Chapter 36 - Not The Same

It did take awhile, but, after some dead ends and a lot of walking around, they all managed to find their way out of the temple the same way that Sakyo and Takanosuke had originally come in.
When they got out of the miniature rocky valley and out into the clearing, they were surprised to see the orange, yellow, purple, and light blue light of the sun starting to peak over the mountains in the distance, since they had not thought that they were really in there for that long, and even more surprised by the sound of a couple helicopters somewhere nearby. It didn't take long before they had realized that those had come for them, for both helicopters had come into the clearing, one after the other.
The man in the first helicopter had opened the door and shouted over the loud thunder of the propellers to Madoka, claiming that they had been sent by Tsubasa upon receiving a distress signal from Maru's watch. This was something that confused the small girl, since she had sent out nothing, and the device that she had had seemed unable to work within the mountain walls - she supposed that it could be an automatic thing that the satellite picked up anyway, but she wasn't too sure.
Either way, the group split up into two separate groups for the two separate helicopters, and they soon found themselves being lifted off above the forest, above the trees and away from the mountain, back towards the home that most of them could safely say they had missed very much. None of the pilots ask questions about the two unconscious brothers, whether why they were so or who Minoru even was (since they almost undoubtedly knew who Gingka was), and simply lifted them on board and got out 2 stretchers for them. Madoka had informed one of the officers inside the chopper they were in about Gingka's current condition, and about the possibility of Minoru needing help as well, an the woman almost immediately called into the Metal Bey City Hospital to inform them of two incoming patients that they would be dropping off within a couple of short hours. She had then informed Madoka that both helicopters would be dropping them back off at WBBA headquarters, where Tsubasa would soon be to meet them. Madoka simply agreed with that, feeling more than glad about finally seeing Tsubasa again - in person, at least.
Throughout the whole 2 and a half hours that it took for them to get back to Metal Bey City, neither Gingka or Minoru ever woke up nor even stirred, and they remained that way even as the chopper landed on top of Metal Bey City hospital and unloaded them there.
Madoka, Zyro, Kite, Eight, and Benkei all watched them go, before they were soon lifted off into the air again and headed off towards WBBA headquarters. When they got there, the one helicopter that had been carrying the rest of the others had already arrived, and, sure enough, Tsubasa stood there with the rest of them, along with both Sichiro and Ayano - two workers that she was fairly familiar with -, waiting for them.
The remaining five of them all got out as soon as the doors were opened, and Tsubasa came to meet them halfway, almost immediately pulling Madoka into an embrace which she was more than happy to return.

"I'm glad to see all of you are okay." Tsubasa said with a sigh of relief once both he and Madoka had pulled away, "I tried contacting you guys last night a few times, but you never answered... I was almost afraid something happened until I received that distress signal from Maru a little while ago."

"Yeah, sorry about that." The brunette apologized with a smile, "We would've called you back, but things got a little... Weird."

"Really weird, things got really weird." Kite corrected for her, and Madoka agreed on that.
"Well, understandable I guess..." The silverette said, a strange looking suddenly crossing his face, "Especially since a few of them-" He gestured back to the other younger bladers behind him, "-have been saying something about Gingka being alive and... Having a brother?"
Madoka's eyes widened for a moment, before she nodded. Of course, there was going to be a lot of explaining to do.
Among all of them...

Since the incident of what had happened with Alcorin in his office, Kyoya's condition had improved fairly well, and the doctors had informed the eldest Tategami sibling that anytime within the next couple of days, he would be allowed to be released from the hospital.
Of course, that did come with the strict orders to not overly exert himself with his work, which did irritate him a bit. Now he was able to sit up in his hospital bed and walk away a bit just fine, and he had also been taken off all of the pain meds they had originally had him on, which was something he was eternally grateful for.
Kakeru had been the one who had been managing most things back at TC headquarters in his brother's absence, and seemed to be doing exceedingly well in assuring that everything was still running almost as smoothly as it usually did (which could be iffy at times). Kyoya was proud of him for that, but decided to wait until he was discharged before to see things for himself before he actually gave his younger brother higher praise. And, hopefully, he would be able to check out fairly soon - the place was boring him, even with the couple books that he currently had on the beside table.
He had already read through one of them out of the four, and was now about a quarter way through the second one, which, in turn, wasn't all too interesting.
With his focus on the page and his hearing slightly tuned out so that he could focus better, he just barely noticed it when Kakeru walked into the room, and only saw him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, Kyoya." The younger greenette greeted, a slightly happier aura about him that the older did not fail to miss.
"Hey." Kyoya greeted casually as his right hand assistant came up beside his bed, "You seem happier than usual. What's up?"
Kakeru grinned softly before explaining.
"I got a call from Director Otori this morning." The younger explained, "He said that Madoka and the others are back in Metal Bey City now. Turns out they were able to find Alcorin after all."
Kyoya was surprised at this news, but was no less satisfied at hearing it - if it was what he hoped it was, it looked like he wouldn't be getting another visit from that psychopath anytime.
"Good to hear." The Director said with a smile that was also half a smirk.
"Oh, and that's it!" Kakeru said enthusiastically, though he paused for a moment in though before continuing, "Okay, it's gonna sounds kind of weird, but I swear I'm telling the truth, alright?"

"Okay..." Kyoya said slowly, raising an eyebrow at his younger brother.
"So after they were able to find where Alcorin was, it turns out that things didn't exactly happen in the way we thought before." The greenette explained, "They found Gingka. And not dead, either! He was alive."

"W-wait, what?" Kyoya stuttered slightly, looking at his younger brother as though he were half crazy.
"Yeah, I know..." Kakeru sighed, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment, "I know it sounds really crazy, but Tsubasa was telling the truth, I know that... But not only was Gingka alive, but it turns out that he and that Alcorin guy were brothers, apparently. They said that they brought them both back, and to not worry about Alcorin... Though, I'm too sure."

"Well then..." Kyoya said, leaning back on the pillows propped up behind him and setting his book down on the sheets covering his legs, "I guess, once I get out of here, I'm gonna have to organize a call or something with him, then. 'Cause I think I want some more details on that."

"I don't blame ya." Kakeru said with a smile, "He didn't really explain all too much, so I can't say anything more on it, but he sounded pretty truthful. I doubt that he'd joke about something like that..."
Kyoya chuckled slightly.
"Yeah, he's never been one for jokes." The elder Tataegami said reassuringly, "I'm just a little confused on how the hell Hagane's even alive. Or what the whole 'brother' thing is about... I'll be sure to look in on that with him."
Kakeru nodded in agreement, and, after that, the conversation eventually went into how things were faring over at headquarters, with a few of the usual questions and answers from either of the two.
But, even while most of his mind focused on that, the knowledge that he had previously received stuck itself firmly inside a part of Kyoya's head - the part where certain things would never leave him alone.
He could only guess how the rest of them back in Metal Bey City were feeling after figuring that out. Needless to say, they were probably overjoyed.
And he, too, found himself to be greatly relieved - looks like he would get another chance to win over Gingka's title after all...

Four days after they had arrived back in Metal Bey City, things weren't entirely as happy as one could probably imagine.
The group had all gotten together on the first day back to begin explaining to Tsubasa that had happened in their week-long journey, and the silverette took it all in with an air of easiness, which they very well knew to be reasonable. After that, Madoka had also gotten Zyro to try and explain how exactly he had 'saved' Gingka and Minoru, and what Gingka had meant by 'knowing what he meant'.
The ginger-ravenette had explained with a little difficulty, but the others had listened regardless, no matter how far-fetched and unbelievable it sounded. Zyro had also admitted that he had a hard time believing to, and he still wasn't truly sure if he really did - all of them were thankful for the explanation, however, since it at least cleared a few things up, as troublesome and weird as it was.
Within those next few days Tsubasa had arranged a small funeral for Sakyo, even though it couldn't necessarily be called a 'funeral', per say.
Tsubasa had done the job of finding Sakyo's address - a small apartment on the north end of the city - and then sent Takanosuke to go and see if they could find his parents there; the blonde had figured that it would probably be better if they heard the news from him rather than anyone else. However, there had been no one there.
Tsubasa had then decided to look a bit deeper, and found that Sakyo had lived alone, and seemingly had no contact with his parents at all. The only number that he had on his emergency contact list as an aunt who was filed down as living in Kyoto.
However, they were unable to get ahold of her in all the 6 times they had tried.
So, they went on and just had it by themselves - they had stood around a plain headstone with all the typical things listed - name, date of birth and date of death - upon it, and simply laid a few flowers of different varieties in front of a framed picture that Takanosuke had put there.
It was a picture of Sakyo and him that he had taken in a surprise selfie, with the red-and-white-haired blader having taking up most of the picture from the way that the blonde had positioned the camera.
It wasn't the best picture, and Takanosuke knew that, but it was the best he had. Ren had said that it was sweet, and well fitting of the two of them.

On the fourth day, Madoka had decided that that would be the day she went to finally visit Gingka in the hospital, and many of the younger bladers, consisting of Zyro, Ren, Kite, Eight, and Shinobu, were more than eager to join her to see how the redhead was doing. In truth, the brunette would've gone much sooner if she had been allowed too, but Tsubasa had informed her that the hospital had contacted him on the well-being of Gingka and said that it would be probably be best if nobody visited for at least 3-4 days.
Reluctantly, the brunette had complied, but it didn't stop her from worrying. The same could be said for the rest of them as well.
But now it had been those 3-4 days, so it was probably safe to assume that it was okayby now for them to go and see the man that they had been so worried about.
They all checked in at the nurse's station down on the first floor, and, after a phone call to a doctor and the writing down of several things, the nurse there told them that they had permission to head up to the 5th floor - the psychiatric ward.
The fact that they were being sent up there at all was greatly concerning, and Madoka asked if the nurse had indeed given them the correct place to go, but he said that he had, and that Doctor Amori would be waiting for them up there.
So, anxious and worried, the seven of them all gathered in the elevator, and pressed the button for the 5th floor, although reluctantly.

The psychiatric ward seemed to have a naturally unsettling air to it, and seemed quite a bit bleaker than even the rest of the hospital did. It smelled strongly of medicine and vomit, and, further down the hall and a couple halls down, there could be heard distant screaming and crying and moaning and other noises that were less than comforting.
Thankfully, they didn't have to go past any of these rooms to get to where they were told Gingka's room was, number 508, where they also found a man in a white coat and dark blue scrubs waiting for them with a clipboard in his hands.
"Oh, hello." The man, presumably Doctor Amori, judging by the name-tag on his coat, greeted them, "You must be Madoka Amano, correct?"

"Uh, yes." Madoka answered.
"Well, I'm Dr. Amori." The man said with a smile, outstretching a hand, which she shook, although stiffly, "I'm Mr. Hagane's doctor, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Madoka said with a barely noticeable tremor in her voice, "Um... Is it alright if I ask why we're up here?"

"Oh, yes, of course." Dr. Amori said with a smile, "That's actually why I've come to meet you up here. Before you head in, there are a few things that I need to inform and warn you of with Mr. Hagane's... Condition."
Madoka simply nodded her head for the doctor to go on, and the other younger bladers, and Maru, gathered around to hear as well. Dr. Amori looked down through his wire-rimmed glasses down to the clipboard in his hand.
"Gingka was admitted to the hospital about 5 days ago after being dropped off here from a WBBA helicopter, along with another patient, who, as I understand, has a fairly close relation to him according to Director Otori." Dr. Amori began, "Out of the two of them, Gingka was the one that needed greater medical attention than Minoru did, as it was found that he was extremely malnourished, dehydrated, and with barely any physical function to his legs. So, he was treated for his undernourishment; we got some food and liquids into him through tubes while he was unconscious, and, other than his legs and a very mild infection in his esophagus that we were able to get rid of within a couple days, he was fine. Physically, at least."

"W-what do you mean?" Madoka asked, suddenly feeling more nervous than she originally had.
"Well, it's not too easy to explain..." Dr. Amori said with some reluctance, "About 2 days after he was admitted, Mr. Hagane regained consciousness. He was disoriented and confused at first, though that was understandable at the time since he'd supposedly been unconscious for quite a while. However... When I, a couple nurses, came in to try and and chest his vitals, blood pressure, lucidity, excetera, the results were... Not positive."

"How so?" Kite asked almost without thinking, but Dr. Amori answered him, and all of them, anyway.
"Well, in short, then moment that any of us made any physical contact with him, he lashed out and became hysterical, showing an abnormal amount of strength that I've never seen the likes of. It took three security guards to actually pin him down so we could sedate him, which he definitely wasn't happy about. Once he was out, we restrained him to the bed, which didn't blow over too well once he woke up later. After he regained consciousness, I worked to try and figure out why exactly he reacted the way he did, and throughout most of the conversation he seemed dazed and kept saying things that didn't make sense. So, we kept observing him for awhile longer, and, eventually, we noticed that he... was displaying all the same symptoms that we typically see with... rape victims."
The sounds that a few of them of made were not things that were meant to be described, and, needless to say, none of them were even too sure how to fully react to that.
"W-what?" Madoka questioned shakily, suddenly horrified at the mere thought of... "B-but why? He wasn't... Was he...?"
Fortunately, Dr. Amori shook his head.
"Thankfully, no." The man responded, "He allowed us to do a rape-kit on him, but we found nothing in his system that indicated sexual assault of any kind... However, that does leave us wondering why exactly he's acting this way... Either way, we had to move him up here, since his PTSD was very evident and needed to be expertly handled."
Madoka nodded her head, and then spoke again.
"So... Should we come back another time, or...?" She asked slowly, but Dr. Amori simply shook his head with smile.
"No, no, not at all." He said reassuring, "Post Traumatic Stress or not, I don't doubt he'll be happy to see all of you - he seems to enjoy company whenever possible, just as long as the people in the room are within his line of sight. I very strongly advise, though, that you all refrain from making physical contact with him as long as you can help it - specifically upper body, but I wouldn't chance it, however. And if he starts getting hysterical or disoriented at all, be sure to get someone immediately."

"Okay..." Madoka said almost breathlessly and nodded, "Anything else?"

"No, that's about it." Dr. Amori said reassuringly, "Just be sure to try and not upset him; the results are typically less than great for the people around him."

"Okay..." Madoka said with a nod, "Uh, can I ask about Minoru, too?"

"Mr. Hagane's brother, yes?" Dr. Amori questioned, and Madoka nodded, "He checked out yesterday; his health was far better than Mr. Hagane's was, so we were able to allow it. He was here to see Mr. Hagane briefly before leaving, though."
To that, Madoka just nodded, while some of the younger bladers looked at each other in concern at that. They hadn't heard about that before then, and they were wondering if Tsubasa had known that the younger of the two had been checked out at all.
Probably not, but even still...

"Mr. Hagane." Dr. Amori called into the room from the doorway, "You have visitors."
At this, they were given the permission to head inside, and they did, one after another. They were almost nervous to find out what they would see, but they soon found that there was no need - there was just Gingka, sitting there, and smiling at them with a bit of a relieved and weary look on his face.
In truth, he didn't look or seem to bad. He was wearing the standard hospital clothes that they always had you wear, with his headband currently off, placed on the table beside him along with a glass of what appeared to be apple juice, allowing his bangs beneath to fall into his eyes. He was sitting up, which was good, and had his legs covered by the white sheet of the bed, of which they knew he was barely able to move at the moment.
He had IV in his arm, which was to expected, and, while he did look fairly tired, there was something about it, something distant in his eyes, that was probably from more than just being under sedatives and having woken up from a coma only a few days earlier.
"Hey..." He greeted them in a half-whisper that seemed a little louder in the mostly quiet room than it probably was. Madoka simply sighed and crossed her arms, looking crossly at the redheaded blader, though the look had a much softer tone it would probably would normally.
"You have got to stand landing yourself in the hospital, Mr." The brunette said sternly, though the shakiness of relief was evident to anyone.
Gingka simply gave her an apologetic smile, and shrugged his shoulders softly.
"I'll let you all visit for awhile." Dr. Amori said before he slipped out the door and walked off back down the hall the way they had originally came.
"Let me guess..." Gingka said once Dr. Amori had left the room, looking back to his friends at the end of his bed, "He gave you the lecture on the do's and don't's?" The rest of them looked at him, surprised, and, upon seeing those expressions, Gingka simply smiled and chuckled softly, "I heard him talking to you guys outside the door."

"Oh, well..." Madoka started awkwardly, "Yeah, he did.."
Gingka just nodded.
It took a few moments before any of them really dared to move, and the first one to do so was Madoka, who came up to stand beside Gingka on their left hand side of his bed. The rest them soon followed suit, all gathering around the redhead's bed, though being sure not to come in contact with him.
As Dr. Amori had indicated, he didn't seem too bothered with having a bunch of people around, so that was good.
"So, how have you been doing?" Madoka asked.
"Well, probably as good as anyone can without being able to move their legs and being in the psychiatric ward." Gingka said, and a few of them internally flinched at the reminder of that, "So, all in perspective I guess..."

"Yeah, well..." Ren started almost hesitantly, "This place doesn't sound too cheerful, judging from the... You know... Sounds.."
Gingka just shrugged again.
"I don't usually hear them that much." He said, "As far as I know, they typically put us Post Traumatic Stress cases as far away from those ones as possible."

"Smart, I guess..." Shinobu said somewhat offhandedly.
"Have they been..." Madoka started, uncertain, "...Treating you okay?.. I-I know you don't like doctors all that much, so..." She asked this because she, as well as a few others, had uncomfortably noticed the red abrasions on the redhead's wrists, as well as the few small bandages that had been placed there as well.
She remembered Dr. Amori saying that they had put restraints a couple days ago, and that it 'hadn't blown over too well'. Clearly, it probably hadn't.
"They're not too bad..." The redhead replied, almost uneasily, and for a moment they were confused on whether or not he meant the doctors or his wrists, for self-consciously covered his left wrist with his right hand, seeming to both hide it and tuck into himself a bit, "Checkups are annoying, but they're not bad people, overall. They're a bit edgy around us, but they seem to know what they're doing."

It was uncomfortably awkward in the room, and no one else really knew what to do or say at all. How could they?
They cared about Gingka, yes, and they were friends, most definitely... But, now that they were here - in the psychiatric ward of the hospital, with a man that they all cared about that they had not known now had PTSD until now - it was a little uncomfortable. As familiar as they were with Gingka, none of them knew what to do around someone who suffered from Post Traumatic Stress; well, obviously there was the point of doing what you could to not remind them of the experience, since it would most likely cause distress, but that was the problem. None of them knew what actually happened to him for him to have suffered such trauma.
Well, there was the fact that he had been dying about a month or so earlier, but that didn't seem likely to have been the case, so...
Suddenly, Gingka sighed softly, with a hint of irritation lacing off of the sound and drawing their attention.

"Would you all just stop it, already?" He asked, annoyance present in his voice as he looked down mostly towards his lap.
"Stop what?..." Kite asked hesitantly, and Gingka almost immediately look up.
"All of it!" He said, shocking them slightly, and they were surprised to see that he actually looked a little angry, along with a trace of earnest (desperation), "You're all tip-toeing around me like I'm some sort of delicate little flower, and I'm not. You're barely even saying anything, and that's even worse!"

"Gingka, we're not trying to-" Madoka tried to say, but she was cut short when Gingka looked over at her.
"Yes, you are." He said firmly, before his expression softened to something forlorn, and he looked down again, "... I'm an idiot, I know, but I'm not stupid enough to not see it."
Madoka's, Maru's, and Zyro's eyes widened at that, having remembered the redhead saying something quite similar long before they had ever known he had been dying, when they sat at the kitchen table and eaten pop tarts.
He and Zyro had eaten pop tarts, but that was besides the point.

"It's always the same thing..." The redhead said with a sigh, "People always tend to fuss over someone who's physically injured, but nobody ever knows what to do or say when it's a mental issue. I know I'm traumatized, but that doesn't mean that you have to treat me like I'm going to freak out at any given moment! I can see you doing it... You keep looking at my wrists, and you keep wondering what the hell is wrong with me!..." None of them said anything, and the redhead looked down at both of his wrists, having now uncovered his left one, "I don't want you all to just stand there and say nothing and just stare because I've had enough of that as it is! I just want someone to say something so that I don't have to keep thinking about all the things he said, because whenever it's quiet he's always there and I can't help it!"
All of them looked at each other, suddenly confused.
What was he talking about?
What did he mean by 'he'?
Was he talking about Dr. Amori?
Someone else?

"I'm scared, okay?..." The redhead admitted, causing all of them to look back at him, somewhat shocked.
Gingka just sat there, fingers gripping the sheet covering him from the waist down lightly, a look on his face that could be told as one emotion - frustration, strain, fear, anger, all of it.
"I'm scared of closing my eyes and seeing him again, and I get scared when it's quiet and nobody says anything because I can hear him all over again... And I'm scared when someone touches me, because all I ever feel is him, and I hate it because I'm scared that I'm going to hurt someone!... And I did..."

"What do you mean?" Maru asked half-curious half-concerned.

"One of the nurses.. When I first woke up..." The redhead began, raising one hand briefly and wiping at his eyes, "...They didn't know, and they came in... And I don't know what she was doing, but she touched me, and then I was back there and I freaked out... I didn't mean too.."

"Gingka.." Madoka said softly, wanting more than anything than to put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but knew that would be a bad idea and held back, "I-I'm sure it's fine... You didn't mean too-"

"No, but I did..." The redhead said, shaking his head, not daring to look up, "I can't remember what happened exactly but I freaked out, and I threw her into the wall... Harder than I meant too, and I dislocated her shoulder and gave her a concussion... Dr. Amori told me that..."
All of them were suddenly struck silent, completely unsure of what to say now. Of all things, they hadn't expected that.
Surely just pushing someone into a wall didn't cause dislocation and a concussion, right?
"I hurt her..." The redhead said again, looking down towards his hands, "I hurt someone, and that scares because I know that I could that again."

"Oh come on." Ren said with a roll of her eyes, though it was in as consoling a way as possible, "It was accident! You didn't mean for that... Besides, you'd never hurt someone on purpose if you could help it."
For a moment, Gingka said nothing, but he didn't look up all the same.
Then, after awhile, he spoke again...
"I know..." He said softly, "But it doesn't matter... They've put me down as one of the more violent cases in here, and I can't stand knowing that because it just keeps reminding me of everything he said!.." More glances were exchanged around them, before they looked back at the redhead, "I'm just like him... That's what he told me.. And I tried to deny that, I tried, but I hurt someone, and I'm scared because I'm starting to think he might be right!... And I don't want him to be... I don't..." He sighed through his nose, seeming to force himself to try and calm down, "..I don't," He began, "want all of you to start treating me like some kid because of this... I know I'm not okay, but I don't need you to act like it. I just want to feel like I'm normal for a bit..."

There was another moment of silence where nobody dared to speak, leaving Gingka sitting there, trembling for several different reasons.
What did he mean? Was this the supposed 'nonsense' that Dr. Amori had mentioned earlier?
"Gingka..." Madoka tried again, "What did you mean earlier? Who's 'he'? Who told you that?..."
All of them looked at the redhead, uncertainly, a cold feeling filling the air.
Slowly, Gingka looked over towards the brunette, a forlorn expression on his face that broke her heart.
"Mizarice..." He said solemnly, and the room suddenly felt cold.
Without him even having to tell them, they felt they already knew who he was talking about. But even still, Zyro still asked the question that hung uselessly in the air.
"Who's Mizarice?" He asked softly, and Gingka looked towards him.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." He said hopelessly, shaking his head.

After that, the room was scarily silent again, and nobody knew what to do.
If anything, Gingka had certainly made a point - don't treat him like he was going to suddenly break - even if that point was a bit intensely subjected.
Even with that, though, they had no idea what to say about all that he had just told them - because how could they?
Clearly, it was probably something that he was recalling, but not something he was entirely willing to tell them, considering how he thought that they wouldn't believe him. However, they all thought better than pushing the subject.
It was only a few more moments before someone finally did, and that someone was Ren - and with a far more unexpected subject than they would have expected.

"Do you like cupcakes?" She asked suddenly, leaning forward across the bed slightly without touching him his legs, causing everyone else to look at her, wide-eyed and confused.

"Uhh... What?.." Gingka asked quietly, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you like cupcakes?" Ren asked again.

"Umm.. Yeah, a bit..." The redhead responded.

"Good!" Ren exclaimed happily, "There's this great cupcake shop down the street, and I am going to go get you one because you need cheering up."

"I don't know if they allow those up here..." Gingka said slowly and speculatively, but Ren waved it off.

"Doesn't matter!" She said, "If you ask me, you need a cupcake to cheer yourself up, so I am going to head down there and get you one."

"Oh, I'll come!" Maru offered enthusiastically.

"Since when is there a cupcake shop in town?" Shinobu asked, tilting his head to the side a bit.
"I dunno, but they're really good." Ren said enthusiastically, "You should come and check it out."
Shinobu looked at her weirdly for a moment before slowly shrugging his shoulders.
"Okay, I guess..." He said, before yelping in surprise and Ren sprang forward, grabbed his wrist, and enthusiastically pulled him out the door with a quick wave of temporary farewell, Maru following excitedly at the heels of the two teenagers.

"Well then..." Madoka started, sweat-dropping, "I guess they'll be back eventually."
Gingka gave a soft, muffled laugh at that, while Zyro, Kite, and Eight laughed wholeheartedly in turn. That also got Madoka giggling softly as well.
At the moment, those three could have gone anywhere - at least it had gotten Gingka to smile a little, even in a down and out place like this. Maybe a cupcake would make him feel better, as Ren had indicated previously.
"Um..." Gingka started a little awkwardly afterward, causing the remaining four of them to look towards him, "Sorry, but would, uh... Would one of you mind turning that mirror away over there?"
He pointed over to the side of the room directly opposite from him, where the four of them saw a fairly good-sized stand up mirror facing directly towards the redhead on the shelf.

"Uh, sure.." Zyro said with a shrug, walking over to it and gingerly placing the mirror face down, being careful not to damage it. "Is that good?" He asked, looking towards Gingka again.
"Yeah, thanks..." The blader in question said quietly with a grateful smile, "...They keep putting it back..."
Only Madoka, the one closest to him, heard the last part, and it worried her.
All of this worried her, and she couldn't help it. As much as he had pleaded them to not treat him like a child, the brunette couldn't help but think about the whole matter again, unsure of exactly what to think.
One thing she was sure of, however, was that she most possibly knew who exactly this 'Mizarice' was; because she remembered the words he had spoken as clear as day.

"You haven't even asked my name yet, but even so, I don't need to tell you that... That can come from Gingka..."

And indeed it had.