Sleepless Girl in the Crystal City
"You should be more careful."
Jun nods, eyes fixed on the floor of her bedroom, holding back winces as her brother cleans her back with antiseptics. The skin is grazed, and small nicks cover her bare arms and the way she sits shows discomfort in her legs. Her body's on fire, screaming in pain, but the girl says silent, calmly letting her older brother check over her back for any other injuries. She hisses when he pushed against her side, the area tender, and Ken murmurs apologizes.
"Alright." The black-haired male says as he stands, gently touching Jun's hair. "It should be fine. I've cleaned it, and with the way you are, it should be fixed by morning." Jun nods, eyes still on the floor, and Ken sighs, bending to kiss his sister's forehead. "Get some sleep brat, okay? A good night's sleep fixes everything."
A weak wry smile. Heh. As if a good night's sleep is going to fix everything. But no need to worry Ken further, he's already had to deal with his little sister stumbling in, wincing in pain. Belatedly she realizes Ken's still standing there, waiting for her own goodnight wishes, and she smiles faintly, the expression pasted on. "Night." She hugs him, inhaling his scent and she remembers what it used to be like, her 9 years old and climbing into his bed, daddy still at work. He'd hold her and only then would she fall asleep, but when she'd wake up she'd be tucked up safely in her own bed. Now there's no Daddy, and she's too big a girl to crawl into his bed.
"Don't let the bed bugs bite," Ken whispers to her as he shuts her door and Jun lies back, wincing before rolling onto her stomach. She lies there, recounting the day's events. Everything had been perfectly normal, well normal for her. Until Ken asked her to run to the little shop down the street to grab somethings they needed for dinner. That's where it all went wrong.
Youma. It had been over 900 years and now there was a youma. How it had gotten there she wasn't sure, but she had her suspicions. Nexus. It had to be. There was no enemies, none of the scanners had picked up the hint of a threat, so it had to have been because of the nexus. She was so shocked it had caught her easily, slamming into her and sending her flying down the street to slide painfully along the road.
It had taken 15 minutes from that point, well 14 minutes from the point of transformation but she had beaten it. And then she'd stumbled home and almost collapsed into Ken's arms. She wasn't used to the surprisingly intelligent monsters, their strength, just wasn't used to them at all. Jun realizes now that the best idea would have been to call for assistance, and perhaps next time she'll do that. Perhaps.
She can't sleep. Her back stings, her ribs ache, and so do her legs. With a sigh and wince Jun stands, pulling her glasses on. She steps out into the hallway quietly, pausing and holding her breath to listen for Ken. Deep steady breaths come from her brother's room. Good. He's asleep. No need to wake him, no need to worry him. She tiptoes down her stairs, skipping the one that creeks, bare feet silent as she walks to the kitchen. The light of the fridge illuminates the nook for a second and in that time she pours herself a glass of juice.
Taking the juice she steps out onto the apartment's veranda. Crystal Tokyo is quiet, as it should be. It's near midnight after all. Jun takes a sip from the glass before setting it on a small table, leaning against the railing. She stares down, the few people on the street small to her, and she can't help repeating today's incident in her mind. She sees everything she did wrong, what she could have done better, how many times she came close to failing. Squeezing her eyes shut, Jun pinches the bridge of her nose trying to switch the soldier in her off.
It's not working.
She needs a distraction. Right away if possible.