"What?" Suiseiseki cried, tugging on the hems of her dress in distress.
"What's the time limit?" Souseiseki put in with a frown.
"Who's not participating?" Shinichi asked.
"Calm down, everyone," Shinku said. Everyone calmed down, but Mitsuru who seemed unsurprised by her proclamation.
Souseiseki pressed her lips together. If some dolls can't participate, that can only mean that they weren't worthy to become Alice. And Father was certainly growing impatient, to have set a time limit. What if time ran out? Then would that mean there would be no Alice?
Souseiseki looked up at Shinku.
"Unfortunately, Father only told me that there would be a time limit and that some dolls wouldn't be participating – not exactly the time or the specific dolls," Shinku said, breaking the news to everyone.
"But, but then how are we supposed to know?" Suiseiseki asked, looking from Souseiseki to Shinku.
Souseiseki simply waited for Shinku's next words. She was definitely not finished and had something else to say.
"But he told me this," she said.
All heads turned back to her. Shinku's pigtails blew in the wind that had gotten chilly in moments. The blue sky grew dark.
"The second doll knows everything."
Katsutoshi sat on a broken doll's stomach with a smile. "Might I suggest renovation of your N field, Suigintou?" he said, looking around. "Maybe if your heart was to lighten, this world would get better too. I mean, I know Hinaichigo's world is full of-"
"Shut up," Suigintou snapped.
Katsutoshi stopped speaking and simply rolled his narrow blue eyes. He looked up at his floating Master. Since he had broken the news to her, she had begun to act a little strangely. He decided to let the news sink in for a while before she began to ask other questions.
So he simply waited.
Then Suigintou lowered herself and stood on the same broken doll's damaged legs, cracking them further.
"What else do you know that you haven't told me?" she said.
Katsutoshi shrugged casually. "Everything else," he said. "Father told me everything I need to know. You know, you're lucky to have me with you, none of the other dolls know much."
"Why did Father tell you and not the rest?" Suigintou demanded.
"That's one thing I don't know," he replied before looking Suigintou in the eyes. "Are you going to ask anything?"
Suigintou was caught off guard and hesitated.
She was unsure about what she was going to do. Katsutoshi was a gem, she knew. He was her biggest chance of meeting Father – but something in her was stopping her from asking the names of the dolls.
She thought about it for a while, before it came to her with a jolt. Instantly, she became angry.
Katsutoshi, seeing the change in her expression, stood up and walked a few steps back.
"If something's bothering you, take it out on that trash you're standing on and not me," he said.
But it wasn't much of a surprise when Suigintou didn't do anything, but instead step off the broken doll and take a step towards the doll in ice blue clothes.
"Tell me the names of the dolls not participating, Katsutoshi."
Said doll grinned widely before bowing. "Yes, master," he answered with a polite smile. "The doll's not participating are the following…the second, the sixth and the seventh dolls of Rozen."
"…" Suigintou suppressed a sigh of relief. She could still fight Shinku. So the dolls not participating are the weak…Hinaichigo and Kanaria, but Kirakishou was surprisingly out of question as well. Perhaps it was her lack of a body…but she could only assume.
"Want to know anything else, Suigintou?"
"Tell me the time limit and everything else you know relating to the Alice game," Suigintou demanded.
"Hm…the time limit is four days-"
"WHAT?" Suigintou took that badly and sent her feathered wings crashing into Katsutoshi as feathered wolves. Katsutoshi was slammed high into the wall behind him, wrapped around his torso with feathers. But he kept his grin on and hardly seemed affected by the sudden attack.
"My, a word of advice – if you want to see Father, you'll need me alive," he smiled.
Suigintou narrowed her eyes but drew back her wings with a glare. She hadn't meant to attack him anyway, she was simply startled.
Katsutoshi landed swiftly onto his feet.
"That's all, I guess," he finished. "That's all for the Alice game, but before you think you can dispose of me, know this: I have already devised a strategy in which you can promptly eliminate your opponents before even the third day is up."
Said opponents had gathered in Jun's room once again. Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, Shinku and the two Rozen Pages stood in a circle. Hinaichigo was pretty much blissfully unaware of anything, she was downstairs with Nori.
"We need to find Katsutoshi," Shinku said.
"Eh? Then you'll have to find Suigintou in her N-field again," Jun said.
"I can't go," the gardeners happened to speak in unison.
"Old man is waiting for us," Suiseiseki said with Souseiseki nodding.
"So I can only ask you to inform us of what you find, Shinku," Souseiseki said seriously. "Remember, Suigintou might not know that the Alice game is no longer a physical battle," she added after.
Shinku nodded before looking at the two male dolls in the room. "I assume you'll be going with your respective masters?"
The two nodded.
"Then it'll be just me," Shinku confirmed.
"Wait, Shinku! I'm going too," Jun said, jumping off the computer chair.
"No way," Shinku said. "I won't be gone any longer than 30 minutes anyway, you just make sure as my servant to keep Hinaichigo put."
"I can't do that, Shinku!"
The gardeners decided to leave them at their bickering and fly out Jun's still unfixed window and into the air with the Rozen Pages following after them.
Souseiseki sighed to herself. She hoped Shinku would be alright, and that she could find out things for their sake- even if they were competing against each other.
Meanwhile, Shinku was wondering in the dark world of Suigintou's again, waiting for her to show her face. But many minutes went by and the doll didn't show. Shinku grew tired of waiting so she flew up into the air to search for her. "Suigintou!" she called out, looking past broken dolls and cracked glass of clocks.
Then she heard a chuckle from behind her. She spun around and looked into eyes of the same blue as her own.
"Why do you search for my master when you're looking for me, Shinku?" Katsutoshi asked, standing in mid-air with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face.
A/N: Just wondering, who's your favourite Rozen Page?
Review, kay? :)