damned_institute | Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

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Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

Okita hadn't been expecting it when his nurse suddenly appeared in the Game Room. He'd expected to be left alone like last week, but instead she gently took him by the arm and told him he needed to say goodbye to Kaden for now. Okita assumed it was time for his visitor and waved goodbye to him, only to be led off himself. The swordsman had followed obediently into the Sun Room, but when he tried to go off to another room, she stopped him. "Not today, Julian."

Not today? Something about his nurse's demeanor seemed off, almost as if she were worried about something. It wasn't until she led him out of the Sun Room that he understood what was going on. He had a visitor. There were only so many people that would come to visit him in a place like this. His sisters, Tetsu, Kondou or... Okita didn't want to think about the last option.

Taking a step into the waiting room, he stopped at the door and turned to look at his nurse. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?" he asked, feeling actual fear for the first time in a long while. If this wasn't some strange punishment/joke for behaving poorly in the chapel, he didn't know what to do. Badou's graffiti was still on his hand and he quickly slipped that hand into his pocket. He could feel the pen there, clipped to the inside of his waistband. The nurse shook her head and moved to the side of the room, keeping a close watch on him as he stayed by the door, trying to hide his anxiety by feigning interest in the strange magazines on a table nearby.

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"Yeah. Big coincidence."

That familiar, bored-as-usual voice came from behind Joshua's back. And there he was - a brunet, head-to-toe in teenage fashion's finest, with no lack of zippers or sportiness.

Nick was crossing his arms. (Had they been expecting him to be doing anything else?) Though he shot the faintest smile to Nicole, his body language was a little closed. He preferred walking around outside to the stuffiness of a single room in a box like this, where there were so many rules, where he wasn't really afforded the option to do what he wanted, how he wanted, when he wanted. And wasn't that the point of living?

"I'm here to tell you to hurry up with the treatment and get out," he said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, it..."

Shiki trailed off the minute she saw that familiar hairstyle, her eyes growing wide with surprise and happiness, in spite of herself. She knew this wasn't actually him, but he looked the same, sounded the same - that was even the kind of thing Neku would say. In that moment, it was easy to let herself believe the illusion and forget, even if only for a little while.

She returned that smile. "It's so good to see you again, Neku!" Even if I can't actually hug you the way I want to from here. "How are you? How is everyone else?"

"Telling her or me?" Joshua asked quietly as he turned his head, putting a hand to his chin as he glanced at the newcomer. It looked a lot like Neku. It felt like Neku. But was it really the Neku that Joshua had come to know, who had challenged him at the very end and to that very second Joshua had no idea who had won it? That was the question of the moment. After all, he and Shiki of all people should know that outward appearances were deceiving.

Yes, he felt like looking askance at the newcomer for now, and not asking anything else at the moment, until Shiki was done. Important questions were to be saved until later... for now, Shiki deserved some time to decide whether to believe an illusion or look for reality.

"Shut up," he snapped back at Joshua, full of attitude. "What do you think?" Truth be told, both options sounded kind of nice to him right now. Let him stew in here for a little longer... or let him make it out of here sooner, then punch him in the face. Because that really needed to happen sooner or later.

But how could he ignore Nicole? It hadn't been too long since they'd seen each other, but it felt like weeks. He took a couple steps toward her. "Yeah. I promised I'd come back, so.." He trailed off, clutching his arm for a moment before eying her wheelchair. It looked like she'd been hurt, but... "Hey. What happened? That's not a chair."

Shiki looked back and forth between Neku and Joshua. While it was true that the blond had explained there had been some unpleasantness between them, and also true that it didn't usually take much to get the brunet snapping, it was rare that it was with that much vehemence. She had to wonder exactly what had gone down between them.

That first statement to her was enough to remind her that this wasn't real. Neku hadn't been to this place before. Her stomach twisted as she remembered the promise he had made the last time she had seen him - that they'd meet again as soon as it was all over. Why does it have to be like this?

She couldn't exactly explain what had really happened to her - well, no. That wasn't true. She could explain, but she had the feeling it would only earn her a creepy giggle from Joshua and sarcastic disbelief from Neku. "Oh, it's not as bad as it looks," she began. "I just slipped and fell. I'm really fine, the nurses were just being cautious."

A creepy giggle was earned anyway, as Joshua expressed his amusement over Neku's response... and perhaps guessing at the reasoning behind it. Unlike Shiki, Joshua had never really been a 'friend' of the other kid, even though he'd found himself enjoying Neku's company by the end of it. Regardless, the way they had parted was less than pleasant, so... he eased into another seat, apparently unconcerned by Shiki's blown-off response.

In actuality, he was positive that Neku would get a response more easily than himself. Some people just had all the talents, didn't they? "Well, I'll let the two of you get caught up before I ask my question. And nice to see you as lively as always, too." Which, in a backhanded way, was a compliment. Better Neku's vibrancy than the ~~stupid zeroes~~ normal boring lot.

And similarly, sarcastic disbelief was still earned from the brunet. He raised his eyebrows, looking from Nicole to Joshua, who seemed to know something. Of course, he always seemed to know something, even when he really didn't. That really pissed him off sometimes.

"Slipped and fell? Yeah. Right." He didn't believe it, but if he looked at her long enough maybe she'd confess it. Still, she could really be clumsy enough to fall over and put herself in a wheelchair. He wouldn't put it past her.

He hadn't properly answered Nicole's question, though. "But I'm fine, I guess. The others are doing okay, too. There was a skateboard accident the other day, but no one got hurt." He racked his brain, trying to think of new things of interest in the past few days. "The chili dog place is having a sale," he added matter-of-factly, as if he already had his evening with the rest of their friends planned out. "Oh, and there's a tournament in a week. Gotta slam on."

Still, he was concerned about her, more so than he was concerned about Joshua, of course. But he couldn't just ignore the silver-haired kid. "Lively. Sure. That's why you did what you did. Gotcha." He wouldn't mention it right out in front of Nicole, but he wanted to let Joshua know that he hadn't forgotten, and wouldn't for a very long time.

Shiki wasn't surprised to hear the sarcastic statement, but the creepy giggle? If she didn't know better, she'd have thought Joshua had seen what happened in the Sun Room last night. She wanted to ask, but explaining what had really happened would only worry Neku. She couldn't bring herself to do that.

"They had been mopping the floor in front of one of the second-floor stairwells. I slipped on the wet patch and went tumbling down the stairs," she explained. Hopefully that would be enough to keep either of them from questioning it further.

"Oh, no! I'm glad Beat is okay!" She was a little surprised to hear about the fact he was competitively playing Tin Pin, though. He had never really seemed interested - there had been ads all over Shibuya for various accessories and whatnot, and they had even needed to make pins popular for one mission. He'd never mentioned Tin Pin during all that time. "And wow, good luck."

She turned to Joshua, confusion written all over her face. There was no way Shiki couldn't ask the question, not at this point, when there was clearly a lot of bad blood between the two boys. "What happened?"

"How odd... I went past both and I didn't notice a wet patch." ...wait. The Sun Room. He'd spent most of his time watching the creature with lightning, but there had been another, hadn't there? And it had had prey of its own... now that he thought about it, Joshua knew what had happened. That made him giggle again, just like old times; the kind that Neku would know meant he knew and no one else did~! "My my, you'll have to be careful at the tournament, Neku. Seems like bad luck is going around."

From how he said it, only someone who knew him extremely well could tell that was actually, in a twisted and circuitous way, a wish for good luck. Joshua had grown inordinately fond of Tin Pin Slammer, and hearing Neku enjoying the game was enough to disarm the blond for a moment. "I'm sure you'll do better than last time..."

But then Neku and Shiki both spoke to him, and he sighed as he shrugged his shoulders. He really had wanted to wait until later to ask his question, but neither of them really knew the meaning of the word 'wait', did they? They were kind of made for each other, now that he thought about it. "Well, if I'd had my way... ah well. Since you brought it up, Neku, would you like to explain it to Shiki, or should I?"

"Oh." Well, when she specified that it had been down the stairs that she fell, he raised his eyebrows. Okay, that did seem a little painful, and he was almost sorry he'd had her bring it up. And the fact that Joshua was giggling about it like he knew what 'really' happened just made Nick sick to his stomach. Geez, how sadistic was this guy? He shot him a dirty look.

"I'll do what I have to do," he said to the wishes for good luck. He'd actually been pretty fond of the game himself since Nicole and Joshua were taken away, and he often practiced against the boys in their neighborhood. "Which is win," he added. Of course, it was okay if he didn't win. It wasn't a life or death matter, but there was some silent competitive flame that had been sparked inside him.

Of course he recognized the names 'Neku' and 'Beat', though, and ignored them like he had to ignore the fact that the two were both crazy enough to get themselves thrown in here.

But then that little incident was being brought up, but - since she wanted to know - he would much rather tell her what happened himself than let Joshua color the events with his own words. "There's not a whole lot to explain. This guy tried to kill me," he said, turning to the girl with a shrug. "Because he's crazy."

That was why he was in here, right? Nick wasn't sure. But it seemed as good a reason as any.

If Neku hadn't turned to glare at Joshua, and if turning to look at him wouldn't have made it worse, she would have given him a dirty look, too. You DID see what happened last night. You weren't in the room, so it had to have been from over the railing...and you didn't ask me how I was feeling or express any concern at all?

She fully intended to run over him with her wheelchair as soon as she could. Right now, there were too many nurses waiting to step in at the first sign of any trouble. She couldn't do anything about what he had seen with all of them watching, she didn't think.

"Of course you will," she said, finally, smiling at Neku. That smile faded a moment later, when she got an answer to her question.

She had been expecting a fight between the two boys, or something like that. But Joshua trying to kill Neku? Was that really true, or was it something that the institute was making up, or...? Shiki looked at Joshua, confusion and dismay written all over her face.

"Is that true?"

Ah, that was more like the Neku he knew. Quickly jumping to conclusions, more upset at the person who knew and didn't say than the person who was brazenly lying to his face. Really, this was just like the two of them... it reminded him of why he'd gone with his plan in the first place.

Still, Neku's explanation was just a bit missing in facts, it lacked the dramatic flair that Joshua wanted for it. Honestly, part of the fun of living was making things interesting! He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, quietly remedying the blunt response with something a bit better. "Oh, I didn't try to kill you because I'm crazy. In fact, I could have sworn you knew me better than that..." Which was true. Neku should have known better, because Joshua was one of the few people in the Underground who always kept it together. So then, why the sudden change in personality?

"Though I was referring more to the last event. I'm sure you remember the rules... 'count to ten, take your shot, whoever survives wins.' I've been wondering; did you take that shot? I'm sure I didn't or you wouldn't be here, now would you?" It was a rather fuzzy moment in time for Joshua, to be honest. After everything with Mr. Kitaniji had been settled, it had just been himself, and Neku. One shot to determine the fate of the Underground. Each had one pistol and no time to use psychs... or so it had seemed to Neku, anyway. The only reasonable answer was that Neku had taken the shot and put Joshua here, though if that wasn't the case...

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Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

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