Finally, we start get to the good stuff. Now, we get to see what happens 9 years into the future. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

- - July 2027 - -

It's been almost 9 years since they've had to play that wretched game.

9. What an awful number.

Keiichi was right. Their mother did go mad when she found out what they had gone through – so mad that she had to be hospitalized, and then put into a mental institution. She passed away only a year after being institutionalized, much to Keiichi and Keiko's grief. Keiichi and Keiko were sent to live with their father during this time, though an insistent Keiichi moved out the moment he turned 18.

After the Nonary game, Keiichi went on to attend school in the United States, with his own money, got a degree in real estate, went to law school and became a real estate lawyer. He also does small contracting gigs on the side – much to his father's displeasure, as he was hoping that Keiichi could continue his legacy and be the heir to Cradle.

His father acted like none of the Nonary Game had happened – at least, his involvement in it. Keiichi realized that it was better off this way, so that Keiko wouldn't find out. She was already going to therapy and was doing much better than when she came back home from the Nonary Game.

Keiichi hasn't really seen the other players of the Nonary Game since then, with the exception of Rikona, her sister, Shika, and Aya. Aya, Shika, and Keiko became good friends after the Nonary Game, much to his father's displeasure.

And Rikona? She and Keiichi butt heads a lot, and she is still as bossy as ever, but ever since the Nonary Game, she has been a little softer with him and they have been good friends.

As he waits for the other line to answer, he stares longingly at the framed 4-leaf clover on his desk at the law office he works at – he has preserved it all of these years. And that is how he able to remind himself every day how much he has grown since the Nonary Game. It also reminds him that he needs to seek out the other players one day and meet with them.

"Crash Keys, huh?" he murmurs to himself, right before he hears a male voice answer on the other line.

- - August 2027 - -

It feels like Keiichi has been transported to 9 years ago, when he was in the Nonary Game, trying to escape the laboratory with Nona, Akane, and Aoi.

Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that he is in the laboratory in Building Q, with Nona, Akane, and Aoi currently.

Except, instead of trying to seek a way out of the room, they're sitting on the tile floor that they have just deep-cleaned and eating.

"We have the charming stockbroker who brings in the money to pull this shit off, we got the IT expert to sort out the technical details, we got the handyman who is also a lawyer to fix shit up and make sure everything carries out smoothly – "

"Aoi, I'm a real estate lawyer," Keiichi interrupts, as he swallows the chewed bits of his food, unbothered by its tastelessness. "I'm the one that was able to help you secure this building." Though, his occupation came in handy, it helps that he is the son of the original owner.

" – and we got the mastermind to plan the whole thing out," Aoi continues, ignoring Keiichi's clarification, "so, we can't go wrong with this." He takes a big bite out of his pizza.

Nona's face is pensive. "We're . . . we're almost like the four Cradle executives, if you think about it. But we're the good version of them."

Keiichi has never thought about it that way.

"Hmm," Akane hums.

"To a certain extent, yes." Aoi's voice is muffled from the food in his mouth.

Akane sighs, exasperated, and rolls her eyes. "Aoi, please, eat before you talk."

"Yes, ma'am!"

- - September 2027 - -

"This is so fucking gross," he mutters into his mask, as he dusts the insides of the drawers in the office.

A very, very loud shriek is heard from the Captain Quarters.

"What's wrong?!" Keiichi shouts, bursting into the room, seeing Aoi, with his own mask on his face, also run into the room from the pink door across from him.

A skeeved-out, squealing Nona scurries out of the room and through the door Keiichi. Before she goes through the doorway entirely, though, she pulls down her dust mask and points towards the desk with the televisions on top. "There are big-ass, dead cockroaches under that desk, and I'm not laying a finger on them!" Her voice is full of disgust. She makes her way out of the room, mumbling under breath how she's made for hacking and IT stuff, and not for cleaning out the closet.

Aoi chuckles to himself. "Akane says she's just like her mother. If she really is, then she's going to be a handful to deal with during the game."

"I'm not touching the dead roaches," Keiichi simply answers back, turning around to go back to cleaning the office – which causes Aoi's face to scowl. Keiichi knows better than to fall for his gateway into buttering him up.

"Aw, fuck you!"

- - October 2027 - -

"Keiichi, I need you to make a device for me. Look at these plans carefully and create it to the exact specifications, please."

"Holy shit, this is the Pushmaster 5000?! I was beginning to lose my mind wondering what the hell you were muttering on about that day in the Cargo Room."

"And, Nona, for the puzzle in the study . . . that last emblem's puzzle needs to be set to an 8 and a 9, instead of a 9 and a 9. And the only available numbers it can use are 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8."

"I'm on it!"

- - November 2nd, 2027; 10:18AM - -

Why Akane? The same thought has been running through Keiichi's mind all week, as it was 9 years from today that he had escaped the Gigantic with her and the others. Why was his father so obsessed with her throughout the Nonary Game in the first place? Why was Akane such an integral part to his plan that he ordered Keiichi to keep tabs on her?

He taps impatiently as he hears the repeated rings.

When he finally hears the soft, but assertive voice speaking on the other line, he smiles.

"Yes, hi, Jin, this is Keiichi Hongou."

"A-Ah! Hello, sir! What can I do for you?"

"Jin," he admonishes playfully.

Jin is his father's secretary, and Keiichi's old classmate from high school. Sometimes, Keiichi feels that his father hired Jin (offering her higher pay than his past secretaries) to simply spite him; regardless, they both know that she is extremely intelligent, capable, and deserving of the job.

"Oh, um, sorry. Keiichi." She giggles sweetly, which makes him grin widely. He enjoys teasing and flirting with her from time to time, since he simply can't resist himself – she's very shy and cute and he knows she has a little crush on him. He's not quite sure how he feels about her, but he occasionally likes to test the waters.

He chuckles. "That's better. Anyway, I was hoping to speak to my father. Is he free right now?"

Keiichi hears the secretary's breath hitch nervously. "No, ah, he isn't, right now, but – "

"Ah, of course, he is not free. Busy man, isn't he?" he mocks through gritted teeth. It's a lie, of course. His father is probably in his office, fucking his personal assistant. He wants to both laugh and retch at the thought – laugh, bitterly, because his father's sex life is faring far better than his own, and retch, because the man and his wrinkled balls are nearing 60 years old, and his personal assistant is only 10 years older than Keiichi and Jin. It is disgusting how people are willing to stoop so low for money.

"Is there something else you need besides family matters? You know that I can always help you, too."

He grins at Jin's eagerness. "Well, I need you to free up in his schedule for day after tomorrow. 9 hours. He has to attend Keiko's birthday lunch at my apartment and then we're going out somewhere special." Special. What an understatement.

"Wait, but Keiko's birthday is tomorrow."

"I'm aware."

Jin is silent, and Keiichi knows it's because she thinks it's not her place to say anything, even though he is giving her an open invitation to do so. "I . . . I, um, can cancel his meetings he has tomorrow."

A sardonic grin slowly spreads across his face. "No, don't worry, Jin, day after tomorrow is perfect."

Now, there is one more thing left to do.

- - November 3rd, 2018; 12:09PM - -

"You want to go out to dinner with me?"

Keiichi smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "If you'll have me, of course."

Rikona sits across from him in her office chair, her narrowed eyes scrutinizing him, as she crosses her arms over her chest. "What are you up to, Keiichi Hongou?"

"Nothing, Rikona." He frowns. "What's wrong with me asking you to come to dinner with me? Doesn't have to be a date."

"Something is definitely wrong here."

Keiichi's shoulders slump, an unexpected wave of rejection crashing over him – he is not accustomed to feeling this way. "You know, if you don't want go, just tell me."

Rikona's eyes widen and her cheeks flush in embarrassment. "Wait! Keiichi, I didn't think you were serious."

"I am." He sighs, giving a little pout, which causes her to groan in exasperation, but her eyes do soften.

"Fine! 7:30, tomorrow night. Take me wherever you want." A smirk begins to play on her lips. "I can't lie . . . I'll be looking forward to see how this turns out."

"I'm looking forward to it, too," he says softly. He truly means the words and it's slightly surprising. He gives her a small, awkward wave and she nods before turning around and walking away. He, too, begins to turn the way he came from.

"Keiichi?"

He turns back around to meet her grinning face. "Yeah?"

"Shika told me that it's Keiko's birthday today." Shika, Rikona's little sister, and Keiko were still best friends after all of these years – after they were kidnapped and put into Building Q for the Nonary Game, the two girls became especially inseparable. "Wish her a happy birthday from me."

"Thanks, Rikona." He smiles back amicably. "I will."

- - November 3rd, 2027; 7:45PM - -

While Keiichi is in the middle of internally debating with himself if he should buy an ice cream cake for Keiko or a regular cake, his phone buzzes with a text from Jin.

What are you guys doing for Keiko's birthday? It reads. Your father was asking how he should dress for tomorrow.

Keiko said she wants to go laser tagging for her birthday. Tell him to dress for a lot of running, he types back to her, biting back a smile.

At that moment, his sister walks to him, the heavy vest over her clothing, as her hands toy with the attached laser gun in her hands. "Are you texting Jin?"

His eyes widen. "How did you know?" he asks.

"You have that dumb-looking, goofy smile on your face that you always have when you talk to her," Keiko says slyly, nudging him playfully.

Keiichi rolls his eyes, exhaling. "Shut up, Keiko. You know it's not like that," he insists, playfully elbowing her back.

She shakes her head and sighs. "Yeah, right." Keiichi opens his mouth to counter back, but she interrupts him with a wide beam as she lifts up her gun, aimed at his vest. "Ready?" Her voice is full of excitement.

He grins, before shoving his phone back into his pocket, and then reaches to his right side to pick up the laser gun that hangs from his own vest. "Hell, yeah! It may be your birthday, but I'm not going easy on you. Prepare to have your ass kicked!"

"You're on!"

Hey, it's not like Keiichi was lying to Jin – she asked about Keiko's birthday plans and he answered her . . . and, plus, it is in his father's best interest if he wears clothes he can easily run around in tomorrow.