It was ten past eight a.m. when the door of the Kyoto City Mental Health Center opened, and a man in his late twenties stepped in. He wore a pair of brown slacks and an off-white colored shirt, complete with a faded tan tie. His tweed coat was draped over his arm and a rust colored bowler hat sat upon his head.
He had a nervous habit that he displayed, of rocking on the balls of his heels, and his shoes showed it. The pads on his heels were severely worn, and the hems of his pants (which had not been taken up) were tattered.
His face had the look of one who carried many worries, and he had a five 'o clock shadow beneath the stubble that made up his goatee. The receptionist looked up from her desk and noticed him standing there, but obviously recognized him.
"Oh! Doctor Jak Suiwudo?! We weren't expecting you in until nine! They're still preparing your office. You may proceed to the waiting room if you'd like, I'll give them a message to hurry." She pointed off down the right hall towards the waiting room and used her intercom to call the workers that were finishing his office.
He however, did not walk to the waiting room, instead he pulled a clipboard from beneath his jacket, and a pen from behind his ear.
"Um actually," he squinted to see her nametag, but blushed and looked away quickly when she lowered her gaze to his, a brow raised. Well how was he not supposed to notice her perky breasts with her nametag in such a provocative spot?!
"Su-za-ku, I was wondering if I would be permitted to fondle-AGH! I mean w-wander amongst some of the patients?" His face was also now flushed with color, and he tapped his fingers upon the clipboard timidly.
Suzaku the receptionist who now had a very smug look across her face, winked at him and nodded.
"Of course you may, Doctor. I'll page you when your office is ready." He could have sworn he caught her tugging her shirt down a tad bit more out of the corner of his eye, but he took a deep breath and shuffled off down the left hall.
After checking the information on his clipboard several times, he stopped in front of a cell in which the only light came from the small, barred peek-hole in the door. Even the barred window on the far wall had been covered by an old piece of fabric and the morning light could not pass. Jak, who was just one inch too short stood on his tiptoes and peered into the cell.
Although his head now blocked off most of the light, this didn't seem to bother the patient inside. He was huddled in the corner with his back turned to the door, muttering something intangible beneath his breath. After watching him a moment, Dr. Suiwudo dropped back onto his heels and scribbled something down upon his clipboard where there was room for notes.
"I know you're out there. So, you must be Doctor Tokana's replacement. And here I thought they'd finally forgotten about me." The young man's voice came through the door and caused him to jump. Looking through the hole again, he saw that the boy had turned around and was now facing him, resting his elbow upon his one bent knee.
"Hello in there. My name is-..."Jak at least had a start.
"Dr. Jak Suiwudo, I know. I was told you would be here last night. You should already know my name; it's printed quite clearly upon your fancy little clipboard." Well that was strange. No one aside from the lovely receptionist knew that, and he was almost sure that she wasn't the type to stroll along the patient's ward and run her mouth. Nevertheless, he did glance down at his information.
"Yes, yes. Rimori Marra Rinfudo. They said on the phone that you were impossible to work with, but let's try shall we? You've got quite a long list here of-..." but he was cut off yet again.
"Tell me Jak, did they ever inform you of what happened to Dr. Tokana?" Rinfudo turned his head and looked up at the outline of the doctor's face.
All Jak could see were the whites of his eyes and a rather delighted grin; and he suddenly got the impression that he was attempting to council a damned Cheshire cat.
"Well, no. They mentioned something about a much needed medical leave, but then again I wasn't really paying atten-..." He was again interrupted, but this time it was by a loud, and haughty laugh.
"HA! I don't suppose they mentioned it being permanent? No, they'd tried to hush it all up." The boy slapped his forehead when he saw the look of confusion upon the face in the door.
"He died. He's dead Jak. Dead. D-E-A-D. DEAD! WOOOOOOO DEAD!" Rinfudo's mirthful screams reduced to wild, mindless giggles.
At this, Jak stepped away from the door and stumbled. He bit his bottom lip so harshly that he drew blood and winced as he regained balance. There was then silence from the cell for a moment until Jak heard its inhabitant sniff the air distinctly.
"Aaahhh....you've gone and hurt yourself Jak. I've got an extra tissue in here, if you... you know, wanted to clean up a tad." The fool of a doctor was more concerned for the wound than his overall safety at that moment and reached his hand to the small barred peephole, and accepted the Kleenex from the boy who stood waiting just on the other side of the door.
Without warning, Rinfudo grabbed his wrist and yanked his entire arm through the bars up to his shoulder. He then reached his own arm out through the bars and grabbed Jak by the back of his head, forcing his face against the gap.
His lips were on the naïve psychiatrist's before he even had time to react. He felt a searing pain in his lip as Rinfudo's teeth clamped down upon the wound and he snapped back to his senses, shoving himself away and staggering back from the door. The action caused his bowler hat to tumble right off his head and to the floor, and Jak put his foot right through it, ruining it.
"NO! YOU CAN'T DENY ME OF IT NOW! I HAVEN'T TASTED IT IN SO LONG, PLEASE! JAK! DON'T GO! JAK! JAAAAAAAKKKK!" Rinfudo's screams continued to echo throughout the patient ward as Dr. Suiwudo jogged to the bathroom at the other end of the hall.
The clipboard clanged to the floor and his jacket fell wrinkled on top of it. He immediately spat several times and started running water in the sink, staring at himself in the mirror while he waited for the water to warm up.
His lip was now in twice as bad a condition than it was before and he could already feel and see the swelling, but it still was not bad enough to need stitches.
His entire chin and left cheek were smeared with a sticky red substance that he recognized as his own blood and he licked tenderly at his lip, recoiling at the taste of the coppery essence.
'It appears Mr. Rinfudo is a little more dangerous than the reports state.' He thought silently to himself. Jak took a paper towel from the dispenser and wet it in the sink, beginning to mop himself up a bit when the intercom blared throughout the building.
"Doctor Suiwudo? Your office is ready now sir, if you'd like to settle in." The receptionist's voice rang out from every speaker in the complex.
After cleaning off most of the blood, Jak gathered up his clipboard and coat and stepped out of the patients ward without a second glance.
He shuffled down the right hallway towards the waiting room, returning a blushed smile to the receptionist, who winked as he passed, seeming a little concerned at his lip. He stopped in front of his new office, nodding in a greeting to the custodian who was polishing his door.
The room was larger than he'd expected, and everything from the desk and lamps, to the carpeting, was brand new. There was a small cell with an unbreakable plexiglass wall so one could monitor a patient built into one side of it.
Something shiny caught his eye and he saw that on his desk, was a gold nameplate and everything he needed to get himself started. Hanging his jacket on his coat rack and setting his clipboard on the corner of the desk, he sat down upon the leather swivel-chair. On the bottom left corner of his desk, there rested a two-way intercom speaker, and at once, he pressed the call button and spoke into it.
"Uh, Suzaku? Do you think you could do me a favor?" He seemed unsure if she were the right person to be asking this, not knowing what she'd make of that question.
"Of course, doctor, what would you like?" Well that could be taken many different ways. He adjusted his tie nervously as he spoke.
"Could you put in a note to have Mr. Rimori Marra Rinfudo transferred to my office post haste? He's patient number, uh...now where did I put my clipboard? Ah-ha! He's patient number 761853 and he's currently in cell 17- A."
"Consider it done, doctor! It takes about two days to process a patient transfer, and I have a pile of paperwork for you to complete, but we'll have him moved to your office as soon as possible." He could hear several tiny clicks from her fingernails on the keyboard on her end.
"Thank you very much Suzaku, I appreciate it." He leaned back against the chair and propped his feet up on the desk.
"Is there anything else I can do for you, doctor?" Jak went wide-eyed and fell over backwards in his chair, struggling to get back to his feet.
"N-no! That's....that's quite alright, thank you Suzaku!" It took him a second to right himself, then he lifted his chair and set it upright again.
"Well alright, doctor, let me know if you need anything!" The click of the speaker told him that she'd turned her intercom off, and he let out a sigh of relief. If that conversation had continued he surely would have rushed out there a date from her.
He sat down in his chair once more, taking his clipboard and scanning over the information on this Rinfudo character. He would waste away half the day reading and studying those notes.