damned_institute | Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he could have thought of something!

As much as he didn't like to admit it, it was unlikely his former roommate was still within the Institute's walls at this point, though the Scarecrow wouldn't know for sure unless Kaiji returned to visit him as Dorothy had, encouraging his supposed recovery. There was still the concern that Landel, despite his vile methods, was actually right and he was suffering from the delusion of having been a scarecrow in Oz. After all, that movie had been a pretty elaborate trick. Would he have planted it in town on purpose, knowing the Scarecrow would be taken there the night of the enchanted doors? And how could he guarantee that once he did find it, he'd take it and actually watch it? There was so much guesswork involved- it seemed the Wizard Landel either liked coincidences or he had more power on his side than any of the patients could have guessed.

The Scarecrow stopped by the bulletin board before heading for a seat, considering writing a note to his friends to check on them. He'd heard from Depth Charge, Remy, and Kibitoshin within a day's time, so he figured they were probably fine (as fine as Depth Charge could have been after last night, anyway). He'd seen Mele and Scar the day before. He put a finger to his head, thinking- he'd not heard from Abe or Sangamon in a day or so, but being professionals, they were probably very busy. Perhaps a note would be best for them.

[Kibby]

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"A map?" Minako perked up visibly (which, considering how perky she normally was by default, was a bit of an accomplishment) and nodded with some enthusiasm. "Yeah, that'd be really nice! I mean, I still want to see things for myself, but knowing where to look for them would be good. Or which doors I could just skip." The last thing she needed was to duck into a second-floor bathroom expecting something interesting. From the dire stories she'd been told about the place at night there'd probably be, oh, giant toilet monsters or something.

Gross.

The question just made her shrug, though. "I'd assume so. I mean, if you're going to make people stand sentry in a spot it doesn't make any sense to have them guard something that isn't at all important. That's how it always works in the video games, after all. The side hallways aren't the important ones, you have to go where the bosses are waiting." Maybe she shouldn't be comparing this place to a video game, but really? If Cyberwarrior Girl Luga was blocking access to a hallway then you knew there was something good in that hallway.

"Yeah. It's no prob," At least it would give him something to do during dinner. He wasn't some ninja so she'd have to settle for his hand-drawn piece of paper, delivered by hand and not magically appearing in her pocket. He nodded, glad she seemed to appreciate it at least. More than he could say for some of the people he'd tried to help here.

He did raise an eyebrow at her latest assertion though, that the halls were being guarded like they were in some kind of grand video game. He'd had his own theories his first week, especially being fresh out of the Reaper's Game himself. But this wasn't anything like any video game he'd played. Survival horror wasn't really his thing. He got the point well enough though. Not sure if he was surprised or impressed that Minako was enough of a gamer to know that.

"With that logic, you'd still want to check the other halls anyway if you want a full game completion. Sometimes they'll hide items in the most boring place you can think of."

"Do you want me to come by and pick it up? If you're heading out you can just leave it on your desk or something, I'm fine with that." He was kind of doing her a favor by making the map to begin with, so Minako wasn't about to demand delivery on top of it.

And ahah, so he was the kind of guy who'd play video games. Fortunate that he wasn't like that creepy guy at the Crown, getting all offended about a girl playing games; he'd actually considered her point without more than just a little surprise. She considered his point briefly, absently tapping a fingertip against her chin. "True, but there aren't any, like, chests to open or obvious places. And I don't think Dr. Creepy would leave special items sitting in cupboards or anything." Wouldn't that be weird, though, to open a door and find a glowing rose or bottle or something.

"I'm still not sure what there is to find, anyway," she continued, with a shrug. "I'd imagine everyone who's been here longer has been over the whole building and hasn't found anything useful, so I'm kind of just blindly searching for something that might be a clue to get my po--get home."

He shrugged, "I can do that. M23."

Not like Sora had gotten back to him yet about plans, so if Minako wanted to just grab it from his room, that was fine. It wasn't like he actually kept anything important in there and it wouldn't slow him up waiting around. Seemed like a fair trade.

Chests? Like treasure chests? Neku actually broke a smile and snickered quietly at that one. A video game reference could only go so far, but she was really taking this seriously! "Right, yeah I got it. Next thing you know we'll be walking into people's houses and going through their stuff or swinging around ridiculously sized weapons."

He made sure to leave off the part about spiky hair because there was no way he was owning up to bringing a manga into the hairdresser's place as a reference for his last cut. Some of the hairstyles were cool dammit.

No way to be sure what Minako had meant to say, but her search sounded pretty rough. Yeah people had scoured the building, but it didn't mean they hadn't overlooked something. "The only weird spot I know of is through the kitchen's fridge or freezer. There's supposed to be a loose tile or something, but I haven't actually looked. But if there's one, there could be more, right?"

And if someone with the sense of a gamer was looking through the rooms, it was a lot less likely they'd overlook something.

"M23. Got it." Minako fished out a pen and wrote the number on the palm of her hand, just so she wouldn't forget. As she capped the pen and stuck it back in her pocket she caught a glimpse of one of the nurses giving her an odd look; she just grinned and shrugged and tapped a finger to the side of her head, which earned another puzzled blink but it at least seemed to satisfy the woman. Whatever. Like writing on her hand was weird or something.

At Neku's comment she nodded with some enthusiasm. "Yeah! Or wearing really impractical battle costumes or something. They look pretty cool, but if you try to actually fight in them it's seriously impossible." Pause, then a hasty, "Or so I'd think." Eheh. Whoops.

But there was a good distraction, and Minako seized upon it quickly. "Wait, there's something in the fridge? Like, a secret door? Seriously?" Wow. Secret doors. Maybe this place was more like a video game than she'd thought. "Huh, I'll have to check it out. And look for more of those. It definitely can't hurt."

Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

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