It was sundown when we reached the first city. We were sure we'd lost Aoi and Akane's vehicle within the first hour of the journey, and I became more and more worried as the time wore on. Throughout the ride Snake had seemed to sense my disappointment and gave me repeated reassuring pats on the shoulder. It didn't help.

Clover turned into the first hotel's parking lot and parked the SUV, bumping the curb before she could place the vehicle in Park and we all gasped in surprise.

"What was that?" Snake asked, rubbing his forehead where he'd hit the seat in front of him.

"Sh-shut up," said Clover, who sat blushing in the front seat. Lotus smiled at the younger girl but said nothing.

"We hit a curb," I said. "We parked in front of a hotel."

"Oh good," said Snake. "It would be nice to have a place to sleep decently well."

"Ya know, that sounds great," Seven said. "Except for the fact that we don't have any cash."

The group sat in silence for a moment as they processed that sobering thought.

"Maybe Aoi left some money for us," I said, a little bit hopeful.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure they just stuffed some cash in Hongou's pocket just for us," Clover said, the sarcasm falling like a waterfall from her words.

"Or maybe just the glovebox," said Snake, calmly. "Lotus, if you would?"

Lotus turned on the dome light and checked the glove box. She turned around, grasping a large wad of $100 bills held together with a rubber band. "Looks like the kid was right," she said, flipping through the bills. A silent thud followed by a surprised yelp came from her. She held up an old cell phone. "What the...?"

"Probably for him to contact us," said Seven. "A burner phone from the looks of it."

"I wonder why we wants to talk to us," I said. "Well, we can think about that more later. Let's go inside and sleep."

The others agreed. We debated about bring Hongou in, but decided it was the humane thing to do and ended up temporarily untying him until he was in the room. We also had to figure out who has the best English skills, and it happened to be Clover, who had most recently taken English classes in high school. Through Clover's limited English skills we were able to get three rooms; one for the girls and two for the guys to split. Seven chose to room up with Hongou, for fairly obvious reasons. That left me with Snake.

We all settled into our rooms, making audible sighs of relief as we lay in our beds. They were cozy rooms with two beds, a dresser, and a TV. I had claimed the one closest to the door, right after Snake had claimed the one closest to the far wall because "if someone comes in, I wouldn't be able to see them." Great logic there, buddy.

"Want the TV on?" I asked my partner.

Snake shrugged. "Nothing would catch my eye," he said, a slight smile on his face. I groaned in response and left the TV off. It'd all be in English anyway; just background noise that would make it harder to sleep.

"She likes you, you know."

I sat up in the bed and saw Snake facing me. "What?" I asked. "Who?"

"Clover," said Snake. "She likes you."

I sat in silence for a minute. I knew she did; she showed all the signs. And honestly, I thought she was cute. But I didn't want to lead her on if Akane still had feelings for me. But I had to break the silence.

"What about you?" I tried to be calm so his superhearing wouldn't pick up any reaction. But I knew it was a futile attempt and he had heard my heartrate increase.

"Junpei, I may be her older brother, but I can't tell her what to do or who to date." He sighed. "But honestly, I don't know. We spent nine hours together in a stressful environment and then another few hours in a cramped car. But that's not really enough to know someone well enough for a seal of approval." He sighed. "But it also seems like you still have feelings for another girl, so I will delay my judgment for another time." We sat in silence for a few seconds before he lay back down. "Come on, let's try to sleep."

I was about to turn off the light when Snake sat up, facing the door. Less than a second later, someone knocked. I got up and answered it.

"Hey, Jumpy."

It was a whisper, but the sound broke my heart. For in front of me stood Clover, not Akane. She seemed to see my face fall and I could see the regret quickly show on her features.

"Oh my god," she said quietly. "I didn't think you would take it like that!"

"Why are you whispering," Snake said from his bed. "You know I can hear you, right?"

"Oh, shut up," said Clover. She turned back to me, her worry evident. "Look, I just wanted to know if you wanted to go outside and talk a little bit. You don't have to..." She shrugged.

I thought back to what Snake had said earlier and wondered what the best course of action would be. Yes, I wanted to know Clover better, but at the same time, knowing that she had feeling for me that I didn't even know if I reciprocated and spending alone time with her... it didn't seem smart. But on the other hand...

"Alright," I said. "But we can't stay out too long." I saw Clover practically leap for joy as I turned around to get my room key. Snake looked less than pleased, but said nothing as I exited the room to join his sister.