damned_institute | Day 37: Sun Room

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Day 37: Sun Room

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

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[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/510359.html?thread=41325975#t41325975)]

Chidori paid Akihiko no mind, even though she wandered right past him almost close enough to touch. She wasn't really looking at anything, just staring around in blank confusion, her sketchbook clutched to her chest.

Without her lace and ruffles, without her dress or dagger-point headdress, that sketchbook was nearly the only recognisable thing about her. The book, and her hair--brilliantly blood red and tumbling down her back unfettered. "....."

He almost said something gruff enough to drive whoever it was that brushed past him away, but then stopped to examine her. There was something familiar about the dull look in her eyes and the long, red hair, but he couldn't quite place it.

In the end, it was the sketchbook that tipped him off. The questions started to run through his head, but in the end, he settled on one, the least intrusive of them all. He'd never been terribly good at this kind of thing; that was the reason he'd left most of the interrogation to Mitsuru.

"Did you just wake up here, Chidori?"

Familiar voice. Not the one she wanted to hear, but it was enough to bring Chidori out of her own mind a little bit. She turned to look at the source of the voice, no sign of surprise on her face. SEES, but not Kirijo. The other "sempai" who tried to question her. What on Earth was he wearing?

Chidori finally looked down at herself, noting belatedly that she was wearing the same ugly clothes. ... That was unfortunate. But there were more important things at the moment. "Where is Junpei?"

It shouldn't have been surprising that he would be the first person she asked about. After all, she'd talked to him more than she'd talked to anyone else.

Did he really owe her an explanation? After Strega had done everything they had? His first instinct was to turn and walk away. Then again...she hadn't been there the night Shinji died. Unless they had kept in contact during her hospitalization - but that shouldn't have been possible. It was a Kirijo-owned hospital, and there had been strict orders to monitor all visitors and communications. That led to the question of how she'd gotten there, but if they could kidnap the other members of SEES, that likely meant the staff could circumvent that security, too.

In the end, he sighed, before answering. "We're in a place called Landel's Institute. Iori isn't here."

So it wasn't her failure, that she couldn't feel him. Though in theory the piece of her life that flowed through his veins should be clear to her no matter the distance, but this senpai wasn't acting as though something had happened to Junpei. It must just be a bit of confusion because she was alive when she should not be. Speaking of which... "Why am I here?"

He frowned. There was something off, but he couldn't place it. It wasn't so simple as not expecting to be there, or not expecting him to be there. Maybe it was disappointment about Iori not being there.

"I don't know why any of us are here, though I spoke to someone earlier that said it could possibly be a test of some type. It's not just you and I here, though. There are three other members of SEES here. You're the only member of Strega that I'm aware of."

Akihiko glanced over, noting Mitsuru and Yukari's presence. Yukari seemed upset, and Mitsuru had her usual marble calm about her. That said, though, the memory question came to mind again.

"I have a question for you, Chidori. What's the last thing you remember?"

He was so nonchalant about being here. About other members of SEES being here. Had they all died? Had they failed, after all? No. Junpei would be here too. And her heart did beat. Chidori had to check again, just to be sure. But it did. The world had not ended.

The last thing she remembered? That was a very strange question. What else could she possibly remember? "Dying."

Akihiko wasn't sure he had heard that correctly - not until she checked her heartbeat, in a way that suggested she thought it was impossible for it to exist. That couldn't be right, though, could it? Suicide was the first thought that came to mind, but with her ability to heal as quickly as she could, that didn't seem possible.

A moment later, the full breadth of the statement hit him, like a punch to the gut. If it was true - and he suspected it was, from the way she approached the subject - that Chidori had actually died before coming here, that meant a few things. The first was that whatever had happened was so serious that she hadn't been able to heal herself. The second...if they could bring her back, that meant they could bring others back. They could bring you back, Shinji. I don't think you'd want that, though. You said it yourself...

He took a deep breath, pulling his thoughts together, and then looked at her with a stoic expression. "I'm sorry to bring up such a difficult and strange subject. I didn't know. The reason that I asked is that the people responsible for bringing us here have the ability to pull us from different times. Ken and I remember the same thing - the night Shinji died. But Mitsuru's last memory is six weeks later. I was trying to piece the timeline together."

It sounded impossible, on the surface of it--people coming from different points in time. But how possible was the Dark Hour? Chidori's stubbornly real heartbeat? Maybe it was all a strange dream as she lingered in death, but that seemed unlikely--if Chidori was dreaming, Junpei would be present in one way or another. Even if he turned away from her or didn't remember her or some other nightmarish thing, he would be here. Chidori would simply have to accept this as reality and roll with it as well as she could.

Strega was not here, except for her. That was possibly for the best--Chidori didn't think she could face Takaya with equanimity now, not after what he'd done to Junpei. She had repaired the damage done, but it was still something she found difficult to forgive. But it seemed SEES didn't know what had happened between her and Junpei in the end, and therefore they would be unlikely to help her. So she was on her own. Unless... six weeks? Maybe. "What was the date, do you know? The last day your Mitsuru remembers?"

"There was a school trip we were all scheduled to leave for on November 17th. She said we had already spent one day in Kyoto, which would make her last memory the 18th. Mitsuru has been reluctant to explain what that last memory was, though."

He'd promised to ask, and intended to keep his word, but he couldn't deny that the question would be awkward. "...did something happen to Iori?" He tried to make the tone as neutral and non-accusatory as possible, even as he made every effort to look anywhere but at her while he asked.

"One other thing. The four of us are having a meeting tonight to discuss...well, everything. We're meeting in Mitsuru's room - we can get you the room number. Would you be willing to come?" It was strange, to say the least, to ask, but. "There's no sense in being enemies here."

Chidori closed her eyes for a moment. The 18th. So close, and yet useless to her, ultimately. The only thing the Kirijo woman would remember that this boy didn't was that she had sent Junpei away, told him to stop coming to see her. They would never believe her, about what happened. "I'll come. But I'll decide then whether I speak or not."

He nodded. It wasn't a complete win, but he had half-expected to be told that she wouldn't come at all, so he'd take what he could get. "That's fair."

A minute later, he gestured to the bulletin board. "She'll post there once she has the plan in place. And be careful when you're going out tonight. The Dark Hour..." He trailed off, unsure of whether to explain the working theory or not, but in the end, it was only fair. If they were demanding information, they should at least provide some in return.

"It doesn't exist here, as far as we know. It's still dangerous at night, though."

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Day 37: Sun Room

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