Numberblocks | 99

He made the tens form a staircase: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90. And the nine leftover ones? He sprinkled them like droplets over the staircase.

From that day on, Numberblock Ninety-Nine didn't worry about being a simple rectangle. He knew he was the bridge to One Hundred, the master of elevens, and the only Numberblock who could make it rain math. And every time he did, the others would shout, "Look! It's Ninety-Nine—making a hundred feel just a splash away!"

The parade ground went silent, then erupted in cheers. "A waterfall! A number rain!" numberblocks 99

Ninety-Nine looked at his own blocks. Nine rows of eleven. Suddenly, he had an idea. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Instead of staying as a solid rectangle, he split his top row of eleven into 10 and 1. Then he shifted the 1 down. He took another row and did the same.

Numberblock Ninety-Nine was nervous. He was a tall, two-digit block, colored a deep, thoughtful indigo with nine rows of eleven blocks, arranged as a perfect 9x11 rectangle. He watched as smaller blocks like Seven twirled into a hexagon, and Twelve bustled into three different rectangles (3x4, 2x6, and 1x12) in a flash. He made the tens form a staircase: 10,

"You’re the biggest Numberblock that is one less than a hundred!" Seven said. "When you’re around, One Hundred feels complete. But also… you can make rain!"

Ninety-Nine sighed. "I think I only have those two arrangements: 1x99, 3x33, 9x11... and that’s it. I’m not very flexible." He felt a bit plain compared to the dancing, shape-shifting smaller numbers. From that day on, Numberblock Ninety-Nine didn't worry

"Rain?" Ninety-Nine blinked.