She lacked the energy to object. And if she were being honest, the reason as well. The only reason Amu might have objected to Hotsuin's question was simple obstinance, that of a child not feeling sure adults were ever really on her side,but... she didn't want to be that child. Not really. Not now. She didn't have the energy for a facade.
"Okay," she said. She closed her eyes. It was easier than meeting his gaze.
She was sitting on the ground, her eyes sore and bloodshot, her muscles aching, her clothes ripped and burnt, and- and she'd had a long day. She was tired. That was all.
She opened her eyes again.
"Where to start?" she wondered.
Hotsuin didn't reply, but he did catch her eyes. He was looking rather intensely at her eyes, actually. She blearily blinked and then shook her head.
"Right," she muttered. "Sorry. Um. Do you mind if I ask my friend to come here?" And then, without waiting for a response, she raised her voice. "Utau! I need to talk to you!"
There was a pause, and then a burst of movement from the crowd, and a few moments later Utau was pushing through. Her cheeks were red, her face was sweaty, and there was a smear of blood on her skirt, but otherwise she looked fine. Until she saw Amu, and then-
Amu winced.
"You're alive," Utau said. "Are you- of course you're not okay. You look like- you look like hell. Are you hurt?"
Amu smiled at her, but it was a wan, watery thing.
"I'm glad to see you, too," she said, her voice cracking. "I'm fine. Just scratched."
Utau knelt in front of her, her hands twitching uselessly at her side, before finally reaching out. She slowly embraced Amu, her grip light and careful.
"I was afraid," Utau admitted, her voice quiet.
Amu hugged her back, a little tighter than perhaps was comfortable. Utau's body heat felt nice, and the touch grounded her. Amu rested her chin on the taller girl's shoulder, and just breathed.
"Sorry," Amu murmured.
"Idiot," Utau retorted. She pulled back, her expression fierce, but her eyes were misty. "Never mind that." She looked at Hotsuin, her expression puzzled. Then at Nadeshiko, who was leaning against her naginata, and beyond her, to the rift and all the various gesticulating... uniformed people. "What happened? We all felt something- weird, a little while ago. Then there was an explosion at your school, and... oh, Amu."
"I believe that's something we'd all like to know," Hotsuin smoothly interjected. He sounded a little stressed. "If we're going to resolve this- incident, we'll need a clear explanation of how it started."
He looked towards the middle school building, where the rift was still there, although weirdly pixelated—it shimmered as though overlaid with a soap bubble. The building, however, was done for. Fragments of concrete and other rubble still occasionally tumbled down from the roof, the entire thing was cracked, and-
A woman with short twintails was setting up some kind of oversized computer, which looked completely out of place on the damaged, broken pavement in front of the building. Several of the uniform-looking people they'd come with were carrying boxes of equipment back and forth, though none of it looked familiar to Amu.
Amu blinked, and then rubbed at her eyes, the water and her tiredness combining into a bad case of eyestrain. It all looked very official. And expensive.
She'd broken the school. And possibly reality. And at least one boy had died.
Amu didn't have time to get properly depressed, though, because Utau was right there, in her head, strenuously objecting to the very idea of blaming herself. It wasn't her fault! It was those- demons. The rift. All of it. They weren't having a conversation, not really—they were too tired for that, and Kana could've easily pulled her side of a conversation but Utau wasn't good at it—but Utau was bullying her, refusing to let her spiral into the loop of self-blame Amu knew she probably deserved.
And Amu was too tired to disagree.
She didn't want to, even. The feeling was a little weird, and she thought some fragments of Saaya might have gotten stuck to her. She needed time to process, and work that out, and- Hotsuin wasn't giving it to her.
"Okay," Amu said. "Okay. So. The thing. Um. I can't promise to know everything, but- I guess- yeah."
Hotsuin gave her a look.
"I'll explain everything I can," she said, shoving her thoughts into a kind of order. She leaned a bit harder against Utau."This is my best friend, Nikaidou Utau. She was involved in the fight, so I think it would be better if she hears this too. And, um, this is Fujisaki Nadeshiko." She motioned vaguely. "She was also fighting."
"Fujisaki," Hotsuin murmured. He turned towards her. "You're one of their 'daughters', then?"
Amu could plainly hear the undertones. Nadeshiko clearly could as well; she stiffened a little.
"Yes," she said. "And who are you?"
She didn't mean his name, obviously. Hotsuin hmm'd, a thoughtful sound, but didn't immediately answer. He looked around, fiddled with his phone, then seemed to come to a decision.
"JPs," he said. "We're an organisation that handles occult-related incidents."
Amu blinked.
"What, like... the government?"
Hotsuin's lips twitched.
"Part of it, yes. Officially."
Amu frowned.
"And unofficially?"
"Unofficially," he replied, "we still handle occult-related incidents. You can ask Lulu about it, as I'm sure you will regardless. Let her know I've told you she can talk. She'll feel less guilty about doing what she'd no doubt do regardless."
"Ah."
"As for myself," he continued, "I am the Chief. In practice, that means I make the final decisions."
Amu wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
"Hm." Hotsuin nodded, and then turned back towards Amu.
"So," Amu said. "Um." She took a deep breath. "First, the rift is- the rift might be my fault." Utau's hug strengthened slightly, though she said nothing. "I was having an argument with my friend, Yamabuki Saaya. She's... over there," Amu said, motioning vaguely towards her father. Who, though he was a bit far away for her still blurry eyes, seemed to have trouble deciding whether to watch her or the girl he was carrying. Saaya was still unconscious and Amu knew she ought to worry about that.
And she did. It was a sharp, fragmented sort of worry, because this just wasn't the first time she'd hurt Saaya. Or that Saaya had hurt her, for that matter. She'd thought of the other girl as a bully—like the princess types from her old grade-school, the ones that never really cared about anyone—but she'd been wrong. Or had she? Saaya had been a showoff, not much else. But no, this wasn't the time. She was explaining.
"The rift just- appeared," she said, her words coming out in a rush. "Between us, while we were shouting at each other. I- I think Saaya did something, and I parried it, and somehow it made the rift."
There was a long pause.
"Is that possible?" Utau asked.
"Unfortunately," Hotsuin agreed. "Although not with the force of two middle-schoolers, no matter how gifted."
Amu flinched, her cheeks reddening, and then slumped a little. She hadn't thought about it, but- Hotsuin was probably right. That was a stupid idea.
"That doesn't mean you weren't the final straw," Hotsuin added after a moment.
Amu blinked, and looked up at him. He looked back, straight in her eyes, his own slowly narrowing. It was uncomfortable, so she looked away, and-
"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice small.
Hotsuin didn't answer. Instead he kept studying her, his mouth set in a frown. Not like he was angry at her, though. More like he was... puzzled? Confused? She couldn't see his mind properly, and she was too tired to try. There was something like foggy glass panes between them and Amu wasn't sure she liked it. But he seemed confused, because-
"What happened next?" he asked.
-well, because he was talking like he was, mostly. Amu suspected she wasn't good at reading tones of voice, but that one was 'confusion', right? That was how people sounded on the TV when they were confused. He was asking simple questions, but his eyes kept flitting between her and Utau like he wasn't sure what he was seeing.
"We ran away," she said. "I had to drag her out, but the rift was getting bigger, and- the school was full of children, but Saaya was hurt. So once we'd gotten outside I helped her sit down, and- well, I healed her. She was coughing up blood," Amu said for an explanation. 'Healed her' was a super-oversimplification, but she couldn't remember what she'd been doing, mostly. It didn't make sense in her mind. Maybe she'd work it out later.
"Was that when the demons appeared?" Hotsuin prompted.
Amu looked uncertainly up at the rift.
"Um. I don't think so. Tadase was still indoors, holding it back-" She paled. "Tadase! He's still in there! Somewhere under the rubble." She tried struggling to her feet, and-
"Stay here," Hotsuin told her. "We'll deal with it."
"But-"
He didn't give her time to argue, because he was already speaking on his radio and Utau didn't let her go. Amu ran through her mental checklist of friends, then paled a bit more. Kukai! Kukai was—she looked around—over there, by the rubble, helping a pained-looking boy up onto a stretcher. He was fine.
"It's not your responsibility. You've done enough," Utau murmured, and Amu sagged against her.
"Yeah," Amu whispered. "Maybe."
She stared up at the rift. It was oddly pretty. So like a soap bubble. She blinked, and her vision blurred a little. Her eyelids were heavy.
"Amu?" Utau asked. "Hey, don't fall asleep yet."
"'m not," Amu mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. "M'just... resting."
"Right," Utau said, and shifted position a little, settling her chin on the top of Amu's head. "Just don't fall asleep yet, okay? Not until we know what's going on. And we can find a nurse."
"I'm not hurt," Amu muttered.
"Let someone else be the judge of that," Utau told her.
Amu grumbled something wordless, and then blinked. She was looking at a pair of shoes. Nice black shoes. And black pants. And-
She tilted her head back a little and was confronted with the sight of a very unsure looking Hotsuin. As well as Miki, and- Ami, her little sister, her eyes wide and scared as she looked around at the ruined school, at-
At Amu.
Amu struggled—and failed—to get to her feet, her thoughts jumbling together. She didn't want to look like this in front of her little sister. She didn't want her to be scared. And- and…
A small limpet stuck itself to her front.
Amu froze, then a moment later hugged her sister back. Ami was tearing up. Her mind at least was an open book and Amu could tell the smaller girl was afraid, but- but relieved. And proud. And… a dozen other emotions. She wasn't quite able to understand the mix of feelings, though, because her own emotions were getting mixed in there—she wasn't quite awake enough to sort out who was who. But Ami could tell she wasn't hurt, not seriously, and-
Amu hugged her sister, her eyes squeezed shut, and tried not to cry.
"I'm okay," Amu said, her voice rough, for the third time that day.
"Yeah," Ami mumbled. "'neechan, there was a monster! And it was a big one, and it was all like 'rarr!' and- and then- and then there was fire, and-"
"And Ami killed it," Miki interjected, her tone heavy.
"It was hurting Micchan," Ami said, her voice quiet. "'neechan, there was lots, and… yes… I killed them. So did Hikaru. And Yukari."
Amu just hugged her tighter, and looked up at Miki. Her other self was frowning.
"It was," Ami insisted, her voice getting stronger. "And 'neechan was fighting, and she was hurt, and- and I helped. Oneechan... you're okay? You're not hurt?"
"Not- not badly," Amu managed. "Just scuffed. I'm- I'm sorry."
"'sokay," Ami mumbled, and pulled back a little. Her eyes were still a little teary but her face was determined. "You're really tired, and sore." She looked at Miki. "Help her."
Miki let out a sigh, and settled down on Amu's shoulder instead. That freed up her sightline to Hotsuin again, reminding her that—yes, he was here, and- and he was looking at Miki, completely unbothered by Miki being a four inch tall flying mini-Amu with blue hair.
"Wish I could, but I think the only thing that can help her is sleep. Don't worry, little sis," she added, looking down at Ami. "She's fine."
'Fine enough', Miki added mentally. 'Amu, what the heck? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?'
'I'm not,' Amu replied. She looked up, and her cheeks reddened. 'I'm sorry, Miki. I was-'
'I can hear you, you know.' Ami pouted.
"We'll sit on you if we have to," Utau added. "You'll be fine."
Amu blinked, and looked down.
'You'll get photographed if you stay here,' she told them. 'Dad's here. So's a lot of reporters.'
Utau and Ami glanced over, and then shared a look.
'Neat!' said Ami. And a "So?" from Utau. They weren't leaving; they didn't even need to say. Amu felt a little silly from thinking that they might have, and… and she didn't really want them to go. They were warm and comforting.
"Thanks," she said.
"Yeah, yeah," Utau said.
Amu let out a chuckle. A moment later she realised that- yeah, she was tired, and Hotsuin was still expectantly looking at her, but Utau was still holding her and Ami was radiating relief at her. It felt good, and- she blinked, realising she'd lost a few seconds, and now Hotsuin was clearing his throat at them.
"Is this a poor time?" he asked, a little sarcastically.
"No, sorry," Amu said, her cheeks heating. She pulled herself upright. "Sorry. Just- tired. What was I saying?"
Hotsuin seemed to struggle with himself. After a moment he relaxed slightly, seeming to accept her answer.
"You said your friend, Yamabuki, was injured, and that you healed her. I have a mountain of questions, but—as I don't wish to spend time being shouted at—I'll keep them to a minimum." He sounded grumpy, which Amu thought looked out of character. Then again, she didn't trust her own judgement right now. "Keep your answers limited to anything you feel I should know, anything about the rift and anything about the demons you were fighting. Anything else can wait. Although I do have one other question..."
His eyes fixed on Miki.
"What are you?"
"Me?" Miki pointed at herself, her eyebrows raising.
"Yes."
"I'm... her," Miki said, motioning at Amu. "Well, part of her. One of her. Um." She glanced at Amu. "A chara. Name's Miki."
"Short for 'character', yes. There's another word for that." Hotsuin frowned, staring at Amu's eyes again. She was getting really uncomfortable with that stare. "Miki," he said, a moment later. "Who is Himamori Amu to you?"
Miki's eyebrows furrowed. "The name's Hinamori."
"Ah." Hotsuin didn't apologise, though Amu could feel a faint, muted sense of embarrassment. "Hinamori Amu, then. Who is she to you?"
"She's- my friend. And... my sister," Miki added. "It's complicated. We're the same person. Well, kinda. She's my true self, that's- she always was."
"Ah," Hotsuin said again. He looked towards Amu. "And she's... sane?"
Amu blinked.
"Er," she said, her mind blanking.
"Ignore that," he ordered. "It's plainly obvious. Two impossibilities in one day... and yet, not. How strange. What happened after you healed your friend?"
So she told him, and then she told him everything she remembered from being next to the rift—every little detail, even the weird mindspace ones she doubted he'd get, though he nodded along anyway. Nadeshiko took over shortly thereafter; she'd had a much better view of the demons and had actually managed to kill several of them. Utau had only seen the stragglers, but she'd taken down a handful herself. Ami, of course, had to take the opportunity to brag about her kills, and-
Hotsuin had stopped paying attention to her, because Nadeshiko, Ami and Utau were all talking over each other and trying to make sure that- that their parts in the fight were described properly, so Amu was slumping down in Utau's arms,her eyelids heavy, and-
She blinked.
And Hotsuin was walking away.
"Wait!" she called, forcing herself back into wakefulness. He glanced at her. "Saaya is- I have to-"
"She'll have a doctor look her over. The paramedics have already arrived," he added, motioning at a few ambulance-people, who were indeed hurrying back and forth with stretchers. There were an awful lot of stretchers. And kids on the stretchers. Amu hoped they were mostly okay, but- but- some of them, she couldn't feel at all.
She let out a little sigh, and rubbed at her eyes.
"She's hurt," she told Hotsuin, her eyes pleading. "I used the humpty lock to hold her mind together. It's, um, a small locket—she's wearing it around her neck. If they take it off she'll die."
"Ah," Hotsuin murmured. He was giving her an odd look.
"Can you have them look at her without taking the locket off? I don't know how it works, but Tsukasa—the headmaster—he might."
"Very well," he agreed after a pause. "I'll make sure it's taken care of. If you'll excuse me..." He took a half-step away, then stopped, sighing. Once again he seemed to struggle with himself before coming to a decision.
"Thank you," Hotsuin told her. His words were flat, emotionless, and yet there was a sincerity to them. "We'll do what we can do for your friend and your classmates. If she's taken mental damage then I assure you there are no doctors on the planet better suited for treating it than ours."
"Th-thanks," Amu said, blinking. He gave her a last nod, then hurried off, his hands on his phone.
Amu stared after him, wondering- and then-
He argued with a white-clad woman—she looked like a doctor—and then came right back, right as Utau was pulling her—half lifting her—to her feet. Amu's head was swimming by this point. The only reason she didn't fall over was Utau. She staggered on her feet, her head spinning.
Why was he back?
"Amu," Hotsuin said. Amu blinked at him and tried to focus. He sighed. "I have been told that I often miss the obvious. When you said that you were fine, I believed you." He looked at her, and she had a feeling she ought to be worried, because he looked annoyed. "This was obviously false. Would you like to go with your friend?"
To the hospital, he meant.
= = =
I mean, define 'hospital'.
[ ] Yes
- Amu is not okay. This is the only sensible choice in any reasonable universe. I'm not sure you live in one, and neither are you.
- Utau will certainly object to letting her go alone.
[ ] No
- Amu is fine, honest!
- Truthfully, there are no long-term drawbacks to her health if you choose this. The question here is whether or not you want to go with Saaya, on the face of it.
[ ] Write-in
