More than anything, it was the roll of nausea that was the hardest to ignore. Orihime tried, reminding herself again and again that they'd wasted enough time already -- that as the seconds ticked by, Ishida-kun was left to the perils of experiments and unknowns. But as Vantas-kun and... Lloyd-kun continued worrying over her, the bits of adrenaline still remaining in her system were flagged back into far greater waves of exhaustion; it took all she had not to submit to the heaviness still clinging to her limbs.

"He didn't draw a map of the second floor, but... none of the rooms he drew on the first floor looked promising. Perhaps you could look, Lloyd-kun, after all..." I could be wrong, stuck to her tongue, made it difficult for her to continue as she shot the boy a meaningful look. She swallowed the lump in her throat; her hand gripped the belly of her sweatshirt. "I know... If I'm too tired, I'd only get in the way. But I'm not," I've been through worse -- "and besides -- Ishida-kun would do the same and more."

"We're friends and," she steeled herself, her voice hardening, "I have to do this. No more fooling around."

With that, she turned to Vantas-kun; her tone was serious, but her eyes were bright.

"If Vantas-kun prefers, he can stay here with his head up a recuperacoon for the rest of the night."