After freeing Kyora, the group moved on to the next stage. As they entered the compartment as instructed, Jon's eyes caught sight of the cola bottles in polyethylene on the surface, exactly as he had requested from Zel. He eagerly grabbed them, and to their surprise, they discovered four doors in various colors when they entered the next compartment.
Kyora stuttered, "W-what's t-this?"
Germon replied, "I'm not sure. The only one who can enlighten us about this is the host of this stage."
"I hope this time we don't have a strange host," said Ashya.
Jon, caught red-handed drinking the cola, turned around to see a man and woman in cloaks, proclaiming in unison, "Love! Love! Love! Bow down, children, to our love."
Ashya's suspicions immediately arose. "Look. I knew it," she said.
Germon asked the couple, "Who are you?"
This prompted the host to reveal themselves, the man and woman standing above one of the doors holding hands.
The woman introduced her partner, "Meet my only love - Yura. His love for me is beyond compare."
The man introduced his partner, "My only love and forever will be - Yuma. Her love is as charming as the stars around the moon."
"Lame!" Jon exclaimed as he took another swig of cola.
Yura's eyes flared with anger as he asked, "Did my ears deceive me or did someone call my love lame? I dare you to repeat it."
Jon, with a nonchalant expression, replied, "If you insist, your love is lame. Asuna and Kirito were much better than you."
Yura was fuming with anger. "Who are they?" he asked.
Jon just smirked and said, "I won't tell you, but all I know is that your love is lame."
Yuma, seeing Yura's frustration, gently intervened with a smooch on his cheeks. "It's okay, dear. That child will never understand our love. Our love is unexpected," she said with a smile.
"They'll learn about it once the game starts. And if they lose, they'll pay the price," Yuma says with a mischievous smile.
Germon interjects, "We were just about to ask about the game. Could you tell us more about it?"
"Sure thing. We'll explain the rules together," Yura replies.
Yuma begins, "The game is called 'Say but not as the crow flies,' and it involves all of you. As you can see, there are four doors of different colors, each leading to a different room in a house made of our love."
Yura continues, "You have to choose a door and enter the corresponding room. There, you'll find a telephone with three colored buttons representing the other three doors. You have to call your friends and ask about their room without revealing your own, using subtle hints and hidden meanings. But you only have ten calls, and you can't call the same person consecutively."
Yuma adds, "If you accidentally reveal too much, your room will start shrinking, even if the friend you're calling is busy."
Yura finishes the explanation, "The objective is to get information about all the rooms and figure out the four-digit code to open the main door. But you can't leave alone; the main door will only open with the correct code when all of you are together. You have two hours to complete the game."
Kyora stutters, "It sounds a little scary, doesn't it?"
Germon reassures her, "Don't worry, we'll figure it out."
Each of them chooses a different color door: Kyora chooses blue, Jon chooses black, Germon chooses green, and Ashya chooses red.
"Good luck with the game. We'll leave you to it," Yura and Yuma say as they exit the room, leaving the four friends to their fate.
Kyora chose the blue door and stepped into a spacious kitchen with a cool blue hue. The room was tidy, with just a few items scattered on the counters. A telephone rested on the dining table, and she picked it up. "Hmm. Amazing!" Kyora said, admiring the room's simplicity. "It's so quiet here, and my stutter has stopped. This is just what I needed."
Jon opted for the black door, but the moment he stepped through it, he was bewildered. He found himself standing in a small, brightly lit bathroom with a telephone sitting on a side table. "Huh! What's the matter, why am I in the washroom?" Jon muttered to himself, looking around in confusion.
Germon, on the other hand, chose the green door and found himself in a massive living room with emerald walls and a peculiar layout. The sofa sat in the middle of the room, with a telephone on a table opposite it. Germon sank onto the sofa, feeling the softness of the cushions beneath him. He spotted a magazine next to the phone and grabbed it. "Good! Magazine," he said, flipping through the pages. In her room,
Ashya felt a sense of calm wash over her as she lay on the bed. "Whoa! Wow! I thought I'd never feel this vibe," she said, taking in the serene atmosphere. "And that fish pot is just lovely. Oh! There's a telephone on the desk." She got up and picked up the phone. "I could get used to this."
But Jon wasn't content with his room. "That's not right. I'm going to ask for a swap," he said, pacing back and forth in his tiny bathroom.
"Hmm! Whom should I call?" He reached for the phone on the side table and pressed the green button, remembering that Germon had chosen the green door.
The phone in the living room rang, and Germon picked it up, hearing a startling noise coming through the line. "Hello?" he answered, puzzled.
"Switch places with me, Germon," Jon shouted into the phone.
"What's wrong with you, Jon?" Germon asked.
"I don't want to be in the washroom. By the way, what kind of room are you in?" Jon asked.
Germon smirked, "I won't tell you." "Why?"
Jon inquired, but he suddenly noticed that his room was shrinking. "Oh shit! I forgot the rule."
Germon teased, "That room is the best for you because after drinking all of those colas, you'll need it!"
As the two minutes were up, Jon's line cut off. Ashya picked up the phone in her room. "Let's call her - Kyora-sis."
She pressed the blue button, but the line was busy, and her room started shrinking. "Huh! Who is she talking to?" Ashya asked herself, feeling uneasy.
After speaking with Jon, Germon's phone rang. "Hello?" he answered.
"Hey, it's Kyora. How's your room?" Kyora asked.
Kyora smiled warmly at Germon and asked, "Would you like to eat something? I have plenty of delicious snacks in my room."
Germon, intrigued, replied, "No, thank you. I'm busy playing with this printed paper in my hand and this puffy thing around my butt."
Kyora chuckled at Germon's playful nature. Ashya had been trying to call Kyora for the past few minutes, but the phone just kept ringing. Frustrated, she pressed the black button and Jon answered. His voice was barely audible, so Ashya asked, "Why are you speaking so low?"
"I don't want to drown. I don't want to die," Jon replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Stop your crap! Before I start yelling," Ashya retorted, growing more irritated by the minute.
Jon then asked, "So why don't you share something about your room?"
Ashya rolled her eyes. "Mmm-hmm! The vibe is like I'm in my room," she replied, hoping to move the conversation along.
"Okay! Got it. Then bye," Jon said before quickly hanging up the phone. Jon wandered through the different rooms, observing each one as he passed.
"Hmm! Ashya is in the bedroom," he thought to himself. Meanwhile,
Germon sat in his own room, pondering where everyone else might be. "So Jon is in the washroom, and Kyora-sister is in the kitchen. If I had to guess, maybe Ashya is in the bedroom?" he mused.
Kyora was also trying to calculate her friends. "Looks like Germon is in the bedroom," she thought to herself, peering around the room for any signs of her friends.
"Okay! Let's call Ashya to confirm," Germon suggested himself. Germon pressed the red button to call Ashya, but the line was busy. Annoyed, he began pacing around the room, which felt like it was closing in on him. Finally, Ashya called Kyora back, relieved to hear her friend's voice. "Finally! You picked up, Kyora-sis."
"I'm sorry about that. I was talking with Germon," Kyora explained.
"Hmm! I was also just pissed off by Jon. But tell me, what's your room like? And Germon's?" Ashya inquired, eager to hear more about her friends' surroundings.
Kyora repeated the same thing she had told Germon before. "Germon told me his butt is on bloated things," she added. Before that, Ashya had spoken, but the line was cut off.
Germon tried calling Ashya but pressed black button which was Jon's room, and when he answered, Jon asked him to describe something in his room.
"Tell me something about your room, Germon," Jon said.
Germon looked around his room and described it. "It's a huge space - you might even call it the starting point of the house."
"Okay, bye now," Germon said, about to hang up.
"Wait!" Jon said. And continuing, "First, tell me something odd or even in your room because if I'm not wrong, we'll have to figure out the code number by that."
Germon thought for a moment but couldn't come up with anything odd or even. Two minutes passed, and Jon was still waiting for a response.
"I don't see anything odd or even in my room," Germon finally said.
"That's not it," Jon said. "Maybe the way to get the code number is to look for unusual stuff in the room." But the call got cut off in the middle, which left Germon unheard what Jon said after that's not it.
Jon figured out the code number and someone congratulated him. "Wonderful! Brat, I didn't expect you to be the first to figure it out. But well done!" a voice said.
Jon recognized the voice. "Oh, you again, the person talking about fake love - Yura if I'm not mistaken."
"Yeah! I was thinking of asking why you're calling my love fake," Yura said.
"I don't know, but that's how I felt," Jon replied.
"Whatever, just go and write down your number," Yura said.
Jon went to the screen and wrote down his number and the screen lit green triumphantly.
Before leaving, Yura warned Jon not to directly tell his friends about the code number. "Don't ever think of directly telling your friends how to get the code number. Because now your room won't shrink, but if you tell them, their room will shrink by double the speed," Yura said.
"Don't worry about it. I already have something on my mind," Jon said confidently.
"Okay! Show me how you will tell them. Now, I'm taking my leave. Best of luck!" Yura said and left.
Jon was confident that he had the plan to share the code number without risking his friends' rooms shrinking. The next chapter would reveal Jon's plan.