Part 46: Large hospital room 5
[Music: Riddle and Puzzle]
Okay. [7] it is.
Yeah. All right then, that means June's gotta go through [8].
What?! Why?!
What...?Santa grimaced, and muttered angrily to himself, but finally began to explain.
If the 6 of us are gonna keep going without leaving anyone behind...
Gonna cut Santa off right here. Aside from swapping 7 and 8 in a few text boxes this scene proceeds identically to when we went through 8 instead.
...Of course, that affects all of like 2 lines so, of course, you can't skip through everything else for some bizarre reason.
[Music: Silence]
You guys ready? Yeah...
Yes... Okay. Let's go.
The door had opened. A narrow hallway stretched out before them.
Seven and Clover leapt through the door.
The moment they did, their bracelets beeped. The detonators in the bracelets had been activated.
Junpei stepped forward to follow them...
But as he was about to step over the threshold, he stopped.
Their eyes met. They nodded.
Their farewell took almost 1.5 seconds.
Then someone took hold of Junpei's arms, and hauled him bodily through the door.
He heard the sound of the numbered door slam shut behind him.
[Music: Foreboding]
Only 81 seconds left! No time to waste, guys! Let's get movin'!Seven lead the way down the hallway.
Junpei and Clover followed him, as fast as they could.
There was no time to rest, or catch their breath.
All 3 slammed their hands, in quick succession, over the scanner panel on the DEAD.
[Music: Silence]
*Pant* *Pant* *Pant*...
*Pant*... *Pant*... *Pant*... *Pant*... *Pant*... *Pant*...Still trying to catch his breath, Seven leaned heavily against the wall.
It...stopped... It stopped...
His smile seemed forced, and a little crooked.
This is the 2nd time we've gone through one of these numbered doors, but... *Phew* You never really get used to it...He stood up straight, no longer out of breath, and wiped some of the sweat from his head and neck.
Clover smirked at him.
What!? What the hell did you just say!? Say it again. I dare you!
Y-You little--... You wanna die?
I'd like to see you try!
Hey, hey, calm down guys. This isn't the time for...uh...this.
It's not gonna do us any good.
Hmph.
Ugh. Gosh...Junpei sighed...
Sometimes, he wondered if the doors and the puzzles were really the greatest challenge they faced.
Wait here for a minute, all right? I'm gonna go see if there're any other doors.They didn't respond, but Junpei wasn't in the mood for a conversation anyway.
On the left was a single short hallway that terminated almost immediately at a thick iron wall. Junpei doubted the wall could be moved.
At last, he gave up, and returned to Seven, who was tapping lightly on the wooden door.
Yeah, looks like it.
Something about it made Junpei feel...nervous.
Well, there's no point to standin' around. Might as well go in and see what's waitin' for us.Seven grabbed the brass knob, and slowly opened the door.
Seven followed, with Clover right behind him.
Clover's curiosity got the better of her, and she darted past Junpei to peer around the screen.
[Music: Tinderbox]
Her scream nearly blew out Junpei's eardrums.
He and Seven ran toward Clover, to see what had frightened her.
They rounded the screen, and the cause of her outburst was immediately clear...
Is...is this a corpse!?It was something that looked...kind of like a human, lying across some sort of bed.
...No, not a bed. An operating table.
The table sat on a rusty steel lift, and a cluster of bright operating lights shown down on it from the ceiling.
Slowly, they approached.
As they got closer to the body, it became clear that it wasn't a body at all.
A...d-doll...?Clover did not look terribly comforted.
Slowly, she approached the operating table and looked, as intently as possible, from as far away as possible, at the thing.
*Phew*Junpei could see her relax.
You're right... It's only a doll. Man, it really scared me...She heaved a great sigh of relief, and wiped a few drops of sweat from her forehead.
Seven smirked.
Shut it! Don't you start with me, fatty! Oh, what's this? You want a piece of me, short stuff? Yeah, bring it on, you whale!
Hrm. Hmph.Junpei sighed, and shook his head.
Anyway, it looks like he's got something the 2 of you could stand to have a little more of.
Huh? Oh, this? You mean on his chest? Yeah.It was set a little higher than normal for a human body, but from the shape of the organ, there could be no doubt that it was a heart.
Why would there be a heart in a doll...? I don't think it's a doll.
Clover glared at him.
Anyway... How about we take a look around this place? Let's go! Okay...
Seven concept art #1