Day 47: Breakfast

[thatdamnedninja]

It had all been going so well

Comments

[not_rly_fai]

He remembered blacking out in the darkness while being nearly dragged along by Aiden. And before that, the coliseum. Now he lay in bed, exhausted and weak, but at least the pain had diminished slightly. His hand went to the injury at his neck, only to find that it was now bandaged up, treated already. But while he could see easily enough from his right eye, the left was just as dark as before. They'd placed some kind of medical eyepatch over it, which his fingers traced with morbid curiosity.

Yuuhi hadn't been awake for more than a few moments before the nurse came in, fussing and making sure he took some medicine for the pain, offering up encouragement for a speedy recovery from his unfortunate accident. Is that what they were calling it? He followed her numbly, feeling only slightly steadier on his feet. The nurse was kind enough to let him sit once they reached the cafeteria and returned with a tray for him. Food was honestly the last thing on his mind, but he sipped at the juice almost mechanically.

[For Sakura]

[giftofstars]

Waking up suddenly, Sakura groaned as she realized what had happened. She had spent too long sitting around and not enough time moving to where she needed to go. Night was already over, and she had nothing to show for it. Tears welled up in her eyes as she sat in her bed. If she couldn't even do something as simple as get batteries, how could she help the boys in any other way?

And Fai... Fai was gone. She set her hands over her heart as tears continued to stream outward. She didn't even know him very well, but he paid the ultimate price for her. Maybe people went home after they died. Maybe Fai was happy and back with his family, but that didn't change the fact that he did die while she could only helplessly watch. Why was this such a horrible place. No one ever died like this back in Tomoeda... no one

[not_rly_fai]

It was hard to adjust to seeing the world with only half the scope of vision he'd had before. But he still recognized the same people who came to the cafeteria everyday, just like before, and saw that none of them seemed to recognize him, or maybe they just hadn't noticed. Some were smiling and talking with other patients, others saw him for a moment and continued on, unperturbed. It left him wondering if any of it had actually happened or if maybe he was the only one who remembered.

It wasn't until he heard a familiar voice call his name that he looked up and saw Sakura. She seemed alright, not injured visibly at least. Which meant their fight hadn't been completely useless. As long as the others were all safe and well, it didn't matter what happened.

He put on a smile, slight, but friendly and lifted his hand in a small wave. "Good morning Sakura," he replied, hoping he'd made things sound as ordinary as he could.

[giftofstars]

"G-Good morning Fai-san," Sakura, having finally reached him, stuttered. Setting her tray down next to him, she sat down without making eye contact. It really was him right? She stole a glance to the side and verified that it was indeed Fai. He now had an eye patch over his eyes and seemed less animated than usual, but other than that, he seemed fine. Somehow, he was alive. She couldn't believe it. Either he didn't die or he was brought back from the dead, a feat which even magic couldn't seem to accomplish.

She picked up a tater tot and spun it around in her hands before looking up at Fai again. There were so many things she wanted to ask - how he was alive, what really happened two nights ago, what was he doing all of yesterday - yet it all mushed together to form, "H-How are you doing Fai-san?" She quickly popped the tater tot into her mouth, hoping it would help remedy how strange she must have sounded.

[not_rly_fai]

Was he making her uncomfortable? It was easy to let the line blur and let himself feel a bit more at ease thinking it was the Sakura he'd come to know in his travels, but it just wasn't so. She could hardly seem to manage looking at him, but still was able to ask about his well being. It was lucky that he'd managed to train himself not to let his emotions become visible so easily. He only continued to smile gently at her when she sat down and seemed so fidgety in her seat.

"I'm just fine," he assured her and tried very hard to sound convincing. She didn't seem terribly surprised to see him at least, so did she remember what had happened? Had she even seen? He couldn't think of many other reasons why she'd be asking. Maybe it was possible to mend some things yet. "I wasn't feeling so well the other day, so the nurses told me to stay in bed, but I'm much better now. How are you doing Sakura?"

[giftofstars]

Upon hearing Fai's last remark, Sakura looked up and tilted her head. "You've been in your room this whole time?" she paraphrased, asking for confirmation. But that didn't make sense. Touya told her that Fai had died. As mean as her brother could be sometimes, Sakura knew that Touya would never lie about something as serious as death. So, why did he think Fai was dead?

"Onii-chan and Yue-san both think you're dead though..." she told Fai, somewhat question-like. "I thought you were dead..." Her hands clenched together in her lap as she tried to hold back the tears, but they came oozing out anyways: tears of happiness, tears of sadness, and tears of confusion. Even though she had only known Fai for a short amount of time, she already cared for him as a friend, perhaps even as a second older brother while here at the institute.

[not_rly_fai]

What he'd said in order to keep from upsetting her was having the exact opposite effect. His hands moved to his lap almost unconsciously, but it took an effort not to wring them when he saw her begin to cry. Had he chosen the wrong thing to say? Then again, if both her brother and Yue had told her otherwise, making her choose whom to believe had to be hard on her. And somehow, the girl's tears made it very difficult to find anything to say. Would more lies only upset her further?

"I'm sorry," he offered and genuinely looked regretful, even if it was mostly the guilt of having made her cry.

"I didn't mean to upset you," he added, offering her a folded napkin from his tray since there was no tissue readily available. "But everything is alright now. No harm done. I couldn't be here, sitting in front of you if something terrible had happened, could I?"

[giftofstars]

Shaking her head, Sakura took the napkin and wiped away some of her tears. "I don't understand though. Why do onii-chan and Yue-san think you're dead?" she asked, still sniffling a bit. It really didn't add up. Although she didn't witness it herself, something happened that night in the coliseum which must have led Touya and Yue to believe that.

She took a quick glance around the cafeteria, looking for Touya and Yue. If she could find them, they could probably explain what they saw. Unfortunately, they seemed to be no where in sight, so Sakura merely turned back to Fai, waiting to see how he explained the situation.

[not_rly_fai]

It wasn't as easy as it usually was to lie when it was Sakura in front of him. Even if his guilt was obvious, she was trying to give him a chance to explain. But if there was one thing Aiden was right about, it was that he couldn't be getting himself involved with people, especially here.

But how would Touya and Yue react if they found out he'd lied to her? Would they want to protect her from something like that or would they rather he told her what happened? Did it even matter? He still couldn't be sure if they'd led him down there knowing full well what might happen. Though it hardly changed what would've been the result.

"It was a trick," he insisted, "I used my magic and... it probably seemed that way to them. That's all. But I'm here, just like always."

He reached out to muss her hair and give her a soft pat on the head, an act meant to be reassuring. "So don't worry, okay? Did everything go alright yesterday? I guess there's probably not a lot to do that's fun, but we get to go outside today I think. It'll be

[giftofstars]

Oh... Well, that made sense. If Fai could somehow trick Landel into thinking he was dead, then the useless conflict could stop, preventing the actual death of anyone. However, to trick Landel, he also needed to trick everyone else, and that included both Touya and Yue.

After frowning a bit in disapproval because Fai messed with her hair, Sakura nodded to give him a visual signal that she understood. Hopefully though, Landel wouldn't notice Fai walking around or else they would be targeted once more.

"I..." Sakura began before pausing and glancing down. She couldn't tell Fai that she had spent much of yesterday moping because of his death. It would probably be best to brush it off instead. "Yeah... It'll be great to go outside," she replied, smiling unintentionally weakly.

[not_rly_fai]

He withdrew his hand, folding it back in his lap as a cold feeling of guilt settled into his stomach. Sakura was so easy to convince, so trusting that it was almost unbelievable. Was it worse to break that trust? Or for her to find out the truth of what happened? She didn't have to know. Surely Touya or Yue would agree with that. People were usually much happier not knowing the truth.

Something about the way she smiled back made him wonder if it really had been too easy, if she wasn't as trusting as she appeared, but all he could do was hope it'd been enough. "Do you have a favorite outdoor sport?" he questioned further, if only to distract her from any more dark thoughts.

"Oh- or they also let us do gardening I think. I could never get much to grow back home," he admitted, "but here things seem to grow really well."