infinite_reflection | Hospital Blues

Greg had taken what was quickly becoming his daily trip to Yamada Mart for a soda after school, only to find that Seiya was not there as usual and there was an older man in her place. He was a lot gruffer than the boy's usual clerk, which threw him off just a bit, but in the end he got his two cans of soda... And worked up the nerve to ask where Seiya might be. It turned out that the man running the shop was her father, and after a short interrogation as to what sort of friends they were he was informed that she was in the hospital at the moment. It wasn't a very long bus ride from the store, and it was on his way home anyway, sooo... Gregory decided he'd pop by. Why not?

He didn't much like hospitals, but he could learn to deal. All Greg had to do was ask the front desk for her room number and he was off, navigating the halls not-so-expertly and getting lost at least twice before finding the number he needed on basically luck alone. Japanese hospitals were weird, okay? After adjusting his tie slightly and knocking twice, the teenager stepped into the room with a half-empty soda can in one hand.

It had been a while since she'd checked in, yet her expression remained the same. A soft knock on the door broke her gaze as she was met with the face that didn't belong to yet another nurse. Eyes lighting up at bit, Seiya jerked to sit up. Bad idea. Clutching her side, the girl slumped back against the pillow, instantly regretting it.

"G-kun!" His name was mixed with a few groans as she shifted. "How? You-- You're here!"

An eyebrow lifted at the sudden movement and the instant reaction that followed. Jeez, was she that excited to see him? Well, probably excited to see anyone who wasn't a doctor, now that he thought about it. Her dad had probably been visiting, though! Hopefully. "Uhhh, hi. Your dad told me you were here, so..." So what? He didn't really want to make it seem like that was the only reason, it felt weird. "It's on my way home, and all that. Figured I'd just stop by." And he didn't have anything important to do at home, so it worked out.

"Anyway." Time to change the subject! "What happened?"

Smiling, she looked absolutely ecstatic that he was here. "My dad?" Seiya's expression turned slightly sour. "Huh." So he knew she was here, yet hadn't bothered to stop by. It was to be expected from a man like Kosuke Yamada. Sighing, Seiya beckoned him to a seat next to her bed.

"The story we're sticking with is that we were mugged. But... I went into the mirror world to help this girl." Her brow furrowed as she recalled what had happened. It felt good to say it out loud, "She came out a bit banged up but..." Gesturing to her side, she forced a weak grin, "I took the business end of that riding crop."

"Wow. Bad enough for the, uh, hospital then?" He wasn't about to ask to see it or anything, though. Hopefully this wouldn't become a theme... Seiya getting injured every time she went in would be sort of a problem, huh? Greg had a sip of his soda and then moved to the chair beside her hospital bed. "At least you're not dead, uhh... Y'know." That sounded better in his head. "And the other girl's all right?"

"Yeah, heh... at least I'm not dead." Getting comfortable again, she looked back up at the ceiling. The presence of a friend relaxed her a bit. "Yeah she's okay... I mean I think she is."

It was odd, putting her life at risk like this. What else did she expect, though? Peering at him from the corner of her eye, she smiled. "Did you get that from the freezer on the left? Keeps 'em colder."

Greg looked down to the soda in his hands, blinking at the question. "Uhhh... I don't know. I think so? I'll remember that, though." He still had one in his bookbag, and it was unopened... The boy pulled it out and offered it over, just in case Seiya wanted it. He was pretty sure they didn't insist on a certain diet for cuts and other similar wounds, at least.

Funnily enough, despite saying he was coming home from school, Gregory definitely wasn't in his uniform. He wasn't even in anything it looked like he'd normally wear: A faux-leather jacket with a fuzzy in-lining, a very green shirt, and a pair of pretty beat-up denim jeans. Actually, she might've seen this same jacket on a teacher at some point! Everything was a little too big for him, too. The truth, of course, was that his uniform was covered in goddamned blood and he'd been given this by teachers and the nice detectives.

"So, uh, something happened at school today. I've got pictures to show you."

Adjusting the bed so that she could sit up, Seiya graciously accepted the soda. "Thanks, I owe you one." Popping the tab, she took a slow sip, savoring it.

Finally taking him in, she realized his clothing was a bit off. In fact, very off. At the mention of something going down, her stomach flipped and her chest grew heavy. "What happened? Your clothes... are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"Who, me? Oh, no, I'm good." Good-ish. Better than Hikari, at least. "There was, uh... Jeez. I don't know how to, like..." Greg took a deep breath and then just spat it out. "I walked into the girl's bathroom on accident, and there was a dead girl in there. Hikari Endo, she was in my class, she's the one who pushed the teacher off of the building and everything..!" Oh, no, that didn't explain the clothes. "I got blood on me. That's why the... Yeah." He gestured a little aimlessly, then tugged at one of the jacket's lapels.

Yeah, that meant he'd seen a dead body just a few hours ago. Well! "I took pictures-- Not of the body, I'm not, uh, not weird. She wrote stuff down, like, with her blood. It sounded important, and it's about the mirror world, I think. Do you... Want to see?"

Her brow furrowed, concern written all over her face. "You what? [Oh my GOD.]" Seiya shifted uncomfortably. How did it even-- Wait, he mentioned the mirror world. "Huh? Yes, show me."

Leaning over towards him, she took another comforting swig from the soda. It was all too much. That'd could've been her.

Greg hadn't been able to tell Miho the other day, but it came a little easier now. Probably because Seiya wasn't as likely to know this girl! He leaned sideways when she leaned in and held up his phone to bring up the pictures. She'd see a whole lot of apps, mostly games, on that thing. "So it's, uhh-- I think I shouldn't have these, by the way. So don't tell anyone..." Not that he thought she would.

Greg had taken pictures of each of the bloody scrawls, and his cell phone thankfully had a decent camera quality to it. They weren't exactly crystal clear, but certainly readable!

Picture #1:
mirror, mirror, on the Wall,
push them down
and wAtch them fall

Picture #2:
i'm sorry Kiyomi

Picture #3:
rEflections

Picture #4:
yoUr shadow

Picture #5:
Please don't go

"It, uhm... It's obviously got something to do with the mirrors. And... The bigger letters, the capital ones, they spell 'wake up'. That's all I've got so far..." Smart boy!

Seiya looked impressed at his deduction. "[Good boy Watson!]" She patted his shoulder, studying the images intently.

"I agree, it's definitely related to what we've encountered..." Seiya lingered a moment longer than necessary before pulling away. "I'll have to go back in." Sliding off the edge of the hospital bed, she groaned, leaning on the IV for support. "Gotta stop it from... unnnnngh... happening again..." Panic tinged her words. She absolutely needed to sit back down, but for the moment, her thoughts were clouded.

He chuckled faintly at the English, it was out of character but then he hardly felt 100% right then. "Yeah. There's probably more to it-- Uh, what? You don't mean..." Seiya did, because she was trying to get up. "Hey, no, what? You can't go now." Greg set a hand on the girl's shoulder to keep her from getting up and gave her a look like 'sit back or I'ma make you'.

"It's not like there's any rush. No one else has, uh... Pushed any teachers off of buildings. I haven't seen anyone else acting weird, either." Nevermind that he had a period from when he entered the bathroom until he found the body that was a little blurry. Gregory had his suspicions on what might've happened, but he really didn't need to worry poor Seiya any more than she already was. "You gotta rest..!"

"I have to go now--" Seiya began to tear up as he put his hand on her shoulder. Obediently leaning back, she hid her face against her forearm, embarrassed.

Seiya absolutely hated crying in front of people, yet here she was. Unable to control it, she just let it happen.

"I can't rest, I have to... hic.. I have to go!" It was less off a yell and more of a pouty protest.

At that moment, Ren stopped at the doorframe, holding a small bouquet of flowers in one hand and leaning on a cane with the other - her injured ankle was now clad in a fancy brace that conveniently managed to fit inside her shoe. Her thick eyebrows rose as she saw Seiya up and crying and a guy she didn't know. "Uh... did I come in at a bad time?"

Greg jumped a bit with the sudden voice from across the room; he hadn't really expected it. He hadn't really expected Seiya to cry, either, so that just added to the mix. "Uhhhh..." He started a little dumbfounded at the newcomer, and then shook his head. "No, it's... We're good. I'm good, anyway." Considerate he was not, apparently. "Seiya-san's just getting ahead of herself."

After taking a sip of his soda he turned his attention away from the girl on the bed, hoping that'd help her calm down just a bit... She seemed embarrassed to be crying in the first place. "I'm Gregory Harman, uh... Are you a friend of hers?"

Noticing Ren enter the room, Seiya rolled to her side, pulling the thin sheet over her head. Sniffling, she turned red. Now two friends had seen her cry.

"I-I'm fine."

Aww. Ren hobbled in, leaning on her cane, and placed the bouquet on the bedside table for the time being. "Oh, you must be that transfer student senpai and Mippon mentioned!" Leaning her weight on her cane, she extended her free hand to him. "Ren Miura. Yaya-senpai here helped me out the other day."

Ren looked down at Seiya and leaned down with a bit of a chuckle, reaching under the covers just far enough to pat her head. "It's okay, senpai, I got you flowers~"

"Oh... Huh." The dots connected in Greg's head, though it was more of an assumption... That meant he still wasn't going to mention any mirror worlds or deadly shadows around Ren just yet. Still, he was pretty sure! "Right. Ren..." Ugh, he always struggled with the honorifics. ".. -san? Ren-san... Uh, I think." It was usually -san, so he should probably just default to that.

Anyway, he shouldn't worry about that too damned much. "You don't look, uh... Quite as bad as her, huh? You both got hurt, right? If you are who I think you are, heh."

Peering up through the sheets, she frowned. "Flowers? Really? Miura-chan you didn't have to!" This produced a whole new level of tears, though they were happy ones. She sat up, accepting that there was no changing what they'd already seen.

"G-kun," she sniffled, "this is the girl who was with me."

Ren snickered at Seiya's cute reaction. "Yeah, I just sprained my ankle and got a few scratches and bruises and all." She threw a look around to make sure there wasn't anyone to listen in on their conversation, and lowered her voice a little. "It's thanks to senpai I'm not in a hospital bed, too, really. Speaking of which..."

She turned slightly to face Seiya, placing both hands on her cane as she bowed her head. "Thank you for helping me, Yaya-senpai."

Oh! So she knew, okay. Greg breathed a sigh of relief, at that. "Right... She'll probably want to see the pictures, too, then? I mean, uh... It'd make sense." He'd already fetched his phone and was sorting through it while they exchanged thank-yous or whatever. "Did she get, uh... Y'know. Something like yours?" A query for Seiya, there.

As Ren bowed, Seiya bowed back, a bi t flustered. "Don't worry about it, really!"

She turned to Greg, nodding, "Oh, yes. She should see them." Seiya hugged her knees, resting her chin on her knees. "Persona." The word slipped out without much thought. "Yes, she got a Persona too."

Ren straightened up with a nod. "Yeah. I got pulled inside the mirror and had to confront my Shadow. I guess when I accepted it, it turned into a Persona...? I think I saw those terms in a psychology textbook before." She shrugged, not remembering the author's name at all. Something German, maybe.

She wondered what the pictures were about, but she moved on. "I tried to go to the bathroom where I was pulled in just to check up on it, but it was sealed off..." her expression got a little grim. "Endo from class 2-F was found dead."

"Yeah, I know, I was there." An odd thing to say, but he'd pulled up the pictures and hoped that would explain it. Greg moved next to Ren and showed her the first: A message scrawled in blood across one of the stall doors. He flipped through them quickly, knowing she'd probably not like to see these for very long, just so she could get the gist of it. "She wrote about mirrors, and uh... There's another message in there, it just says 'wake up'."

Not wanting to linger on that for very long, once she'd caught a glimpse of all five he returned to his seat. "It doesn't bode well. Uh, that's what I'm saying."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

DURR HTML

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject