damned_institute | Day 34: Breakfast

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Day 34: Breakfast

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

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Orihime wondered who she could possibly remind Edgeworth of, but she decided not to pry too much since they'd just met and it seemed a little rude. She smiled at the new man and lowered her head a little place of a bow.

"Edgeworth-san said you wouldn't mind me sitting here, but I can leave if you want to speak privately. I don't mind."

She'd only just met these people, and though neither of them seemed to mind so far she didn't want to impose.

"It is nice to meet you as well." Homura smiled gently to Orihime, who reminded him a bit of Rinrei in how she spoke. Of course this girl was much younger, but it didn't take much to tell that she was polite, and had a good spirit. "And you aren't intruding at all. Edgeworth was telling me about this place when I had to make an errand. I didn't want to interrupt your conversation. Please, stay. And thank you, Edgeworth, for making introductions."

It would be nice to have that kind of person around, if only for a short while. Homura found it comforting in a bittersweet sense, but one he certainly wouldn't reject.

"No, you weren't intruding, Orihime-san," Edgeworth added. "And you're quite welcome."

He took a bite of his food, and then said, "Now, where was I? I had covered the...creatures that appear at night, how the staff is not to be trusted, maps - which you're welcome to copy if you need, Orihime - and...I think that's where I'd left off."

Edgeworth paused to think. "Next, I think I should probably cover the various organizations? Please, stop me if I've covered things you both know. There's the History Club, the Arts and Crafts Club, the Cooking Club, and the informal clinic."

"Is there anything I've missed?"

Orihime felt her face flush a bit with pleasure. It was easy to bury her worries for a while when she was around people she liked, and even though Homura and Edgeworth were new to her she already liked them quite a bit.

She kept forgetting to make a copy of the map for herself, so she nodded when Edgeworth offered. "Oh, please. That would be really helpful." She listened to him talk about the institute. Most of it she knew already but she didn't mind listening to it again since she wanted to tuck into breakfast while he was at it. She rolled some scrambled eggs and syrup into a pancake, making it a weird kind of burrito to chomp on. She finished it easily in three bites.

She tried to think of anything helpful to add and glanced at Homura. "You probably already know the other things. Powers don't work like they should. People come from everywhere and all kinds of different times...and sometimes they disappear too." She turned back to Edgeworth, unwilling to dwell on the last point. "I can't really think of anything else."

Homura listened carefully to everything the two said, because while he may have known everything before, Homura felt like he knew nothing now. Both of the place and the people within; in a strange way it was nice to meet someone he hadn't previously, just for the relief of not having to explain himself yet again.

He did, however, chuckle as when he spied her inhaling her food. It was cute, in a weird way, for the girl to have her cheeks puffed out like that.

But then the topic turned to something more serious. People disappearing. Homura could only think of one person then, the one who he himself claimed to have seen before, but not since. "About that." Orihime's discomfort was obvious, and Homura gave her a look of sympathy. But this was too important to simply pass by. "What happens to the ones that disappear? Kenren-san said that I had seen someone before. A woman named Rinrei. But she's not here now."

Homura did his best to keep his voice even, but there was no helping the concern that went with the question. He had to know that she was all right somehow, despite what the gods had done to her, and this prison.

Edgeworth took his notebook out, opened it to the maps, and passed it across the table to Orihime. He noted that he had been quite right about the mild reminder of Maya Fey, who he could easily picture eating the same way, and he smiled as he did so.

That smile faded quickly as topic turned to a more serious one now; that of people disappearing. Edgeworth finished the last of his juice, but that didn't stop his mouth from going dry again as he began to speak.

"I'm afraid that no one really knows what happens to those who have disappeared from this place. Some people have theorized that they've managed to escape, but..."

The prosecutor couldn't keep the quaver out of his voice now. "The other possibility is that they've fallen victim to this place. They haven't died, but they have been convinced of the false identities handed to them, and then released. They would be out in the world now, living the false lives they were told about here."

He murmured under his breath, "I think death would be preferable."

Orihime swallowed a few more bites of food knowing that most of her energy during lunch would be directed towards getting Fai to eat and feel a bit better. Her friends had much the same reaction to her eating habits, so she hung on to the pleasantly bitter-sweet feeling it gave her. She made sure to wipe her hands thoroughly before pulling Edgeworth's journal over so she could copy the maps into her own.

She felt bad for Homura. She knew what it was like to lose people here. If last night hadn't been in vain, how many people would be happy to see their loved ones? She touched his shoulder tentatively, trying to be comforting without really invading his personal space.

However, her protest to Edgeworth's last sentence was almost immediate. She was surprised at how strong her own conviction was. "No it wouldn't. Not ever."

Homura seemed surprised by Orihime's gesture of comfort, but not off-put by it. He smiled gently to the girl, and after a moment of his own hesitation, put his hand over hers in silent thanks. Again he thought it odd that anyone would do even that much for him, but it seemed that here he was not so much a heresy as he was another prisoner.

Edgeworth's words were revealing, and almost as quickly as Orihime responded, so did Homura. "You're wrong." His tone was firm, no doubt in his voice. "Even if they have been taken, if they're alive, then they can be saved." Somehow, though Homura had no means of knowing the way. But if Rinrei was here and alive, there had to be some way to reach her.

A possibility that wouldn't exist at all if she were dead.

"Please forgive my hastiness and cynicism," Edgeworth replied, bowing his head in apology. "I've just been searching for someone who disappeared from this place for a very long time. Before he disappeared, he met someone else from our world, a visitor. I knew the woman that visited him; when my...friend came back from that visitor's room, he was shaken to his core."

He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. "He said she was just a shell of her follow self, almost if her..." He paused, looking for the right word.

"...her spark, or her soul, had been taken from her, and he couldn't see a way to reach her. I'm worried that the same thing happened to him. Do you truly believe someone can be reached when they're that far removed from themselves?"

Homura's gentle acceptance wasn't nearly as unexpected as hearing someone else's voice supporting her. Orihime's hand tightened on his shirt sleeve when she'd meant to pull it away.

"No, don't be sorry. It can't be easy going through something like that." Orihime gave him a soft smile. She'd never seen another prisoner the way Edgeworth was describing. She couldn't imagine them - Ichigo, Yoruichi or Urahara - without that vital spark of fire and life that made them so strong. They wouldn't want to live like that. But to let them die like that? She couldn't think of a worse betrayal.

"Homura-san is right. We owe it to them to keep trying as long as there's a chance. They're our friends. If they're not strong enough to fight this, we fight it for them. If they have no hope, we become their hope. And if they're lost...then we find them. Wherever they are. It's not going to be fast or easy like death, but that's why it's important." She looked down at her hand on the table, seeing something else entirely. "We have to keep going as long as it takes. If not us, who else is going to help them? What else is worth fighting for if we have to give up on this?"

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Day 34: Breakfast

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