No. No! You KNOW who's in there!

[not_tomorrow]

[Up in the North Wing, there's a pounding on one of the doors. Someone or something wants out. But what's worse is the crying. The sounds of a woman, frightened to the point of tears, pounding on the door, hoping someone will let her out.]

P-please... [She sobs.] Please, Harry, open the door.

[The sobs continue for a while longer, alongside the desperate pounding on the door.]




Please don't leave me alone. Please!




Somebody?



[The weeping begins again.]

Comments

[not_tomorrow]

We're all students? But I just finished my training as a nurse.

[She takes a cookie and nibbles on it thoughtfully.]

How long have you been here?

[onethirdthesoul]

[Instead of twiddling his thumbs and looking as useless as he felt, Ryou grabs a cookie and idly, slowly eats it as he listens to the two of them.

What was he even sitting here for right now...? Aniki had it under control, and neither of them were addressing him anymore. It'd be rude to leave though...

Sigh. He'll just wait, he supposes.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

Uhm. Three months or so...

[He sighs softly. Saying it out loud makes it feel more amazing that he hadn't noticed.]

Shoutei only arrived a few days ago, right? I didn't get to warn you how long you might be here. Sorry.

[not_tomorrow]

Three months. Wow.

[That's rather discouraging. All that time, and nothing clear.]

Oh, right, so you're Ryou. [She beams at the younger boy, then turns to the elder.]

What's your name?

[onethirdthesoul]

U-un, it's okay Aniki. I planned for a long stay when I got here...

[He fades out again, returning Lisa's smile. Hadn't he said they had the same name? Oh well.

Three months... He was going to fall behind in school again.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[Looking over at the other Ryou, he reaches out a hand to pat him on the shoulder, gently.]

Still, it's a long time...! You could think of it as a vacation, though.

[Wait, she'd said she thought they were twins, right? Raising his hands awkwardly, he shook his head.]

About that... I'm Ryou, too. We're the same person... only just a few years apart. B-but if it's too complicated to think of, it's fine if you want to call me something else!

[not_tomorrow]

[Now that did throw her for a loop.]

You're both the same person? How's that even possible?

[She glances from one to the other. No, that can't be right. They're definitely just twins.]

[onethirdthesoul]

[Ahah! Finally a chance for him to say something useful. Ryou raises a hand up.]

Well like Aniki said, there's people from all different times and places here! So if I'm from 1996, and Aniki is older than me, that means he's just me from the future!

[fluffydeathdealer]

That's right! I'm not entirely sure what year I've come from, but I'm definitely older.

[...that really should come out less easily than it did.]

[not_tomorrow]

[An odd expression crosses her face as she listens to them both.]

1996... But it's 1983. I think.

[Her eyes go from one boy to the other. The same boy, just from different periods of his life. And from the future. One of her eyelids twitches.]

Do... Um, do you have some water?

[onethirdthesoul]

...Are you okay, Lisa-san? [He saw that eyelid twitch. Aniki will have to be the one to offer water, not him. It wasn't his dorm, after all.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

U-un. I can get you some, hold on.

[Hopping down off the counter, he goes to get some purified water and comes back with a glass of it.]

It's a shock, so maybe you should sit down.

[not_tomorrow]

I'm not feeling so well. I think... I think it's just the shock of it.

[She flops down in the chair and gratefully takes the water. The nurse takes several sips.]

It didn't really sink in until you mentioned what year you were from.

Um...[Her eyes dart around, trying to think up a change in subject that didn't send her mind spinning.]

How old are you both? You look like you could be students.

[onethirdthesoul]

Un, it's a lot to take in... Don't worry, you'll get used to it.

[He sighs, leaning forward in his chair to look up at Lisa through his fringe.]

I'm fifteen.

[fluffydeathdealer]

Eh, really, Shoutei? I thought the difference was larger than that... I really must have gone through a growth spurt in the last year or so.

[Poor thing. She really was losing her mind because of this. He didn't blame her one bit]

I'm seventeen... I was sixteen when I came here, but my birthday passed without my noticing.

[not_tomorrow]

So you're both in high school. That's... that's nice.

[She tries hard to give them both warm smiles, but it doesn't feel like she's succeeding.]

Um, is there a restroom around? Maybe I should go splash some water on my face.

[Yeah, that should help.]

[onethirdthesoul]

Ehehe...me too... [Only seventeen? Jeez...he didn't last without the Ring for very long at all, did he?

It was a bit disheartening.

Ryou just looks towards Aniki at Lisa's question. Not his dorm, etc.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

The door over there leads to our bathroom, if that'll do... but I don't think there's a public one.

[It really was disheartening. Noticing Ryou's hesitation, he gave him a tired smile. It hadn't been long after that time at all.]

[not_tomorrow]

Th-thanks!

[Lisa gets up and practically races for the door, shutting it behind her.

At first everything seems normal. There's the sound of the faucet turning on. Then splashing as Lisa washes her face, desperately trying to clear her mind.

Then everything goes dead quiet. The silence persists with no sign that Lisa is going to open the door. It remains firmly shut first for a minute, then five, then ten.]

[onethirdthesoul]

[Ryou looks worriedly at the door at first, but soon enough turns back to his Aniki and offers him an awkward smile. He doesn't feel right speaking just yet, with Lisa-san panicking...so he just waits.

But once the faucet stops and everything goes quiet, he stares at the door again. As time passes, something stirs in his chest... An uncomfortable sort of fear.

His voice is hushed.] Aniki...is she ok?

[fluffydeathdealer]

I... I don't know...

[Is it really right to bother a girl in the bathroom? She might have just decided to use the facilities, or put makeup on... or...

Or faint on the ground.

He rapped on the door smartly with the back of his knuckles.]

Lisa-san? Are you alright?

[not_tomorrow]

[She doesn't respond. When Bakura knocks on the door, it swings open readily.

It looks like there was a massacre in there. Bloody hand prints decorate the walls, floor and faucet. But there's no sign of Lisa. Instead, there's a diary on the floor, but it's just as blood-splattered as the rest of the bathroom, the pages glued shut.]

[onethirdthesoul]

[Ryou jolted back, letting out a horrified shriek before slipping into a soft, shaking whimper. He raised his hands to his face, trembling terribly and looking deathly pale.]

W-w-wh... [Oh god, where did all that blood even come from?! If anybody lost that much blood, they'd be dead...wouldn't they? But Lisa-san had seemed fine a moment ago! Besides the nosebleed...and the shock...but she was okay, right?

Maybe...she just got her period and made a run for it. ...Yeah. That's it.]

[fluffydeathdealer]

[It was a testament to how far his mind had twisted that his first thought was "Oh no, more cleaning...". That thought quickly faded as he stepped inside. So much red. Was this... blood?

The spirit within the Ring separated briefly, hovering nearby to address his host for once.

Oy, Ryou... Is it real?

Ryou's fingers dabbed into the blood, lifting it to his face. The familiar smell made it clear.]

It's... real...

[Swaying on his feet, he stepped back, sinking down to sit on the ground just outside the door. It was real. It was real. It was real. His mind kept repeating that over and over.

Hang in there! the spirit snapped, ready to take over in an instant if Ryou's mind looked like breaking from shock. It's just blood. It can't hurt you.

How could there be this much blood? His body couldn't stop trembling and after a moment he reached out to try the book. It wasn't any good. The amount of blood on it made it impossible to open...]

Where did she go...?

[not_tomorrow]

[She is clearly gone. Anywhere that she could possibly hide, like the bathtub, is completely empty. And with that much blood, there should at least be footprints indicating where she could have gone. There is nothing to indicate where the nurse might have gone.]