Day 67: Breakfast

[knightspirit]

For the first time since Kyousuke arrived, waking up didn't feel the slightest bit strange or out of place. It was still like night had suddenly stopped, with nothing in-between then and now, but instead of being disorienting, or like there was something missing, it was like waking up from a nightmare. His breaths came heavy and anxious, everything flooding back to him, but unlike last night, he had more mental clarity, and he actually understood what it meant.

Sora... was dead.

After a moment, his breathing seemed to ease up, and he sat up slowly, and simply stared down at his blanket. The motion hurt quite a bit, a lot worse than it had yesterday morning, but he seemed to be in decent shape, all considered. Sore, battered, a little faint, but compared to worst of it...

He wondered if he should feel upset right now, or want to yell, or cry, but the truth was, he didn't. If anything, he was just numb. Tired and listless. He wasn't sure what to think or feel about anything, but somehow it seemed distant and disconnected, like something that hadn't actually happened. Yet, if he lingered on it too long, the lifelessness grew into something nauseating, heavy and constricting in his chest, and he didn't even notice until he realized he was gripping his bedding unnecessarily hard. So he forced himself to relax, and not focus on it too much. ... He preferred the cold sort of nothingness.

When the nurse arrived, she wasn't empty-handed, unfolding a wheelchair by his bedside and looking at him expectantly, as if she wanted him to settle himself into it. Looking at it was strange and uncomfortable, and he found himself refusing automatically.

"... I can walk fine. I don't need—"

"What you don't need," the nurse said sternly, "is to be overexerting yourself. You got to walk around yesterday, and what do you do? You go and reopen your injuries! Honestly, Mr. Taylor, you might be young, but you need to take better care of yourself! Today, you're resting, and if you're good about it, we'll see about maybe taking the chair away tomorrow."

That was bad enough, but then she wouldn't even let him wheel himself, and pushed him along from behind. This was totally unnecessary... But though it made him feel helpless, Kyousuke didn't have the energy to argue, so he let her do what she wanted. She asked if he wanted to make a quick trip the bulletin, first, but... Would the news be there? There were people who deserved to know, but there would be reactions to it, questions he didn't want to answer, and feeling his stomach give a lurch, he decided he didn't want to deal with it. Any of it.

Once in the cafeteria, the nurse asked him about breakfast, but Kyousuke insisted he wasn't hungry. ... He wasn't. Sensing he wanted to be left alone, she wheeled him off to an easily overlooked portion of the cafeteria, but quickly returned, setting food and some juice in front of him, "just in case." She set a small paper cup with a couple of painkillers on the tray, and after that, she left, leaving the boy to stare down the meal he didn't really want.

[ Kratos! ]

Comments

end game t&b spoilers coming through

[voiceofthanatos]

Yuri couldn't have cared much about HeroTv's former golden boy either. But he was a civil servant towards the city, and Barnaby had a hand in thwating Maverick's plans so he had to at least pretend he cared about Barnaby's well being too.

Yuri sliced a few more bites of his waffle apart, eating a small piece of his breakfast while he listened to Barnaby's concerns. He had a few of his own, but would allow Barnaby to take the lead for now.

"That would be Riley Poole. An American, a few years older than you however I don't trust him completely. Have you seen him before?" Riley's slightly grizzled appearance did raise a few eyebrows Yuri, but otherwise nothing else to write home about. Still by default, he couldn't really put an ounce of trust into anybody here so he kept his things under tight lock and key.

[baniichan]

"We haven't met, no," Barnaby answered. "I've likely seen him in passing, though." There were a lot of patients, yes, but they all spent enough shifts together in the same room. Of course, it came as no surprise that Petrov was slow to trust his roommate. Some of the stories floating around here were enough to put anyone on guard, even under the best of circumstances.

As much as he didn't feel like eating, Barnaby brought a bite of waffles to his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was draw extra attention from patients and nurses alike.

"At any rate, I'm pleased to see that you're unharmed," he added. The farther they could keep the judge away from the terrors of the institute, the better off they would be. He didn't particularly relish in the idea of having another load on their backs while he and his partner searched for an escape route.

[voiceofthanatos]

Fortunately Yuri hadn't run into somebody who give him too much trouble. And if they did, well that would result in a barbecue courtesy of himself. He sipped his drink, nodding at Barnaby's responses. Now he had some questions of his own to raise.

"How is Kotetsu faring?" He hadn't even seen a glimpse of the old guy yet. "And have you found any new information since we last spoke?" This was important to him, especially if they found any clues to escaping this hell.

[baniichan]

"We were separated last night due to the sudden appearance of one of the creatures I mentioned yesterday," Barnaby explained. It wasn't untrue, exactly, even if he didn't divulge all of the details. "I informed him about your arrival, though, so I imagine he'll be speaking with you soon."

Provided nothing had happened to him last night, at any rate. Barnaby trusted Kotetsu, but he also knew the institute had them all at a terrible disadvantage. Even if there was nothing he could have done about it, part of him felt unhappy that his partner had gone out there, alone, on his behalf.

"You should probably know that the nurses use that name for him," he quietly added. "When talking with other patients, he's been using a couple of aliases for his own reasons."

oops he meant to call Kotetsu Mr. Kaburagi I just now realized that

[voiceofthanatos]

"I see. Well I expect him to make his way back soon." He didn't care either way. The old man was stubborn and even if he had gotten lost he would just break everything in sight until he realized there was a door just five feet away.

"Should I use another name for him, Mr. Brooks? Perhaps Wild Tiger, but that pseudonym is no longer in use since his retirement announcement." He asked, looking at Barnaby with his usual dead looking eyes.

okay, gotcha!

[baniichan]

"Patients here know him as either Wild Tiger or Kobayashi," he answered. The name was apparently retired now, but Barnaby suspected that he'd hoped to boost morale by announcing that a former hero was in their midst. After all, they were his primary concern right now, and there was nothing to hide from the staff when it was clear they knew about his background already.

Of course, his efforts meant very little when no one recognized either of them.

"Perhaps you should ask what he'd prefer for you to do when you see him," Barnaby suggested. Because Petrov would see him, he told himself. It was only a matter of time before the nurses escorted Kotetsu out of his room as they usually did.

But now wasn't the time to continue talking about Kotetsu. There was little else Barnaby could say outside of what he'd already told the judge, and he had little interest in needlessly repeating himself.

He carefully took another bite of his waffles and gazed at the man across from him. "Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?"

[voiceofthanatos]

Kobayashi? Strange, but at least it fit in with his Japanese descent. No matter, he would continue to refer to him as his legal name with Barnaby and hero name to the others until they could arrange a proper meeting. If they could find him after all.

Yuri poured a small dab of honey into his tea again. It wasn't sweetened enough for his tastes, but he beckoned Barnaby to continue. "If you don't have anymore information to disclose to me, go on ahead. But I know little about this facility and certain records back home are subjected to confidentiality rules."

[baniichan]

"Of course." He knew better than to ask someone who had only arrived yesterday for information about this place. And, unfortunately, Barnaby couldn't say he had much else to share with Petrov that wasn't speculation or something he hadn't been able to verify himself.

"I'm mostly wondering about the state of things back home right before you were kidnapped by the institute." Some of Petrov's comments before sounded as though something had happened, but of course Barnaby couldn't let himself act like he was completely clueless. On the other hand, if Stern Bild was currently experiencing some sort of upheaval, Barnaby wanted to know about it.

"Since neither of us are sure about how long we were held before the staff allowed us to wake up in our cells, I'm trying to get a better idea of what I might have missed after my own kidnapping," he added for clarification's sake.

[voiceofthanatos]

Yuri didn't know much more than what Barnaby already knew. That was of course assuming he was the same person who was present during all the events last night and the morning. Unfortunately Yuri wasn't going to be kind and skim around those details. Barnaby deserved nothing but the uttermost truth.

"Well as you know Maverick was transported to a high security NEXT prison. But only halfway through his journey, he was found murdered inside of the van that transported him. Eye witness reports have told us that Lunatic was again behind this murder and still remains at large." He said this so calmly, as if discussing the weather. But inside he was smug that he had reduced the sinner to almost nothing.

[baniichan]

Barnaby struggled to fully process Judge Petrov's words. Out of all the things he'd expected to hear about (a terrorist attack, a high-profile bank robbery, a natural disaster), the arrest and death of Albert Maverick hadn't even crossed his mind.

The thought was outrageous. Maverick tirelessly worked for the acceptance of NEXT everywhere and the safety of Stern Bild. He would never do something that would land him in prison, much less a high-security one. He wasn't even a NEXT! And for Lunatic to murder him? There had to be some kind of mistake. Even if the story was true, Maverick was surely framed for something he didn't do.

If that was the case, though, wouldn't Barnaby have tried to stop it? Retired or not, he owed everything to Maverick. There was no way he would have allowed something like that to happen to the man who had practically raised him.

But Barnaby knew for a fact that his own memories couldn't be trusted, and that his perception of reality wasn't always correct. The fact that he couldn't confidently refute Petrov's claim, not even to himself, felt like a knife to the chest.

What on earth was going on? What was wrong with him?

Barnaby felt the color drain from his face as his stomach grew increasingly nauseated. He didn't even try to pretend to be interested in his waffles as the fork almost slipped from his hand.

"I wasn't...informed of his death," he managed to say after a moment. To his credit, Barnaby stayed composed as he spoke, knowing that it would be shameful to reveal his memory loss to the judge. He just had to keep telling himself that there were several perfectly rational explanations for all of this. The effort, though, sapped more energy than he needed to expend today, and he knew the uncertainty would plague him until he had a chance to talk to Kotetsu about all of this.

[voiceofthanatos]

Hiding it at this point wasn't going to do a lot of good. Yuri kind of suspected he suffered some form of it thanks to Maverick's powers being broadcasted everywhere now. Now he was just going to twist the knife in Barnaby's heart a little more.

"I know it must be hard on you to lose him. He was your godfather, am I correct? While I am disappointed that he never found proper justice, one day Lunatic will be apprehended." The last part was a complete lie, but Yuri tried to fake sympathy.

Then he went back to cutting up his food, as he was hungry while he discussed these events. "Is there anything else you need to know from me?" Fortunately he hadn't found out that Barnaby didn't even experience certain events yet.