damned_institute | Day 40: Recreational Field

Kio's breakfast ended on a much happier note than it had started. However, for once the announcement truly surprised him. He blinked as his nurse came to pick him up. Recreational Field? But.. but if they had a greenhouse, he wanted to go there. The prospect of gardening was a truly liberating one, an island of joy in this hellhole. He thought about going to the Sun Room and lying down, but it occurred to him that he hadn't had proper fresh air since being here. With a cheery goodbye wave to Honey, he followed his torturer outside.

It was much better than he had expected. The sun wasn't too hot (what time of the year were they in, anyway?), so he walked slowly along the walls, fascinated by the size of the field. He wondered if Sou-chan was alright. He hadn't even checked the board. Well, if Soubi wanted to apologize, Kio would be willing to listen. The place was so crisp and clean. He had to think if anyone had ever gone over the walls. What was out there? Freedom? Or a different sort of monster?

Leaning against one of the walls, Kio took as much advantage of the sun as he could. He desperately wanted a lollipop. One was quietly nestled in his pocket, but he would need to wait until the nurses were busy with other patients before he tried anything. Soubi had gone to some trouble to get them, the least he could do was make sure they didn't get confiscated. So with bated breath, Kio waited for a shift in the mood. He was, for once, content. Not happy, but not going crazy either.

[Sou-chan! Team Loveless deploy!]

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Okita laughed and nodded. "Well, since it's a hundred years later, I expect everyone is probably dead - not just them. I guess I lucked out, huh? Oh, and Sen-san, too."

Information that they left Kyoto was interesting. Okita wondered just where they went. To Ezo, as Himura had said? Or someplace else? Where was the turning point that Okita could use to change the entire war? Sakamoto Ryoma? Who did he have to kill to save Yamanami from committing suicide and Kondou from being executed? What could he do to keep the Shinsengumi in Kyoto and away from Ezo? Honey mentioned that their story was a tragedy and Okita smiled, the expression not quite reaching his eyes. Perhaps there was nothing they could do. "I suppose people do."

Honey wound up and threw the ball again and Okita had to step back in order to catch it. The force of the throw was a little surprising and his hand stung in the glove from the impact. At eighteen, Okita should have expected such force, but for it to come from such a small body - Honey was something else. Holding the ball in his ungloved hand, Okita leaned down and smiled. It was time to end the charade. "Honey-kun knows who I am, doesn't he."

Soujirou took it all pretty well. If Honey met someone from the future, he wasn't sure he'd be able to do the same. It didn't seem all that fair, but that could be said of a lot of things here. And when the other boy smiled, even though the news was sad, and asked, well, stated that Honey knew the truth, it was harder than he'd thought to look Soujirou in the eyes.

He wasn't just a line of text in a history book. He was a real person. It was easy to forget that when he was cramming names and dates and just trying to pass tests.

"Can I call you Souji-...chan?" he asked in a voice that was much tinier than before. He looked up, hoping the other boy wouldn't be too upset with him. "Is that okay?"

It wasn't hard to face the truth. Okita had been dealing with it since he first met Himura Kenshin in his first few days here. Speaking to people over the bulletin, meeting those who spoke of Tokyo and those who said they read about him in textbooks - it was all the way time flowed, and Okita had come to accept that. Of course, it didn't mean he liked it. He wished with all his heart that he could change things. Maybe if the country hadn't closed itself off for 200 years, they could have held the foreigners off better. Maybe if they'd all pursued Dutch studies and taken their weapons from them, they could have prepared for the shifts in power. So many maybes, all brought about by one little boy who was having a hard time looking him in the eyes.

Okita smiled, pushing back his thoughts so Honey couldn't see them in his eyes. "You'd be the first, but I don't mind." Reaching out, he dropped the baseball into Honey's glove gently and then patted him on the head. Not many people would be so bold as to call the child prodigy and demon killer Okita Souji, '-chan.' It was refreshing, to hear his name spoken with something other than reverence or outright fear. "Perhaps someday you can tell me more about what happened to my friends, hm? When I go home, I'd hate to be out of the loop with all that has happened."

Honey was really glad that Souji was so nice about everything. They definitely hadn't mentioned that in any of the textbooks. People had made assumptions or written him in different ways for plays or movies or television, but it was another thing entirely to know the real person.

He looked down at the ball, and when he heard that Souji might want to see him again later, a smile broke across his face and he looked up at the other boy, suddenly cheered. "Mm. I'll do my best Souji-chan. I'll try to remember as much as I can if it will help."

Even as far out as they were in the field, he could hear the distant mumble of the PA system and saw the nurses beginning to round the other patients up. "Let's play together again soon, okay?"

If only Okita could be truly described as nice. He knew he wasn't doing this for altruistic purposes. He needed information and Honey had it - and Okita Souji would do anything to get it. He did love playing with Honey, but their conversation was what was most important. He hoped that next time they met, Honey could volunteer more details about the battles he would face or the people he would need to kill in order to save the Bakufu and his friends.

The smile on Honey's face was returned easily and Okita straightened, waving as the the nurses drew them apart. "Of course, let's play again later. I'll be waiting for you, Honey-kun."

Day 40: Recreational Field

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