Summary: And now we get to spend a day with Muraki.

Date Written: January 11, 2007

Kalili: Uuuh, my back is killing me! Too many damn books for this semester!

Muraki: Or maybe it's you hunched over the computer for hours on end working on your so-called "novel".

Kalili: … Maybe. And what do you mean "novel"? Give me a break, I'm 17! And FYI, I am just writing the rough draft! The revisions shall be made when I am older and wiser (and if I'm still interested in the idea).

Muraki: Oh, you know what? Nobody cares. (Kalili: -sitting in a dark corner-)On a brighter note, this chapter is about yours truly again. I guess I can raise my opinion of this girl a notch or two. –gets glomped by Kalili-

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

6:00 a.m.

Another day, another opportunity. That's what I think every morning. "Opportunity," of course, meaning many different things, of which you, the reader, are probably already aware of. So I shall not go into it.

On a normal day, I get up and eat breakfast like any other normal person in this world. After reading the paper, I get dressed and leave promptly for work at 6:30 a.m., just enough time to stop and smell the roses (and maybe pick a few) on my way to the hospital.

12:00 p.m.

Life at work is rather normal and quite predictable. The thrill of finding our what ails a person or how on earth they were able to survive certain death situation left me after the first year. I use this time to observe my patients rather than solely heal them. I get many new ideas that way. But I sound selfish doing this, don't I? Not true, my dear observer. I am doing all of this for my precious shinigami. Keeping their wits sharp.

Noon is my normal lunch hour, but today I have to skip it in order to call tech-support about my computer. I think I might have over loaded it with too much information (notes on Meifu, cloning experiments, Tsuzuki, curses, latest killings, much too much).

"Hello, you have reached Dell tech-support," the man says with a strange accent. "How may I help you?"

"Yes, well, I was typing up some research when everything just shut down," I say. "I've tried restarting it and different circuits, but nothing happens."

"Is your monitor on?"

"… No, nothing is on. It doesn't start."

"Hmmm, how very strange. Is your computer plugged in? I cannot tell you how many times this mistake has happened! Funny, funny stories!"

"I'm sure they are, but YES, it's plugged in!"

"Perhaps I should contact one of my fellow workers. They might know what the problem is."

"Shouldn't you?"

"I shall contact them right away… How is they weather there?"

"I am NOT about to start small talk with you. I am above such things. Just tell me what is wrong with my computer, or something! I have many important programs on there that cannot be lost! Do you understand?"

"Yes, but I just told you I am contacting a person with more knowledge than I. Now you can either wait patiently or call back later. How is the weather there?"

"… Fine."

"I see… This is taking a long time, isn't it?"

"No, but how long exactly will it take?"

"Six to eight hours."

"Six to-? What the fuck?"

"Do not take that tone with me, sir, or I will be forced to call security."

"Okay, one: we're on the phone! What the hell is security going to do to me? And two: Why am I talking to you and not whoever is smarter than you in the first place? Why don't they have THAT person answering the phones?"

"Because you cannot handle the truth!"

"… Did you just quote 'A Few Good Men'? Where the hell are you?" (1)

"Thank you for calling Dell tech-support, please call again later with all your computer problems." And the bastard hung up on me.

Sighing, I left the office making a mental note to buy a new tower and monitor some day this week. Luckily, not all of my files where only saved on the computer, just the most recent ones. Still, I was hoping to start my latest serial killings tonight. You can't always get what you want, though.

Another memo to myself was to go to India (I'm guessing from his accent) and track down the Dell tech-support hotline in order to kill everybody there.

4:00 p.m.

Since today is Wednesday, I leave the hospital temporarily and go to a different type of doctor. This one is my personal psychiatrist. Oriya insisted I go see him once every week for some reason. I say "for some reason" because I thought that Oriya knew I wasn't about to let some head doctor change my life. I've read the same books they have to read and know exactly how to fool them.

"Good afternoon, Muraki," he says as I walk in and take a seat on the couch. "Any eventful happenings today?"

"Not particularly," I answer. "I did have to put up with some annoying tech-support man from India. I now am planning a vacation there to kill him and everybody who works there."

"Oh, I see. So he made you angry or frustrated?"

"Hmm, more frustrated. I wasn't able to retrieve my files."

"Mm-hm." And there goes the pen.

If you haven't figured it out already, I tell my doctor my homicidal thoughts quite often. Why? In the beginning (about three months ago), it was an experiment of my own. I was seeing if I would tell him about my urge to kill and what-not, he would a: believe me and call the cops, or b: just think I'm crazy if I give him the correct symptoms. And what do you know? I was right. He does think I'm just crazy in a non-killing fashion.

However, I also think it is because of my history. From what I understand, due to me not killing my patients and Saki trying to kill me, he feels that I am merely imagining my killing people and confusing it with real life. He must have just barely passed through college. He's very youthful and feminine looking, not to mention naïve. He's told me that he believes everybody is good and that nobody is pure evil. I swear, he's just begging me to kill him.

"Do you think that you were maybe too harsh on the tech-support man?" he asks.

"I suppose," I answer again absent-mindedly. I'm trying to figure out a good time to squeeze him into my schedule.

"Have you had any dreams about your family lately?"

"Yes. It's the one about Saki." I'm lying. But to get some extra sympathy from this kid, I turn my head just slightly away. I have to admit, that brat always being around Tsuzuki and angsting has actually been a bit useful.

"This has been happening an awful lot lately, right?" I nod. "Could this time of year have anything to do with it?"

"Probably. My mother and I used to go and start tending to the garden about now. It's one of my happier memories. Perhaps that is why I'm dreaming of Saki? Because he took her away?" (2)

"I bet you're right, Muraki. I must say, I'm very proud of you! You're starting to get a better handle on reality and your emotions!"

"Thank you." Next week sounds good.

2:00 a.m.

I was forced to work late tonight because of some guy with a golf club in his head came in. This only amused me for a minute or two. I was extremely tired afterwards and wasn't in the mood to kill anybody. Well, it wasn't so much that as it was having to wash the blood off my clothes afterwards that sounded tedious. Not to mention I was running low on oxi-clean.

So after eating a bowl of cold noodles, I fell into bed and went to sleep awaiting the next day and what opportunities it should bring, since it didn't have any today.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: See? Even Muraki has days where nothing seems to go right! Even though he did get a new victim into his busy schedule.

Originally, this was supposed to be only a psychiatrist and Muraki chapter, but a story beat me to it and I didn't want to look like I was totally copying that author (even though our ideas on what would happen were awfully different). I like how this turned out, though, considering it was written in an hour and a half!

1.) I seriously saw on the news once a thing talking about how you are actually talking to people in other countries like India when asking about your computer sometimes. Common knowledge now, yes, but it also said that they learned English from movies like "A Few Good Men"! Weird!

2.) This was the first in a long time where I was laughing while typing.

NOTES ON PREVIOUS CHAPTERS!: Yes, the second chapter was a spoof from "Rocko's Modern Life"! Everybody who guessed correctly gets brownies once we are able to send food over the internet!

And on the subject of topping Muraki, I'll mention anything new that I hadn't already said if I do go into secondary characters.