Day 21: Lunch

[totallytheseme.livejournal.com]

Hikaru and Kaoru had been so caught up in their little game that they initially hadn't heard the intercom go off. The new "ding" system was far less jarring than the old SCREECH, and as such, wasn't as easily heard, even in a place as quiet as the library. All too soon, the nurses came to separate the twins and take them to the next activity--lunch.

It only felt like a few minutes since breakfast, somehow, and yet Hikaru was starved. The lunch selection was ridiculously Americanized food of the "Pan Asian" genre, as bad as when his family had wanted Japanese food in California and had gone to the "nicest" restaurant in the English language guidebook. He cringed visibly when the surly cafeteria worker poured sauce on his rice--which was supposed to be plain--but...food was food, and he wasn't feeling terribly picky right now. At least it smelled all right.

One of the good things about being the first one into the cafeteria was having his pick of the tables. Hikaru chose one of the larger ones, saving seats for Kaoru, Tamaki, and (in a fit of hopefulness) Haruhi.

He hoped they'd come soon. He hated being alone.

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[soul-defender.livejournal.com]

Ichigo's eyes suddenly narrowed, practically exuding a sense of skepticism. He certainly appreciated the offer to share Alfons' food, but it was hard to concentrate on his stomach when his new acquaintance acted so stubbornly on other matters.

"Er...you're welcome, I guess..." he replied, watching Alfons with a sharp, piercing stare. Something about this guy, Ichigo mused, didn't seem to add up; everyone else, after being magically whisked away to this strange and awful place, seemed to be a bit more accepting of the monster element. This guy, however, seemed to be siding with the house 'no such thing' policy.

"So, have you talked to anybody else around here? Maybe they mentioned the same sort of thing I have?" If he knew that everyone else had the same story, but still didn't believe, Ichigo felt his suspicions would be confirmed.

[clockworkblond.livejournal.com]

...why the sudden skepticism? It reminded Alfons that, oh yeah, he was in a mental institute. Maybe he did belong there, and Kaylee and Ichigo as well. It would make sense, at least; this was getting more and more confusing by the moment.

"Nobody has mentioned anything about monsters. Well... no, I take that back." Alfons's hands clenched around his fork, and he softly said, "The person that I knew claimed that I was a creature of this Institute, that I had taken the form of his brother to betray him. So, I suppose that I would be part of the 'monsters' of this place."

He tried, so hard, to rein in his bitterness... but it didn't work. He was sick of being suspected of things he'd never done, that he'd never do, and Ichigo's expression wasn't helping matters at all. "But it hasn't come up any other time. I suppose everyone else knows that I'm going to 'betray' them, and therefore don't tell me such things. But if that's the case, then I don't have anything to worry about, do I?"

His voice was quiet, but controlled; long ago he'd learned that raising his voice didn't help him, so now he was cold as he lashed out verbally, using what few strengths he had. Why was everyone so suspicious? Why did everyone keep thinking that he was a monster, or a traitor, or anything else? He wasn't! He'd never be! And yet that did him no good at all, against that piercing stare; the kind he'd been subjected to so few times that he didn't know what to think of it.

[soul-defender.livejournal.com]

When trapped in such close quarters, living with the enemy, eating with the enemy, practically sleeping with the enemy, suspicions ran deep. It became effortless to find fault in others, no matter how harmless the circumstances truly were. All Ichigo could see, without evidence suggesting otherwise, was Alfons' seemingly erratic attitude, and the distrust others seemed to hold for him, and frankly, it was worrisome.

"Hey, whoa...calm down." Ichigo countered, eyeing Alfons more worriedly now. No matter how controlled the young man's voice was, his words were still a tad alerting.

Ridding himself of any look that might hurt or offend Alfons further, Ichigo sighed and allowed himself to relax. "Sorry, I...umm, didn't mean to put it like that." he offered, wearing a sympathetic frown. "Sometimes, you meet people you think you know while you're here, but they act like a perfect stranger. It's strange, but we're not just from different worlds, we can also be from a different 'time'."

[clockworkblond.livejournal.com]

"...sorry. It's just disconcerting; having someone you shared a dream with suddenly call you a monster in a borrowed form. Especially since I'd thought he'd gotten over that years ago." He ran his hand through his blond hair, trying to force himself to calm down. He wasn't a traitor, the entire situation was just... odd. And he couldn't blame someone else for being suspicious, right?

Alfons softly nodded at the 'different times' comment. "That's something that's confused me; one person I just met was hundreds of years in the future, if what she says is right. She talked about some things in the world as though they were started long ago, yet for me they just happened. Like the metric system." A bit of a laugh at that; weak, but still there. It was such a dorkish thing to talk about, but having a fellow mechanic there had really helped him.

"...but I never thought that Edward could hold such suspicion towards me. Even when we first met, it was more disbelief than such irrational hatred. It's like two years never happened, like everything I did for him didn't happen." He leaned on his elbow, a frown on his face as he tried to puzzle it all through. "Which is... very worrisome."