The first thing that greeted Juna when she ran in the corridor towards the stairs were two people wearing all black and even a fedora and sunglasses.
"Revache?" Of all the things that Juna expected to happen to the hospital, Revache wasn't one of them. Juna quickly unsheathed her sword before she realized what she was facing was people, not monsters.
She... hadn't prepared herself using a real sword against people. Damn it, Juna clicked her tongue in frustration. If only she had also brought her wooden sword...
"Grrrr..." One of the Revache goons brought up a gun, and Juna knew she couldn't hesitate anymore. The other goons brandished his machete and were ready to drive it to her body. She didn't want to kill these people, but she had to stop them.
Juna went into a stance, her hand gripping her tachi, and quickly kicked the floor. "Second form: Gale!"
Faster than the goons' eyes can see, Juna moved to the first goon and knocked the gun out of his hand. Instantly after that, she turned and went to the second goon and used the flat of the blade to knock him behind the neck, where Arios had taught her before.
Sadly, she still had a long way to go before she mastered the second form. If she had, her movements would've caused a real gale of wind that could unbalance everyone near her, just like the form's namesake. In fact, Arios' Gale made her fly just by standing near him that one time he demonstrated it to her.
Now that she had one goon left, Juna flipped her sword so the back was forward and slashed at the Revache mafia's chest. As expected, the curve of the tachi made it unsuited to be wielded flipped. But at least it did the job to unbalance him before Juna punched the goon in the face. The resounding crack made Juna wince when she imagined the inside of his mouth.
"Ah, sorry," Juna rambled when she saw the man fall unconscious. She blinked before realizing something important. "Wait! I forgot to interrogate them! Damn it!"
It was because of the gun! Yes. That was it!
Juna checked inside Room 303 of the hospital, but it was empty. Good, Juna let out a sigh of relief. She quickly went out to the corridor again, and her eyes found the next room: the linen room. Opening the door, she found herself sighing again when she saw nobody was there.
She ran towards the next room, Room 302, but heard a scream of pain.
"Aaarrrrghhh!"
Juna gasped when she saw Dyson, one of the janitors, being attacked by two Revache goons with machetes in front of the door leading to Room 302.
"Second form: Gale!"
Juna quickly used her sword to dispossess the goons of their weapon and then chopped them behind their neck.
When teaching her Eight Leaves One Blade, each practitioner had to know at least the basics of the Eighth form, the Weaponless. It was a subsection of the Eight Leaves dedicated to master hand-to-hand combat in the case the practitioner was disarmed. Juna was no exception. Early in her lessons, Arios wanted to strengthen her core, so she wasn't allowed to wield a wooden sword until her stances were correct. Teaching her the eighth form at the same time was a given. The move to incapacitate someone by chopping their neck was one of the fundamentals of the eighth form.
Eight Leaves One Blade was truly worthy of being wielded by a main character. She wouldn't be surprised if she met a main character using it. But now, in Crossbell, the style was used by the senior rival archetype in Arios.
"Aaarrrghh!"
Juna shook her head when she heard Dyson's groan. He was bleeding!
"Are you okay, Dyson!?" Juna hurriedly sheathed her sword and helped Dyson stand up. Unfortunately, it seemed that Dyson got slashed in several areas because he could only scream in pain.
Juna quickly pushed the door and saw Philia and Lytton inside. "Get the first aid for Dyson!"
"Juna?"
"Juna?!"
But the two shook off their surprise and went to move quickly, showing their professionalism. Philia prepared the alcohol and cotton while Lytton went to help her move Dyson to the bed.
"W-W-What!? What is happening!? The mafia!?" Juna ignored the outburst from a random man. It was unimportant to the situation at hand. "They must be coming here for me!"
The man then ran outside the room, screaming in fright.
Juna looked as he ran towards the linen room. That guy's confidence must've been off the chart to even think they were coming for him.
"Quick! He's losing blood!" Lytton's shout brought Juna out of her muse.
Juna nodded and followed Lytton's guidance. She might be a former doctor in her previous life, but right now, the closest to a doctor between them was Lytton.
After putting the wounded Dyson on the bed, Lytton and Philia deftly cleaned the slash wounds using alcohol. Seeing that they had the situation on hand, Juna nodded before grabbing a paper and pen.
"The SSS will definitely come here. Please guard and wait for them! I'm off to check the other rooms!"
After saying that, Juna wrote on the paper she had just taken,
304: Cecile, Shizuku.
302: Philia, Lytton, Dyson (wounded), random guy I didn't remember the name (running off to the linen room).
It was a precaution. She put the paper and pen into her pocket before she closed her eyes and took a breath. She still didn't know anything about the situation. The second goons she came upon were attacking Dyson, so she had to quickly dispatch them to save Dyson.
"Okay."
Juna opened her eyes and ran to the corridor leading to Room 301. The next goons she was gonna face, she'd interrogate them first before putting them into the land of dreams. Luckily, or unluckily for her, no Revache mafiosos were in sight. She pushed the door to Room 301, where she remembered Michael was treated.
"Michael!"
"Huh? Juna?"
"Thank Aidios, you're safe," Juna looked around and saw that nobody else was there. "What to do, what to do..."
"Juna?"
"Alright. You're coming with me to 302. There are several people there that can help guard you."
"Okay," Michael nodded. "What is happening outside?"
Juna shook her head. "I don't know. But I can assure you it's nothing good. Now, come on, Michael. I'll escort you."
Juna crouched and showed Michael her back.
With a nod, Michael hopped onto Juna's back. Juna then stood up and ran towards Room 302.
"Miss Philia, Mr. Lytton, please guard Michael!"
Without waiting for their reply, she returned to the corridor.
Juna quickly ran towards the stairs, descending to the second floor. Her eyes saw two other Revache mafioso guarding the stairs. This time, she wouldn't immediately attack them.
"Revache! What are you doing here!?" At first, she thought the chaos happened because of wild monster incursion. She definitely didn't expect Revache to bother the hospital again after their first attempt was thwarted by the SSS.
"..." The two standing in her way didn't reply. They just brandished their weapon- one machete and one gun again- So Juna quickly went to the stance for Gale again.
"Second form: Gale!"
She swiped their weapon off of the two Revache goons once more.
"I ask you, what are you doing here, Revache!?"
The now weaponless goons still didn't reply. They only growled before running towards Juna.
Letting out a sigh, the pink-haired girl quickly sent the two into unconsciousness with the eighth form. Seriously, chopping someone in the back of the neck to make them unconscious was unabashedly anime. She would've been grinning in happiness if the situation weren't more severe.
"Wait. Increased aggression, less coherent thoughts... Don't tell me!" Juna quickly ran towards the closest room, 202. Opening the door, Juna saw Dr. Belldine and Ada inside, reassuring the three patients inside.
"Juna?"
"Thank Aidios!"
"Dr. Belldine, Ada! Are you okay?"
The two nodded, answering Juna's question.
"We're just waiting for the commotion to be over, but..." Belldine trailed off.
Juna nodded. "I'll check over them. Dyson was attacked by the mafia on the third floor, but I put her with Philia and Lytton."
"Shall we go there?"
Juna shook her head, denying Belldine's request. "No. It's better to wait here and barricade the door. If I find any random patients outside, I'll bring them to you. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
"Good. Lloyd and the SSS will come here soon! Please wait until then!"
Juna then wrote the room's name and occupant on the note before closing the door and leaving the room. The next room in sight was the Nurse Lounge, where the nurses usually relaxed after work. Thankfully, it was empty. She left the room before she sensed people coming from the first floor. Juna reflexively crouched behind the nurse station and hid.
"Haaa... Haaa..."
The wheezing of the two Revache mafioso further solidified her conclusion that they were on drugs. Specifically, the same one being distributed by the mafia. It wasn't logical, but if she looked at it from the perspective of the game's climax, it fit. The SSS was investigating newly distributed drugs disseminated by the mafia. Further investigation revealed that they increased aggression and strength. But... Juna frowned. None of their investigations said anything about the loss of cognition. Was this the unknown side effects?
She shook her head. She was getting off track. She was very sure that it was the drugs because, what else? This was the climax of the game's arc, which was all about drugs. So, of course, they had to face people consuming them. Maybe the SSS would find some people they know also consuming them with lessons learned about 'don't do drugs' or something.
The question became, why the hospital? And also... how? She might not know why the drugged Revache attacked the hospital, but as for how... She had a suspicion that the drugged mafioso weren't just drugged mafioso.
Juna sensed the two mafioso walking past the Nurse Station, not noticing her.
Juna silently went into a stance for another Gale, but on second thought, she refrained. She was facing their back, so using her Gale wouldn't be as effective because she couldn't produce the same Gale as Arios to knock them off. No. It was better for her to use another form she just learned the basics of.
A little while ago, after Arios deemed Juna had been proficient with the second form's movement, he offered to teach one other form as a reward. Out of the other six forms, excluding the second and eighth, Juna was really interested in the sixth form, Scarlet Sky. Well, mostly because the sixth form was about firing sword slashes as projectiles that could attack the enemies from afar. Who wouldn't want to learn the closest thing she found in this world to Saber's Excalibur blast?
(Juna was not enlightened yet.)
And so, facing the back of the mafioso, she gripped her sword and crouched. Focusing all her energy on her arms, Juna took a deep breath.
"Haaaaaaaaaa!" Juna quickly drew her sword out of its sheathe on her hip. With a swoosh, she saw her slash form a wide, horizontal, white arc. Arc Slash. It was the name of the technique that she chose to learn next from Arios. The slash flew towards the back of the two mafiosos.
Juna bit her lip in anticipation. This was her first time using it in real combat. She didn't even know if she would succeed, but she guessed the world was magic enough for her short martial arts training to bear fruit.
Unfortunately, the Arc Slash faded before it reached the Revache goons. Moreover, the sound of her sword swing caught their attention. Juna winced as the Arc Slash definitely failed to land before she smiled.
"At least it formed an arc that travels the air. Just have to focus all of my energy more!"
She quickly went into the stance for Gale as the black-clad mafiosos were now facing her. The Arc Slash might fail, but it succeeded in another way because now she could use Gale to disarm them.
"Second form: Gale!"
Once more, Juna quickly closed the distance with the two Revache goons and knocked the guns off of them.
"Phew," Juna exhaled when the two finally fell unconscious after two more chops.
She scanned around to see if there were more of them waiting on the corner, but the coast was clear for the way to Room 201. She quietly pushed the door and came inside.
"Juna!" Lan, the green-haired nurse, turned towards her with a relieved expression. "I thought it was someone else."
She quickly approached Juna and dragged her to a panicking Gwen. Gwen was one of the newer Residents in the hospital. She wasn't there when Juna interned a year ago.
"No... calm down, Gwen. You're okay. Don't panic."
"Gwen," Lan called the Resident as they approached the panicking woman.
"Gyaa!"
"Calm down, Miss Gwen. Take a deep breath. You're safe..." Juna tried to calm down the older woman. Gwen followed her advice and took a deep breath before releasing it.
"Fuuu..."
"Okay, now that you calmed down, I see that no one here needs any medical care," Juna noted as she wrote the occupants' names on the paper. "Just wait for a while. The SSS will come."
"W-What about you? Why can't you stay here and keep us safe?"
Juna softly smiled at Flora before she shook her head. "If I could, I would stay and guard Shizuku. But I can't. Nobody in this hospital is prepared to face the mafiosos like me, so it falls to me to keep everyone safe and sound by checking on them and investigating the circumstances leading to this incident."
The two staff of the hospital had a look of understanding on their face.
"I see..."
"Good luck, Juna. I pray that you'll be safe from whatever ordeal you're trying to tackle," Lan gave her a wave. "If you find someone stranded, direct them here so we can protect them."
"Thank you! Barricade the door to keep it from breaching! I'm going down to the first floor!"
Outside the room, Juna remembered that she had to write Room 201's occupants' names on the paper. After she finished doing that, Juna descended.
Carefully, she scanned the area to see if there were any signs of Revache. Finding none, Juna silently walked toward the receptionist's table, put the paper containing the information about the room occupied by the staff and patients, and placed a weight on top to keep it from flying.
"Hopefully, Lloyd will find this helpful when he arrives here," Juna muttered.
She went to the Medical Office area to see if more stranded people existed. Thankfully, she didn't find any mafioso obstructing her way. She then went to the southern lab to check if some doctors were there. It was empty when she opened the door.
Coming back to the corridor, she went to the opposite side, to the northern lab, and pushed the door.
"Anyone here?"
"Juna!" Sera ran and hugged Juna. "Thank Aidios, you're safe! I was worried for you and Cecile."
Juna returned her embrace for a second before she released herself. "Sera, everyone here okay?"
Juna then saw Chaleur, Chief Clark, and Flora sitting on the empty bed.
"Juna!"
"Chaleur! Chief Clark and Flora, too!"
"Do you know where everyone is?" Clark asked her. He was probably panicking about the other staff and patients. Not to mention, with how empty the building was, the visitors were perhaps dragged somewhere against their will.
"Shizuku and Cecile in Room 304. Lytton, Philia, and a wounded Dyson in Room 302. Oh, I put Michael there for extra protection because he's alone in 301. Then Doctor Belldine and Ada were bunkered in Room 202 with some patients, same with Miss Gwen and Lan in Room 201. That was everyone I met inside this building. Everything else I still need to check, including the ICU."
"You can't enter the ICU. The door is shut, and with the orbal power dead, nothing except force can open it," Chaleur explained.
Juna blinked. "Well, it's a good thing I have 'force,' then."
She referred to the sword on her hips.
Chaleur opened his mouth before he closed it, scratching the back of his head. "Right. Ehehe..."
"So, Chief, the hospital won't sue me for destroying the ICU door, then?" Juna looked at Chief Clark with her hands put together and a tilt of her head.
The sight of such a cute act asking for permission to violently vandalize something was such a dissonance that Clark could only nod.
"Good!"
"Most likely, everyone else was outside," Sera interjected. I remember seeing people running for the door when the black-clad people suddenly came."
Juna turned her attention to Sera when she noticed something weird. "Is that so? Wait, they ran for the door? That means the Revache goons didn't come from the door!"
Sera widened her eyes. "Come to think about it. You're right! They came from the stairs!"
"From the second floor? Third floor? But... why didn't they breach the room, then? 304 is the closest room to the rooftop." It didn't make any sense for the mindless goons who attacked people on sight to avoid the place where people gathered.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Sera shrugged.
Unless...
She remembered how aggressive they were. There were no questions that the goons were under the influence of the drug. But why and how? Those were the two questions she pondered near the Nurse Station. Now that she had some free time, why not think about it more?
Why the hospital? She decided to save the question for later. How? How did the Revache goons enter the hospital? Sera said they came from upstairs, so chances were they came from the rooftop. There are two points of possible origin from there: the Research Ward and the Le Lectier Dormitory and Inn. She'd investigate those two points later after checking the ICU.
Since that was clear, she moved to the next why. Why did Revache take the drugs that would make them lose their ability to think coherently? And it wasn't even one or two members. Juna had defeated several of them! It didn't make sense for them to abandon rationality in some weird grab of power or control.
Control... The gait of those mafiosos was weird. It felt like they weren't just losing their abilities to think; they would act wildly if they were. But why did they ignore the room if that was the case? She didn't know the fight between Dyson and the goons, but was it possible that Dyson was guarding the front door of Room 302, ergo, in their line of sight? From her observation, it feels like the goons were driven to ignore people not in their line of sight. Otherwise, nobody would be safe, even in their room.
How? How could the drug be responsible for that? Think, Juna. There must be an answer! A clue she missed. Think over everything again! What kind of things in JRPG could give you an effect similar to what was exhibited by the goons? They lost their ability to think but weren't driven by instinct, the universal thing every living thing has. Juna let out a small gasp. If that was the case, then only one thing came to mind.
Mind control.
Was it possible that the side effects of the drugs weren't just an increase in aggression and loss of cognition but also loss of control to the one administering them? If it was possible...
Then, the one behind this attack wasn't Revache, but the D∴G Cult.
Suddenly, every puzzle piece inside Juna's mind connected itself.
"I see..."
"What?" Sera asked her, bringing Juna back from her thoughts. "Juna?"
"Nothing," Juna shook her head. It wouldn't do to worry Sera even more by sounding her theory to her. It was better to avoid mentioning her conclusion to anyone not affiliated with the main character's party. "I was worried when you said they came from upstairs. After checking the ICU, I think I'll go to the rooftop to check the Research Ward."
Clark nodded. "Yes. Have you contacted anyone from the outside to help? The phone line is dead because the orbal power is out, and we don't have those fancy schmancy Enigma thingy."
Juna hadn't contacted anyone, but she knew the SSS would definitely come, so she lied and nodded.
"The SSS will come. Please hold on until then."
"I see..." Flora sighed in relief.
After that, Juna left the room and came to the ICU door. She knocked on the door. "Anybody needs help?"
The ICU room wasn't soundproof, so theoretically, anyone trapped inside would've replied.
None. Juna didn't hear any reply, so she thought nobody was trapped inside.
But...
A stray thought came into her mind. Biting her lips, she decided to open the door anyway. Clark ensured that she wouldn't be sued for damage.
"Second form: Gale!"
Juna slashed at the door, which was surprisingly sturdy. It made a dent but wasn't destroyed. She then crouched and focused all her energy on her right arm and sword.
"Arc Slash!"
She swung her tachi. A white arc of energy came out of her blade and hit the door with a big bang. Juna then punched the door, and the top part came off. So her Arc Slash managed to split the door into two parts. Nice!
Juna then went inside and gasped when her worst fear came true.
Several people were being treated in the ICU. But with the orbal power dead, the equipment keeping them alive stopped working. The result was evident in front of her.
Juna sent a few prayers to Aidios for the now-dead patients before she turned back and went to the lobby. Telling Sera and the others about the dead patients would only add to their worry. It was better for her to just write the information on the paper at the receptionist's desk for the SSS.
After writing the information about the dead patients, Juna went to the front door and turned the knob.
"Locked? But..." Nobody else could lock the other aside from the Revache goons. It solidified her theory about them being mind-controlled by the D∴G Cult remnants.
Juna shook her head. No, focus. The door being locked actually served her well because she wanted to check the source that Sera mentioned and didn't have to worry about checking the front yard. With that in mind, Juna went to the stairs. Her destination? The roof.
A/N: This is the first time we get JunaSI's thought! Yay! For those who still hadn't caught on, Juna is the self-insert (not really it's more like OC insert to Juna since the character inserted is a made up one) but didn't know the game itself, only the tropes accompanying the JRPG genre and narrative.
Also, best girl JunaSI doing her best to make Lloyd's job easier. My headcanon is that the Xanadu!verse players ship Juna with Lloyd. It doesn't help that she's closer to him than the other SSS, even the female ones.
Funny thing when I wrote this: I made Gwen a newbie because her reaction in final chapter is panicking, not remembering anything else about her except that her title is Resident Gwen. Then I loaded the earlier save and turns out I was correct! She was even still a Medical Intern Gwen in Chapter 4! It's really amazing what the NPC in Trails can tell you about themselves with just a few lines.