VII. Rumours

Monica's experience working with Sylvan for the next week was definitely somewhat enjoyable. It felt weird that Sylvan wouldn't let her touch most of the stuff, but he insisted on it, saying that he didn't want her hands getting dirtied doing too much of his work. At least he taught her how to use that X-Ray machine for the physical examinations, though. Besides that, she was mostly spending her time baking batches after batches of cookies for the Inhumans that came for their physical examinations. It wasn't too bad being around Sylvan as he worked, actually, considering that she got to see many Inhumans and talk with them a bit. She even got to see her roommates, Inaho and Mizuno, at least once, too.

She heard the rumours of what was going on outside the lab. Edward Kayser had apparently gone into grieving for his fallen brothers, Gran and Bob, and Shadow had been acting slightly more humane lately, too. Monica suspected the latter probably happened because of Sylvan installing more laser and camera security in the storage rooms a few days ago, where all sorts of drugs were kept, and more security meant that Yukino would have a harder chance of drugging Shadow when she wanted to. She felt bad for Edward, despite her not really knowing who he was besides the fact that he was a human, and she voiced this to Sylvan, who explained to her who Edward was, exactly.

"Edward Kayser...He's another one of the scientists here. He often oversees the maze fights, and Gran and Bob were his brothers. He wanted to get them back to normal so badly but now that they're gone...I'm not sure what he'll do now."

Shachihoko was recovering well from his injuries from the maze fight, and the lizard-like Inhuman even mentioned to Monica of Kai dropping in to visit a few times.

"He's getting a lot better at sneaking around in those air vents." The blond remarked, grinning a bit. "Maybe I'll try to have him visit you sometime, you know, besides the occasionaly physical examination? So you don't get too lonely."

Speaking of physical examinations, Monica only them realized that she hadn't seen Kai for a physical examination yet. She had a good feeling, though, that it would come very soon.


"Sylvan?" Monica let out a sigh as the older man turned from the X-Ray machine to see her.

"What is it?" He asked quietly, albeit a bit hoarser-sounding than usual.

"I think you're sick."

"What?" He asked, making a bit of a face in disbelief. "I don't think so-"

"You look like you're shivering like mad, you've been sniffling a lot and you sound way hoarser than usual! Even I can notice that even though you're trying to cover it up!" Monica responded, before grabbing his arm and pulling him back towards his room, which was attached to the lab by a nearby door. "Get back to bed!"

"But there's a physical examination I have to do today-" Sylvan started protesting, but she shushed him quickly.

"No buts! You need sleep, after you get some medicine or whatever you use to kill fevers! Do you know where it is?"

"...At the kitchenette section of my room. In the upper cupboard to the right of the fridge. It should be there, with the label 'medicine for sick people' on it." He muttered quietly. "I need to drink something while I'm taking it, so can you get some water as well?"

"Sure." As soon as they both got into Sylvan's room, Monica seated him quickly at a nearby table and took the bottle of medicine pills out of the cupboard, before placing that right in front of him. She then got a cup from another cupboard, before filling it with some distilled water from the fridge (she wasn't sure if it was okay to drink the tap water) and putting that in front of him as well.

"Thank you." He murmured after he took the medicine and drank the glass of water. "I suppose I should get some sleep. If you need any help, don't hesitate to wake me up, alright? And don't forget to give 202 cookies after he's done his examination, alright?"

202? Wait, that meant...

Kai Suwabara was coming for his physical examination very, very soon.


"What are you doing here?" Kai asked as soon as he walked into the lab, a slightly confused look upon his face at the sight of her.

Monica let out a sigh. "I thought Sylvan would have told you that I was replacing Shachihoko temporarily because he's injured..." She trailed off quietly.

Kai took off his shirt quickly and lay on the table. Monica pressed a button to start the X-Ray machine as he spoke up again. "He did? Wait...Oh, right. I forgot for a second..."

Monica looked at the results, before speaking up. "You're fine, according to all of this." She responded, holding up the papers with statistics and words printed on them. "If you're wondering where Sylvan is, he's asleep. He's sick."

"He got sick? That's new..." The tiger-like Inhuman trailed off as he sat up, crossing his arms. "I've never heard of him getting sick before."

"Neither have I." Monica agreed. She paused, before grabbing the nearby plate of cookies and offering it to Kai, who took one of the cookies and bit into it.

"I'm just wondering...Have you heard of the rumours circulating around Sylvan?" He asked.

"Rumours? Like what? I know that the Boss is his dad and he hates Yukino, if that's what you mean..." She trailed off, confused.

"No, not that. Everyone knows that." Kai paused, finishing up the cookie before continuing. "Some people say that it's possible that he might be an Inhuman in disguise, working amongst the humans to find a way to free all the rest of us trapped here. Others say that he has his own goals and behind his polite behaviour is someone that is manipulating everyone he can to obtain said goals. Some people don't think he's an Inhuman in disguise but they do believe the part about finding a way to free the rest of us, and some say he's plotting to kill Yukino and his father."

"...I don't think Sylvan would be the type to kill anyone...I can't imagine that." The winged Inhuman replied quietly as she took a cookie from the plate and bit into it herself. "I mean, he doesn't even have the authority around here to do so without the Boss' permission."

"You don't need permission to take out a weapon and kill someone with it, really. I honestly think he's just obeying his father just because he wants to make sure his father is pleased with him." The tiger-like Inhuman responded. "It's better for you to keep up your guard. Maybe it's good that he seems to trust you, but who knows what intentions he might have underneath..."

"Kai. Do you seriously think some of those rumours are true?" Monica asked, putting the plate of cookies aside. "Because...I don't. There's no way someone as kind as him would hurt anyone. Right?"

Suwabara just shook his head, just as a security guard came to retrieve him. "...Figure it out yourself."