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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[ai_no_minako]

Seriously, just how many people could end up thinking they were countries? It didn't seem like a very common sort of crazy talk, though Minako had to admit she wasn't exactly wise in the ways of the insane. Some people might think she was insane if she tried to talk about exactly what she did back at home, too, so she was trying to be charitable and assume the whole "country" business was a figurative description, like a representative at the UN or something along those lines. Or maybe they called each other by country names for the same reason the senshi referred to each other by planet names? Who knew.

Still, though, she was interested to see that Alfred and Arthur and Ivan had other friends... even one who claimed to be Japan. That was kind of amusing and interesting at the same time, and left her interested in meeting the guy just to see what he'd be like. Hopefully not as annoying as Alfred or creepy as Ivan (and they were dating?). Arthur was nice, if a little cranky. So she'd have to hope for that.

Minako frowned at the bulletin thoughtfully, reading over all the other various notes with varying degrees of interest. At first she'd been kind of surprised at how many seemed to be simply inquiring after other people, but then she'd discovered just how difficult it could be to keep track of people here. It didn't make much sense, but it really was... sometimes it was like she'd just arrived yesterday, but other times just dragged. She caught her lower lip in her teeth and worried at it absently as she considered, sorting through all the notes in search of familiar names. Well, hopefully she wouldn't be here long enough for it to start making sense.

[Neku]

[composers_proxy]

Neku wasn't feeling a whole lot better, but at least his stomach was full. There was a lot to be said for that, he supposed. He adjusted the volume on his headphones, intent on checking the bulletin, then taking up residence on one of the couches. Anything more strenuous than a nap seemed like a bad idea with how sore he felt and the injuries to his torso and shoulder.

Unfortunately, there was someone familiar already flipping through the papers. It wasn't that Minako was particularly obnoxious or anything. They'd actually had a reasonable amount in common, even if he would never understand the need for a hair ribbon to be that big.

"Hey," he said by way of greeting before flipping through some of the notes himself. Hard to believe that someone had died right here in front of this bulletin board just last night. There was no trace of blood or a body. Porky Minch was gone. At least it seemed like he was more or less a bad guy. People got taken in by the institute and brainwashed all the time, but Porky was the first one who seemed like he was well and truly enjoying himself during the fight.

[ai_no_minako]

And hey, speaking of people she hadn't been keeping track of, there was the guy from Future-Shibuya. Time traveler or not, though, he'd been someone Minako actually had something in common with -- unlike a lot of people here. Not only was he a fellow high school student from Tokyo, he seemed pretty sane instead of believing he was a country or a computer monster or whatever. That made conversations a lot easier.

"Oh, good morning, Sakuraba-kun," she replied brightly, then paused and squinted at him a little more intently. Was he hurt? He kind of looked hurt. Though she wasn't quite sure just how loud he had those headphones on and if he was actually listening anyway. "Everything okay?"

[composers_proxy]

Despite the headphones, Neku had never had trouble hearing what those around him were saying. Maybe the noise-canceling type was worth investing in, but he liked his well enough.

"Neku's fine," he told her. No need to get so formal. This kind of situation... it was hardly necessary. Besides, he didn't use them himself half the time anyway. Shibuya was a place of change and sometimes tradition went right out the window. The only ones who bothered much with nicknames were Joshua and Shiki and neither were here.

He scanned over the notes on the bulletin, finally pointing to one with his handwriting.

"Just wondering how they keep get place so squeaky clean every morning when I know I left a few bloodstains on the floor," he shrugged, somewhat lopsided with his injured shoulder, but the gesture was still understandable. "You?"

[ai_no_minako]

....just call him by his first name? That would be weird. She didn't know him all that well, and even Minako wasn't that forward.

Well, not when he wasn't particularly cute or famous or something. But that was another matter.

Minako just shrugged a little in return and leaned in to see the note he was looking at, at which point she glanced sharply in his direction with an expression of concerned surprise. "Attacked by a mecha? Like a giant robot out of an anime or something?" Well, if he'd managed to get out of that alive it was pretty impressive (and secretly she was a little jealous, because she never got to fight mecha).

Though he was right, there really should've been some sign of a battle in here and... nothing. Weird. "Not much. I ran into someone who was... I guess one of the brainwashed patients, because I've met him before during the day. Though he was different then. Didn't get very far before the night ended, though."

[composers_proxy]

"Yeah. Something like that," he frowned. It hadn't been the best experience, in his opinion. Mecha might be cool in anime, but when he was staring one down and trying to fight it, that was another story.

"I think that's what ours was too. He was a patient according to some of the people who left comments," Neku pointed out. As far as he knew, that was the only way the guy could've gotten a giant mecha and kept telling them to go back to their rooms. Apparently some people needed less brainwashing than others.

"That's probably for the best though. It's not like we were trying to hurt the guy, we just didn't want anyone else getting hurt if he was left running loose like that," he tried. It wasn't the best reasoning, but at least it was something.

[ai_no_minako]

"Well, yeah. If the guy was dangerous -- and he sounds like he definitely was -- then you don't want someone who can't defend themselves to come wandering by. Especially not the Sun Room." Minako paused, glancing at the board briefly with a small frown. "Don't people come through here a lot at night? I think I remember reading something about a club that goes to the kitchens. If they'd walked into a guy with a mecha...."

She paused a moment longer, then shrugged. "The one I ran into didn't have anything that big. Though he was pretty dramatic by himself, I don't know how big of a threat he was. Maybe it would've been more dangerous if we'd been there for longer?" Or maybe not. Minako really didn't know, and was halfway afraid to try to find Howl now and ask him about it. If he even remembered the night before. "Still, I'm glad you're okay. Or... as okay as you are, at least."

[composers_proxy]

"Yeah," he replied. It wasn't as though he was out to be a hero, but there were lots of patients who really didn't seem like fighting was something they had any experience with. Hell, he hadn't had much experience before his time in the UG and even now, his skills were mostly limited to his telekinesis, and after that, mostly just swinging psychokinetic swords around in a way he thought might work. There was no real technique unless you counted the manga he'd read or handful of video games he'd played. And after that barrier from last night, he could really see some merit in having a backup weapon.

"There weren't very many that I saw," he shrugged, "maybe there's another way to get there?"

When Minako mentioned being glad he was alright though, he was a little surprised. They hadn't known each other long. He supposed he might feel sorta bad if she was the one injured, but he probably wouldn't go so far as to say something out loud about it.

"It's cool. You don't have to worry or anything," he said, shifting a little as he glanced over the other bulletin posts. "Um," he added, mostly for a change in subject, "So what were you guys looking for last night?"

[ai_no_minako]

Minako considered that briefly, but finally shrugged with a slightly abashed air. "There might be, but... I don't know. I hadn't really considered it, 'cause I never thought about going to the kitchens at night." Maybe some people wanted to sneak midnight snacks or whatever. She was too busy trying to find a way out. Unless Dr. Creepy was hiding in what seemed like the least likely place and set up his office in the refrigerator? Hmm.

He seemed to find her concern awkward or something, though, from the way he was squirming like that. Geez, she'd just said she was glad he was okay, she hadn't tried to flirt with him or anything. Maybe he was just an awkward kind of guy, though. Like Umino and his friends?

"We weren't really looking for anything specific other than something that we hadn't found yet." She paused a moment, tilting her head as she considered. "At least, I think that's how you'd put it. Neither one of us had looked around upstairs very much. But in the first hallway we went down there was someone guarding it. So maybe there's something interesting there."

[composers_proxy]

Maybe he was just lucky to have gotten a map on his first day. Minako seemed pretty oblivious to some of the things he'd been told early on. Like something about a passage to the basement through the kitchen. Why else would people go there at night? Midnight snacks? Get real!

"Huh. Did you want a map or anything? I don't have a copy now, but I've got one in my room. I can make you one during dinner or something unless you'd rather run around and check things out for yourself," he shrugged. Not that it was a terrible idea. There were probably a lot of things that'd been missed if they were basing the maps on just a handful of accounts. Who knew.

"Is that how they do it? Guard the important places?" Okay now that actually did make sense. Red hoodie or not, it reminded him of the other Reapers. They'd always blocked the way when he needed to get somewhere. Maybe things were similar here?

[ai_no_minako]

"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.

[composers_proxy]

"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."

[ai_no_minako]

"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."

[composers_proxy]

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.

[ai_no_minako]

"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."