damned_institute | Day 71: Sun Room

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Day 71: Sun Room

For the first time in a long time, Sora woke up in a comfortable bed outfitted with sheets and pillows. It wasn't like the Landel's standard beds were even that nice, but after sleeping in various places in Farwell (generally not in anything bed-like), it was definitely a change.

Sora's eyes opened slowly -- blinking once, twice, and then taking in the white ceiling above him. Of course, he'd expected this. He'd asked for it, even. Now that he was back in the institute, though, he had to admit that he felt his stomach churn with the knowledge that he'd been caught once again, even if it was by choice.

That feeling was what got him up out of bed, but as he stood up he heard something fall to the ground. Right, it was that bone bracelet that the skeleton had given them! He'd said that it would take them right back to that underground lake area, which meant that Sora would be able to return to Farwell pretty easily. The question was, would he be able to take someone with him?

For now, though, he was really only focused on one thing, and that was getting back to his friends. Speaking of which, one such friend was laying in the bed opposite his. "Link," Sora said quietly, but he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to wake up his roommate. He'd just have to catch him later on in the day.

Instead, Sora quickly hid the bracelet, making a face as he was reminded of where the materials for it had probably come from. There wasn't much he could do about that, though.

A nurse stepped into the room and sent him a bright smile. "Matthew!" she greeted, as if he had never been gone. "Where would you like to go this morning, the chapel or the Sun Room?"

Sora needed to get to the bulletin board first and foremost, so the answer to that question was easy. The trip from his room to the Sun Room was one that he still remembered in perfect detail, but it was weird having to fall right back into this routine when he'd had a break from it for a few days.

Once there, Sora moved over to the bulletin, grabbing for a pen as he started to draft up a note. He was really looking forward to seeing all of his friends again, so it was too bad that none of them were here yet...

[For Tsurugi.]

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It was reassuring, especially for someone like Sora who had met a few of the rebels now and could tell that they were good people. If they made some kind of breakthrough, then they might even be able to stop Landel for good. That might be a long way off still, but Sora hoped that with the patients helping too, they might have a chance.

When asked about his radio, Sora frowned as he realized that he hadn't actually memorized the number yet. It hadn't seemed all that important when the only other person he'd known of who had one couldn't speak, but it was definitely something he was going to have to check now. "No, not really," he admitted after a pause, offering a sheepish smile. "I'll look at it tonight! What's yours?" So long as he had Tsurugi's number, he'd be able to contact him, right?

Though Sora wondered what he was going to do when night came around. Now that he knew about Farwell, the institute felt pretty constricting. He'd figure something out, though.

As for what else was going on with the rebels, Sora took a few moments to think it over. "Well, when the military was in charge here, the rebels were able to help flush them out. They had a few spies in the ranks!" It was pretty exciting just thinking back on it, even if there hadn't been any sign of those people since then. Harrington was one of them, right? Sora wondered what had happened to him.

So Sora didn't have his number yet, huh? Well, that was fine, since Kyousuke knew his own. That meant they'd still be able to contact each other, and he could just get Sora's later. "It's ten," he answered with a nod. The ace's number, like his soccer jersey, which he had to admit was a pretty weird coincidence, especially considering the other two frequencies he had were considerably higher. They must have made them all random instead of a certain order so there would be less interference, or something like that.

"The military was in charge here?" he asked, folding his arms in thought. "I heard this place gets backing from guys like that, but..." He guessed he shouldn't be particularly surprised, especially with the rumor he'd heard that they were actually tying to raise them into soldiers here. It was a little disturbing to think it went that far, but the opposite was true too. "It's impressive they managed to get in that far. That may be exactly what we need."

It had been a lot like this with Fifth Sector, too. They had the Resistance, made up of former leaders the soccer world and Megane's hacker corps acting as the intelligence and head of operations, while he and everyone at Raimon were the proverbial soldiers carrying everything out. Together, they might have the power to turn things around. Still...

"If they managed to chase those guys out, then why is Landel still here? Couldn't they have prevented that?" he asked with a frown. Maybe they just weren't that strong yet. Or could it be the Head Doctor was actually doing something like Gouenji-san had been? .... Yeah, right. There was no way that guy was actually moving things from the shadows.

Well, that was easy to remember. Ten. Nice and simple. Sora nodded, making a note to himself to try and use the radio to talk to Tsurugi when he got back to his room tonight. He thought it would be pretty neat if they could keep in contact even while they wandered around different parts of the institute. It would definitely cut down on how much he worried about others. Sora didn't know how many other patients had actually gotten their hands on one, though.

It was no surprise that his explanation had only led to more questions. Sora didn't know if he was the best source for all of this, but he had been around for it, so it was better than nothing. "Well, they came in and took over, basically firing Landel because they didn't think he was handling things properly.

"The rebels worked to take the military out of power, but that made space for Landel to move back in. So even if it got rid of the general and his men, then we were just forced back to where we started." Which made it sound like it had been a pointless exercise, but Sora didn't think so. It had taught them a little bit more about this world and how it worked, at least.

"We need to figure out how to block Landel's power like they did. If we can do that, then we'd actually have a real chance of stopping him." Sora was no good when it came to that kind of thing, though, so he wasn't even sure where to start with it.

When Kyousuke heard the military wasn't satisfied with Landel, he snorted. ... That made two of them. But obviously, it was for different reasons, so it was probably for the best they weren't around any longer. "... So he slipped back in through the cracks. That's too bad, but at least it means we can push people back out." That was the important thing.

Of course, just how to go about doing that was a lot more complicated. "We'll just have to keep looking," he said. "This place is set up to limit what we can do, but there must be some way we can turn that against him. If we can find the secret to that..."

He shook his head. It was easy enough to say, but it was nothing but conjecture, and no matter how he looked at it, there was just no way to implement it. It required some resources they didn't have. ... But maybe with time, they would. They'd just have to keep going. Right now, however, it was hard to be worried about it, because for once, it felt like things were beginning to pick up and head in a positive direction. In spite of the serious conversation they were having, he ended up smiling quietly to himself.

It looked like Tsurugi was on the right track here. Sora knew that there were still a lot of obstacles between them and a way back home, but at least they'd been shown that there were ways to oppose Landel. Once they had that power in their own hands, it would be a cinch, right? (Well, maybe not that easy, but Sora always preferred to think positively.)

"I wonder if the rebels are working on that, too... I really want to help them, but I had to come back and let everyone know that I was okay first." Sora didn't know how to handle things from here on out. Did he just go straight back to Farwell on his own? Or did he try to see if he could take some of his friends with him? He didn't know how it all worked, but he was willing to experiment with it.

"I'm planning to go back there," Sora admitted, "to see if there's anything I can do." He would feel bad if he had to leave his friends behind yet again, but at least this time around they would know where he was, rather than thinking that he was rotting away somewhere.

Leaving again so soon, huh... Kyousuke frowned, but he really couldn't blame Sora for it. He'd found something bigger, that could potentially change everything, so it seemed natural to want to gravitate towards that side of things. Normally, he'd probably want to too, but he had some other problems to contend with, and he'd promised Lloyd he'd help him. Helping everyone was obviously a bigger, more important goal, and he was sure he'd understand if he explained, but that didn't mean he could just abandon him. ... Both Lloyd and Kratos had a lot on the line right now. Kyousuke didn't have a clue how much time they had, but it was probably better to assume none at all.

"... I'd like to come with you, but there's still some things I need to take care of here," he explained quietly. "But there's still the radios, so at least we'd be able to contact each other."

They weren't quite the ideal circumstances after just meeting again, but there were other things going on, and they both had things they had to do. It was better to just accept that.

As much as Sora would have liked to secure a companion, he didn't blame Tsurugi for refusing. It wasn't that he'd outright asked him in the first place, though he certainly wouldn't have turned down the offer. Still, it made sense -- Tsurugi had probably gotten caught up in his own things here, while Sora had been gone.

"It's not like I'm planning to leave right away, either." Tomorrow night would probably be a good time to plan for. He was going to need two days to get a hold of everyone who he wanted to talk to, probably -- or he should at least plan for that. "But yeah, we can try out the radios. Hopefully we can talk even from that far."

If not, then at least Tsurugi would know that he was all right. That was the most important thing.

Before he could say anything else, the intercom came on, signaling that it was time for the next shift. Sora was eager for it, because he knew it was brunch and he was starving. He glanced over at Tsurugi before he stood up. "Thanks for understanding," he said. "I'm sure I'll see you again before I leave."

That was true... It was safe enough to say the radios worked within the walls, but farther away was still suspect. Hopefully it still worked, but if it didn't, it wasn't a terrible loss; they already provided convenience they didn't previously have.

But it looked time was up. ... That was a little annoying. There were a lot of things Kyousuke still wanted to say, but instead of being able to catch up properly, they'd gotten distracted by all this. Not that this wasn't important, of course, but so were simple greetings, especially at a time like this. More than that, he just didn't want to separate, even if he knew he should clear the way for others.

"Hey," he began, before either of them could leave. The rest seem to stick in his throat. 'I'm sorry,' or 'I'm glad you're alright', but those weren't really him, and they were too difficult to say. "... Welcome back," he finished instead, a little awkwardly. Maybe that was fine—it had the same sentiment hidden in it. After that, he turned to leave himself. The rest could come later.

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Day 71: Sun Room

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