DAY 33: BREAKFAST

[yin_yang_fox]

Renamon blinked, and suddenly she was laying flat in the bed she had originally woke up in. The timing was impeccable, accenting Orihime's explanation perfectly. She just hoped that she hadn't freaked the girl out with her little disappearing act. She quickly shifted out of bed, and grabbed the journal she had wrote notes in last night, and jotted

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[high_prosecutor]

One moment, there had been a girl with a sword facing off with another girl, clearly under Special Counseling, in the Sun Room.

The next, daylight was streaming through the windows. Edgeworth woke up to the intercom with a scream on his lips, one he swallowed back down quickly. He had a headache, and the chirpy intercom announcement of the lack of coffee just made it seem worse; the prosecutor had been hoping for either coffee or tea to help with his head. The flimsy excuse of not letting people have too much caffeine didn't hold water, and the gloating on top of it didn't sit well with the man at all.

On top of all that, this was a morning where, in addition to the headache, he had explaining to do. We didn't get into the doctor's offices because of a fight in the Sun Room. That was going to go over just wonderfully.

His nurse came in, and the moment she started talking, Edgeworth silenced her with a glare that simply said, "If you chirp at me, I'll be forced to say things I'll regret, which will make you do things you'll regret, so please don't make me say them." Her mouth had closed as quickly as it opened, and the rest of the walk to the cafeteria was spent in blessed silence.

Edgeworth moved through the cafeteria line as quickly as possible, taking a sandwich, a cup of orange juice, and a mug of hot chocolate. It looked like he was early to the party again, and he took a seat at a corner table and started eating.

[space reserved for a thieving little guy]

[flashyaudacity]

Last night had gone well, but the morning so far... hadn't. Waking up without bandages was nice, and he'd even chatted with his nurse a little after having her take him by the Sun Room before breakfast. But the message from Homura on the board left him curious, and mildly suspicious.

He was going to go crazy if he had to wonder all day about what the man wanted to speak with him about.

Once in the cafeteria, he helped himself to a bowl of cereal and hot chocolate. Hot chocolate! He didn't like the Institute, but at least breakfast had redeemed itself in some small way.

Wanting to get to the hot chocolate right away, he glanced around the cafeteria to find a place to sit. There was a corner table where a grey-haired man was seated alone... Perfect! Kaito crossed over to the table.

"Anyone sitting here?" he asked, giving the man a friendly smile.

[high_prosecutor]

[ooc: Ugh, sorry this was so late! We can backthread.]

"No, no one's sitting here," Edgeworth said, after a long swallow of his hot chocolate. His first instinct had been to say, "yes," but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, even as grumpy as he was feeling.

"Miles Edgeworth. I think I've seen you around here a time or two, but I'm afraid if we met, I've drawn a blank on your name. The lack of caffeine gets to a person after a while," he added. "And so does...well, what doesn't get to a person around here?"

He took a few bites of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully. Kids. Always the kids. I think I must have some sign I can't see on my back that says, "Hey, kids! Come bother me!

[flashyaudacity]

[Hey, no problem~!]

Kaito set down his tray and slid into the seat when the man indicated the seat was free.

"Nah, we haven't met yet. Kuroba Kaito," he responded, giving his own name. Edgeworth's name sounded familiar, like he'd heard it in passing, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Some things aren't too bad..." He paused, and shook his head before correcting, "Some things aren't as bad as they could be. At least we're all sane; it'd be a lot worse if we really were nuts."

[high_prosecutor]

Edgeworth had to laugh despite himself. "You have a point, Kaito-san. Though I almost beg to differ on that point...I think some of the needless shuffling around might be slightly more tolerable if my sanity wasn't intact," he replied.

"How long have you been here, by the way?" Now that he had a closer look at his mealtime companion, there was something slightly familiar, but then again...he sat back in his chair, idly tapping his pinky finger against the mug of cocoa. "If I'm being rude, I do apologize, but you do look a little familiar. I might have you mixed up with someone else, though, and if that's the case, I also apologize."

This morning had just been full of apologies, hadn't it? First this, and then needing to report on the previous night. It was just about enough to wipe the slight smile off his face.

[flashyaudacity]

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Kaito agreed with a laugh. Being told where to go all day was pretty annoying...

He leaned back in his chair, taking a drink of his hot chocolate. "Last night was... my fourth night, I believe." He'd arrived in the afternoon his first day, so it wasn't even four full days yet, but it already felt like so much longer than that... "How about you, Edgeworth-san? Have you been here long?"

He smiled at the man, waving a hand as if to dismiss the apology, though he was curious as to who the man might have confused him with. The only person he could think of that looked similar to him was Kudo Shinichi, and Kudo wasn't here... was he? "Like you said, you could have seen me around. We're in close enough quarters that faces are bound to become familiar... You could've seen me with someone you know, maybe."

He couldn't remember meeting Edgeworth before, so as long as Kudo wasn't here, or hadn't been here, it seemed the most likely possibility... Unless Edgeworth had known Kudo back home?

[high_prosecutor]

"That must be it - I only hope I've seen you around, and not accidentally mixed you up with someone I've seen in a court case." Now that he thought about it...but no. The only actual teenagers he'd ever put up on the witness stand were girls. Maybe that was it, if one of them had a boyfriend or something, but it would have to be the Skye girl.

"I'm a prosecuting attorney back home," Edgeworth explained. "But I don't think I've mixed you up with anyone else there. I just ran through the likeliest explanations, and neither of them pan out." He chuckled softly, hoping to take the edge off the statement.

The laughter faded quickly, though, at the last question. "It's been roughly 6 weeks, though a couple of those were spent in the infirmary after I fell ill. I don't remember much of what happened while I was there, though."

[flashyaudacity]

Kaito was about to ask what Edgeworth meant, but the man answered the question before it was even asked.

Well that was just great. A lawyer. And he didn't even have the decency to be a defense attorney... No, he had to be a prosecutor! First the detective, and now the prosecution... What was next: the judge!?

Kaito maintained a friendly smile as his poker face despite feeling nervous now. It certainly wouldn't do to give the prosecutor a reason to be suspicious of him... "I've never been to a trial," he said. "But I guess I might look like someone you've seen at one."

If Nakamori had any say in the matter, he'd be attending a trial in the future: his own. He just hoped that Edgeworth wasn't from that future...

Kaito whistled when Edgeworth stated how long he'd been here. "Wow; you're the first person I've met who's been here for so long... I can definitely understand why the routine's getting to you."

[high_prosecutor]

"I do apologize for the misunderstanding," Edgeworth said. "I think, in the end, I had just seen you around here. I'd thought for just a minute that you had actually been dating the younger sister of one of my colleagues. Miss Skye is 15, though she had a birthday coming up the last time I saw her."

He smiled, trying to soften the impact a little. "She had a habit of attending the trials where her sister was prosecuting for a while, and she gave the poor crime scene investigators a lot of trouble." Edgeworth laughed, adding, "She got banned from their lab, though, after one too many explosions."

The laughs and smiles faded fast at that last question. "Sadly, there are people who have been here longer than I. I think...do you know of Colonel Mustang, who leads the Arts and Crafts Club? If memory serves, he had been here about three weeks before I arrived."

[flashyaudacity]

Kaito laughed nervously, trying to internally calm down. "Yeah, definitely not me, then," he said.

While he still couldn't completely discount the possibility that Edgeworth was, possibly, from his own future, he didn't know of anyone named Skye, and he definitely wasn't dating anyone.

...Though he had to admit he liked the sound of this 'Miss Skye' if she caused a little trouble for the police. Explosions were a nice touch, as long as no one got hurt.

His look turned serious to match Edgeworth's. "I haven't met him, but I've seen his name on the message board a few times," he said, thinking. "Nine weeks, huh? I think I'd go crazy being locked up for that long... But maybe that's their goal here: make us lose our minds."

Kaito shrugged after a moment of thought, deciding to try changing the subject. "So where are you from?" he asked.

It didn't seem like he was Japanese, though he was speaking the language well... But people on the message board had been saying something about hearing different languages than were spoken, hadn't they? Maybe the prosecutor was actually speaking a language that wasn't even from Earth.

Kaito kind of hoped he was.

[high_prosecutor]

"I think you might be right about that goal," Edgeworth said in a dry voice. "And by the looks of some of the posts on the message board, sometimes I wonder if they're not succeeding."

The subject change was welcome, and he relaxed just a bit. "I'm from Los Angeles - United States, Earth." While he didn't normally say the country and planet, he'd learned a while ago that you couldn't be too careful when saying where you were from. "Though I've done a lot of travelling. I spent much of my childhood in Europe, and I've traveled to Japan on several occasions."

"I couldn't help noticing your name, Kaito-san. What part of Japan are you from?"

[flashyaudacity]

It was easy enough to see how people could get rattled around here... Heck, just yesterday he'd doubted his own sanity after that "therapy" session. He chose not to comment on it, however; he didn't want to risk the prosecutor asking the wrong questions about why he'd almost believed the doctor.

"Los Angeles, huh?" Kaito said. "Never to America myself, though I'd like to go some day." He would prefer to go for legitimate reasons, but if he didn't find what he was after in Japan... Well, he'd have to start branching out sooner or later. It was probably already looking a bit suspicious that Kaitou Kid had stuck to Japan since his career had been revived.

He took another sip of his hot chocolate and then answered, "I'm from Tokyo." Tokyo was big, but hopefully the response would be specific enough for Edgeworth; he didn't want to provide too many details, just in case. Hattori may have been closer to home, but Edgeworth's possible recognition worried him more...

[high_prosecutor]

"It's...well, we get the interesting characters in LA." Understatement of the year, Edgeworth. "I was planning on taking a break, to be honest. I have family in Europe, and it was a good time to travel." There was no need to get into the reasons why; no need to dredge up all those memories.

"I enjoyed Tokyo on my two visits there, though it's been several years since the last visit. It's been...three years, if memory serves?" The last visit had been for work - a gang of art thieves had been smuggling pieces from museums through the city. "Things change so quickly there, however, that I suspect those three years are more like three decades."

Edgeworth sat back in his chair, finishing the last bit of hot chocolate. "I also enjoyed Kyoto, too. It's a beautiful city."

[flashyaudacity]

Kaito laughed. "There're interesting characters everywhere," he said. "If you don't seem 'em, you just haven't been there long enough, or aren't looking carefully."

He smiled at Edgeworth. "Traveling sounds nice. I've only been out of Japan a couple of times, but I'd love to see more of the world."

Kaito set down his mug carefully, thinking back over the past three years when Edgeworth talked about things changing. "Yeah, things can change pretty quickly," he agreed. "It doesn't always feel fast, but when you stop and look back, it's kind of surprising..."

Three years ago, he would have never guessed what the future held for him. It was almost startling now that he thought about how quickly everything had changed.

"Kyoto's nice," he agreed, "but I prefer Tokyo. Then again, it is home."

[high_prosecutor]

"Or you don't have my job," Edgeworth chuckled. "It tends to bring the interesting characters to me. Though LA and Tokyo probably have two of the world's highest populations of them. LA has everyone wanting to break into the movies, and Tokyo...well, you've probably seen more Japanese street fashions than I have." The girls in high fashion were all over both cities, but only in Tokyo did one see a girl with a dark tan accompanied by a girl in a dress only a child would normally wear.

"It is surprising to look back on things, though. Time has a way of flying when you look back on it. Though it moves more oddly here than it does anywhere else. One moment you're in a hallway, and the next, you're waking up in bed wondering how you got there." Edgeworth shook his head and brushed hair out of his eyes. "That's one thing I'd like to further investigate - how they do that."

"Tokyo is a place unto itself - not that it's a bad thing," he added.

[flashyaudacity]

"Lucky you," Kaito said with a smile. He'd met his share of interesting characters, but they were probably of a different sort than the ones Edgeworth encounter. Well, maybe they were the same sort, but seen on opposite sides of the law...

Kaito sighed lightly. "I don't think I'll ever get used to the wake-ups here," he said. "They're really jarring. I don't mind disappearing acts, but I can't quite appreciate the way they do things here."

Talk of "investigation" aside, Edgeworth had a point: it'd be nice to know how they did it. "They've got to be able to knock out everyone at once, or else someone would already know how they manage it. Could be some kind of odorless gas, or whatever that trick they pulled during that riot was..."