damned_institute | Day 46: Lunch

The mere fact that she'd been susceptible to whatever hold the Institute had had on her yesterday was sufficient to leave Ayumu both upset and angry - no, not angry, downright furious, both at herself and whoever was responsible for that. But there was also the fact that because of it, she'd lost out on an entire day of work, and in several ways had ruined some of what she'd done already. That little conversation with Himura the day before, for instance, was something she'd sincerely prefer not to remember if she'd had any choice in the matter.

Unless the man was a complete moron, which, unfortunately, was one thing she couldn't believe of him, he had to have realized just who her brother was. After all the effort to keep that fact quiet (not exactly a secret, but certainly not advertised; half the Shinsengumi probably never even realized it because there was no reason to) she'd gone and chatted about it with him. Told him all about it, practically painted a bright target around a weakness that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

She'd spent the shift in the Sun Room pretending to sleep, while in truth forcing herself into calm. After years of practice she could shunt away the useless and distracting emotions, focusing only on what was important and needed to be at the forefront of her mind, and by the time the intercom signaled the lunch period she was feeling considerably calmer. The time to silently observe others had, as well, alerted her to something she probably should have noticed earlier: Mello was back. Would her previous objective be reinstated now? He seemed to have far less of a bulletin presence this time, so perhaps not. Still, though, it bore investigating.

None of her thoughts were visible, of course, as she moved through the line, examining the lunch selection somewhat dubiously. Now with the benefit of Yuuko's memories she might recognize the food, but she certainly didn't share the enthusiasm for it that her imaginary self apparently had. Ayumu skipped past that part and settled for the salad bar and some bread, then positioned herself in a place where she could watch both the door and the rest of the room, setting her journal open in front of herself as though planning to write something. There was far too much that she'd missed, too much work to do now.

[for Okita]

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Sora was about halfway through his first slice of pizza when someone approached him. He glanced up as he swallowed a bite of the food and was surprised to see Hitsugaya standing there. The shinigami usually didn't seek him out during the day, seeing how it tended to be all business between them. They communicated over the bulletin board or at night most of the time, so what was this all about?

It was natural to wonder if it had to do with yesterday. He had totally ignored all the posts about Arts and Crafts, and today he'd decided to just go back to it as if nothing had happened. Maybe Hitsugaya had noticed it and decided to talk to him about it? Suddenly Sora felt like he might be in for some kind of scolding.

He took a sip of the water he was drinking as he nodded to the other boy. While he could tell that Hitsugaya was way more mature than he looked, not to mention Sora was kind of his subordinate, he couldn't help wondering if there was anything they had in common beyond being in the same "club."

Either way, it was best to play it casual. Sora ripped off some of the crust from his slice of pizza as he looked Hitsugaya over. "How've you been?"

"I'm fine," Hitsugaya replied as he took a seat, assuming Sora was alright with his presence. To be honest, Hitsugaya felt a slight throb in his head where he had been hit by the creature from last night. Hitsugaya suspected that he might have a concussion, but he was confident that he'd be able to function efficiently. As the pain slipped away for now, Hitsugaya contemplated seeking out a healer.

"Actually, I should be asking you that." Even though Matsumoto had said that Renji vouched for Sora, Hitsugaya had been hesitant to make the brunette a team leader in the beginning. However, Sora had proven himself a capable fighter, and he often responded to the Arts and Crafts bulletin postings. Eventually, Hitsugaya had come to view Sora as a responsible member. So when Sora failed to answer Hitsugaya's call for club members yesterday, he had become concerned. "You didn't reply to my bulletin post yesterday. Are you alright?"

While Sora knew that he should have kept eating, he was kind of nervous to do it in front of someone like Hitsugaya. Whatever this was about, it had to be important, and so he decided he'd just steal a few bites when he got the chance. It wasn't like they were ever deprived of food in this place, after all.

Well, it seemed like Hitsugaya had noticed his absence, even if he hadn't figured out the reason. Sora continued to tear apart the crusts of his pizza slices as he considered an answer. Still, there was nothing to say other than the truth.

"Ahh, yeah, that," he said sheepishly. "I'm fine, it's just... I don't know if you heard about what happened to some of the patients yesterday, but I got caught up in it." Sora would have never missed reporting for his Arts and Crafts duties for the world, but Matt hadn't been interested.

"Oh, but...! Two nights ago, when me and Tsubaki and Hokuto went up to the kitchen, we found some stuff. I think it must have ended up with Hokuto, though." Sora didn't think it was in his room, but he would search once more to be sure. One of them had to have it -- they better, after all that work and the issues with the weird hair creature.

"Yeah, I'm aware of it." Hitsugaya hadn't experienced the brainwashing himself, but he had heard about it. For a brief moment, he felt his anger surge at the institute's twisted methods. "As long as you're better, that's what matters."

Fortunately, Sora seemed to have been successful on his mission to gather weaponry from the kitchen. Knives weren't much of a weapon, since their blades weren't very sharp and were easy to break; however, for some people, having a knife would be better than being barehanded. Hitsugaya had been trained in unarmed combat, but he knew that not everyone had the same benefit. There were even some patients that didn't seem to have any training at all.

"Good work," Hitsugaya said. His praise was short and brief, but he meant every word. On the other hand, Sora's success only highlighted Hitsugaya's failure. Yesterday, his group hadn't even made it to the basement; they needed to be more efficient. "First, use the knives to arm anyone in your group that doesn't already have a weapon, and if there's anything left over, we'll distribute it to the rest of the club."

Sora nodded at Hitsugaya's opinion about the whole brainwashing disaster. He was better, and while the memories of his fake life were still weirdly vivid, he was doing a decent job of phasing them out of his mind. Sooner or later, they would start to fade and he could just pretend that whole day had never happened. It had just been so bizarre...

Even if Hitsugaya's comment on the job he'd done two nights ago was so short that he could have easily missed it, Sora was still glad to hear it. Every now and then, it was nice to be appreciated. Not that Sora required that, but it certainly didn't hurt. He smiled and nodded. Really, he was happy to help. It was for the good of all of them, after all.

As for distributing the knives, Sora already knew he didn't need one for himself. He got the feeling Tsubaki wouldn't either, if she could summon that scythe out of her hair or... whatever it was. Hokuto he should probably ask, but the first step was figuring out where the goods had ended up in the first place. "I'll do that," he agreed, "and let you know if there are any leftovers."

Day 46: Lunch

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