TITLE: The Hard Way
SYNOPSIS: Tag to Black Sky/Wounded Fugitive: Meg + Free Food + aftermath of giant crow = trouble for Jo.
HUMOR WARNING: Put Down food and drink
DISCLAIMER: Gonzo owns Burst Angel and I am making no money off this.
"All right, Meg, is it?" said the doctor coming into the small emergency room ward.
"Yes," Meg said, sitting on the edge of the bed, Jo standing next to her.
"I just want to go over your discharge papers," the doctor said, "but I would like to know exactly what happened."
"Can't really tell you, Doc. Sorry."
"Well, anyway, your blood work is mostly normal, but your cholesterol is a little high for a girl your age. I advise watching your diet."
Jo smiled. "We'll have to alert our chef."
"Good," the doctor said. "Your blood chemistry is mostly ok, but some things are a little…meeehhh… so for the next few days, I advise watching what you eat. Have several small meals instead of a few big ones. If you suffer nausea or vomiting, come back here. Other than that, you're good to go. I see your bill has been paid, so you just sign a few forms and get our of here…"
/
/
Meg knocked on the door to Kyohei's hospital room.
Kyohei smiled. "Hey, guys." Sitting in the chair next to him, Shiho Kazami, the girl from Kyohei's cooking school whose kidnapping by the mechanical crow had led to Jo and Meg's involvement, also smiled.
"Oh!" Meg said as she and Jo paused in the doorway. "Didn't know we were interrupting-"
"No," Shiho said, "I was just leaving-"
Meg and Jo crossed to the hospital bed; Meg said, "No need to run - we're not chasing you out. How ya doing, Kyo?"
"Ok, I guess." He looked at the tray in front of him and it half-eaten meal. "They want to keep me for a day and a night for observation. Miss Hongo stopped by and said I could make up the missed day by writing a five hundred word essay on the food they serve here. How many synonyms are there for 'crap'?"
Meg said, "In how many languages? You know I'm multilingual." She ate some macaroni off his plate and winced. "Eyuk…Kyo, you do better than this on your worst day."
Jo tried some and shrugged. "Not bad. Needs hot sauce."
Shiho laughed. "There you go, Kyo! Just write that one hundred times."
Kyo laughed. "Thanks guys. But I'd like to rest now. Jo, Meg, could you do me a favor and get Shiho home, please?"
Meg nodded. "Will do."
Jo gripped one of Kyo's hands and smiled slightly. "Rest. Get your strength back. We'll manage for a couple of days without you."
Meg melodramatically brought one hand to her forehead. "Yes, Kyo, don't think of us while pretty nurses wait on you hand and foot. Somehow, we'll survive until you come back to us."
/
/
Shiho said her home was within walking distance of the hospital, so she called her parents to let them know two guests were coming. The three girls started walking down the sidewalk, Jo and Meg automatically on either side of Shiho in bodyguard formation.
Meg said, "So, Shiho, you aren't going out with Kyo, are you?"
Shiho chuckled. "No. I'm his friend and the leader of his team at school, but I'm not going out with him. In fact, I was going to ask you the same question. We've been wondering if he's seeing one of you guys."
"Weellllll," Meg said, "our boss, Sei, shows all the symptoms of having a crush on him. The day she brought him to us, she made him sound like the greatest chef in the world." She affected a dreamy voice: "'He's a master chef from a top school.' And then she asked if we wanted to help achieve his dream of studying abroad. I almost died laughing because Sei never talked like that about anybody. But she's been serious. And there's how she cuts him some slack…" Meg turned angry. "'Meg, you're thirty seconds late!'" Then dreamy. "'No, Kyo, I don't mind that you're three hours late.'"
Meg and Shiho laughed; Jo smiled slightly.
Meg said, "So if you weren't on a date, what were you doing?"
"Oh," Shiho said, "Kyo invited me to the 2050 Ethnic Food Festival. We can have our choice of things to write papers on, and we were going to do essays on it."
Meg said, "Food…festival?"
"Yes," Shiho explained, "booth after booth of foods from around the world, and you could eat as many samples as you want for free."
"Wall…to…wall…free…food?"
"Uh, yes. Are you all right, Meg?"
"Um, I'm fine, Shiho. That, um…"
"Are you drooling?"
"I'm fine. No, it sounds interesting. But I guess that's over with."
"No, actually, it's going on for another week."
"I see. And where is this? Across town?"
"No, actually on my way home. We'll go by it."
"I see. And did you get your paper done, Shiho?"
"No, Meg, I didn't."
"I see. Well, there's nothing for it. Jo, I think we have to take our friend here to the food festival. We have to make sure she can do her paper."
Jo started, "Meg-"
"No, Jo, my mind's made up. Lead on, Shiho…"
/
/
Meg, Shiho, and Jo stopped inside the entrance to the food festival. Shiho said, "Well, here we are."
Meg took a few shuffling steps away from the others, her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open. Jo thought of saying something, but decided not to; Meg probably couldn't hear anything over the organ-backed choirs of angels in her head.
Meg slowly, reverently, took off her cowboy hat and held it to her breast. "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life." She bowed her head. "Thank you, Jesus." She put her hat on and grabbed Shiho's wrist. "Ok, Shiho, what do we want to try first?"
"'We'?"
/
/
After the fifth booth, Shiho was able to break free, claiming she wasn't feeling good. But Meg kept going strong.
Jo said, "Shiho, can I ask you a hypothetical question?"
"Sure."
"Let's say you had amnesia and the first person you met saved your life. Would you become so devoted to her you'd put up with anything?"
"Uhhh…"
Meg came over, looking a little green around the gills. "Jo, I don't feel so…" She started heaving.
Jo said, "Meg - no-"
Meg threw up all over Jo's chest.
"Uh…" Shiho said, "Jo, actually, I don't feel so-"
Although shorter than Meg or Jo, Shiho's vomit caught Jo in the face.
/
/
The same emergency room doctor who had checked Meg out earlier checked her out the second time.
"Now, Meg, what are you going to do?"
"Go straight home."
"And?"
"Eat the meals you prescribed for me for a couple of days."
"And?"
"Not go near the food fest."
"And?"
"You don't want to see me again."
"Or?"
"You will get pissed."
"Good."
After getting the forms signed (again), the doctor left and Shiho entered. "Excuse me. Jo? Meg? They've checked me out and my dad is going to pick me up. But it was nice meeting you. Oh, and Jo? In answer to the question you asked me earlier, you should look into setting boundaries."
Jo said, "I'll do that. Thanks."
Shiho left and Jo glared at Meg.
"I know," Meg said sheepishly, "but by now you should know that's the kind of girl I am: I don't always do what I'm told. Sometimes, I just have to find out the hard way."
THE END