Aoi couldnât sleep. Even though the nine hours that would seal his sisterâs fate were at hand, the setting finally completed, the players already in place, his mind wasnât at peace. The soreness of his muscles felt oddly nice compared to the mess his mind was in. While carrying most of the players inside their respective rooms of the Nevada building had been easy enough, some of them, namely Hongou and Seven still had been more than the white-haired man possibly handle. He had managed nonetheless though not without help from his subordinates.Â
Jumbled thoughts were on the game obviously, the one that would save his sisterâs life for good though a dangerous bet for both of them as well as those they had involved in the Nonary Game. Akaneâs abilities had already been able to envision the different outcomes and this was the very reason for his worries. Even though the white-haired man perfectly knew what he was to do, how he would need to act for the plan to go as planned and was fully ready to play his part while trusting Akane to magnificently act hers, there were too many random factors. Junpei, the only one they truly needed to reach the incinerator to save the little girl who should have died nine years back, was too unpredictable as he would be the one to decide the doors they would go through, any wrong choices proving to be a mistake that would cost him his sisterâs life. There were Clover and Hongou as well, two unknown variables that might come to end up all of their lives on the spot depending on the circumstances.
Though eyelids remained closed, the mere idea that he needed to keep acting his part, to go on with the flow even though he would know if the other playerâs actions would be leading them toward a failure distressed Aoi. No matter how much he wished the First Nonary game hadnât ended up as it did, there was no going back. No matter how much he wished he could have saved his sister on this day instead if standing at the other side of the incinerator door, he had been powerless to do so and might soon pay a high price for it.Â
In the end, the white-haired man didnât get any rest before heading to the Nevada building alongside his sister, not uttering a word to her as they drove in its direction, not wishing to think that  this might be the last time he would see Akane. Nonetheless, before splitting up to their respective rooms, putting on their bracelets, Aoi put a kiss on her forehead, giving her a small reassuring smile. âWeâll succeed!â Even though it might have been selfish of him, the confident words hadnât been so much for Akane but for him who didnât wish to see his sister die.Â
These had been the most excruciating hours of his life, to be only able to stand and watch June getting more and more feverish as the clock tickled, being able to do naught as he let Junpei be alongside her, a necessity for their act to work out as it should for they were not supposed to know each other least being siblings. However, everything they had done had been in vain. Akane was gone, vanished into thin air in front of the door 9 once their time was up.Â
    âGame Over. This game had ended.â
          âIt matters not. The loser had been decided.â
                                     âI⌠have lost.â
To Aoi, this had been the worst of the possible outcomes for it was the only one where he wouldnât have died alongside his sister, causing more casualties than they had wished for. While Gentarou Hongou had deserved his fate, the Field siblings hadnât and, even if it truly wasnât his place as he had been the one to involve them, he couldnât help but feel remorse for they would never have ended up stabbed to death or incinerated if the game had never took place. He nonetheless repressed those emotions as his despair at loosing Akane was much greater than any pity he could have felt for anyone else.
Even though the smoke grenades had been enough to put the players that remained to sleep, carrying them to his car to lead them to the closest town hadnât been that easy and itâs only as he laid on the bed of an hotel he had found nearby, now alone with only his thoughts that he truly realized that Akane was gone. Tears didnât flow, azure eyes unfocussedly staring at a point in space, lips parted, his mind blank from the sudden realisation. He was alone. He had no one else in the world now, the crushing despair overtaking him being enough to numb his mind. The past nine hours had gone too fast for his brain to process what had truly transpired of them, only the result begin displayed in front of his very eyes.Â
It took him hours to step out of his trance, only being able to mourn his loss days later when he had been overtaken by the need of screaming out of his lungs as well as crying until he had no more tears to shed. Aoi knew of the future, he knew the AB project supposed to save the world from the Radical-6 virus would never come to fruition in this timeline and couldnât find any reason to live even though he cattered to his bodyâs daily needs in order to survive. He was but a former shell of what Aoi Kurashiki had been⌠Until the very day he pointed a gun to his temple, not a concious reaction, simply the Radical-6 virusâ effect he had no intention of fighting, pulling the trigger, leaving this world with a smile on his face for he would finally be able to join the person who had been his sole reason for living for all these years. Â
