Day 43: Intercom, Dawn
Good morning, and welcome to your personalized tour of Landel's Institute! My name is I.R.I.S. and I will be your automated guide during your stay here. If you have any specific questions during our tour, please direct them to the personal console in your welcome bag. We will do our very best to address any concerns you may have
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That was the first thing Doumeki noticed when he opened his eyes and found himself not outside of a room in Yuuko's shop while Watanuki searched desperately for some sign of her. He was in bed, a bed that didn't feel familiar or comfortable, his clothes felt strange and awkward, but what struck him the most was that the air felt different. It seemed to lack some substance, some reality that the air he was used to held.
Sitting up, Doumeki took stock of the situation he was in, the room he'd awakened in. He smoothed his hands over the front of the shirt he wore - a grey t-shirt with a smiley face on the front had replaced his comfortable yukata, and he wore matching grey pants. It wasn't the sort of clothing he would generally wear, preferring more traditional clothing out of habit, and the bed was Western instead of the futon he was used to sleeping on. It wasn't the sort of setting he was used to, at all, and he was curious for a moment how someone had managed to put him in different clothes without his noticing.
Perhaps it was one of those dreams, perhaps it was finally his turn. For a moment he half-expected to see his grandfather, puffing at a cigarette and smiling at him with bright eyes, but if this was his grandfather's doing then the setting wouldn't be anything like this. It ran much the same for Yuuko or any of the other regular presences in the dreams Watanuki had.
He couldn't see any spirits, but, come to think of it, wasn't this the sort of thing that Watanuki usually did? Drifting off in the real world and waking up in some other place, some dream? It wasn't usually Doumeki's kind of thing, he had never been able to see spirits or otherworldly things on his own, he was not the sort to drift off into some strange fantasy without provocation. This sort of weird thing wasn't his forté, he was much more comfortable dealing with spirits that entered his own territory than he was with entering into theirs. He'd done this sort of thing once, with the Hyakki Yako he'd gone into with Watanuki, but this wasn't that kind of thing, and it had a distinctly different feel than that, anyhow. The air felt empty and strange, yes. That was the best explanation for it.
Putting bare feet on the floor, Doumeki swept the room with a gaze - it looked like some sort of dorm, beds and a small dresser, chairs. Like a tiny dorm room or possibly a room in some sort of institution. Definitely not an inn, and definitely not the sort of traditional Japanese thing he was used to. Standing up, he crossed to the dresser and looked in the drawers, finding sets of generic items inside, nothing personal and nothing that belonged to him. Lips pressing together in disapproval, he realized he no longer had the egg that Yuuko had entrusted to him. This wasn't a good situation, but with any luck it would be easy to find a way out. There was always a way out, and if Watanuki could find the exit on this sort of thing, then there was no question Doumeki could do it, and probably a lot more easily than that idiot.
Sighing to himself, Doumeki left the dresser and went to the door, and after finding it locked, some sort of announcement came on. He listened to it. An Institute then, of some sort, and multiple choices of where to go. He crossed to the closet again, and slid on his slippers, waiting patiently for the door to be opened so he could leave the room.
Patience, Doumeki had in spades.
After a while, the door opened, and Doumeki stood from where he'd been seated on the bed, giving the nurse a nod. She fussed over him a bit, and called him "Haru," which he didn't bother to correct, and he asked to be led to the cafeteria.
If nothing else, he could get something to eat.
[to here]
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