Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]
Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room
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"Mr. Coleman--"
"Aaaah!" Gumshoe almost jumped away from the sudden voice near his shoulder (which could have been on his shoulder if he weren't so tall). "D-Don't sneak up on me like that!" He glanced up at the ceiling, then at the wall, then back again. "What's gotten into you? I liked you better when I knew you were coming." That... didn't sound as rude in his head, though it hadn't been there for long. He thought he heard her giggling (... ?), but he was already on the look-out for Mr. von Karma again. ...
...! What!? No!! He couldn't believe it! He'd lost him! This lady...
He stopped glaring at her after a moment, running a hand through his hair and looking away instead. He should really learn to hide his anger. That was probably the only reason she was over here right now. Couldn't be for the company.
"Oh, look! Isn't that the girl you met a while ago?"
Gumshoe raised an eyebrow and turned his head to where she was pointing (he was surprised to hear she actually paid attention to what he did). ... Oh, sure, just point to the corner with the most girls in it and hope he would know one of them.
The nurse clicked her tongue at him when his brow furrowed (it was kind of hard to tell if she was lying now), and before he knew it, she was pulling him closer to the girl in question. She seemed really determined to distract him from the case. Why else would she be doing this? He sighed, as if that would stop his feelings from getting hurt. People patronized him on what seemed like a daily basis, but this lady took the prize.
However, to his surprise (and hers), he was ready to put it behind him when a face finally jumped out at him. "Hey, it's you!" he said, an invisible weight on his shoulders slipping away. He easily escaped the woman's grip and gave her an absent-minded wave before approaching the girl. The first thing he noticed was her lack of injuries. "Good to see you're in tip-top shape."
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So far, so good. At least he looked uninjured on the outside.
As for his comment about her being “in tip top shape,” Kairi smiled and nodded her head, running her fingers through her auburn hair as she looked down a bit, a soft smile crossing her lips. “Yes, I’m okay. … Actually, I just woke up this morning. My nurse said I had been sleeping for … days and days and days.” A pause, and she looked up to the man and smiled. “But I feel great and healthy and everything, so that’s good!” and to show it, she pumped her fist in the air, her smile growing.
“What about you?” she asked, tilting her head to the side as her expression grew curious. “How have you been? You’ve been okay, I hope.”
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He sat down in the chair beside her--detectives needed to rest, too, sometimes--and smiled at her enthusiasm. "Now, listen up, pal!" he said, suddenly serious. "I never want to see you that banged up again, so the next time you go out at night, make sure you travel with friends, alright?" At least, he assumed that was why her injuries had been so bad. The possibility that she would go it alone anyway bothered him.
"Me?" Pretty sad to think she was the first person to ask him that all week. "Not too bad," he lied with a frown. "Lately, I've been trying to catch up on what I've missed. A week in the infirmary will do that to you."
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When Gumshoe moved to sit next to her, Kairi blinked her large blue-violet eyes at him and nodded her head, listening intently as he told her what to do when it came to nightfall. Despite the seriousness of what he was saying, she couldn’t help but smile and rest her cheek against her knee, nodding her head. “Okay, I promise I’ll try not to get hurt again. And the same goes for you too!”
Except her smile faded when he mentioned the infirmary again, and instantly Kairi became concerned, her head tilting to the side as she looked up at him. “The infirmary? You were hurt? What happened?”
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"Good," he replied brightly. "It's a deal, then!" One way or another, they were all going to get hurt, as long as they remained in here. It didn't seem like a reasonable thing to say when he was aiming to cheer her up.
He couldn't help but chuckle at her questions; her concern flattered him. "No no no no. I can't remember why they threw me in there, but it seems like I came down with something. From what little I remember of the place, and from what my nurse has been telling me, I was so out of it..." He leaned on the right arm of his chair and tapped his finger against it. "Maybe it was better that they kept me in there." That would suggest the nurses were on their side, or at the very least, were making an active effort to protect them. This case looked more complicated each day.
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She hadn’t even thought of such a thing. If her room had changed, did that mean that … Rukia was no longer there as well? Would she open the door to her room and find somewhere completely different sitting on the bed that used to be claimed by her friend?
It hurt to think about, but … well, she’d see what happened when the time came.
“Like ... maybe you were sick with something?” she asked, tilting her head to the side again. “Weird … I don’t think I was sick when I first fell asleep … I might have been a little hurt, but that’s it …”
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