damned_institute | Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

The cafeteria was all but empty when Zelnick got there. He was a little disappointed; he had gotten the impression that patients usually ate dinner in their rooms, so he hadn't arranged to meet anyone, and there really wasn't anyone to sit by and engage in conversation yet.

Quietly, he collected dinner and a big glass of orange juice, and chose a seat near the food-serving counters. Talking for so long had made him thirsty... and, well, fruit juice was a luxury he had missed.

[Stalk away, my dearest Admiral. <3 ]

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"Yeah. Ghosts." Regrettably, Ken was not dense, and he immediately zeroed in on Yukari's discomfort. "Umm, are you okay, Yukari-san?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. "You don't look so good."

When his teammate expressed her gratitude, the boy merely nodded. It was his job, honestly; it was not a big deal. What was important, however, was that they wouldn't be so helpless tonight. They would get something done.

Speaking of that, there was still the matter that had been residing in his thoughts since breakfast. Only, unlike the map and the list, Ken was not sure how to bring it up. The topic was so complicated.

He finally shook his head, deciding to go with his gut instinct. "There's just one more thing," admitted Ken, voice trailing off.

For an instant, Yukari looked like a child caught trying to steal a cookie from the jar. It couldn't have been that obvious! ... Or maybe it was, she knew she always was pretty bad at hiding that fact whenever the topic came up. That didn't mean she was willing to admit it, though. "Nothing, nothing," she insisted, shaking her head some more.

At his second statement, Yukari tilted her head slightly. Ken sure seemed like he found out about a whole lot today... She was beginning to wonder if he knew about the same thing Adelheid told her about during breakfast. She'd wait until Ken was done-- it sounded important. "Yeah?"

Ken raised an eyebrow at the reaction but left the subject alone. Whatever it was, it probably was not in his best interest to pry. There were no signs of red flags; if it was serious, she'd at least mention it, right?

In any case, he now had to explain a story about as equal on the believability scale as ghosts. "This morning," he began, "someone told me at breakfast that the institute allowed visitors. Not just any visitor, but people we'd recognize."

"It doesn't stop there." Knowing the climax was soon approaching, Ken sighed and stared down at his food. "He said the institute can bring back the dead."

"... Huh?" It was the only response Yukari found herself able to come up with, and for the next several minutes she tried to sort out her thoughts. She wasn't at all opposed to the idea of a familiar face coming-- they'd know a way to let them out for sure, there was no way they would leave them behind here. Yukari was positive on that much.

What Ken finished off with is what made her give off that incredulous expression. "The dead?" That topic being brought up by him worried her. "That's impossible. You know there's no way anyone could do that." Even so, a part of her couldn't blame him for thinking that way if it was.

Maybe he should have anticipated the doubt, but with the nature of the subject, Ken did not want to brush it off so easily. No, not when there was that chance.

"Can you be so sure, Yukari-san?" he whispered, before looking at the young woman straight in the eye. "If they can somehow create giant spiders, how improbable can it be to revive...people." He almost said an entirely different noun (proper noun, to be specific) but managed to catch himself in time.

Although, it would not be difficult for Yukari to pinpoint the source of Ken's thoughts, considering the recent events.

No, it wasn't; Yukari's ties to her former senpai had not been nearly as close as Ken's, but even she couldn't say his death was something she could easily get over. It was hard to imagine just how much it was on the boy's mind, though his bringing this up gave a good implication.

"Those... those are different, Ken-kun," she replied quietly. Yukari could definitely understand how he felt, but it was obvious he hadn't quite accepted what death did. She had to cope with this a long time ago herself, however she wasn't sure how help someone else with it. "Look, once someone's gone, they're... not coming back." Yukari lifted her own eyes towards Ken's. "Would you honestly trust this place, of all things, to be able to do that for you?"

"No, I--"

Ken wanted to say it wasn't like that: the idea of Shinjiro returning under such circumstances, it scared him frankly. A former worst enemy coming back from the grave; it would be as if Ken had dreamed the whole incident. But as he tried to process that thought to explain to Yukari, the boy felt maybe, maybe she was right to assume that he was asking for a miracle.

A part of him honestly wanted it.

Few minutes passed after the initial outburst before Ken could give a straight answer, although his voice sounded highly strained. "I don't know," he answered. "I wish I knew."

"We all do," Yukari said, lowering her eyes back down towards the table. She didn't think she could speak for everyone, but it sounded more assuring. Hopefully.

She fell silent, doing nothing more than poking at her meal. This... was a conversation she was ever expecting to delve into. Not by herself, anyway; someone like Mitsuru would most likely have a better way of words than she did, or Akihiko, too. He wasn't very social, but when the time was right he always knew what to say.

Yukari, on the other hand, did not. Should she change the topic, or let him be?

What a train wreck, but he supposed he deserved it for bringing it up. If Yukari was not going to change the topic, Ken would. Dwelling on it further agitated one or both of them.

"Um, so," Ken began awkwardly, his eyes now adverting Yukari's. "What should we do tonight?"

Good question.

"Well," she began, laying her copy of the map on top of the small pile, and thankful go move on to things she could talk about easily. "I guess something happened last night that we didn't get to make our way through here during the Dark Hour." Which was strange, by now she was plenty used to staying up until midnight. "We should try again tonight. Until then, maybe we should find something to look into."

Yukari read the maps of both floors carefully, reading the names of the rooms listed. Where should they go? What would be the most beneficial room to head towards? "You don't have any specific places in mind, do you?"

"Hmm." Ken scanned the maps himself, hoping to jog any memory of interest back when he was tracing the copies. His eyes glossed over the second floor, but nothing grabbed his attention. Sure, there were potentially useful rooms peppered about, but they all sounded like dead ends. Traps containing monsters.

When he shifted his gaze to the first floor, however, something struck. "Hey," he spoke, pointing to a couple of spots on the map. "File Rooms 1 and 2. Don't hospitals usually keep a record of every patient?"

"The records...?"

That was true, hospitals did.

"Yeah," she answered thoughtfully. "If it isn't just for show. If they do..." Yukari raised an eyebrow again, putting a hand to her chin. "Maybe they have something more than that. We could find out more about what this place is if they have anything worth looking at in there."

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Day 30: Cafeteria, Dinner

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