind?" Kazehana asked.

"My first instinct is to say the pipsqueak, but I say Haihane. Her hands are hurt badly. She might drop the key on accident."

"Can't say I didn't feel that coming, but you're right. I'd only be a burden with how I am at the moment." Haihane hissed, still licking her wounds like a gothic feline.

"No, Minato should be the one who stays put. We have the most to lose if he doesn't get out of there in time. Not only that but he doesn't have the speed of a Sekirei either." Kazehana argued.

"It's fine," Minato shook his head. "I'll go. We can't afford Haihane fumbling with the keys. Plus it's about time I started pulling my own weight around. These are my tests after all."

Kazehana looked at him concerned. "But Minato,"

"Let me face the danger. I'll be fine. Trust me."

"I do trust you, but..."

"But you think I'm going to die because I won't listen to your advice?" he finished.

Benitsu answered for her. "Pretty much. So you better not screw this up."

"I won't."

Taking the keys he stepped away from the table and mosied over to the hidden passage with the others following just behind him. His footfalls made barely a whisper across the hardwood floors of the room, almost like he was tiptoeing.

He paused at the entrance. "Is it safe to enter, Matsu?"

"Perfectly so, but once you enter the room a sensor will go off and start the game. Can't prevent that on my end I'm afraid. I'll only have access after the device is powered on by the sensor. Once that happens you'll see the place in action, and like I said before, you'll have 30 seconds to get in and out once I turn it off."

"Understood, thanks. Any more advice?"

"Stick to the plan, and run like hell when the trap stops. Good luck, everyone. Love you, Minato."

"Love you too, Matsu." He hangs up. "Well, let's do this."

He cracked the door, and after seeing no sign of anything immediately jumping at them, slowly pulled it wide open to reveal the darkness beyond. A few steps inside and they saw light ahead as if the path continued on into a new room. Just as Matsu said, a sensor went off coupons setting foot inside and a sea of spiked spears jut in and out of the ground and walls like the calm waves of a moonlit sea. It was almost mesmerizing to look at, like a tessaract.

"Well, this is certainly a sight." Benitsubasa enunciated, stepping past Minato and taking a look around. "This looks like a pretty badass trap." Benitsubasa said, inspecting the spikes.

"I don't think complimenting the trap is going to keep it from impaling us..." Minato deadpanned.

"Well, let's wipe off our feet and let booby brain do her stuff." she said, scraping her foot against a wooden stud she collected from the ground. Soon enough they were all ready and on their marks like olympian sprinters. Moments later, the spikes froze in place, then quickly descended into the floor.

"That's our cue!" Minato hollered, getting a head start on things and charging onward with no doubts in his mind. There was only 'the goal'.

"Right!" Benitsubasa and Kazehana nodded sternly and followed just behind him into the encompassing blackness.

Haihane gazed at them as the dim lantern's glow became fainter and fainter. From what she could see though they were already half way down the hallway. She jumped back, startled as a steel gate crashed down before her. "Oh crap!" she yelped. Their only way out of there was now sealed off, and she had a feeling the other corridors only led to dead ends.

"Haihane, are you alright?" Minato asked, turning to look at her once they reached the center.

"Y-yes, I'm fine. But you're trapped!" she said, hands gripping the bars. She immediately let go and waved them about the air to cool them down. It felt like they were on fire at times, especially when she touched stuff with 'give' to it.

"Did we trigger something?" Minato asked as Benitsubasa swiped away the lantern from him.

"Give it here and don't focus on her. We only have a few seconds to do this shit."

Haihane's vision became dark as the light disappeared down the left corridor only for her to return within four seconds. As the beam cam back, she noticed a glint in the corner of her eye. A valve-like wheel. Above it read 'gate control'. She held her hands to her face, knowing what she had to do to get them out.

"This is going to hurt…"

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A/N: So yeah, going into this chapter I had no idea what to do with it. I just decided to have a back-and-forth with an AI and see what I could make of it out of boredom. Computers certainly have come a long way. At the rate this is going, pulling off a 4-parter for this arc seems likely. Till then, I rest.