A/N: Sorry Aigis.

Chapter 39

Places

Junpei and Minato were watching television, but they didn't pay attention to it at all.

"… She tells me she wants to die. So I tell this person I don't want her to die," Junpei said. "How does that sound? Is it awkward?"

"No," Minato said.

"Oh, that's good to hear…" Junpei laid his cap on the table. "Hey, dude."

"Yeah?"

"Am I… doing the right thing? Being friends with an enemy."

Ken glanced at them.

"You mean Chidori?" Minato asked.

"Yeah. To me, she's like a friend, a special person, and… What should I do?" Junpei sighed. "I mean, I want to be with her, but I don't know if others are okay with it…"

"Just ask others, then."

"Eh?" Junpei looked at the boy. "That easy?"

"Keep your life simple and do what you think is right." Minato shrugged. "And my answer is, go ahead. Befriend her. Do what you want."

"Oh okay. Thanks, dude! I'm gonna visit her now." Junpei stood up and dashed to the exit.

Well, that's too simple...

"The Fool has created a solid foundation on which to build his future. He is then struck with fear by all the 'what if' in his head…" Chidori began. "If everything he's worked for is taken away? If it is stolen, or lost its meaning? If all is destroyed or vanishes… Is it good enough...?

"The Fool entered a temple and meets the Hierophant, a wise man. He kneels before the man. The Fool says his fears, and asks how he can be free of them...

"There are two ways, says the Hierophant. Either give up that which you fear to lose so it no longer holds any power over you, or consider what you will still have if your fear comes to pass. If you did lose all you'd built, you would still keep the experience and knowledge that you've gained up to this point, wouldn't you? Remember where you came from."

Junpei nodded. "Ohh…"

"I thought you already know about tarot cards."

"Well, yeah, but not this… deep."

The only sound left was Chidori's pencil on a paper, drawing more Hierophant and Fool in an abstract way. Black. Red. More black... With almost zero knowledge of art, Junpei looked around the room in hope to find a chat topic. His eyes stopped at a vase with withering flowers.

"Hey, they're all dried up," Junpei said. "Almost dead, actually. Uh... Hey, how about I go buy some flowers? What's your favorite… kind…"

The red haired girl was staring at the flower.

"Chidori? What's the matter?"

Chidori picked up the witherd flower from the vase and held it in her hands. She concentrated. White light flashed in Junpei's eyes. He blinked, and the flower rose back and became so colorful.

"Whoa… What was that?"

"A sunflower."

"No, I mean... Those are cut flowers, right? How'd you do that?"

"I made them healthy again."

"I didn't know..." Junpei said. "I didn't know your healing powers could do stuff like this! It's like a miracle or something." Junpei looked at her. "That's incredible, Chidori!"

"... It's nothing special," Chidori murmured. "You have powers too, don't you?"

He looked away. "Yeah, I guess…"

Chidori waited for him.

"That's about all I've got going for me. Without that, I'd be… a nobody," Junpei said. "I just talk a big game, pretendin' like I'm some kinda hero, but in reality... I don't know what the hell I'm fighting for, or why I'm here at all..."

"Why... why we are here..."

He touched his cap. "When I was a kid, I had this crazy dream... That one day, I'd grow up to be a pro baseball player." He laughed. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

"Not at all," Chidori said after a long time. "Having a goal is a great thing."

"Well, the dream's not stupid or anything. The problem is me. I can't fight that great. I can't play baseball well. And my grade is terrible. Nothing I do is good enough."

"You are not that important... but the important thing is where you are."

Junpei looked up. "Huh?"

Chidori made a wry smile. "My aunt told me that people could go on if they are in the right place. When you have found your place, you'll know a reason for being."

That was probably the most emotion the girl had shown him, but he's still curious. "Your aunt?"

"… I can't remember her face," the girl said. "All I know is that she was a nurse in a school. There was a time she had to heal the same group of student over and over, because they always get injured again and again."

"That's weird. Are they naughty or something?"

"I don't know. It's a long time ago. If I remember correctly, one of them was a boy with an earring… I'm not sure." Chidori sat still, trying to recall her life experiences. Finally, she sighed. "... I don't remember much from my childhood. All I remember is... being surrounded by white."

Junpei looked around. It was a white room.

"I hate hospitals."

"I'm sorry." He shouldn't have brought that up.

"I don't mind that much this time, since you come to see me so often."

It's a comfortable silence. Junpei had half a mind of holding her hand, so he glanced at where her hands were supposed to be-

"Chi-Chidori! "Junpei grabbed her wrist. It was bleeding, covered with cuts. He was certain she didn't do it on herself. She was fine when he arrived here. "How…"

"It's normal," Chidori murmured. "When you gain something, you lose something. This world balances itself."

"What? But…" Junpei widen his eyes. "The flower…"

"I heal it, so I get hurt. It is normal."

"So last time…"

"It's a misunderstanding."

Yes, she said it. She didn't do that on herself. However, no one listened to her. "You… hurt, just to heal a flower?"

"The flower you give me." Chidori smiled.

Junpei already left, and that made her even more sure of it. A feeling of someone... something, out there.

"... I know you're there, Robot," Chidori said. "Come in."

There were sounds of unusual footsteps from outside. The door opened, and a blonde haired girl in school uniform walked in.

"Greetings," Aigis said. "Or is it nice to meet you?"

"Why are you spying on me?" Chidori asked.

"I am not spying. I was standing in front of your room. I am waiting for Junpei-san to finish talking with you."

"At least Robot has manner."

"Minato-san taught me."

Chidori groaned. After a Kirijo woman, it had to be a Kirijo robot. "What's your business?"

"I want to ask you questions."

"You think I'll answer?"

Aigis ignored that and asked anyway, "What is your relationship with Junpei-san?"

Chidori narrowed her eyes. "... What?"

...

"That escalated quickly, from enemies to good friends, but you can't explain it…" Aigis nodded. "And, you are Shinjiro-san's old frie-"

"Acquaintance."

"I consider that in the category of the word friends. How do you become friends… It doesn't need a reason."

"It doesn't. That's all you come here for?"

"That is all. Thank you for your answer, Chidori-san."

"... All those answers are useless, anyway." The red haired girl said when Aigis was about to leave.

The android halted and looked back. "Why is that?"

"Because you don't really understand it, Robot."

Aigis thought for a while. "I cannot understand, so all the information is useless?"

"Tell me, what would you do with these answer?"

"I do not know."

"Why do you ask?"

"I want to learn new things."

"How would it help with your duty?"

"It would not help me fight Shadows."

"So stop asking stupid questions," Chidori said.

"But Junpei-san also-"

"He understands, unlike you. You want to know everything, but that's all. You know more, then what?" Chidori asked. "Do you know why Junpei asks? Do you know it's different than what you're doing?"

Aigis tilted her head. Minato told her they were friends. Minato wanted her to learn new things. She was trying to live, isn't she?

"But I guess it can't be help, because you're not in the place you belong… that makes you either seek for attention or completely avoiding them."

"Where do I belong?"

"In a laboratory, with the light of a brightest value." Chidori stared into her eyes. "At that kind of place, you won't ask so many questions, and you won't be considered annoying. That's the only place we are useful."

"Useful?"

"Someone like us... When we suffer, we do it in silence. And the world likes it that way. No one want to see us, to hear our voices, or even to know that we exist. We just... fade. No one cares about us at all." Chidori smiled, a sad one. "Only in a lab that we shine the most. We are being observed, being asked, being experimented on. How little they are, we have values."

Aigis knew she should be quiet right now.

"I did escape, and I found a new place with my teammates. I don't belong here, in this hospital." Even if Junpei tried to make her feel like she belonged, talking to her everyday and buying her a new sketchbook and handing her sunflowers... "I don't need attention from any of you. I'm fine the way I am."

Aigis remained silent.

"What about you?" Chidori asked. "Why are you here? What do you want...?"

Aigis would say the time in the laboratory was repetitive. Scientists gave her tests and missions. They started experimenting, then they left. They left her with Ikutsuki, and Ikutsuki left her at Yakushima, until she escaped and found Minato on that day. She wanted to always be by his side. Her highest priority was to be with him.

Aigis knew why she was here, somehow she knew that being with Minato was the right thing to do.

What does she, an Anti-Shadow weapon want...?

The question reminded her of the way she asked Minato and her dorm mates all the time for answers. Minato answered, but others sometime sighed or shook their head. There was once when Yukari slapped Junpei and said he shouldn't answer those kind of questions. At school, people would be unwilling to answer her question. They say, ask Minato, ask Minato...

Minato wanted to be her friend. She should be a good friend, someone that Minato would consider a friend.

"I don't want to be annoying," Aigis said. "What should I do...?"