"I think it'll just be easier if she doesn't know, for now." You decide.
"I guess that makes sense; it would take a while to explain. So that brings me to the other issue - if you have questions, how are you going to tell me?"
You pause, mulling that over. "Have you ever played the back-writing game?" You'd mused about using it to communicate after the funeral, but here you may just have to start putting it into practice.
Midori nods an affirmative. "I guess that'll work."
Before you can say anything else, another door appears against the left wall, and you detransform instantly, standing up and moving out of the way as you do so. Nel steps through, and an unfamiliar girl follows them in, gazing about in understated awe.
There are two things you immediately notice about her. First, she is indeed wearing a different school uniform from the one you and Midori use; hers belongs to the more prestigious academy in town, situated right in the middle of the really rich neighborhood. She must either be incredibly smart or incredibly well-connected to get in there; it's kind of intimidating, honestly.
The second thing you realize is that she is both objectively gorgeous, and clearly foreign. She has a tall and willowy frame with curves in all the right places, and wide, round eyes with long lashes. Her long, flowing hair is brown, but dyed orange at the tips, and her fingernails are painted in a similar shade, as she extends a slender hand to shake. "Hello," she greets Midori, speaking fluent Japanese, but her voice tinted with a light yet noticeable accent. And her skin is a dark olive bronze. "My name is Varma Pallavi. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Midori stares at the Indian girl in surprise for several long moments, before shaking her head and reluctantly taking the handshake. "Varma-san. It's nice to meet you too." She mumbles, and you notice with amusement that she's struggling to suppress a blush.
"Please, call me Pallavi!" The newcomer says, taking Midori's hand in both of hers and giving an enthusiastic pump. "And what is your name?"
As Midori shies away from Pallavi's beaming grin, you find yourself thinking Wow. This one is far too friendly. "Just call me Kazane-san…" Pallavi finally lets her go, and the verdette sighs in relief.
Pallavi finally notices her discomfort and steps back, putting a hand behind her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so forceful. I'm told I can come on too strong, but I just really like meeting new people! My apologies."
"It's fine," Midori says, but keeps her distance regardless.
"So you said there was another girl?" Pallavi asks, glancing about as if expecting you to appear out of thin air. Which you could do… but decide against it. "Where is she?"
Nel glances over at you curiously, and you make a shhh gesture, finger up in front of your mouth. Nel nods in understanding. "I forgot to mention, it seems that Yukimura-san had other commitments, and will not be able to join you after all."
"Aww," Pallavi sighs. "I suppose I can meet her some other time." You shiver a bit, feeling more threatened than reassured by her innocent statement. Turning back to Midori, a more measured smile graces her expression. "Well, that just makes more time for us to get to know each other!" Midori gives a nervous grin in response.
"Anyway, shall we get on to business?" Nel suggests, giving her respite. "Last night, Kazane-san and Yukimura-san defeated a human who had been turned into a monster, and were able to successfully revert him to his original form. Now, the goal is to meet with him and try to find out how much, if anything, he remembers about the incident, and attempt to glean any clues from that we may be able to in order to discover the base cause of his transformation."
Pallavi taps her chin thoughtfully. "How will we get in to see him?"
"We could just pretend to be family members," Midori suggests. "Though, he himself would know we aren't relatives. That might make it difficult."
You step over to Nel and whisper a suggestion to them; they relay it to the other two. "Yukimura-san called the hospital after the battle, remember? If you say you were the ones who made the call, and wanted to check on him, that should make a solid alibi without requiring any falsification of your identities."
"I like the sound of that better," Pallavi says. "I don't like the idea of lying too much."
Midori side-eyes her with an odd expression. "You know you'll have to keep this," she points to the orange crystal ring on her finger, "a secret, right?"
Pallavi nods soberly. "I know that. I don't like it, but I'll do it. I'd just rather not hide things any more than necessary."
Midori glances over at where she last saw you with a guilty expression, but you don't feel the same way. There's no need to share absolutely everything with the rest of the world, is there?
Okay, maybe you feel a little guilty too, but you still think this is the better option.
"Just so long as you understand the necessity," Nel assures, "I won't ask you to hide anything more than that."
Pallavi nods, and Midori speaks up. "Well, with that settled, should we go?"
"Right." Nel creates another doorway. "Earlier, I was able to find out the man you're looking for is Gushiken Daisuke. Though as witnesses, you technically don't know that."
"Alright, I've got this covered," Midori says confidently.
"And make it quick; visiting hours won't last long!" Nel opens the door and ushers them through, holding it open long enough for you to slip out after them. "And good luck!"
With that, the doorway vanishes, and the three of you are left in a small alleyway, downtown once again. The sky is a light blue with wispy clouds starting to scud in, and the sun is a little lower now than before. You step out onto the sidewalk, looking up and down the busy streets, and it doesn't take long to orient yourselves. "Here, the hospital is just a block this way; follow me." Pallavi takes the lead instead, Midori following behind at a swift pace. You, being slightly shorter than either of them, struggle to keep up.
"This is exciting!" Pallavi says with an eager grin. "We aren't just fighting, but also investigating, like detectives! I wonder what we'll find out."
"Why did you wait so long to join?" Midori says abruptly, and Pallavi comes to a stop.
"I'm sorry?" She asks, then adds "Oh. I'm sorry." Midori halts as well, looking at her with a tilted head. "I wanted to help from the start, but… when that stranger talked about everything that was happening, and the problems they've been having with getting others to join, I… the only things I could think were that it sounded really lonely, and that I was afraid for my parents if something happened to me. If I… disappeared out of nowhere, what would that do to them?"
"I guess I can understand that." Midori nods, glancing back in your direction. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be questioning your motives. It's not like I had such selfless reasons for hesitating, myself."
She stiffens up as Pallavi pulls her into a brief but tight hug before parting again. "It's alright. What matters is now we're in this together, and can watch each other's backs. And Yukimura-san, too!"
"Yeah." Midori smiles. "I like the sound of that. Shall we continue?"
The rest of the walk progresses easily, and soon enough you're entering the main lobby (the automatic doors, thankfully, provide plenty of time for you to sneak through on Midori's tail) and approaching the front desk.
Midori moves forward here, stepping up to the counter and leaning forward a little too far. The nurse glances up from a set of files, blinking in surprise at her closeness. "Can I… help you?"
"Uhh, yeah," Midori says, affecting a higher, more nasal tone than usual. "Can I, like, ask for some directions? I wanted to see someone." Behind her, Pallavi looks on in confusion at the sudden personality shift, while you find yourself unable to restrain giggles, thankful that you're currently inaudible.
The nurse raises an eyebrow. "Someone, huh? Can you tell me their name and information?"
"Well, like, I don't actually know him," Midori says, twirling her hair around a finger as she leans back. "Last night, my friend and I were walking around when we saw this guy, like, getting kicked around by a bunch of jerks. After they left, we called you guys to help him, but after that, we…" she lowers her voice slightly, looking ashamed, and leans in again as if telling a secret, "got scared and ran. We felt kinda bad about doing that, so we just… wanted to make sure he was okay, you know?"
"I see," the nurse says flatly, turning to her computer screen. "I can look into the admittance records from last night. Did you catch his name at all? That would help me find him easier."
"Uhm," Midori says, glancing up at the ceiling, looking like she's trying very hard to think. "I think one of the guys beating him up called him, like… Daichi, Daisu…"
"Daisuke?" The nurse prompts, and Midori nods fervently. "That's Gushiken Daisuke, admitted at 11:57 PM; he's suffered from stab wounds and a broken nose, but recovering well."
She stares up at Midori, who stares back expectantly. "You wanted to know if he was alright, and it appears he is. There's no need to disturb him now. Besides, visiting hours will be over soon. Shouldn't you be going home?"
"But we, we wanted to apologize to him!" Midori pleads, brushing her bangs aside to reveal her other eye, giving the nurse a big pouty stare; you notice she's hidden everything with makeup again. "Like, it was really bad of us to just leave him like that! Please let us make it up to him!"
The nurse sighs. "Alright, alright." After a couple clicks, she adds, "He's on the fifth floor, room 511B." She points over at a set of elevators along the back wall. "Essentially, go up, turn right two times, and you'll find it on your left. Now please just leave me alone." She turns back to the folder on her desk with a frustrated expression as Midori bounces back to Pallavi with a satisfied smirk, and they depart for the elevators. It's a moment or two before you remember you're supposed to follow, still stunned by the performance.
Once the doors have closed behind you, Midori drops the flighty attitude, shoulders slumping again as her face reverts to neutral. Pallavi, meanwhile, puts her face in her hands and laughs uncontrollably. "W-what was that about?" She finally manages to gasp out between chuckles.
"Given how fancy you look, I figured it would make more sense for me to blend with you than the inverse." Pallavi nods in acceptance of that logic, but you can't help but wonder if the compliment wasn't a little backhanded.
"Well, let's go," Pallavi says, finally pressing the button for the fifth floor. The ticker moves along, the ride up otherwise silent. Midori looks a bit bored if anything, while Pallavi is fidgeting nervously. Soon enough, though, you're deposited out onto the fifth floor, and follow the hallway around until you find rooms 511A and 511B. Midori opens the latter, gesturing Pallavi through and letting you brush past before closing it again.
"I told you, I'm fine! Please, I don't need another juicebo- eh?" The patient inside lifts his head, staring in surprise upon realizing you're not who he expected. He is indeed the same bald man from last night, his buff figure barely concealed under the loose-fitting hospital clothes, a huge bandage covering his nose. However, in the light cast through the window, you realize he's actually more elderly than you assumed last night, with wrinkles under his eyes and a scruffy grey chin beard. "Ah, hello there, little ladies. I think you may have come to the wrong room…?" He suggests, offering a polite but confused half-smile.
"Are you Gushiken-san?" Pallavi asks, bowing respectfully. "We were indeed looking for you." Midori follows suit, and you do the same out of guilt, even knowing he can't see it.
"If you're sure, I suppose I can entertain you for a bit. Sit down, sit down. What are your names?"
As they introduce themselves and take seats in the two empty chairs sitting opposite his bed, you take up position behind Midori, squeezing between her chair back and the wall. Normally you wouldn't bother, but there's a mirror positioned next to the windows, that you're still paranoid may reveal you if Pallavi were to simply look left.
"So what brings you in here to speak to me?" Daisuke continues. "Not that I mind the company, of course."
Midori and Pallavi exchange glances; it's the verdette who speaks up. "We were the ones who called the ambulance for you. We were walking… back to the station? when we saw you getting beaten up. We hid until they left, and when we realized you were still breathing, I called the hospital. We… after that, we thought we might be in trouble for being out so late, so we ran off and left you there." Standing up again, Midori falls into another bow. "I'm deeply sorry for my cowardice! Please forgive us for abandoning you!" She sounds legitimately passionate, too, and you're again surprised by her ability to act.
Daisuke nods slowly, smiling in understanding. "Please, there's no need to apologise. It seems you two saved me if anything… and I certainly know my fair share about staying past curfew." He adds with a wink. Pallavi blinks obliviously, while Midori blushes at the implication. However, Daisuke's expression falls into a troubled frown. "I never thought I would make such enemies. And I have no clue what I could have done to have earned them."
"What do you mean?" Pallavi asks. "Perhaps it was simply muggers?"
"No, no," the old man says, shaking his head. "I don't remember much about last night, but it seemed they had planned this. If it was just muggers, I could have fended them off myself," he flexes a bulging bicep to illustrate, "But when I left my friend's gym, someone talked to me, and then I believe I must have been knocked out, because I don't recall anything past that."
Midori nods, and you similarly recognize his account as matching what you saw after restoring him. You tap Midori's shoulder, and she leans forward a bit to let you access her back. She waits for you to finish tracing your message in before she speaks up again. "Was there anything else that makes you think that someone was specifically gunning for you?"
Daisuke tilts his head thoughtfully. "As I said, I was at a gym my friend owns; he allowed me to stay behind longer if I locked everything up once I was done." Midori nods, and he continues. "While I was there alone, I saw someone watching me through the front windows. I thought they were wondering whether or not the place was closed after hours, so I went to go talk to them, but the moment I looked away, they vanished. I just put it out of mind, but after everything else that happened, I think that they may have been making sure I truly was alone." He shivers slightly, and it's strange to see such a mountain-like man so afraid.
Pallavi looks sympathetic, but Midori remains focused. "Did you see what they looked like? Were they a man or a woman?"
"It might not be a bad idea to tell the police, or something," Pallavi supplies as an explanation.
"Well, they did seem rather-" Daisuke begins, but is cut off as the door abruptly opens again.
"Alright, I'm back with another juicebox!" A nurse cheerfully announces, bustling in with about five of them in her arms. Or at least you think it's a her; they're a tad androgynous. Daisuke restrains himself from giving the offending drinks a scathing glare as the nurse dumps them on his lap, before fussing over the bandage on his arm. "Don't worry, dear, it's all fine now; you've done a great job!" Glancing over, she notices she isn't the only one present, and puts her hands on her hips. "Visiting hours are up, you three! You should get out of here now." After a moment more of pestering the patient, she holds the door open, waving your companions through. "Come on now, I can't let you stay any longer. There will be plenty of time to talk later!"
Midori and Pallavi reluctantly stand, giving Daisuke parting bows before filing out. You're about to do the same, when a sudden realization hits you. You three.
What do you do?
> Chase (Follow the nurse, because something's not right here.)
> Stay (Stay here, and once the nurse has left, transform to continue asking Daisuke questions.)
> Leave (Stick with Pallavi and Midori, and plan your next move.)
