Anise rolled out of bed with a groan that morning, feeling less than delighted about the night's lack of success. Even after going that far and searching that long, they still hadn't found anything good! And even worse, she soon discovered, she left her radio on the table back there. Now that was gone too. How unlucky could one girl be?

Well... maybe it wasn't all unlucky. Nothing was still better than getting smacked around by monsters, right? Anise still had that to be grateful for.

As per her usual morning routine, the girl stashed her metal pipe under her mattress, hung Tokunaga on its usual place on her back, then straightened her pigtails to the best of her ability. It wasn't long until the nurse entered her room, smiling her usual smile, ready to escort her to the usual place. Anise gave a strained smile in return, just to be polite to the hag.

The smell of good food was enough to improve her mood a bit. The girl grabbed herself a few slices of French Toast, lightly coated in powdered sugar, with a side of strawberries. Anise had been hoping she could find Ion this morning, but maybe it was still too early. She hoped he had seen the bulletin yesterday and knew where she had gone. What if he hadn't? He didn't go out looking for her again, had he? Now she was getting worried. If she didn't see him around this morning, she was going to leave a note for him. And if he didn't reply...

No, she wasn't going to think about that.

Pushing her worries from her mind, Anise spotted a familiar face among the seated patients and gravitated towards it. She stopped once she was across from Claude, smiling brightly as though she didn't have a care in the world. "Good morning, Claude!" It wasn't until after she delivered the cheerful greeting that Anise realized this familiar face didn't look quite like she remembered it. Yikes. Despite her best efforts to keep it up, the smile faltered for a moment.