Day 47: Intercom, Noon

[damned_intercom]

It was already obvious that the Head Doctor was frazzled this particularly day, and so it would probably come as little surprise that the third announcement of the day was given by Lydia instead of Landel himself

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[oneman_onekill]

So he'd died. Niikura had to kind of envy his fellow clones since they'd all had the pleasure of going through this experience at least four times. He'd only died once, and that'd been a couple years back, so the sensation was still a little hazy and unfamiliar.

Still, the further he got into it, the more he realized that this was like greeting an old friend. Death wasn't too bad at all. One second he felt the mask on his face, the next the tingle as each of the needles plunged into what was left of his skin. And then...nothing. It was like he was zipping along through the air in a void, every bit of him zooming down toward a new body along with the other five who'd died. Any second now and he'd be waking up in that chamber. The hatch would fly open, he'd flop out, and Azuma would be there with that stupid grin all "Happy Birthday!" in his face.

Yeah, what a fucking fabulous birthday.

Niikura opened his eyes with a gasp and then nearly fell out of the bed he was in when he realized that hey, this was all wrong. He was horizontal, not vertical, and there wasn't lab slime all over him.

"What the--?" His fingers grabbed at gray fabric that most definitely wasn't supposed to be there. What - what- a smiley face? What kind of fool joke was Azuma pulling? He was supposed to be in the nude, the last time he'd checked how the clone process went. Niikura's fingers felt through his hair, along his face. No electrodes, no wires, no anything. But he was alive. He'd entered a clone, right? This was version three of Niikura Shou, right? He fingered through his memories, trying to find any clues from the five who were supposed to be in there with him. There they were: We've been had. Fucking Kitagami. He'd get his due someday.

And then someone came into the room, and Niikura, without even turning to face him, said, "What the hell is this all about, Azuma?" And then he looked, and his jaw nearly dropped five inches because oops, he'd just called some random nurse chick Azuma--wait. Random chick? In his cloning plant? He didn't think so. "Wait--what - who are ya?"

The nurse smiled at him and then completely ignored his question. "Oh, you're awake, Tsuneo! Are you hungry? It's time for lunch right now."

"It's Shou," Niikura said impatiently. "And I want to know what's going on." He leaped out of bed with murder in his eyes. "Where am I?"

"Now, now, Tsuneo, I know this is a little disorienting for you" - the nurse forced a tight smile and patted him on the arm - "but you're going to get better. Everyone here at the institute is cheering for you."

Institute? Disorienting? Niikura combined this with the horrible outfit he was currently in and came up with two words: mental institute - which begged the question of who'd stuck him in here in the first place. No one had access to the clone plant except for the clones, and he seriously doubted that any of them would choose to stick their fearless leader in an asylum when they were days away from the deadline. "Wait, I'm not crazy! I'm just a normal high school kid, honest!"

"Of course, Tsuneo," the nurse said. "Now, shall we get some lunch?"

"I don't--" Niikura caught sight of some male orderlies milling around outside; it looked like they were expecting violence. Time to switch tactics. He rearranged the dark look on his face into an award-winning grin. "...sure! I'm always up for some good eats."

He'd go along with this for now, but first chance he got, Niikura was busting the hell out of here. Akumetsu wasn't finished yet, not even by a long shot, and if he had to blow up a mental asylum to get back, he'd do it.