damned_institute | Day 29: Sun Room

It was with some relief that Yuuhi awoke the next morning, in his own bed, sore and tired and achy. He would've slept more had they let him, his face down in the pillow, away from all the others and their questions and their concern. He didn't want to see them, but he managed a little smile when the nurse came in and didn't object when she lead him out into the open hallway that had been splattered with blood, plenty of it his, just last night.

The Chapel or the Sun Room? He felt he had good reason not to be terribly religious and had a feeling he wouldn't be very welcome there anyway. The Sun Room would be nice though. It was bright and cheery and he could always doodle or write notes on the community board if he'd nothing better to do. Besides, the nurse was kind enough to let him take a book with him.

He found a seat on one of the couches, far from the entrance and seated himself in the far corner, legs scrunched up against his chest so he only took up one of the cushions. He opened up where he'd left off, fingers carefully turning the worn pages of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

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Rena and Mion were here too? And she somehow didn't see them... If Rena and Mion were here too, then this wasn't just the error of Hanyuu or herself landing in a wrong world. This was... too much of a coincidence.

And everyone being from a different world? So, that would explain why Peony was speaking of rappigs and other strange creatures that she had never heard of. And if there were people from completely different worlds, even different than the numerous worlds that Rika had lived in, then this could not be a mere mistake. No, they were here for a reason, but Rika wasn't sure if this worked out to her favor or not.

"If Rena and Mion are here, then Keiichi and Satoko should be nearby as well. But you did not mention them, so..." Rika bowed her head, but she knew that just because Hanyuu didn't see them didn't mean she wasn't there. In fact, Hanyuu didn't even know Rika herself was here until just now. It sort of gave her comfort.

"... Don't run off from me again, Hanyuu," Rika 'scolded', giving her friend a light tap on the forehead.

"Auauu... I wanted to find out if anyone else we knew was here, but I couldn't think of a way to ask without raising any questions... They never mentioned Keiichi or Satoko though, and I'm certain they wouldn't let either of them go around at night alone..."

Of course, it was possible that they were there, but hadn't yet found anyone else they knew... This place had already proved how difficult it was to find your friends at times.

Hanyuu blinked, then put on a slight smile at Rika's last comment-- and its accompanying tap. "I won't, Rika, I promise." ...even though she hadn't intentionally 'run off' in the first place, she was going to do her best not to do so again.

The former spirit's smile, however, was once again short lived, as she finally noticed the bandage covering the other girls hand. Rika had been injured? That might explain the smell of blood from the other night... Although it had seemed rather strong to be coming from an injury on Rika's hand. Not that Hanyuu was going to complain about that; her initial thought at that time had been much worse. She was just glad that her friend hadn't been hurt worse.

"You have to be careful," Hanyuu said, as she lowered her voice slightly. "I don't think we'll have any extra chances as long as we're here."

Meeting Hanyuu here was the best thing that happened to Rika. Now that Hanyuu was here, and Rena and Mion... her list of allies was growing again. She knew now that they would be able to put their strength together and escape from this place. At least the Rules were no longer in place. There was no suspicion, no doubts, a clean slate for everyone. Perhaps coming here really was a miracle. Yet, when Hanyuu warned Rika of the danger...

"Yes, I figured as much. If you no longer have any power... There is no chance for mistakes," Rika nodded. "But we have much more time now, I think. We will be able to plan things more carefully." And they would need it, as Rika had no idea who this new enemy was...

... Or who their old one was, for that matter.

"Hanyuu... I don't remember how I died last time," Rika spoke, after a thoughtful silence. "Usually, I don't, but this time, I do not even remember receiving the anesthetic and blacking out. Do you think that has something to do with us being here?"

Hanyuu couldn't help but lower her gaze as Rika mentioned having more time. That certainly seemed to be true-- after all, if they were no longer in Hinamizawa, then it was highly possible that they had escaped from the person who wanted to kill Rika. Hanyuu could understand how easy it was to get ones hopes up; she herself had been rather optimistic a few times in the short time she had been here, but... This wouldn't be the first time the odds had seemed to be in their favor.

As Rika spoke up once more, Hanyuu looked up before canting her head slightly as she thought it over. It was odd, to say the least, to hear that Rika couldn't even remember blacking out. Although the former spirit couldn't help but wonder if it was better that way. The moments leading up to Rika's death were never pleasent, perhaps it was better that she forget them completely...

Of course, those were thoughts she would not voice aloud to Rika.

"That is... a possibility," Hanyuu began slowly. "If this place is capable of pulling people from different worlds, then it's possible that they can affect the memories of people, too. Unfortunately, there's a lot we don't know, so it's difficult to say for certain... I'm sorry."

Affecting memories? That could be possible. Their new enemy was already powerful enough to just pluck people - gods - out of their respective worlds. But that would raise the question of why their enemy just didn't wipe all of their memories.

But Rika wouldn't bother mentioning it. No use giving their seemingly omnipotent enemy any ideas.

"I see... That is a disturbing possibility," Rika sighed. Hanyuu brought up a good point indirectly - they were going to need more information before they would try to tackle this new enemy. They knew too little last time - and this time, they had to win.

"Hanyuu, do you know anything else about this place? Tell me all you know, and I will tell you what I know," She asked, hoping the spirit knew more than her.

Now this was something Hanyuu was more used to. The familiar act of sharing information with Rika was mildly comforting in a way. Unfortunately that feeling was short lived, as the former spirit realized that what she did know raised more questions than answers. Maybe, though, Rika would know more, and then they could attempt to piece together what was going on.

Hanyuu wanted to believe that, but she still found it difficult to do so. Regardless, she closed her eyes momentarily as she tried to recall the conversations she had had since arriving.

"The man who seems to be in charge of this place is called the Head Doctor," she began, turning her attention to Rika once more. "I think he's the one who makes the annoucements during the day, but few people have actually seen him. It's said that the people he brings here aren't merely from different worlds, either. Some people are said to come from the past or even the future."

That thought still seemed a little strange, but it was beginning to seem more likely. Especially if what Mion said had been true. Speaking of that...

"I don't know if it's due to my physical form, or if it's another effect of this place, but I haven't been able to figure out the date. Mion said that some people claimed it was the year 2000, though. I'm... not sure what that means for us..." Before Hanyuu had known Rika was here, that idea had frightened her. But, even with Rika here now, it was still a little unnerving.

"Then there are the monsters that appear at night, but I guess you already knew about that." If Rika's injury was any indication, at least. "Another mystery is what happens after night. No one seems to know what happens between nights end and the mornings start; people simply wake up in their rooms again, and any wounds they received are already cared for."

The date! Rika had nearly forgotten about that once-important fact. Once she realized that no one (or at least, no specific person or thing) was trying to kill her deliberately, she had stopped worrying about it in favor of worrying about how to actually get out of here. But she still never found out the date.

It seemed like no one else had either. 2000? That was nearly twenty years after she was supposed to be killed; how could she be pulled 20 years into the future?

But at the same time, this was a person - perhaps a god, now that Rika thought about it, one more powerful than Hanyuu - who was able to bring them through space, so why not time?

"We are not facing a human. How could a human do this? This is the work of a god," Rika decided, staring at Hanyuu thoughtfully as she spoke. But did gods work this way? Hanyuu had been weakened by the years of rewinding time, so perhaps another one could have overpowered her, but...

"Hanyuu, is there another god that you know of? One who could be powerful enough to do this?"

Day 29: Sun Room

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