CH.45 A day in Waiting
Origami wakes up a little later in the sick bay with her injuries bandaged, her bruises covered with medicine, and her body feeling tired. She does stand up and finds herself wearing a pink smock while her clothes are being washed. She looks around and walks out of the sick bay as she is more than capable of walking. She gets it the bridge where Mana, Kotori, Ellen, and Akane are as they are talking about dinner at the moment. Mana notices her and says.
"Oh, you finally woke up."
Origami nods with a slight smile as she replies.
"Yeah, I'm glad to at least be in a friendly environment, mostly (looks at Kotori)."
She then looks at Ellen, becomes distrustful, and takes a more defensive stance as she asks.
"What is she doing here?"
Ellen raises her hand in a non-threatening gesture as she explains.
"I'm not the Ellen you fought."
Origami backs off as she thinks that is the case considering Kotori and a girl who looks like Kotori is aboard the ship with them. Mana takes it upon herself to explain the situation to Origami, but just the basics without mentioning the Spirit Children and their progress. This being because that amount of information would be difficult to process to someone who just woke up.
Below in the city, Hiro, and Tohka are here to report what happened on the Oa to the twins as they deserve to know what the situation is. Tohka tells them while they sit on a couch.
"I'm very sorry we couldn't get Sora back. We thought we could find her, but she's not in this dimension anymore apparently from what Kotori told me."
Kaguya is trembling and Yuzuru is visibly upset too despite her stoic look. Tohka and Hiro took the harder job having to tell the twins about the situation. Yuzuru then demands.
"Demand, Take me with you! I want to get my daughter back. I still have power left."
Hiro immediately snaps as he tells her.
"No you won't! You're not getting involved with us!"
Tohka, Yuzuru, and Kaguya look at Hiro with slight shock at the loudness of his voice. He doesn't even seem to realize how loud he was. He then apologizes as Kaguya breaks the tension as she stands and offers.
"How about I get us some iced tea. Iced tea is relaxing."
Tohka stands up and says.
"Yeah, I'll help with the glasses and tray."
The two then leave the room leaving Hiro and Yuzuru in the same room. Yuzuru looks at Hiro as he trembles from remembering what happened as he reaches for his bottle which is starting to get low as he pulls out some more pills as swallows them. Yuzuru looks at him and asks him as bluntly as possible.
"Did the Yuzuru that you know die?"
Hiro takes a breath and nods. He then tells her the story of what happened despite how painful it is. Yuzuru looks uneasy as she hears his story of her heroism, but the same time she appears to be happy. She doesn't respond beyond the faint smile as Hiro finishes. Before anything else can be said, Kaguya and Tohka re-enter the room with a tray full of glasses and a pitcher of tea. They enjoy a little time of drinking some tea and some quick chatter as it is time to go.
Before leaving, Tohka promises the two.
"We'll find Sora, and we'll bring her back to you both. We won't stop until we do."
Before leaving out the door, Hiro walks up to Yuzuru, hugs her to her surprise, and says to her.
"Don't die until you're an old lady surrounded by your great grandchildren, Yuzuru. Please, don't die until then."
Hiro doesn't let go for at least a minute as this may be the last time he ever sees Yuzuru in any capacity. Kaguya wonders what that was about, but Yuzuru dismisses it. They have to check on the other children anyway. Yuzuru walks up to Kenji's room to check on him. When she looks, she sees a lump under his sheets and thinks he is just asleep after a hard day.
Aboard the ship, Hiro and Tohka have returned and Kotori is reading a Chinese restaurant menu as this is what they decided on, without Shido cooking, they have little options and nobody really feels like it. Kotori and Ellen will pick up the food and get some sodas for everyone as they only have juice and water on the ship. Everyone is frustrated too, they found the last person, Origami, and it got ruined by Saori. They only thing they had left to was defeat the masterminds behind this, and now their journey is forced to go on longer.
Hiro decides to make the most of things as he is also in the sick bay to change his bandages when Origami spots him. He decides to be polite with her and greets her.
"Hello, you must be a younger version of my mother."
Origami looks confused as she hasn't been brought up to speed as she asks.
"So, who are you exactly?"
Hiro realizes his error and explains what he knows to her while the others ready for dinner. Kotori and Ellen return a little while later with a lot of food, which Ellen thankfully paid for, and a case of soda with some straws. Everyone gets a plate of food ready, except Hiro and Origami as they are still talking. He ends with where they are at. Origami thinks for a minute and replies to whole thing.
"So Shido and I are meant to be together."
Hiro shakes his head as he tells her.
"It isn't guaranteed. He could end up with a Spirit for all I know. But the Shido of my time, my father, chose you."
Origami gets a rather uneasy look as she is now faced with her situation and clenches her fist.
"Now I have to work with Spirits. I couldn't feel more sick right now."
Hiro pulls out one of his blades as he threatens her.
"If you hurt a Spirit, I'll kill you where you stand."
Origami is speechless as her own son just threatened her life. She thinks he's been brainwashed by them are something. He reminds her.
"I'm a colonel in the AST, so don't think of me as a light threat."
With harsh feelings in the air, the two decide to get something to eat, but Hiro decides to add.
"I teamed up with a woman who I murdered, so don't think you're the only one with hard feelings."
Hiro and Origami arrive in the kitchen and fill up their plates. Hiro leaves to a different area to eat with Tohka and Kotori. Origami stays behind as she grabs a can of cola and drinks it with a straw. Shiori arrives in the kitchen to get more food for her and Miyuki. Shiori is friendly with Origami as she immediately greets her.
"Hey there, Origami. I'm glad to see you're walking around and eating."
Origami turns and looks at her without really knowing who she is, but Shiori introduces herself.
"Oh, sorry, I'm Shiori Itsuka. My mom is Miku Izayoi, I think that's her maiden name. I already know you, so don't worry."
Origami takes a sip of her drink and replies.
"Oh, so you're the daughter of that girl that tried to murder Shido and turned the whole city against him?"
That was harsh, but Shiori remains positive as she replies.
"Well, yeah, but my mom…"
Origami interrupts her and states.
"Just so we're clear, I have no interest in helping or befriending anyone on this ship. I already have problems with Ellen and Spirits being on this ship. So it'd be in both of our best interests to stay away from each other. When we find Shido, that'll be it for our alliance."
Shiori feels a little hurt as the Origami she knows is nicer. But she still offers.
"Listen, if you want to, you're welcome to join me and Miyuki for eating dinner."
Origami instantly passes as Shiori turns around and prepares to leave. Origami takes another sip through her straw and then something catches her eye in the corner. She notices a couple of cockroaches on the table as she looks at it. Shiori turns around to say.
"My offer still remain, Ori…"
She is distracted as she sees Origami munches on something with loud crunches as she stops and replies.
"Not interested."
Shiori laughs a little as she says.
"You must really like those crunchy eggrolls huh?"
She turns to face Shiori, and the latter notices something small, like a bug leg with a piece of exoskeleton, sticking out of Origami's mouth as she licks the rest of it up and chews some more before swallowing. Shiori is a little disgusted but rationalizes.
"No, that must have been a bean sprout with some meat or something."
Origami smiles and replies.
"Yeah, I love eggrolls."
Shiori still feels uneasy as she leaves the kitchen area to rejoin Miyuki. Hiro returns to the bridge where he dines with Tohka and Kotori as their presence brings him peace. Origami ultimately eats alone in the sickbay as she detects someone hiding in the room. She states.
"I know you're hiding in here."
A locker opens up and Kenji exits the locker. He is wearing his uniform still as he immediately ran here. Origami looks at him and states.
"So, you must be Yuzuru's son."
Kenji doesn't deny it. Origami did help Yuzuru in the past, so she does at least recognize her son. She isn't ready to accept a lie, so Kenji explains that he snuck on board when Kotori was beamed back up to the ship. He's been hiding ever since. Kotori didn't notice him and no one looked at the monitors when Kotori was teleported back. He's been hiding on the ship ever since. Origami agrees not to say anything for the moment as she'd rather not cause a stir. The entire party is having their own problems, but they are calm at the moment.
Unknown Time
Kurumi and Shido arrive in a dark part of the city where it is clearly night time. Kurumi is carrying Shido over her shoulder as he is still catatonic from the incident with Saori. They have nowhere to go, and nothing to eat. Kurumi sits Shido against a wall as he isn't moving at all. Kurumi thinks for a moment as her sudden leap through timelines leaves her without a plan. She contemplates just killing someone and take their residence as a temporary home until a more viable plan is available. Returning to their own time, if this isn't it, would just be a waste of time with Saori's power changing like it did. Before she can do anything, Shido manages to utter.
"Don't…..kill anyone…..Kurumi."
Kurumi sighs and tells him.
"Even catatonic, you're a real annoyance. But I suppose nothing I should keep you happy."
She picks him up again and thinks about getting him to his home in this timeline, and possibly find more allies, if at all.