Chapter 37 – A Living Legend
After two days on the ward his sympathy towards fairies has grown by yet another little bit. He even dared to play some games with them and gave them simple riddles to guess. The most enthusiastic person to guess the riddles was Cirno, but of all the fairies in the room she managed to guess correctly the least times. Kyouichi could never hide his amusement at how childish, yet adorable this ice fairy could be. When he later apologized to her for being mad at her for sinking his borrowed boat at Misty Lake, she didn't seem to care the slightest bit. However, when he gave her his after-meal dessert, which was a part of the lunch on that day, it was a completely different story. Her way of accepting the apology was somewhere along the lines of: "Hmph… I just might spare you from the wrath of my icy danmaku for today, human, but if you want to prolong your puny existence, you better give me more next time~!"
Coming from someone else, Kyouichi would most likely frown at the person, but in Cirno's case, he couldn't help but to smile. Especially when in the following moment Cirno flew back to her friends, joyfully calling: "Yahay~! I got an extra muffin~! Yummy~!"
"Muffins aren't bad…" commented Moe as she was eating her share, "But Ai-chan's homemade cookies are the best. I wish I could see Ai-chan again…"
"I wonder how she's doing too." murmured Kyouichi thoughtfully.
"We could ask Reisen about her." Soudai gave a reasonable response. "On another note, I wonder when will Eirin-sensei give us permission to return to the village. It's been two days already and she hasn't even shown herself in this ward ever since."
His remark was correct indeed, because the only person who checked on them from time to time was Reisen. Since Eirin was the only one who decided whether the patients should or shouldn't leave Eientei, nobody was certain when exactly she'd give them that permission.
Almost as if the patients' wishful thoughts were to be answered, someone opened the ward's door and entered. It still wasn't the mentioned Lunarian doctor, nor was it her apprentice Reisen. It wasn't even the temporary doctor, Patchouli. The person entering the ward was a slender young female with long, straight, slick and glossy black hair that was styled in a hime-cut. She wore a white uniform, very similar to the one that Patchouli was dressed in. Although still not knowing her name, Kyouichi recognized her right away and his heart skipped a beat from the shock.
"Holy crap! That's the girl I stumbled upon when I accidentally entered the bathing room…" he thought to himself as cold sweat dripped down the side of his face. It seemed to him that she was a part of Eientei's staff and he dreaded the thought that she would recognize him as her unwanted voyeur.
"Good day to you all." she greeted formally and closed the door behind her.
As she was nearing the patients' beds, Kyouichi was trying to pretend that he was sleeping, concealing his face with the covers, all the while thinking: "I'm doomed…"
"I've come to do a regular check-up in Eirin's stead." the young doctor explained her arrival and with a somewhat grudging expression, she began examining the patients one by one.
"Alright, you seem to be recovering well, Takamori-san." commented the new doctor and walked up to the second bed. "Next up is… Asakura-san. Stand up, please…"
"Oh, damn…" cursed Kyouichi under the bed covers, brainstorming for a way to avoid being killed in the following moment. "What do I do now?"
"Good. You may lay down again, Asakura-san." said the doctor's voice, and after a moment of silence, her steps were headed towards Kyouichi's bed. "Who's next? Hmm… let's see… Ishimaru-san, is it? Huh?" she questioningly tilted her head to the side as she saw that the patient was "fast asleep". "Is he still sleeping?"
"I doubt it." replied Soudai nonchalantly. "We were talking just a while ago…"
Kyouichi angrily clenched his fist and softly hit his forehead with his knuckle. "Damn you, Asakura! Damn you~!" he thought to himself.
"Hey, Ishimaru-san, wake up~!" said the doctor gently. Kyouichi was still petrified and didn't move.
"Ishimaru-san! Ishimaru-san! Come on, wake up already!" she raised her voice and attempted to pull the covers down, but the outsider was clenching them tightly like a vice.
"Here, let me help you, miss." Soudai gentlemanly offered his help, stood up from his bed and with one swift pull, he successfully seized the covers and revealed Kyouichi who was apparently faking his sleep.
"Hey. What are you doing, pal? It's just a regular check-up. There's nothing to be afraid of." he said a few words of comfort. "Plus, the doctor is a real beauty… Now get up already!"
"But I don't want to~!" protested Kyouichi as Soudai yanked him out of the bed. He was now standing in front of the young doctor and thought that she'd recognize him immediately, but she only gave him a confused look.
"If you keep acting so strangely, Ishimaru-san we'll have to keep you here even longer." she made a joking threat and smiled.
While Kyouichi was standing still like a pillar, all pale from stress, he couldn't help but to wonder why this girl didn't recognize him. Then he realized it.
"But of course! I had my face all bandaged-up." he thought as he exhaled with relief.
"Come on, step a little closer, Ishimaru-san." the doctor requested, readying her stethoscope. "You're making the other patients wait."
Relieved that the young doctor didn't know that it was him who saw her in the bathing room, Kyouichi now acted like a completely different person. As he walked up to the doctor, she measured him up and with a curious face she asked: "Why were you looking so strangely at me? As if you had known me… Have we met before?"
Kyouichi shook his head so profusely and vigorously that his own ponytail slapped him a few times. "No, no, no! That's impossible!"
"Really?" asked the doctor. "Impossible you say? Is this your first time in Eientei?"
"Yes. My first…"
"Okay… Could you turn around, please?"
Kyouichi obliged and turned around while the young doctor listened to his heartbeat with the stethoscope.
"Umm… I'm recovering from an injury; not a disease. Why listening to my breathing?"
"Because Eirin told me to check up everyone in that way…" replied the young lady with reluctance in her voice, which made her sound rather unprofessional. "She said to give all the patients a thorough check-up just in case…"
For a while Kyouichi just did as the doctor told him and breathed deeply as she moved her stethoscope to different spots on his back.
"So… is my breathing and pulse okay?"
"I guess so." replied the doctor, letting Kyouichi turn his face to her again.
"I knew I was healthy all along. May I ask when will we finally get discharged?"
The black-haired doctor blinked her dark-brown eyes a few times and shifted her thoughtful gaze away from Kyouichi's face. "Hmm… I don't know. Eirin's been busy with surgeries and medicine production and hasn't told me anything about that matter."
The way she mentioned Eirin's name without any honorific made the outsider think that this young doctor had about the same authority as her silver-haired colleague. However, her demeanor, her attitude and even the way this young beauty carried herself made him think otherwise.
"You don't know? Aren't you a doctor too?"
"I'm just doing what a nurse does." the young female corrected him.
"Ah, so you're a temporary staff member like Patchouli-sama, right?"
"Uhh, yes, something like that." she nodded and a slight blush showed on her cheeks. "Reisen is now busy with office work, so I'm checking on the patients now."
"So I guess we'll have to keep waiting some more… Great." frowned the outsider and sat down on his bed.
"Wait, I'm not done with the check-up yet."
"Huh? Oh, sorry, sorry… I just spaced-out a bit." he apologized and stood up again, letting the nurse or doctor or whoever she was finish the check-up.
"By the way, I believe I didn't catch your name, Miss…."
"It's on my ID-card." she replied and pointed at the small card pinned to her chest.
Kyouichi leaned a bit closer so he'd be able to read the tiny kanji characters on the card.
"Hou-rai-san… Te-ru-yo…" he syllabicated slowly.
The girl immediately pouted and furrowed her eyebrows at him. "I'm Kaguya~! Ka-gu-ya~!"
"Oh… Well, that's another way to read it… Sorry for messing up your name, Kaguya-san."
"Yeah, nice to see somebody new checking on us." said Soudai with a smile. "Nice to meet you too, Kaguya-chan."
"...chan? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" the girl asked a bit incredulously.
"Uhh… A cute temporary nurse of Eientei?"
Soudai's wrong guess made Akiyoshi let out an amused chuckle, but otherwise he didn't say anything.
"Haven't they taught you anything about Eientei at that school in the village?" Kaguya asked both outsiders.
"Well… umm… We haven't yet learned about Eientei at school." Soudai explained his lack of knowledge. "I just know some vague information about this place from the villagers and a little bit from Reisen and Eirin-sensei."
"Huh? You haven't learned about Eientei yet? And you still go to school? At your age?" Kaguya could hardly believe Soudai's words.
Lieutenant Takamori chuckled again and finally spoke up. "You'll have to forgive these two, Kaguya-sama. They're outsiders, so naturally they don't know everything about Gensokyo and its important locations and people. But to be honest, it really surprised me as well to see you working as a nurse."
"I've already explained my will to be useful to Eirin and I really don't want to go over all that again…" muttered the black-haired nurse and again glanced at Soudai and Kyouichi. "So, you two are outsiders as well?"
"As well, you say?" Kyouichi repeated her last words. "Have you had more outsiders stay in Eientei lately?"
"More than I care to count or remember." replied Kaguya disdainfully. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you don't know me…"
"Hmm…" Soudai hummed, thinking hard. "Well… Takamori-san addressed you with the "sama" suffix, so you must be someone important… My guess is that you run this place."
"Very good, Asakura-san." she praised him with a smile and nod.
"Whoa, really? It was just a wild guess…" admitted the older outsider. "So technically, you're Eirin-sensei's superior, right?"
"Yes. I'm the proprietor of Eientei, but that's not all there is to my status." she winked as if prompting the outsiders to keep guessing.
"In that case, forgive my rudeness, Kaguya-sama, for addressing you improperly." Soudai apologized to her.
In the meantime, Kyouichi's brain kept coming up with many, many varying ideas as to who exactly this person might be. "Hmm… Kaguya, Kaguya, Kaguya…" he kept whispering her name and put into association with the Lunarian race. "You're Kaguya… Wait... Not THE…?!"
Kaguya's smile widened and eyes closed in a silent response.
"Who? What?" Soudai uttered with a confused face.
"The Kaguya… from Taketori Monogatari (Tale of the Bamboo Cutter)… Kaguya-hime… The Moon princess…" Kyouichi spoke slowly, as if he was unable to believe his own words.
"Say what?" sounded Soudai's surprised voice again. "Look, I know that we're in Gensokyo and all, but this is just ridicu…"
"Wonderful~!" chimed Kaguya's cheerful voice, cutting off Soudai's last word. "You guessed it correctly after all… Who would have thought that an event from over 1300 years ago would survive for so long in the memories of Earth's people even outside of Gensokyo's barrier?"
"Oh-my-gosh~!" exclaimed the younger outsider in a state bordering with overexcitement. "That's incredible! I loved that story when I was a kid, even if it's a sad one… I even cried when I heard it for the first time."
"I wonder how does today's version of that story sound…"
"Sure, I can tell you if you got time, but… If you're truly the person from that tale, shouldn't you be…?" he pointed his finger upwards, indicating the Moon.
Kaguya gently shook her head, making her beautiful hair sway from side to side. "I guess the story differs from the reality after all." she commented. "Unfortunately, I don't have much time to listen to stories or to tell them. Eientei may have the capacity to accommodate even thousands of people, but there's only one Eirin. I don't know what's going on out there, but the number of patients we've taken in has by far exceeded our standards. Humans, youkai, natives, outsiders… We've got them all and they're all in need of treatment, as you can see."
"But I already made a full recovery." Kyouichi pointed out.
"Yeah, me too." Soudai seconded. "If you're Eirin-sensei's superior, couldn't YOU give us the permission to go?"
"While it may be true that Eirin serves under me, I highly respect her, so I wouldn't do anything she would disagree with. Besides, this is HER line of work, so she has the final say about all matters regarding medicine production, distribution and direct treatment. I assure you that as soon she has time, she'll come to see you and discharge you, should she consider your condition as completely healthy. But you are at least allowed to move freely around the first and third floor of Eientei, or to go out for some fresh air. However, you shouldn't stray too far from Eientei, lest you want to get yourself lost in that big bamboo forest."
"Eirin-sama already told us that we can stroll about the first and third floors." recalled Soudai. "Though she never said what's on the second one…"
"The second and fourth floors are the living quarters of the resident rabbits, Eirin's quarters, and of course, my private chambers." answered the princess.
"It just comes to me as rather strange for the Intensive Care Ward to be located on the 3rd floor…" Kyouichi pointed out. "Wouldn't it be more convenient for it to be on the ground floor? That way the patients that would require immediate treatment or surgery wouldn't need to be laboriously carried up the stairs."
"The operating room is indeed down on the ground floor. Once their condition is stabilized, the patients are taken up to a respective ward on the third floor by the rabbits..." explained Kaguya and took another look into her notepad after she finished checking up Kyouichi. "Alright, next up… Moe-san…"
"Yes~!" chimed the gentle fairy and floated towards Kaguya.
While she was checking up the fairy, Kyouichi's mind drifted again to Ai Kurohana. He was really curious to know how she was doing and how long she would have to stay here. Since the only person in the room who might have an idea about that was Kaguya, he asked her.
"Kurohana Ai-san, you say?" the princess repeated the girl's name.
"Yes, please tell me how Ai-chan is doing~!" Moe also begged her for the answer.
"I'm sorry…" Kaguya apologetically lowered her head. "Since I'm not a regular staff member, as you already figured, I don't know all the patients by their names." she stopped examining the fairy for a moment to look into her notepad containing the names of patients she was supposed to check up.
"She's placed on the Intensive Care Ward." Kyouichi tried to help her remember. "A girl around the age of 15, crimson hair… Suffered multiple burns…"
"Ah… That explains why I don't know her…" noted Kaguya to herself. "This is my second day on the job and mostly my work consists of only the simplest of tasks, such as doing regular check-ups."
"So you don't have any medical experience at all?!" asked Soudai whose facial expression already went through several degrees of surprise and confusion.
"I am a princess." Kaguya emphasized. "Naturally, I have minimal medical experience. I decided do this job of my own free will, for which you should at least show some gratitude… Eirin gave me a quick course so that I could do my tasks well… Nobody died or complained… yet."
"That's… relieving to hear…" nodded Soudai with a worried smile. "And we ARE thankful to you for volunteering yourself as a part-time nurse, Kaguya-sama."
"Very well…" shrugged the proud Moon princess and resumed her work. "So as I already explained, it's not that hard to figure that Eirin wouldn't let me work on the Intensive Care due to my lack of experience. Guess that's why I don't have the name Kurohana anywhere in my list… I'd suggest you ask either Eirin or Reisen."
"Or we could just go and visit Kurohana-san ourselves…" speculated the older outsider.
Kaguya made a disagreeing hum as a response. "It'd be better if you didn't. It's not allowed for patients to visit other wards than the ones they are assigned to. People may visit the patients only during the visiting hours and only with the approval from a qualified doctor, which I'm not."
"Now I'm quite confused." admitted Soudai. "Who's really in charge of this place? You or Eirin?"
"I'd really like to let you visit your friend, but… like I said, I respect Eirin's word."
"Never mind, Kaguya-sama…" Soudai waved his hand. "Thanks anyway."
In that very instant, Kyouichi snapped his fingers and with his eyes and mouth opened wide, stared into the ceiling as if he remembered something important. Soudai noticed his reaction and raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Kyouichi?"
"My healing potion…" he whispered a barely audible reply.
"What…? Oh~! THAT! What about the potion?"
"Shhhhhh~!" the younger outsider hushed him as he didn't really want his little trip to the reception office to go public. "Not so loud, damn it!"
"Hm? Did you need something, Asakura-san?" asked Kaguya who heard him say something, but was standing too far away to make out the words.
"Uhh, no, nothing, nothing…" he denyingly shook his head as he lied.
As Kaguya shrugged and continued checking up the other youkai patients, Soudai and Kyouichi both exhaled heavily.
"So… What did you say about that red stuff?" Soudai whispered his question to his neighbor.
"I hid the bottle under my bed, but I forgot to bring it here."
"Ah… So it's still there in the "Not-So-Intensive-Care-Ward", huh?"
Kyouichi nodded once. "I need to get that potion back…"
"What's your suggestion then? You've heard Kaguya-sama, didn't you? We're not allowed to visit any other wards but this one…"
"Yes, I caught that part. Thank you for reminding me." replied the younger outsider with a calm, but agitated tone. "Now let me think, okay?"
Soudai didn't heed his friend's request and turned again to Kaguya, who was now checking up Wriggle.
"Umm… Kaguya-sama?"
"What is it?"
"If I got discharged from Eientei and wanted to visit someone who's on the Intensive Care Ward... When are the visiting hours?"
Kaguya sighed and nodded understandingly. "I understand your concern for your friend, Asakura-san… Once you get discharged, you can visit the patients every weekday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m."
"Oh… Okay, thank you very much…" he bowed thankfully. He didn't really have any friends on that ward besides Kyouichi. To him, Kurohana Ai was just another patient and he already heard Eirin say countless times that she'll make a full recovery, but it will take some time. The only reason he asked this question was to find out when it would be possible to enter the ward. Right now, however, it was already past 5 p.m., so Kyouichi would just have to wait and pray that no one would notice the bottle with suspicious red liquid under one of the beds.
"Tomorrow's your chance, Kyouichi…" he whispered with a mischievous grin.
The younger outsider nodded and was already mentally preparing himself for another little sneaking mission. He still had no idea how he was supposed to carry it out, though.
"Well, it seems you're all in good health…" summarized Kaguya as she finished her check-up with the last patient. "I hope Eirin will make some time to have a look at you too… You're not the only ones who can't wait for you to get discharged."
"Yeah… I can understand that." said Lt. Takamori. "With so many patients in Eientei, your servants have barely enough time to tend to your needs, Kaguya-sama. Guess that's why you're working as a voluntary nurse…"
"You're half right about that, Takamori-san." acknowledged the Moon princess. "Another reason why I got into this is the lack of privacy. The other day when I was about to take a bath, some masked pervert walked into the bathing room and stared at me… The rudeness…"
"Now what kind of brazen bastard would do that…?" asked Soudai. "I'd like to congratulate him…" he whispered silently, so only he could actually hear it.
"I've been asking myself the same question…" replied Kaguya with a thoughtful expression. "Must have been one of the patients… Probably already got discharged…"
Kyouichi nervously gulped and wiped a few droplets of cold sweat from his forehead, not daring to have any comment about this matter in order to keep the truth hidden and his hide in one piece. He's heard quite a few things about the Lunarians and how powerful they are. He really wouldn't want to get on their bad side and for the sake of this, he had to stay quiet.
"Well, anyway, my work here is done…" said Kaguya and was ready to leave the room.
"Wait, Kaguya-sama~!"
"Huh? Ishimaru-san?"
Kyouichi hesitatingly looked into her eyes and shyly asked: "Can I ask you one more thing before you leave?"
Kaguya returned a curious look. "What would it be?"
"…Can I get your autograph, please?"
"My… what?"
"Come on, you're Princess Kaguya from Taketori Monogatari… How many outsiders can brag about having met you in person and owning your autograph to prove it?"
"Actually, quite a number of outsiders have already met me in person." she led him out of fallacy. "However, you're the first one to request an autograph from me…"
"I want one too~!" Soudai joined the imaginary waitlist for Kaguya-hime's original autograph.
For a moment, she was hesitant, but she found the fact that somebody would ask her for an autograph quite flattering.
"Very well…" she nodded with a smile and ripped off two sheets of paper out of her notepad, jotting down her name on both of them. "Here you are…"
"Thank you very much, princess." said both outsiders almost in unison.
"You know, I rarely missed an opportunity to talk to outsiders, but the time is really pressing… Perhaps we can have a conversation when you visit us next time."
"No, I'm afraid this is the first and the last time we see each other." said Kyouichi and glanced at his friend who nodded agreeingly. "We're returning home in three months… It's been a great pleasure meeting you, nonetheless."
"You're leaving Gensokyo?" the princess curiously tilted her head. "Is that even possible?"
"Sure is." confirmed the younger outsider. "Reimu-san will take us across the barrier. From there on, we'll be on our own, but I think we can make it if we're well supplied."
"But… you said you'll be leaving in three months… A lot can still happen in those three months. Perhaps this won't be the last time we'll see each other."
Kyouichi gave out a soft chuckle. "Hm… I'd rather not get seriously injured again… But now that I think about it, perhaps you'll also attend the upcoming Tanabata festival, right?"
"The festival?" Kaguya repeated.
"Yeah… I'm really looking forward to it. I know all of you in Eientei are very busy these days, but perhaps things will change until then…"
"I'll think about it." replied the Moon princess without any false promises and opened the sliding door. "I'm not even sure if I should say "farewell" or "until next time"…" she said with a giggle.
"Let's make it a "goodbye" then…" suggested Soudai. "That sounds neutral."
"Very well. Goodbye to you all…" said Kaguya with a gentle nod and left the ward.
Soudai immediately looked at his paper sheet with the princess's autograph and grinned smugly. "Who would have guessed it? The legendary Moon princess Kaguya… She's really very beautiful, just as the story said."
"I can only confirm that…" remarked Kyouichi and also checked his paper with Kaguya's name. "But you better not start anything with her… You know well how that story goes, don't you?"
"Yeah… The Five Impossible Requests, blah, blah, blah… I wonder how much of that tale is actually true."
"I'd be eager to know that as well." admitted the younger outsider. "But this thing here…" he waved the paper with autograph in his hand, "This is quite a souvenir to bring home from Gensokyo…"
"You got that right!" agreed Soudai. "This has an immeasurable value!"
"Hmph~! My autograph would be at least as valuable as hers~!" sounded the childish voice of Cirno, the ice fairy.
"Huh? Cirno-chan?" both outsiders turned their gazes at her.
"Can you even write?" Kyouichi asked her, because he wasn't too sure about it.
"I bet she can't…" murmured Soudai.
They got a reply as they would expect from Cirno: "Of course I can write, you dummy and idiot!" she exclaimed agitatedly.
"No, no, no…" Kyouichi interrupted her. "He's the dumb one; I'm the idiot… Don't get us confused!" he jestingly corrected her.
"I know all the kana characters and even alphabet letters~!" declared the ice fairy with pride.
"Wow! This fairy has potential…" said Kyouichi with an acknowledging nod.
Soudai let out an amazed whistle. "That's quite something… For a fairy, I mean."
"That's because I'm a genius~!"
"In that case, could I have your autograph too?"
"Huh? You really want it?" asked the ice fairy in disbelief, even if it was her who suggested the idea in the first place.
"Yes, I do…" the younger outsider gave an affirmative nod. "Getting an autograph from a fairy is quite a rarity too."
"Yaay~! I'm a celebrity now~!" rejoiced the fairy and started to fly around in circles to express her emotions.
Soudai and Kyouichi exchanged their confused looks and after shrugging they asked Lt. Takamori to lend them his pen and sacrifice two blank pages from his little diary.
The Ryuuken lieutenant reluctantly obliged while muttering: "Why are you spoiling that fairy anyway?"
"Because we're two strangers on an unwanted tour." replied the older outsider and passed his blank diary page to Cirno. "Everything we see here, we don't see where we come from… Why not take some souvenirs while we're still here?"
The ice fairy took the page and the pen and with a bit shaky and clumsy grip, she scribbled her name on it.
"Chi-ru-no… There. Aren't you honored to have my autograph?"
Soudai checked the paper to see the fairy's name written in hiragana as well as Romanized.
"Thank you… But it seems you misspelled your name with the Roman letters."
"No, it's correct~!" Cirno insisted.
"But you've written "Cirno" here…"
"Because that's my name. It's spelled "Cirno" and pronounced "Chiruno"."
"Oh… I see now…" he nodded understandingly as he examined the fairy's crude handwriting.
"Don't forget about me, Cirno-chan…" said Kyouichi as he passed the piece of paper to the ice fairy to sign.
She again sloppily scribbled her name on it, and with a smiling face returned it to the outsider.
"Now I'm a famous fairy~!" sang Cirno happily.
"Now, you say? So you're trying to say you weren't famous until now?" Kyouichi teased her a bit.
"Of course I was famous even before then!" pouted the fairy.
"Now that you mention it, I do remember reading an article in the news about an ice fairy being eaten by a giant toad or something…" said Akiyoshi.
"T-that's a lie~!" Cirno immediately denied, but her slightly trembling voice and a little stutter made everyone in the room doubt the credibility of her claim.
As the hours went by and the evening fell, the cheerful atmosphere on the Rehabilitation Ward had died down a little. The youkai girls found entertainment in telling scary stories, Lt. Takamori decided to go out for some fresh air and the outsiders were plotting how to retrieve the healing potion from the intensive care without getting caught.
"You really think it will be that easy?" Kyouichi asked his older acquaintance. "There's always bound to be someone accompanying the visitors during the visiting hours."
"I wouldn't say that with such certainty." Soudai opposed. "Remember last time when Mrs. Kurohana visited her daughter? Reisen did only as much as show her the way to the ward and then she was gone again… I say all you need to do tomorrow is to wait for the right opportunity."
"Hmm… Even if you're right, I still think it's risky."
"Look, all you're going there for is to take that stupid bottle; nothing more. A simple task. In and out; no one injured."
"Perhaps I'd draw less suspicion if I could get dressed into something… normal." Kyouichi kept thinking aloud.
"Hey, I got another idea." Soudai declared with a raised finger. "We could ask one of them to do it for us…" he sneakily pointed at the group of fairies and two non-fairies behind Kyouichi.
The younger outsider didn't even look back. He just rolled his eyes and tapped his finger twice on the side of his head, silently saying "Are you out of your mind?" to his older friend.
"I might as well go after Eirin and tell her: Excuse me, but would you mind bringing me a bottle of potion, made by a shady immortal youkai alchemist who hates Lunarians with a passion, which I smuggled into the Intensive Care Ward, but forgot it under my bed? Thank you very much…" he said with intended sarcasm.
"Hmm… You're right. I think we should just stick to the original plan and wait for an opportunity." concluded the older outsider. "Perhaps I could even distract Eirin or Reisen or whoever will be there, so that you'd have a clear path."
"Simple…" remarked Kyouichi after a while of thinking, "…yet clever."
"Good… Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep now…" said Soudai as he yawned.
"It's still rather early." Kyouichi stated after a glance out of the round window.
"I know. But those fairies always wake up so early and become noisy. It's impossible to have a peaceful morning with them on the ward… Good night."
Kyouichi once again took a look at his two papers with autographs from Kaguya and Cirno, folded them up and put them away on the night table.
"Well then… I better go catch some z's too if I want to be fresh in the morning…" he thought to himself as he decided to call it a day.