damned_institute | Day 43: Courtyard, Third Shift

Once again, Endrance's nurse interfered with his plans. He had been planning to look around the Game Room, but the moment he began to move towards the Sun Room, she had taken him by the arm. "Your family has asked that we make sure you get as much fresh air and sunshine has possible, and you won't get that by staying inside playing video games all day."

He had thought for a moment about protesting, but decided against it. After all, if what had happened to Haseo was punishment for having spoken too strongly the day before, he didn't want to make that worse somehow. So, when given the choice of going out to the recreational field or the courtyard, he chose the latter.

There were a few reasons behind the decision, the most salient being that he wanted to see what the area looked like for a second time - this time without the threat of a brainwashed patient surprising him. The second reason was just as strong as the first, and it had to do with the presence of a second former Demon Palace Emperor. As energetic as she was normally in The World, he couldn't imagine Alkaid not wanting to spend some time outside.

Just as before, he sat down under a tree by the side of the pond, keeping one eye on the door.

[closed to Alkaid]

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"That's exactly what I mean. I had been here before, so I knew the place, but there were complete and total noobs running around and getting attacked! I had to give two whole intro spiels. I felt like I was in Canard." She rolled her eyes. Noobs weren't exactly her specialty, though she had always frowned on PKing them. That was just cowardly. It was a little easier to deal with noobs here than it was in The World, but... still.

She hadn't seen whatever was on the bulletin board, but what he was explaining made her frown. No one had... asked after her? There was no way for her to check now, but shouldn't Badou have...? Or Haseo himself, before he - lost his memory or - was brainwashed or... whatever??

"Well," she started slowly, "I ...know he was drugged up today; he punched a nurse. But all the friends I made here are... are idiots and jerks, so it's no surprise that no one asked after me. Atoli's a much nicer person to ask around about." Her face was starting to burn a little with some unbidden frustration, so she turned away as well, kneeling by the pond's water and swishing the stick around, watching as her reflection rippled up and then came back again.

She turned around for a second as the other former Demon Palace Emperor spoke about what he remembered. It was that weird stuff about 'she' and 'her' that had confused Alkaid so much... when Alkaid had tried to get Endrance's attention but he hadn't noticed her, hadn't even batted an eye. Apparently Haseo had done a wonderful job at snapping him out of it, which was admirable. But Endrance was hiding his face as he spoke. And the way he talked... It was...

---Melted the ice around his heart?

Was Endrance... gay for Haseo?! She hadn't seen much of the two of them together since her return, but if it was true then this development was mildly hilarious.

She knitted her eyebrows kind of incredulously. "Endrance. You... uh... like Haseo?"

"It's as if they were planning to hurt all of you, or worse..." Endrance's expression grew serious for a moment. He hadn't thought himself lucky at all to wake up in this place during the end of the day, but at least people had been here...and people that knew what was going on. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone." The words surprised him, too. This place was forcing him to open up, little by little, but it was still a little strange nonetheless. It wasn't an apology for what had happened, no, but that wouldn't have been the right thing to say, either.

He turned toward Alkaid then, a frown on his face. That wasn't fair, either. In his opinion, the one thing you were supposed to do for someone you cared about - more than anything else - was to protect them. If you couldn't do that, you shouldn't call yourself a friend at all. "That...it's shameful of them," Endrance said. "After all...if you aren't looking out for someone you care about, can you really call yourself their friend?" There was something else in that statement, too - an implication that if he'd known anything himself, he would have looked out for her. It would have been what Haseo would want, and...that brought the topic around to him again.

This time, there wasn't any way to keep from blushing bright pink - not when Alkaid had just blurted the question like that. He looked away a moment later, but...there was really no sense in hiding it, was there?

"That word isn't strong enough for how I feel. It's something I can't even express in words..." A few more petals drifted by. "I'd do anything at all for him, he needs only to ask me..."

"It's always like that. They're always trying to hurt us, probably put enough strain on our heads and bodies so that we'll believe their little story. We're ... fine, though. No lasting harm done. Some people on the board say the zombie infections are going to come back, but I don't believe it. That kind of thinking is just gonna doom us all."

It seemed like Endrance was getting a little nicer, surprisingly enough. Before, he had only seemed to care about 'she' or 'her' or whatever, as he pranced around with his petals and his cat, using his weird cheat on unsuspecting Demon Palace Emperors and usurping their title... But now he seemed to actually give a little bit of a damn about her, and about other people, too. If this was also Haseo's doing, Alkaid was kind of in awe. The Adept Rogue was kind of a catalyst, but.. to do something like this for Endrance... That was really fantastic of him!!

When Endrance started talking about how the friends she'd made here probably weren't actually her friends, Alkaid turned back to the pool so he couldn't see her face, twisted with... something. Shame, or whatever. With pride came shame. And she was prideful, so... was she shameful, too? Ugh, feelings like that turned her stomach. Stupid her for feeling kind of weird for someone so soon after meeting them. "Well, maybe I'll ask him tonight. Badou... He said he thought I was dead, but if he didn't ask after me, then I don't know what to say. I guess there's no use pouting if I don't know the facts!!" The words came hollow, like she was convincing herself of something.

She slumped over in the cool grass, staring up at the sky. No need to pout, right? No need.

The way he described his feelings, that sounded like way more than just 'like.' Not strong enough? Was it love? ...That was weird. She'd never felt that way for someone online. Sure, there were crushes here and there, but the way Endrance was talking about it just kind of blew her mind, or something. Even though they both knew Haseo in a world that seemed to be offline, she'd never thought about feeling that way toward anyone, ever.

This guy just got weirder and weirder.

"Wow, Endrance. That's.. uh, that's kinda.. wow. Intense, or whatever. Like you and Haseo are in a fairy tale or something, with you as the damsel." She laughed, partially to hide the pain of not being asked after. "Princess Endrance. You're not a fourteen-year-old girl IRL, are you?"

Alkaid was right, of course, about that way of thinking, but right at that moment, it just served to make Endrance look down at the bandage on his hand. He had been holding it so it was just out of view, so there wouldn't be any questions about its presence. He hadn't given the fact that the zombies even could infect someone any thought until right at that moment. It was strange, and it made him feel almost as if he should have been worried about it the entire time.

Despite that, he did his best to shrug off the worry as much as he could. "You're right about that..." The events of seven years ago flashed into his head again, and that memory made him nod. "Giving in when it seems darkest means that you won't ever see the light that comes after...so the only thing you can do is keep moving forward." He smiled again, just a little, but the expression didn't stay long, turning into something of a smirk a moment later - not one that was mean, though, not in the least.

"...should we perhaps warn your friend, then? You're a rather intense opponent when you're feeling particularly inspired." A laugh didn't follow, but the intent was there nonetheless.

This place...I never thought I'd think this, but...it's forced me to open up my eyes, and focus on other people, not just what I want to see or to hide from. I think I'm glad for that...I feel almost like I did back then, when there was all that hope...

He was snapped out of the thought a moment later, that moment's teasing making him blush again. "I wouldn't say that...for one, I'm not a teenage girl in the real world, and...well. I wouldn't say what I feel is necessarily returned, either. That doesn't matter so much...as long as Haseo's happy, it doesn't matter if the feelings aren't ever returned."

Day 43: Courtyard, Third Shift

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