Medical rooms are barren places, focused on what is necessary to keep the patient alive. They have to be. With all the bacterial diseases out there spreading at the slightest provocation, anything that can carry a high microbe count must go. The choice of materials is the most important step, minimizing the risk before it can take hold. Stainless steel is the preferred element of choice, easy to clean, near impossible to get dirty, and a hostile environment for bacteria. It might be a cold, colorless grey, but that only helps to differentiate it from the other materials. It might give a reflection clear enough to see oneself yet distorted enough to give an image of unease, but that only helps to make sure the colorless grey is actually the steel itself. It might be cold to the touch, but that only helps to keep certain strains of bacteria in a hypothermic and, thus, inactive state. It is the weapon of choice in the war against germs, the front lines in the constant battle for survival.
Anything that cannot be conceivably made out of stainless steel shall be made out of white plastic. Organic materials might gather bacteria, but that's what disinfecting UV lights are for. Bringing the worst of the sun straight to the germs, they are cruelly effective in their mass genocide. The only exception for these two preferred materials shall be the bed itself. Made out of low thread count cotton sheets and synthesized to be as unfriendly to microbes as possible, comfort comes as a secondary concern. If it wouldn't result in worse developments in health, stainless steel would be preferable here as well.
Riku hates hospitals for these reasons. They are not friendly places that one should bring their families for a day of relaxation. They are cold, sterile environments meant to protect people while paradoxically making them wish for an escape. Any escape. Escape from the building, escape from the impersonal staff, escape from the life that keeps them tethered to the unfeeling system. He gets shudders every time he has to enter a ward, almost tasting the decay around him. This is not a place for the living, but he must go forward. Kiko is here and she needs him now more than ever. He just has to continue his stride through the dark and barren hallways. One cold steel door later and he's in Kiko's room.
Kiko is lying in the bed, so beautiful, so pure, so innocent. In the dim light of the cold, invasive machinery that stand sentinel over her, Kiko's magnificence acts a beacon in the dark. The vague greys and subdued whites give way to the radiance of her perfectly combed blue hair and the softness of her supple skin. No sight lacking her could ever come close to perfection. Riku stands there in silent admiration, awe struck by the majesty that lays before him. He feels intimidated, as though to disturb her would be to transgress a sacred emblem. Here is the proof that religion is completely and irrevocably true, that God has a hand in the creation of the cosmos and was willing to grace it with the perfect person. It is not in Riku's place to meddle in divine affairs. But just as Riku was about to respectfully leave, fate played a different hand.
"I've been expecting you, Riku," Kiko says as she wakes up gently. Riku is taken aback by the angelic voice, so pure and sweet yet bold and confident. The divine entity that created Kiko out of the finest of materials certainly didn't want her to be something easily denounced, a trait that shows in her survival of the recent events. There is no mandate that states that something so pure has to be delicate. After all, diamonds are the hardest natural substance in the world.
"Kiko, I'm sorry to disturb you," Riku apologizes, bowing his head down in shame, "It is not in my place to sneak in while you are asleep. Please forgive me."
"You have done no wrong my eyes," Kiko starts, sitting up in the bed with a graceful gesture, "You have come here without malice, but with the best and purest of intentions. I can see it in your face and hear it in your voice."
"Really?" Riku says, amazed, as he lifts his head back up. He is stunned by Kiko's candor and kindness, surprised by her opinion. Riku has his regrets for his disregard for Kiko. His view of her was biased by envy and sullied by personal prejudice, reading traits into her that simply didn't exist by any stretch of imagination. His interpretation of her spirited comments as whiny ranting was a disservice. His interpretation of her inability to perform in combat as a sign of incompetence was a mid-judgment. His interpretation of her magnetism to him as the lustful yearnings of a girl deep in puberty was an insult. In truth, Riku was to blame for every last bit of this. He treated her concerns as a joke and downplayed all the issues she brought forth. He pressured her against her will to use faulty equipment and disregarded her warnings. He spurned her advances and left her unrequited. Every viewed transgression on Kiko's part was instead Riku's cruel treatment testing her restraint. A lesser person would have snapped by now, but Kiko's magnificent spirit remains unbroken and optimistic in spite of the harsh reality surrounding her.
"Come, sit," Kiko says with a warm smile and a sing-song tone, flinging the bed sheet aside as she moves to sit on the side. She's wearing this entrancing light blue silk nightgown, the illusion of translucency giving it this soft glow in the light. Just like Kiko herself, it is perfect in form and pure in essence. None of it bends or wrinkles, hanging perfectly off of her limber skin. Such beautiful curves and flawless lengths can't possibly be made of mere bone and sinew. Only the soul of an artist could create something of this opulence and certainly not the harsh mistress of evolution and its endlessly spiralling coils of self-replicating DNA. Riku can only obey, walking towards the light. He stands by the bed for an awkward couple of moments before Kiko pats the spot next to her, offering an invitation. Riku, still apprehensive about his worthiness to bask in Kiko's resplendence, sits beside her gently and haltingly. His mind is conflicted, both wanting to sit here next to Kiko but also searching for an excuse to get away, as though it would spare him of the possible humiliation he might inflict upon himself.
"So, how are you?" Kiko asks in a tone remniscent of Karen Carpenter. It isn't even so much like talking as it is the divine gospel, every word a deep revelation of a greater good.
"I just wanted to talk with you," Riku begins in a cautious tone, looking away from Kiko, "I'm sorry."
"What are you apologizing for?" Kiko asks, gently leaning back to look into Riku's eyes. The gaze of her hazel eyes seem to pierce right into the soul, yet instead of a feeling of judgment, it feels like an affirmation of Riku's virtue. One could get lost in those eyes.
"I'm sorry for bullying you," Riku says, looking back up and away out of shame, "I guess I felt like less of a person around you. It made me feel better about myself by pretending you were worse. You were something big I could tear down. I'm sorry I kept shrugging you off. I'm sorry I kept yelling at you. I'm sorry I put you through all of this needless crap."
"I forgive you," Kiko says as she sits back up, beaming at Riku. Oh, the beauty of her face. As a muse, she could inspire even the lowliest person to paint the Sistine Chapel, write The Iliad, or compose the Rite of Spring.
"I just feel bad compared to you," Riku starts in an honest tone of self-admonition, looking down to avoid her gaze, "Compared to you, I am but the palest shadow. You light up the life of everyone around you. You're beautiful, smart, witty. I am not anywhere as good as you, but you always choose to be around me. I always felt like you were making fun of me, like you were trying to show the world how unworthy I am. I guess-" Riku trails off when Kiko delicately lifts his chin up to look back in her eyes.
"Riku," Kiko starts, giving a soft, friendly chuckle, "I'm flattered you think I'm so perfect, but I am only human. I make mistakes and I get mad just like you. I could never live up to this ideal you set for me. Not by myself."
"But it's true," Riku responds. He is taken aback when Kiko lightly holds his hand, gently squeezing it just a little to get his attention. Her skin is as soft as cashmere, bringing to mind the most delicate of dresses designed by the greatest of seamstresses.
"Perfection cannot lie within a single person," Kiko starts in a poetic tone, "There is no such thing as the absolute person, for humanity is split into two separate but equal halves. Only through the joining of two souls can a perfect being be created." Riku looks down with embarrassment in response, but Kiko nudges his chin back up while moving in closer. "Before I met you, I felt empty and out of place. I was bullied relentlessly by my peers and trivialized by my parents. I always thought it was something wrong with me, but I realize now that it was because they envied and feared me. They forced me into low self-esteem because it was the only way to contain me. I thought it was happening again when I came to this world, but I figured out how wrong I was. For all I misinterpreted your put-downs, I realized they were love-struck cries for attention. Oh, how right I was."
"I realized the error of my ways after your brave sacrifice," Riku continues, feeling some strange warmness starting to well up within his epicenter, "At the thought of you being dead, it made me think of how much I enjoyed your presence. I knew I had to tell you even if it meant sneaking in at this time of the night. I needed to see you alone to express my feelings."
"You are the yin to my yang, the rajas to my sattva," Kiko says, moving in closer as she runs her fingers through Riku's hair, "Riku, you complete me." Riku and Kiko sit there for what feels like an eternity, their eyes locked in an unbreakable gaze. For Riku, the cold interior of the medical room has long since faded in the presence of Kiko's luminescence. In his eyes, there is nothing else in this world beside Kiko, the final piece to his life's greatest puzzle. The two gradually find themselves getting closer to each other, tilting their heads ever so slowly to accommodate each other. With a warm repose, the two find themselves in a gentle but passionate kiss. Oh, if only such a kiss could be described, for all the muse could do to inspire the greatest literature, no mere words could ever describe this sensation. So free of care, so liberated of stress, so boundless in joy. Like all good things, it has to come to an end as they drift away. Staring in each others' eyes, Kiko gives a joyful sigh.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Riku asks, his mind already so entwined with Kiko's as to forsee what she is thinking.
"Of course I am," Kiko says, moving her hand out of Riku's hair and reaching behind him to secure a soft embrace, "A love as timeless as our's need not wait any longer." They continue to stare into each other's eyes, their beaming smiles not even close to displaying what they're feeling inside. Not a single moment in Riku's life has ever felt as good as this. Kiko is so beautiful on both the outside and the inside, a true marvel to behold. Nothing that any benevolent creator could dream of would ever surpass her. To be gifted with someone so glorious is beyond comprehension. It almost feels like the choir of the angels above when Kiko takes the opportunity to sing from the heart.
"And I re- al- ize- you're- mineeee,
Indeed a- fool- of- mineeee,
And I re- al- ize- you're- mineeee,
Indeed a- fool- of- mineeee,
Ahhhhhh"
"Heaven smiles abooooove me," Riku continues in his best singing voice, "What- a- gift-, there- be- low. But no- one- knows." Just as they start to close in to each other for a deeper and more soulful kiss, Kiko starts flickering. The color drains from her as her curves flatten, her form breaking apart. Her body bursts into a thousand quickly dissipating triangles as Riku falls right through her. His momentum continues as the bed starts breaking apart in a similar fashion, falling through and landing face first on the ground. Disoriented, he picks himself up to see the rest of the room breaking apart in a similar fashion, the floors and walls changing into rubberized black and grey tiles. He looks at his hands to see his fingers tips starting to flicker. The change goes through him like a wave, his hands and arms shrinking down to a slim and slender size as his clothes shift towards a white cotton. He feels his skeletal structure starting to shift, his hips expanding and back arching as the muscle drains out slowly. He feels the tightness in his pants go away as two mounds start expanding and swelling on his chest. His hair starts to lose its clumps and shift to a darker shade as he feels a tight object wrapping around his head.
Dark realization washes over her as she sits there, unable to move from the shock. Kiko's simulation has been ended prematurely and unexpectedly, leaving her disoriented, confused, and despondent. She had finally gotten the simulation just the way she liked it this time. The emotions, the imagery, the sensations, all robbed from her at the critical moment. She looks around for the perpetrators of this horrible crime, finding a couple robots hovering in from the open door with buckets and mops. She stares harshly at them, wishing she could do something to release her indignant rage. How dare those unfeeling machines rob this from her? They don't even understand the slightest implication of what they have done. Those cold automatons surround her even now, staring at her with those unblinking eyes. Her hands trembling, she loses control.
"GODDAMN YOU!" Kiko shouts, pounding on the one in front of her, "GODDAMN YOU TO HELL, YOU FREAKING BASTARDS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO ME?! WHY?! IT WAS PERFECT! PERFECT!" Kiko feels a bunch of cold, rubberized talons grab onto her shoulders. As she struggles to break free, she gets lifted up off of the ground and carried towards the open doorway. The robots stop suddenly, dropping their grips and tossing her outside through the momentum in the process. As she collapses to the floor, the emotions reach a crescendo and she starts crying uncontrollably. What a cruel world to find the one thing beautiful in her life and rob it from her. She barely even registers the clunky data disk hitting her head, turning around to see the doors to the simulation room slide close with a certain finality. Behind those doors lie her broken dreams, her one chance at true perfection gone as the harsh mistress of reality leaves behind another broken wreck.