Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

[scarefaux]

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

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[windsome]

Breakfast had been...

It had been something all right, something truly beyond her own comprehension. Just what happened there? If it hadn't been so incredibly jarring Yukari would have called it surreal, so much that she didn't know what to make of it.

If anything, however, Yukari just wanted to stop thinking. It would have been nice, but her train of thought was scrambling around in incoherent circles, and it felt like nothing she could do would make it stop.

This place was too much. She wanted to go home already. There had already been enough completely crazy happenings in her life, so why couldn't things have stayed normal for a change! She was very nearly there, right? There was moving into that new dorm soon, and looking forward to her third year, but before that she was attending cram school, and that was the worst she needed to worry about-- so what the hell happened? Why this?Yukari wasn't feeling so good, and the nurse that plucked her away from the breakfast table took notice in this

[foolishmessiah]

He had slept in. His nurse had tsked and looked him over, but allowed him to head to breakfast just a little late; she was concerned about him coming down with the cold again so soon after recovering, and he said nothing to alleviate her worries. It was all the same to him, after all; cold or no cold, he was going to eat his share of the breakfast buffet and breeze through the rest of the day

[windsome]

The longer she sat, the more she realized being able to calm her line of thinking wasn't happening; Yukari hugged the pillow close, like a lost child clinging desperately to their security blanket. It was like some shield between her and everyone else who were quickly gathering into the large room, and while she simply wanted things to start making sense (or at least, start making progress on leaving), she was reluctant to have anyone else approach her. What if someone else came up and started talking to her like they've known her all this time, just like yesterday and today, speaking of all sorts of stuff that should have been impossible for a stranger to know?

Yukari had learned to open up a little, and she hadn't been as distrustful toward the world as she used to be, but that didn't mean she was ready for just anyone to know about certain aspects of her life.

The pillow didn't hide her by any (not that she was trying very hard; she was seventeen, she didn't fall back on dumb things like that), but that didn't keep Yukari from

[foolishmessiah]

Many of the sofas were already taken by other patients, so Minato had to walk further away from where he entered to get to one of the empty seats. Before he reached it, he found his shirt being tugged on from behind and to his right -- the side that was harder to see with his hair parted the way it was. He had to turn around completely to look at who was behind him, blinking slowly at the familiar face.

"Yukari."

If surprise made its way into his expression, it didn't last long; after Mitsuru's reappearance, he couldn't say he was too shocked to see Yukari after she had been 'released.' But it hadn't been long at all, had it? ...No, this wasn't the time to wonder about how the institute did things. It didn't really matter right now

[windsome]

She had this scenario perfectly planned out: as soon as the person she approached turned around, she'd take a glance at his face, possibly feign surprise, and apologize for mistaking them for someone else. An easy solution to get out of what could have been an embarrassing situation, and besides, it could have been a mistake anyone could have made, right? They're all wearing the same clothes, after all, so at a glance it could have been difficult to tell people apart.

And then, that little what if? would have been eased, because god this was stupid and what the heck was she doing, getting up just to confirm it? Especially in a place like this, somewhere she didn't even know the location of! The dead didn't come back. She thought back on Kaito, who had made a claim to the otherwise, but she still wasn't believing it. Yukari had done enough clinging the past before, wishing for this person and that person to return, but she gave that up already and didn't plan on going back

[foolishmessiah]

Minato had assumed, by Yukari's expression, that she had forgotten the institute in the same way as Mitsuru. He wasn't one for explanations, leaving those tasks more to the senior SEES if he could get away with it, but he could at least mention a few things like he had done for a few other newcomers.

But something about the way Yukari reacted to him saying her name gave him pause. It wasn't the same wary surprise that she had used when he had first arrived at the institute. It wasn't relief at seeing a familiar face, or simple confusion at him being there. He wasn't sure how to feel about that, but it didn't matter; he could still pick up with an assumption from where Yukari had trailed off.

"Yeah." He was here, she was here, and it was a weird situation to say the least. That kind of answer wasn't going to appease her though, so he asked a question while keeping his hand on her elbow. "Are you okay?"

It was a stupid question, sure -- who would be okay in this place? But he needed to hear more out of her.

[windsome]

Following that, there was yet another long, empty pause as Yukari attempted to figure out what the proper response to his question would be. Was she okay? She didn't even know anymore. Typically, she would be able to answer the simple question on a more or less positive note, but in an instant she had been overwrought with a sudden tight feeling in her chest, thanks to all the dozens of conflicting emotions and the many levels of shock that came with this extremely unexpected meeting...

She was all right, but her mind was saying no, no she wasn't.

"I..."

Yukari trailed off, swallowing. She still didn't know how to respond.

But she did move, finally, pulling her arm away from his hand so she could tentatively grab at it with her own-- because she had to make sure this was real by feeling it for herself, and when she did, only a simple thought came to mind-- Minato's hand felt warm. Unlike last time, there was life to it.

Over the past month, she had wished so hard for that thought to cross her mind and it be true, but when it

[foolishmessiah]

His hand closed around Yukari's as he waited on her, while his face showed muted concern when she responded in the negative. Her hand was tense in his, with the same tentative energy coursing through it that showed in her voice and posture. Something had upset her pretty badly

[windsome]

She hadn't expected that Minato would take the lead, but on the other hand, it was probably for the better as she tried to regain back her focus. So she let her feet move on their own, letting her hand hang in his; on a normal day Yukari wouldn't have dared to allow this in fear of the sort of implications everyone else around them would get, but at the moment, the thought never crossed her mind

[foolishmessiah]

How?

Minato's hands twitched in his pockets as he considered Yukari's question. What could he really say, knowing what little he did about the institute, the Head Doctor, and their current circumstances? He had been here for a little over a week, accumulating supplies, meeting people, losing people, and witnessing the effects of the Head Doctor's games.

There was still no answer to how. Or why. Or even when and where, if one was skeptical about what they were told of the institute and Doyleton.

If that was what Yukari was talking about at all.

So as Minato looked back at her, he shrugged. "I don't know."

[windsome]

"You don't know?" she echoed dubiously, looking back up at him with a frown.

If she had thought about it some more, Yukari might have come to the realization that it was more likely that he didn't than did. She didn't, however, take the time to do that; rather than waiting for the expected outcome of an answer (the usual 'who knows?' she had gotten so far), she had been too stuck on that the answer given hadn't been the one she wanted.

Frustratingly, among other things, Yukari slouched over, forehead in hands, looking about as weary as she felt. "I don't get it," she began after yet another moment of silence, and she was starting to sound worn out, too. "What the hell is this place? It's confusing enough I wake up here with everyone telling me things that don't make any sense at all." To put it lightly; Yukari understood what she had been told, but that didn't mean she was able to wrap her mind around it. "But then, you

[foolishmessiah]

You're not supposed to be alive.

His eyes widened slightly at Yukari's words, his placid expression giving way for a confused frown. That-- that was news to him. Everything else Yukari had been struggling through faded as he focused on the bombshell she had just dropped

[windsome]

The silence, if anything, had only made this situation all the more unnerving.

His lack of response was unexpected, but then, she didn't know what kind of response she should have been expecting in the first place; an explanation, maybe, but on second thought was it too much to think one of those would have been given at all? Yukari surmised he'd say something-- anything-- after putting it bluntly (and not so tactfully), but when only silence followed, a heavy wave of dread washed over her as somewhere in her mind, she realized perhaps that was not the best way to go about this at all

[foolishmessiah]

She didn't know that he didn't know. Even if she had, he couldn't blame her for saying things like that; Yukari was worried and obviously trying to make sense of the place she had been thrust into, and he was a familiar face in a sea of unfamiliar ones.

But to her, his familiar face was also a dead one.

What could he say to that? Should he say something to that?

Yukari wasn't the type to talk so flippantly about death, so it wasn't a matter of believing her. It wasn't a matter of accepting his own mortality, either; that was something he had been faced with years ago.

So Minato looked upward, towards the glass ceiling, for just a few seconds. When he returned his attention to Yukari, his expression was tiredly resolved.

"There's something about this place." What a vague answer. He had to search for a way to clarify what he had just said. "Chidori-san was here before, too. It doesn't make sense."

To say the least.