Day 29: Cafeteria, Brunch

[whiteychan]

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him,

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[osakapwnzu]

Heiji was wheeled into the cafeteria by his nurse, chattering all the way about how he was sorry he'd missed a chance to see the head doctor. His nurse was considering duct taping his mouth shut, but settled on the next best option--food.

The teen detective was starving. So when the nurse set a tray full of breakfast food and rice down in front of him, he immediately began wolfing down the sausages. Mmm... meat.

Come to think of it, he was meeting Okita soon, so perhaps he should save some food so he could actually eat with the swordsman--instead of watching Kaneyoshi eat... which would be really awkward.

He shoved a whole silver dollar pancake into his mouth in thought. Hm... it wasn't all that sweet, was it?

[Waiting for Okita!]

[notachick]

Time in the Chapel had been interesting. Even without the Head Doctor making his appearance, Okita had been productive and that always managed to lift his spirits. Fai had been an interesting person - and knowing there was more to him than met the eye only increased Okita's desire to know him better

[osakapwnzu]

Heiji was all smiles again as Okita sat down--thrilled to see the swordsman again and in much better spirits, apparently. However, he couldn't help but look slightly embarrassed as Okita looked at the wheelchair. Making such a stupid mistake...

"Yeah, totally! I've been starved since last night! Didn't get a chance to eat what they gave us on the bus. I was, uh, not in the mood, y'know," Heiji gave Okita a knowing smile.

"But yeah, uh, I'm okay," He took a fork to his rice. It felt really, really weird to eat rice like this. "I look pretty bad, and it kinda hurts to swallow, but I'll live. Takes more'n that to kill me!" He grinned.

[notachick]

Okita only laughed when Heiji reminded him of the results of their sparring match and began separating out the food on his tray into edible and inedible things. He neatly compartmentalized anything that looked too terribly foreign and kept the rice and fruit off to the side. The amount of meat this place shoved down the patients' throats couldn't be good for them. Not that Heiji seemed to mind.

Taking a small bite of rice and relishing the relatively plain taste, he realized how much he'd missed plain food. He hadn't eaten much since coming to this place merely because the flavors and amount of grease had upset his palette terribly

[osakapwnzu]

"What, really?" Heiji seemed genuinely excited to receive an invite--especially since it involved a guy he seemed to really connect with. Since he hadn't made very many friends, only people who he'd chatted with or run around the Institute on a whim as a safety measure, Heiji could hardly contain the relief he felt.

"Nah, it won't be an issue!" He said, waving his hand as if to wave the possibility of him having difficulty navigating the hallways with broken ribs away. "Really, my nurse wheeled this thing in, and I just thought, 'No way am I being seen in one of those!' It's not even necessary, I can totally stand up!"

[notachick]

Heiji's excitement made Okita glad he was looking down at the moment. His smile turned thin again, glad to see that he'd found a willing recruit. He had been nearly one hundred percent certain that Heiji was going to join him, but it was always good to have verbal confirmation. Tonight was going to be a trial run of Heiji's abilities, especially under pressure

[osakapwnzu]

Impress someone else? Heiji didn't exactly like the sound of that. It sounded as though he'd been enlisted into some sort of army instead of accepting an invitation. His smile faltered for just a second before he could pick it back up again. He could think about this later. It wasn't as though the History Club was a branch of the yakuza or anything--once he joined he could never go back.

Heiji also wasn't too keen on being someone's lap dog--not when he'd been his own force back in Osaka. He wasn't exactly a good little soldier, neither was he ready and willing to lay down his life for a guy he hadn't even met yet. Part of it didn't sit well with him. Maybe he was better off as a wild card...

He could think about this later.

"Sounds great! Jus' lemme know where and when, and I'll show up to this little party," He continued eating, wondering what was going on inside Okita's head. What was going on inside the History Club? Gah, later Hattori. Later"Oh, uh," Heiji was somewhat caught off-guard when Okita asked about the

[notachick]

Oh, he hadn't missed that little display. Heiji was less than pleased with the idea of having to prove himself to another man. If only the boy had known Okita had been testing him from the beginning. Some part of the swordsman knew his subtle manipulations wouldn't get noticed, but that didn't mean he wouldn't cover his tracks as best he could

[osakapwnzu]

"I didn't say you were," Heiji said quickly, covering his own tracks. He'd have to be more careful around Okita--he wasn't the run-of-the-mill guy. But now that he'd screwed up, he'd have to come clean. "I'm just, y'know, not used to following a guy I don't even know yet. I ran my own investigations back home, hunted down my own criminals, and made my own deductions. I'm not exactly a guy who runs in a pack." He shoved his food around his plate. "Guess 'm just homesick. Sorry, I didn't mean to push all that on you

[notachick]

Heiji confessed rather quickly, but it was good to see that his skills in deducing what another thought hadn't grown dull since arriving here. The swordsman merely smiled like he always did and nibbled at the bit of melon on his fork. It wasn't like he couldn't deal with independent spirits, and if he didn't take a liking to Homura, Heiji could stick with him. He did have a soft spot for young ones, after all. "It's perfectly alright. I understand being homesick and wanting to have your own agenda

[osakapwnzu]

Heiji nodded at the maps, "Y'don't have to bribe me, I'm comin'!" The detective grinned. A map was useful, sure, but not necessary to get him to come to the meeting. He was perfectly capable of making his own. Or, so he thought.

"Do I get shot often? Nah. Guns're pretty rare where I come from, but they pop up from time to time when y'deal with criminals. 'Specially desperate ones. I can usually get the criminal before they shoot me, but this time was an exception. I guess I was kinda careless, but I had no idea that chick was ambidextrous!

"Fortunately, medicine's progressed t'the point where even if y'get shot, some people can be saved before bleedin' out or whatever. That must've been what happened before I got here--'cause when I woke up," He shrugged, "No gunshot wound. I just got it," He thought for a moment, "I got here two days ago, so... not three days ago! And it's friggin' gone..." Heiji shook his head and downed some juice. "Not a clue. No idea how that happened."

[notachick]

"Good, good!" Okita said, laughing heartily. He ignored the pain for now, but he knew later he'd been feeling that. "I don't want you to get discouraged from playing with us. It'd be no fun without you, Heiji-kun

[osakapwnzu]

"Ah, really? You guys must be a really boring bunch then, 'f I'm the life of the party!" He laughed, but the last thing Okita said set off alarm bells in his head. It sounded as though he was being led like a lamb to the slaughter, or he was the main course in a dinner

[notachick]

Okita happened to glance down when Heiji laughed, smiling to himself as he continued to eat his meal. Perhaps if he'd seen, he would have noticed the slight flash of distrust that went through the detective. With the rice mostly gone, he'd decided to be a little more adventurous and was busily picking at the french toast coated in butter and syrup. He wasn't sure what to make of the smell of cinnamon, but the taste of the syrup was just sweet enough that it held his attention. When he discovered that french toast wasn't poison in disguise, he happily began digging in. "I believe there may be others joining us tonight, too, but I haven't met them. It'll be a lovely party, don't you think

[osakapwnzu]

Heiji smiled as he watched Okita wolf down the french toast. The guy sure liked sweet stuff. He himself wasn't too big on it, but it was amusing nonetheless to watch.

"Yeah! I haven't met too many people either, so it should be interesting. Especially if these people are specially picked by you and, uh, the other guy." He didn't think Okita had mentioned his name... if he had, Heiji didn't remember it.

He grinned, "'Course I won't lose it! That'd be awful, considering it's my only weapon. Well, besides the closet rod. I pulled that down the first night I was here." Come to think of it, he could probably use that to get around later tonight, should he need it... "But yeah, I'll bring it, o'course."

"Eh?" Heiji looked a bit surprised. He hadn't expected Okita to stick to medicine. "Uh, no of course not! I mean, there are machines that'll keep your heart beating, but it's not really living, y'know? Kind of like living for the sake of staring at a hospital ceiling--empty," He shuddered, "It's a creepy thought."

[notachick]

"We aren't very big yet," Okita admitted, pushing a piece of toast around in the syrup before eating it. They used to be bigger - two members stronger - but he didn't need to bring that up. It brought back painful memories for everyone involved and that's the last thing anyone needed right now. He wondered how many members the Cooking Club or the Arts and Crafts Club had lost. Considering that the History Club went from five to three members in a little over two days, it felt like they were being targeted or something. "But hopefully we'll be growing soon~ And the leader of the pank's name is Homura - you can see him over there. There is one other and a possible new addition as of last night, but nothing has been confirmed