Day 57: Waiting Room / Lobby 1
Somehow, he'd managed to eat all of his food, and grudgingly, Niikura had to admit that he felt a lot better after brunch. That pink stuff tasted like crap, but it did its job, which was to keep him alive. Still...what did he have to do around here to get some food, short of raiding the kitchen at night? Not that he couldn't do that, it was just
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She held a box out to him and he pulled his eyes away from Hijikata to look at her. She smiled like always, apologetic over something or another. She was alive though... Alive and with 'Makoto.' His fingers brushed against the box, faltered then gripped the edges. He turned his gaze to her and smiled in return, sliding back behind practiced expressions and his own inability to fully grasp what was going on in order to move forward.
"...Thank you, Ayumu-san." The name itself would be painful for Hijikata to hear. He knew that and yet he had to say it. She was here before them and not saying her name was-- Ah, but it wasn't her name anymore was it. She called him Julian and handed him a box of treats he'd never seen before. Taking the box, he looked down at it and kept the practiced mask on, carefully posed as always. "Or...what is it that they call you now? You know how we are in here - it's so hard to keep track of who is who."
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It was impressive, in a morbid sort of way. He had to give them that. She looked like Ayumu and she sounded like her, but he had far too much sense to let himself believe it was really her. After all, hadn't one person already trained himself to impersonate her? Was it such a stretch of the imagination to believe that another could have been as well, sent here to try to convince them to believe the lies she was telling?
It made him angry that anyone should abuse a dead woman this way, especially one as dedicated as Yamazaki Ayumu had been. He did his best to bury it, however, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "It's all right," he replied, schooling his voice as best he could to hide the conflicting emotions. "I should quit."
Let her react to that. It would give him something more he could use to unravel this trick.
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She moved to pull a chair over and sit, finally, with a quiet chuckle at William's comment. "I've heard that before, though. Several times, if I recall correctly." And yet nothing had changed, to the point that she'd decided to smuggle a pack of cigarettes in to him because she was fairly certain he'd want them. "I can't imagine that being without has improved your mood a bit."
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She pulled up a chair to sit and Hijikata leaned back in his, crossing his arms. Okita glanced up at him and then back to the package in his hands, wondering what it held. Would it be poison? A weapon? Or simply a box of sweets made with loving care from a woman he shouldn't know? To maintain an air of normalcy to this visit, Okita fidgeted with the box, turning it over in his hands as he tried to figure out how to pry it open. "Ah, yes, I remember."
Yamazaki Susumu or some approximation thereof.
"He hasn't had a single one since coming here," Okita said, picking at the corner of the box even though his attention remained on the woman across from them. "He may just quit after all."
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Hijikata wasn't having any of it. If someone out there wanted him to react, they were just going to have to be disappointed. Instead of grumbling at the mild jab at his mood, he shifted in his seat, switching his posture from defensive to relaxed, and concentrated on not scowling at either of them. "It's true." He nodded slightly along with Souji's statement. "And surely you don't think my temperament is that bad." He put a little smile into it, something that could almost have been flirtatious, although the wrongness he felt at that kept it on the chaste side. "It was kind of you to come see us."
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She settled back in the chair, pretending at a level of serenity she didn't truly feel. "Of course I came to visit. You're both friends, and I couldn't just let you think nobody outside of here cared about you. And... well, when I was released I left so quickly I couldn't say goodbye to you, Julian. I'm sorry about that, but I wasn't given a choice."
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Gone like she should have been. It was strange to find displeasure at seeing Ayumu alive, but Okita preferred to think of her as dead and gone rather than brainwashed and being manipulated. Worst yet, she remembered being here but did not remember dying here. It would mean revealing uncomfortable truths to Hijikata if Okita dared pry any further into what Yuuko knew. "It's good to know you're all still thinking of us, even if we're technically crazy," he quipped, putting his chin in his hands. Released so quickly? That was one way to put it. "And please, don't mention it. If it wasn't your choice, then it wasn't your choice."
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He could not help the slight, worried frown that crossed his face at 'Yuuko's' comment at having been here herself--at not having been able to say goodbye. He tipped his head towards Souji, giving him a questioning look, but said nothing on the matter. Ayumu had been here, presumably, some time before he'd been brought in. Souji hadn't mentioned it. To spare him? Surely the captain didn't think his feelings were so fragile.
He'd have to ask about it later, when they had some privacy.
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They didn't seem particularly happy to have her there, even if they were mouthing the right responses and at least trying to pretend. But she knew them, and had missed them, and perhaps hadn't thought enough about how the two of them would react to seeing her again. "Perhaps I should've let Makoto visit instead," she observed, her voice a little quieter, more subdued. "I just wanted to see you both again for myself."
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"Miracles are rather hard to come by in here, Yuuko-san," he agreed, turning his attention back to the woman across from them. She was frowning slightly at their silent exchange and it was easy to tell. Too easy. Too...normal. She was disappointed that the ones she perceived as her friends weren't welcoming her back so easily. It was understandable; far too understandable. It was a normal reaction for someone who found their presence to have a less than desired result, but it didn't tell Okita if Yuuko was who she was supposed to be.
"We appreciate you coming here, but--" He paused, glancing to Hijikata for a moment. "You have to understand how difficult it is for us. All things considered. We are still in here. You are out there now. He's giving up smoking. All sorts of things are turning upside down."
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In comparison, the woman wearing Ayumu's face was an open book, her feelings easily conveyed by her expressions and convincing him even further that she had nothing to do with the person he'd known outside of her appearance.
"I am glad to see you again," he reassured her. And he would have been, were she the real thing. Despite the pain it would have caused, he would have appreciated one last meeting with her, even if only, selfishly, to know he had done the right thing.
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Yuuko drew in a breath, carefully straightening and erasing all expression but for a small smile. "Well. There is one thing I can help you with in that, at least." Ninja she may not be, but she was still quick and agile and good enough with sleight of hand that she'd been banned from playing cards with the kendo team. None of the staff members were looking their direction at the moment, so it was a good time to act. She leaned forward, reaching out as though simply intending to help Julian open the box she'd given him; when she settled back in her chair again she'd left a pack of cigarettes behind.
"I thought they might find the other one," she observed softly, expression unchanging lest she give anything away to their watchers. "So I brought another. Just in case."
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Yuuko leaned forward and Okita did the same, peering at the box and not at the present she left behind. With one hand he lifted the lid to peer inside and with the other, he slid the box of tobacco off the table, passing it to Hijikata away from the eyes of the staff. He smiled at her, silently thanking her and then looked to the box of candy again, not wanting to bring much attention to what they were doing.
"Ooh, they're pretty." And they were. A glimpse was all he would allow himself, but they were pretty. Delicate and handmade, like lost memories of Kyoto revived here. He turned the box toward Hijikata and smiled at him. "Don't you think so?"
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"Thank you."
Those were two words he'd never given her, despite all that she had done. They were somewhat empty now, in this place, under these circumstances, and he doubted she would even understand, but it was all he could offer her.
And then he was turning away, looking at the box and sighing. "Yes, I'm sure they're nice." They would undoubtedly make the younger man happy, at least.
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"I'm glad you like them. It's too bad there isn't any good tea here to go with them, though... unless they've changed the menu since I left." Yuuko folded her hands in her lap, the very picture of a model visitor who certainly wasn't smuggling in anything patients shouldn't have. "Though if they have I hope you're eating more. I know it's nothing compared to my cooking, but if you don't eat enough you'll just make yourself sick."
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Were those words directed at Yuuko or at Ayumu?
His gaze was torn away by the conversation continuing and the need to keep up appearances. Okita laughed slightly and shook his head. "If anything, the menu has gotten worse in some ways. They serve us something like okayu now. It's rather bland and there's still no tea." It was an admission of Ayumu having been here before, but Okita could explain later. Everything was always pushed to later; and all he could do was hope there was a later. "And I've been eating! It's just not very good."
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