"You mean your brother," the Head Doctor said bluntly in response to Fai's request, just in time for Kurogane to start his tirade. Someone watching him closely would have been able to see him rolling his eyes just slightly and giving out a small sigh, but Kurogane, at least, seemed a little too preoccupied at the moment to notice.

"Just because you feel I cannot be trusted doesn't mean you should deprive others of what they could have." As if in implication, his gaze wandered to settle on Tsubaki as he began walking away from his desk and toward the door to the side of it. "For example, your Institute-met companion here. Perhaps there is something she might be willing to work for – of course, she has ample time to think it over, if she wishes, but as for Mr. Flourite..."

He looked once again at Fai with a somber understanding and dead seriousness. He nodded. "Yes, I can give you your brother, and I can prove it to you if you doubt me, after which I know your loyalty to me will be unquestionable. However..."

He arrived at the door and pulled a set of small keys from his pocket, using one to unlock the panel next to the doorframe. "I know that you, Mr. Kuro, will be the hardest to win over. I was hoping to convince you of the validity of my cause, but I can see now that that notion was... well, in a word: ill-conceived."

He opened the panel and began to punch in a long series of numbers, then pressed his hand against it. The panel gave a loud BEEP that signaled the door unlocking; the doctor then turned the handle, pulled it open, and glanced back at the patients.

"Don't be shy," he said, sounding genuinely encouraging in a way that the context only made more sinister. "It's just a hallway."

And it was: a short stretch of hallway, dark and windowless.