I wrote the next chapter so this story could finally be ten chapters long. Ummm disclaimer: some triggering content, mention of abuse.
The old story summary btw, since it's now been changed:
"Oh, and Sarge?" he added, peeking out the door. "No invading, please." Fuyuki left the room, but nobody was sure who he had been talking to. There was no "Sergeant" in the room. Just Keroro, Fuyuki's roommate in the Mental House. Whether this is all just one big conspiracy, or Fuyuki actually HAS gone crazy, no one knows for sure.
Fuyuki yawned as he woke up in his newly decorated room. It didn't have all the occult things that he would have wanted, but Momoka had helped him put up some cool posters that her parents had bought for her from the amazons. Keroro's side of the room was as messy and filled with toys as always.
I wonder how Yanda's doing? He had heard that Yanda had been punished severely for setting his room on fire, although he didn't exactly know the details on how. He was just glad that the event was over and done with.
Actually the men in white had acted surprisingly good towards him after the fire, they had cared about his safety and after care and let him see Natsumi a lot more than normal. Although the fire had been stressful, all of group A seemed to be getting along with the therapists as the activities became more fun and more about strengthening their bond as friends- something Fuyuki didn't have to lie about saying he fully approved of. He loved giving friendship lectures.
He was excited for once in the coming day to see the men in white- specifically one of the nicer therapists Sai Uru. She was having a lot more fun games than usual, bringing art books for the group and trying to make them all feel included.
Even Giroro was striving to feel included in group activities and to 'better himself' probably for Natsumi's sake.
I don't think there's anyone in our group who dislikes Sai. She's such a nice woman! Fuyuki smiled. Although she wasn't very approving of letting him talk about occult things, she very much enjoyed his friendship speeches and let him lecture people in their group. And that was enough for him.
Sai of course was a woman in her early twenties, from what Fuyuki had heard she was still studying in school so she was just as new to the men in white as he was, something that made him feel safer around her.
"Missy, you have got to start acting more in line!" Sai's stern voice greeted Fuyuki's ears in the hallway- just the person he was thinking about.
I wonder if she brought another book about art therapy or something. It was at least less boring than other activities in this place so he had grown to enjoy it, although it seemed like the only books Sai gave out. Fuyuki rushed outside into the hallway to see Sai looking very irritated at Angol Mois.
"You're the only patient in group A who hasn't made an effort to bond with everyone else! You haven't been trying any sort of therapy, you won't even admit to your delusions. Do you even want to get better?" Sai tapped her foot as if she was scolding her.
Angol Mois didn't look like she was ready to take any of this crap so early in the morning. "I keep telling you!" She insisted, "I'm not one of you pekoponians! Let me out of here!"
Sai sighed deeply. Even though most of the facility didn't touch patients Sai seemed to have the habit of trying to show physical affection and she touched the girl's arm as if to pat her and calm her. It made Angol Mois's eye twitch. "Even Giroro, the toughest patient of all is showing a difference under my new therapy technique! Why won't you just enjoy things like a normal girl and try to make friends? You have to include yourself in group activities. When we're talking about your mental health and how you're feeling you need to be honest about your emotions!" Sai both bragged about Giroro and scolded Mois.
"I am completely 100% honest. You could say, what's bothering me is this place?" Angol Mois recited again.
Fuyuki's stomach tightened. I understand. But the men in white really are trying to help sarge. And for sarge I'd let them into my house any day. Mois, you care about him too. Why won't you understand?
Sai opened her mouth and took a deep breathe. It almost looked like she was about to yell at Mois for not taking any of her pills, filling out any of her emotional well being sheets, or doing any activities whatsoever.
But instead she did the thing that was least expected at all. She pulled out a few sock puppets from her hand and started to sing as if she was in some sort of disney song.
"Oh...You can't be all bummed out now about being some lonely friendless person! You have to go out there and try to make a difference! The sun is shining, the air is clean. And this place isn't the least bit mean."
Angol Mois's expression turned to horror as Sai Uru started to dance.
"You have to try! Take a pill! Fill out a form! In the end you will make friends and get better. The Hinata House is here for you and you'll be here for it...Doesn't matter how many problems or delusions you have, we love you as long as you try. We'll listen to you open up and cry."
Angol Mois tried to back away but Sai Uru badly pretended she wasn't talking so her sock puppet could sing too in a sing-song none rhyming song.
"We're your friends Mois! You can talk to me! But we can only be here for you if you let us in and give us the chance. The Hinata House is here for you, just let us in!"
"...Does this happen often?" Fuyuki whispered to Keroro who was trying to hide.
"Yep. If you don't do what you're told, Sai will probably sing to you. I've only seen Giroro and Koyuki be sung too though. It was a horrifying experience." Keroro shuddered.
"Why? She's not off tune." Fuyuki mused.
"Yeah, but she's dancing so much...It's like she's rehearsed this. Like she honestly thinks a song number will change someone's personality in a matter of minutes." Even Keroro was a little on edge.
"Just take your pills, deary. Your mind will be all cleared once you're normal. Nobody likes it when you're delusional. Friendships should not be based around lies. And the Hinata house and me, well we're your friends." Sai continued singing.
"You could do all the normal activities a girl could strive for someday when you're an adult!" The sock puppet told her, "Like be a mom! Be a wife!"
"Seismologist?" Angol Mois suggested. "Programmer?"
"Those aren't jobs for sweet girls like you, silly! Be normal! The Hinata House will be your friend if you let it." Sai bowed as she finished her song. "Well? Convinced?" She offered Mois a glass of water and some pills as if suddenly Mois would now take them.
"Of course not! Why would my mind suddenly change after a song?" Angol Mois asked.
Sai pouted, "Well, because I'm your friend now, silly! Don't think of me as a therapist. Think of me as a...Cool upperclassmen that you want to be like and seek advice from!" Sai decided. She pulled Angol Mois against her will into a sweet and tight hug. "Don't worry, Mois. I read your file. I understand why you're afraid to let us help you. But we're nothing like the therapists on Keron."
SLAP!
Angol Mois soundly wrangled herself free and slapped Sai on the face.
Keroro gasped. He didn't think he had ever seen anyone besides Giroro and Tamama have any sort of violent tendencies towards the therapists.
Sai looked shocked as she rubbed her cheek. Her eyes were puffy as if she was the victim.
"T-there's...T-there's a rule...Y-you're not s-supposed to mention Keron t-to me. I...I don't want to remember that place." Angol Mois covered her ears as if trying to drown something out. Her entire body was shaking and she looked as if she was crying.
"Sometimes it's best to talk about things and bring them to light no matter how hard they are!" Sai said chipperly. "I know you didn't like the place, but I'm nothing like them. Maybe we can have some individual therapy and then have some girl talk? Doesn't that sound fun? We'll only talk about Keron for a half an hour or so!"
Angol Mois backed away, trembling, she just shook her head over and over again before she let out a loud wail and and cry in terror and trauma. She then ran off as fast as she could away from Sai.
I don't understand. Fuyuki realized, Mois out of sight. The Angol Mois he remembered in his head loved Keron. It was where Keroro had raised her after all, it was a precious memory to her. "Why did she go, Sarge? I thought she loved Keron."
Fuyuki couldn't shake the confession, the possibility that maybe his memories could be wrong. He stepped forward as if to chase after her, to question her as his curiosity got larger and larger.
Keroro grabbed his hand before he could. "Don't." Keroro instructed. "I don't know much about the place or Mois..."
Fuyuki wanted to interrupt and correct him, but he let Keroro go on.
"But every time the place is brought up it triggers her. All I know about Keron is that it was another mental hospital that had some big funding or something. They were closed after some scandal that I never researched much on, I didn't care, something about treating their patients inhumanely? But once they closed down the Hinata House gained a few of the more dangerous patients in the transfer. The only one I've met though is Mois, so I don't know if they all dislike Keron." Keroro explained. He seemed uninterested in it, like he didn't care about Keron- his home planet.
Fuyuki couldn't really process what Keroro was saying. Keron was a planet! Not a mental hospital. And Angol Mois didn't come from it, the platoon did! "What do you mean dangerous?"
"People who have killed before." Keroro whispered. "A lot of the patients who haven't murdered were shaken up during the transfer, like myself. But Mois's pretty nice so people weren't as afraid...Of course, that's also when the rumors started..."
"What rumors?" Fuyuki asked again.
"That people disappear on floor four." Keroro reminded. "Some patients, not me of course, say that the spirits of dead patients of Keron haunt the place. But that's just bogus. Used to play all sorts of pranks on Giroro about it though."
Fuyuki couldn't help but laugh. Natsumi would probably fall for that sort of thing too.
It was weird, to say the least. But at least there was some sort of mystery revolving around it. Just like every odd thing in his life, flour four seemed to be at the center of it, something Fuyuki didn't understand.
But as an occult researcher, he wanted to.
Angol Mois just wanted to be left alone.
These pekoponians are awful. She thought in her head. Really Fuyuki was the only one who talked to her as if she was right. And even now he was drifting away as if he was pretending that she wasn't an alien.
She didn't want the therapists prodding her. She didn't want the staff bothering her. She just wanted to sniffle and be left alone to her thoughts. But everywhere she went she knew that Tamama would probably accidentally find her, and then he'd start bullying her.
There was really only one place where Tamama avoiding. Where everybody really avoided. Security was tight she had heard, you could only get up there with an elevator key if you were sick, but that didn't stop her as she found herself on floor four. Who knew how she had gotten up there? Surely none of the therapists.
"Maybe now I can finally be away from Sai." She hoped as she wandered aimlessly around the halls.
And if death came for her like in the legends...Well, it was still better than being sung at by some woman with a sock puppet.
Eventually Mois came upon a large door made out of iron. It didn't look normal like any other sort of door in the Hinata house. It looked sturdy and had pretty tough security. Red lights flared above it of "Warning. DANGER. Do not go in if you have not been trained!"
Angol Mois of course did not heed the warnings. She was much too curious to listen and pay attention to flashing signs.
Either way whatever in that room has to be better than here. She decided. The mystery of it was rather alluring in a way. She could hope for literally anything, her cell phone, a means of escape, or even a friend who would respect her and listen to her. Who would make her feel less alone but also respect her boundaries.
Ignoring the retina scan and somehow bypassing it, she managed to open the door.
"Hello!" She smiled. Maybe...Just Maybe her hopes could be granted. But only time would tell.
The day went on pretty much as normal after Angol Mois ran off. Although Sai was chewed out by her superiors since Angol Mois attended the events of the day even less than normal, which was not actually that rare, nobody could find her, everything else was normal.
Fuyuki chatted with Momoka during lunch while Giroro flirted it up with Natsumi. Fuyuki complained during exercise. Fuyuki bonded with the therapists and the men in white and asked them to please help Keroro's emotional state.
Everything went on as normal, as if Fuyuki was finally getting used to his days. Except during individual group therapy.
Individual group therapy was one of Fuyuki's favorite times of the day. It happened from 4:45-5:45 and his therapist was Pururu. Since Keroro wasn't around Fuyuki could finally talk about aliens. He and Angol Mois were grouped together because of their common delusions.
Fuyuki sat down in a comfy chair in front of Pururu. Pururu looked more stressed than usual.
"I'm sorry, Fuyuki. Today Mois won't be joining us. She's, well..." Pururu chewed at her lip. "She's missing."
"Missing?" Fuyuki looked shocked. He stood up concerned. If one of his friend's was missing. I smell an adventure! Whenever sarge or sis goes missing we go on this huge adventure on a space ship to find them! Is this going to be another adventure like the time we saved Natsumi from the meronians? "Why don't we go look for her?"
"I've been given orders not to look for her." Pururu admitted.
"Why?" Fuyuki asked.
"Mois's a bit of a weird girl. She goes missing a lot actually. Usually she's sleeping in some odd place, like a cat. One time we found her in the laundry." Pururu giggled a bit. "She always turns up eventually. But it's still perplexing."
Fuyuki looked disappointed that Mois wouldn't be joining them.
"Well? Would you like to talk about how you viewed everyone today? How you felt about them? What you did?" Pururu prodded.
"Sure! Today Momoka and I..." Fuyuki started a story about what he had talked about with Momoka- generally normal things and correct events. He also added in some details about Giroro's love life, how Tamama had eaten three whole cakes in the cafeteria in one gulp and how he had seen Koyuki crawling on the ceiling. All events that had actually happened.
Pururu was quite proud of him during the therapy session, but it was awkwardly cut short as her pager started beeping.
"I'm in the middle of a session." Pururu frowned.
"I know. But this is urgent. I heard there's an intruder on flour four. You've been called up there." Garuru's voice was on the other end.
Pururu sighed, deeply annoyed. "I'm sorry, Fuyuki. You heard him. It's urgent...An intruder though? I hope it wasn't a wayward patient." She looked concerned. "If...If it was...They're dead."
Before Fuyuki could say good-bye to her, she rushed off, obviously more panicky than she was letting on.
Floor four again? Fuyuki was even more interested. What sort of occult mystery was up there?
"People have died up there. And nobody who goes there of their own volition ever returns." He recalled Keroro's words. Whatever poor intruder was up there wouldn't discover the secrets of floor 4 before him...No, instead they would die. Fuyuki knew that much.
But that didn't stop him from wanting to know what floor four was all about.
Collective therapy. Again. It was the last therapy of the day, at nine o'clock. There was still no sign of Angol Mois.
"Hello! I'm back ya'll!" Sai posed like a magical girl, ready to be the group's therapist. "And even though I may have failed at getting one person to open up, I'm ready to improve the rest of your lives and get the rest of you to open up!"
"What's the subject today that we're talking about?" Tamama asked impatiently. He didn't like Sai very much. Only ignorant people like Keroro and Fuyuki really did. Maybe Dororo too since he liked everyone. He forgave too much.
"Hmmm...How about telling the group something honest? Like about the person who's made you saddest and why and how you can forgive them? After all forgiveness is the first step to being healthy!"
A lot of the patients looked uncomfortable. Especially Giroro. He was obviously trying to take group activities more seriously but Sai pushed all of his buttons. All of them.
"Who wants to go first?" Sai asked. She pointed at Fuyuki. "You!"
Fuyuki tried to think for a moment. "I suppose Yanda made me pretty sad. He did burn down my room. I guess I could try to make more of an effort to be his friend. But...He also burned down my room." Fuyuki weighed the options.
Sai nodded. "Friendship is the key to all sorts of forgiveness." She glanced at Koyuki. "You're up next!"
Koyuki picked her teeth with a toothpick. She still didn't want to try to get along with people like Sai. "You maybe."
Sai pouted. "Go to your room, missy!"
Koyuki got up and proudly marched off.
Sai waited until she was gone and looked at Tamama, Giroro and Dororo, the remaining patients. "Tamama?"
"Definitely that woman. I mean nobody else has really made me sad. She existed. Isn't that crime enough?" Tamama asked. "And how can I forgive that?"
"Well...Uhhh, thanks for opening up and being honest, but I neither know who 'that woman' is nor have you forgiven anyone." Sai giggled awkwardly. "Dororo?"
Dororo looked glum. "Keroro." He whispered in a small voice. "And...I don't know if I'm ready to forgive."
"Funny coincidence. My answer is exactly the same!" Keroro tried to make a joke, hoping to get Dororo to laugh at him, to like him a bit more. The joke, something way too close to the truth was at his own expense, but it didn't work.
Fuyuki paled at that.
Sai frowned. Yet again this wasn't going like she wanted. "Giroro? Please answer and I'll give you a smiley face on your report." She bribed. Giroro had been doing pretty good lately.
"I...I can't...I'll never forgive her." Giroro's arms were weak. "And from what I've been trying to do here in the last few weeks, and what you therapists have been telling me, that's all right. I don't have to forgive to get stronger. Better." He tried to state his thoughts out loud, so as to not anger Sai. He still wanted to be a good patient.
He needed to get better. To get discharged. He wanted to see Natsumi outside of the world of the Hinata House. He wanted her to see him as someone she could rely on too. He wanted to bond with her.
"That's not all right!" Sai pouted, not understanding. "Forgiveness is the best way to get over these things. Please talk to the group about who made you sad."
"If...If it would be all right...I would prefer not too...It aggravates my PTSD." Giroro was trying desperately not to blow up at Sai.
Sai pulled a guitar out of her bag. "Sing along time!" She shouted. "You have to learn that it's okay to relay on us, Giroro. Now sing along to my song. You can't just use being triggered as an excuse to not make friends."
"Make new friends...But keep the old. One is silver and the others gold...A circle is round it has no end that's how much I want to be your friend." Sai started singing a classic friendship song, hoping that Giroro would open up. It had the opposite effect.
Giroro stood up abruptly, unable to contain his anger any longer. He threw a chair angrily at Sai.
"We're throwing chairs now?" Tamama asked. "AWW YEAH!" He threw a chair, imitating Giroro. He wasn't even angry, he was just impulsive and reckless.
"SHUT UP!" Giroro yelled "I can't take this sappy pretend friendship thing anymore! I don't want to talk about this subject with anyone at all!"
"Giroro...If you're violent like this you're going to have some smiley faces removed on your report." Sai frowned and put away her now broken guitar.
Giroro tried to stready his breathing. He was sweating as anger pulsed through his reddened face. "Y-you're right...I'm sorry." He apologized. "I...I had an outburst again...Heh...I'm never going to get better am I? No matter how hard I try..." He covered his face. If Fuyuki hadn't heard how strained his words were and how it looked like Giroro wanted to cry he would have thought Giroro was just trying to be cool.
Giroro ran out of the room, humiliated.
"I...I better go after him." Dororo decided. "He needs a friend."
"No let me help!" Keroro offered, desperately. The two of them competitively ran off to their childhood friend, Tamama following behind them.
And Sai and Fuyuki were left to clean up the mess of broken chairs. Fuyuki sighed but started picking up broken wood pieces. He wouldn't let Sai clean it up on her own.
"You're helping?" Sai looked shocked. Maybe her therapy had gotten through to someone.
"Of course I am. It wouldn't be very nice of me not too!" Fuyuki replied.
Sai smiled and wiped a tear from her eye, "Fuyuki, if you weren't a patient, I'm sure you'd be my friend." She told him meaningfully.
Fuyuki smiled. "We're already friends, Sai."
Sai may have screwed up, but she was well meaning.
Sai giggled. She then sighed after a moment looking at Tamama and Giroro's big mess. "I'm trying my best, I really am! But all the other patients are just so terrible. You're the only one I can trust Fuyuki! You're my favorite."
Uh-oh. Was she venting to Fuyuki about his friends?
Fuyuki remained silent as she continued her irritated rant.
"You should be an inspiration to all patients. You've really turned around. But no matter how hard they keep trying they just won't let me in! I guess I'm too pretty for them. Why did the world just have to make me so beautiful?" She flipped her hair as if it was luscious.
It's not as pretty as Momoka's. Fuyuki dismissed the thought a slight blush on his cheek.
"First Mois being all elitist, thinking she's better than this facility, than Koyuki trying to be snarky! Then Giroro not listening to my advice, I studied about these mental illnesses, not him!" Sai pouted, "And then Tamama just being...Well Tamama!" She didn't know what to say about Tamama.
"What's wrong with Giroro anyway...? Why is he like this?" Fuyuki finally asked. This version of Giroro struck him as odd. Sure Giroro was angry in his memories, blowing things up with guns, but he wasn't this angry. Giroro's anger had been controllable in a weird sort of way in his memories. He channeled it for battle. But Giroro's anger seemed more along the lines of Natsumi's anger now, easily triggered and like it could kill someone.
He had never seen Giroro like that before.
"I suspect he's in love. I mean he has been trying and that's something, but he can't change who he is, you know?" Sai gave her personal opinion. "Oh! Maybe next therapy session we should talk about love and what's appropriate in the Hinata house? I wonder what pretty patient caught his eyes, was it Koyuki? I always pegged them as having a special sort of thing."
It was my sister. Fuyuki sighed, but didn't correct that. "No, I meant why is he...Angrier than usual?"
Sai sighed. "I'm not supposed to tell you. It goes against patient confidentiality after all." She looked at how sad Fuyuki looked, "But oh well! We're friends, aren't we? And friends don't keep secrets!"
She sat down on the couch as Fuyuki continued cleaning. "From what I know of Giroro's file, his parents split up when he was rather young. Garuru his older brother was left in the custody of his father and Giroro was left in the custody of his mother. Apparently he was abused rather terribly by the woman and later ran away to join the army when he was fifteen, hoping to escape her. That's why he has that scar across his face. The diagnosis is severe PTSD."
"Oh...I...I had no idea..." Fuyuki felt terrible.
But Sai didn't stop talking. "That's not even the least of Group A's problems and diagnoses!" Apparently she was ready to tell Fuyuki about everyone. "You know about Koyuki of course, no mental problems there, she's just trying to be reintegrated into society, but she has no one, no family, no friends after her gang abandoned her. Maybe she's doing that tough act to try to reach out to us. Or maybe she was a feral child and the gang took her in and that's why she's so weird!" Sai's eyes sparkled at her theory.
Fuyuki wanted her to stop.
"Dororo has severe depression he uses drugs as his only coping mechanism because I think it's easier to him than realizing that his friends exploited and didn't care for him. He was also very chronically ill from a weak immune system, probably keeps himself high to stop the physical pain and the emotional." She gave a laugh as if it was funny. "Keroro is caring that guilt over exploiting Dororo and being a big bully as a child and as you know-"
"Is a depressed hoarder, I know." Fuyuki tried to get her to stop. Hearing about his friends like this just sounded too...personal.
"He's also an obsessive liar and constantly has to be readmitted because he was never really better." Sai told him. "And Tamama, well...He has no past and probably no future. He's an orphan that has nothing and won't talk about it, believing that he never truly existed before. Not only that but he's violent and reckless. During his manic stages of his bipolar he makes all sorts of rash decisions."
"Okay..." Fuyuki hoped the spilling of his friends secrets were over.
"Momoka Nishizawa may be a rich heiress but she's severely damaged from just genetic disabilities. She believes she has two personas, one that is a lot more overly violent and tough than the other one to cope with the harsh job that she'll most likely have in the future."
There's nothing wrong with Momoka. Fuyuki didn't really see her stuff as a problem. Keroro seemed sad, but Momoka didn't.
"Angol Mois is delusional like you. She thinks she's an alien that destroys planets as you know. She's forgotten everything before a massive earthquake and you, well after the death of your mother..."
Fuyuki's head started pounding again. "Thank you for being honest with me. I think things are mostly clean so I have to go."
Sai frowned but waved at him.
Fuyuki left the room in a hurry. He rushed to the bathrooms and threw up in the sink until the pounding went away.
His mother wasn't dead. Sai was wrong. She had gotten the wrong information.
But the things she had said about his friends were surprisingly accurate. And it made him wonder...What was happening to the aliens he knew and loved?
And more importantly, what was happening to him?
Please review. I've forgotten if I mentioned Saburo yet in this fic...
...Just looked back at it, yeah. He was mentioned in chapter 2. He's not in the hospital and is just like normal.