Meanwhile, Tea, Joey, and Tristan found themselves in the waiting area outside the emergency room. Being the middle of a typical day, the room was nearly full. The three friends had pulled some chairs into the corner, to find as much privacy as could be awarded. It had been a good hour since they had last seen Ryou, and as the minutes ticked away, they grew more and more worried.
"… You'd think the doctors would at least let us know what's going on…" Tea moaned, leaning back in the uncomfortable chair.
"Something must be wrong." Tristan sighed. "He's been in there far too long."
"Well, maybe we should just go back there and find out what the hell's goin' on!" Joey shouted, standing up. Tristan pulled him quickly back down.
"That didn't work at Battle City, it's not going to work now." Tristan sneered through his teeth.
"Look, I'm as worried as you, but we can't just barge in… We have to wait." Tea sighed, equally annoyed.
The clock ticked painfully above them.
"Has Yugi not come back yet?" she finally broke the silence, shifting in the chair for the fifth time in a three-minute period.
"I haven't seen him, Tea." Tristan answered.
"Just where do you think he was goin'? What, with Ryou here and all…"
"I'm sure he had some reason…"
"Joey, it was Yugi… There has to be a reason!" Tea announced, quieting her voice when she saw the door across the hall open. "He always has a reason."
A short nurse, clad completely in white, scanned the room as she entered. Her expression sharpened when she saw the three of them sitting in the corner. She quickly walked over.
"Are you the three who came in with the Bakura boy?" she asked gently. Her tone made Tea frightened. It was too gentle… the kind of softness that typically accompanies bad news.
"Yes, we are…" Tristan began.
"What's goin' on? Where's Ryou? Is he okay?" Joey's list of questions failed to change the nurse's demeanor or tone. She merely sighed.
"Please… is he all right?" Tea asked, almost pleading.
"The doctors finally managed to get him stabilized…" she began, trying her best not to make eye contact with either of the three teenagers. "…He is very sick."
With that response, having heard it so often already, Joey was about ready to lose it. Tristan put a hand on his leg to keep him from leaping out of the chair.
"What's wrong with him?" he interjected.
"We're not… completely certain." She answered.
"Not certain! How the hell can you not be certain?"
"Joey, please… that's not getting us anywhere." Tea sighed. "Do you have any idea at all?"
"The symptoms suggest a form of pneumonia. His records indicate that's what he's currently being treated for." She attempted to explain. "But when the tests came back… we couldn't recognize the bacteria."
The moment of silence creaked eerily through the corner.
"What do you mean, you couldn't recognize them?"
"We can't recognize them. They don't appear to be like anything our specialists have ever seen before."
The three friends exchanged uneasy glances.
"What about Ryou? Is there anything you can do for him?" Tristan finally spoke up.
"Right now, we don't know. We've stabilized him, for the time being, and transferred him to the critical care unit. The doctors there are monitoring him. We've flooded his system with antibiotics, but until we know the exact cause of the infection, it will be difficult to administer a treatment."
They nodded silently.
"When… can we see him?" Tea asked, pushing the urge of tears back down her throat.
"Visiting hours start in fifteen minutes and last until five." She replied. "Just go down that hall, and up to the third floor. The critical care unit will be to your right. The head nurse there can show you to his room. Though, you may have to go in one at a time."
They nodded and stood up slowly.
"Thank you…" Tea managed to whisper, before they walked out the door. The nurse smiled gently, and bowed her head.