Light Shines Anew
Chapter 30: Uncomfortable
Capybara.
There was a capybara standing outside his bedroom door.
"Yuma!"
There was a child riding a capybara standing outside his bedroom door.
"Reiji said you were back!" Yotaro cheered before his smile was wiped away. "But he also said you forgot us! I'm the great Rindo Yotaro!" He pat the head of the capybara he was riding. "And this here is Raijinmaru."
The child just kept speaking as if he was unaware of Yuma just staring blankly at the scene before him. Was this normal?
"Rindo?" Yuma repeated. Did the Tamakoma boss have a child?
"He's a Neighbor child under our protection."
Yuma leaned through the doorway since he couldn't get out with Yotaro and Raijinmaru blocking the path to see Jin leaning his shoulder on the wall.
"You know how Hyuse is a Neighbor with the last name Cronin? Michael Cronin is one of Tamakoma members, but he is a Neighbor. Cronin is his cover name for this world. When Hyuse joined us, we gave him the name Cronin too. Anyone in Border who knows Michael-san is a Neighbor will know that Hyuse is a Neighbor too because of the name we gave him." Jin explained.
Yuma nodded in response. So, the kid in front of him was given the name Rindo to help him hide and blend into this world. If he was hiding here and under Border's protection, it had to be because something happened in his home country and he couldn't go back there because of that.
"Right. Good morning, Yotaro, Jin." Yuma said. He glanced back down at the child with his greeting. Jin explained the child, but he mentioned nothing about the capybara. He felt like there had to be an explanation for why a capybara was roaming a Border base and why a child was riding said capybara.
"I would say the same to you, Yuma, but." Jin pushed off the wall and walked closer to Yuma. He gently nudged Yotaro and Rainjinmaru out of the way so he could lean down to get a closer look at Yuma, frowning at what he saw. "Did you sleep last night? You got some heavy bags under your eyes." Or eye. Yuma's Trion eye looked the same as always. His eye and the skin around his eye got replaced with Trion so he couldn't get bags under that eye.
Yuma winced and twisted away from Jin which got him fully back into his room. "It didn't feel right."
That only caused Jin's concern to grow even more. "I'm sorry that you're not comfortable here." He wanted to be surprised, but dragging Yuma to an unfamiliar world while acting so familiar with him while Yuma knew nothing of them, it was natural for him to be uncomfortable.
To Jin's surprise though, Yuma just shook his head.
"That's not why I couldn't sleep." Yuma replied, but didn't elaborate beyond that.
"Weren't tired?" Jin tried when it seemed like Yuma wouldn't explain why he didn't sleep enough last night. All he got in return was a shrug and a frown. "Alright, well, do you want breakfast?" Nothing good would come of pushing Yuma and trying to pry an answer out of him.
"Jin made breakfast today!" Yotaro piped up. "He had to pay everyone back for not being here to make dinner last night."
"Is Jin a good cook?" Yuma asked as he was confused about why Yotaro seemed so excited by the prospect of Jin making breakfast.
"He's amazing! Everyone here is a good cook though." Yotaro admitted.
Jin smiled at the compliment and pat Yotaro on the head, or his helmet in this case since he had it on. "Everyone else already ate, but we made sure to put some off the side for you, Yuma." He said as he snatched Yotaro off of Raijinmaru and stepped away from the doorway as a way to signal to Yuma he could come out of his room without him saying it. He didn't want to force Yuma to do anything, but he did want to try to invite Yuma that he could exit his room. This was just Jin's way to try to make Yuma realize he didn't have to stay in his room. Yuma needed to come out and start interacting with people to get more comfortable in the base.
Yuma stared at Jin and Yotaro. He stared at the path that Jin had opened for him, but his feet didn't move.
"Aren't you hungry, Yuma?" Yotaro asked, confused as to why Yuma wasn't coming out of his room yet.
As if to answer Yotaro's question, Yuma's stomach grumbled, eager to get some food in it, but that still didn't convince Yuma to step out of his room. He wasn't even sure as to why his feet wouldn't move. He just knew he couldn't convince himself to move and step out of the room. It was weird because he didn't even like this room. This room didn't feel right, but nothing felt right.
The room felt wrong.
The building felt wrong.
The people felt wrong.
Yuma knew he was supposed to know them and this place. Based on what everyone said and how they all acted around him, he should be comfortable with them and be having fun with them, but he just couldn't. The person they knew and liked wasn't him.
Izumi said that just because Yuma forgot them, it didn't make all of his friendship lies.
But...
Yuma just didn't see it. He thought he was curious and that he wanted to know them, but his heart couldn't take it. Lying in his bed last night, unable to sleep as it felt too weird, Yuma realized he didn't even know what he wanted. He was just being dragged along by these Border agents.
Jin smile turned sad. "I see. I'll bring your breakfast up to you then, Yuma. After you eat, maybe you should try to rest some more." He dropped Yotaro down to the ground. "Come on, Yotaro. Let's leave Yuma alone to his rest."
"But why?" Yotaro looked back at Yuma, but was only more confused and hurt when Yuma just closed the door to go back to hiding in his room. "Does Yuma not like us anymore?"
"It's nothing like that, Yotaro." Jin sighed, putting his hand on the back of Yotaro's head so he could push the kid forward so he would start walking. "Yuma's just confused with everything going on right now. You remember how Reiji-san said he lost his memories?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he forgot all about us and Japan, and because of that, he's a bit uncomfortable here. We just need to give him some space while he tries to get used to us again." Jin explained as best he could to a child. This might be a bit complicated for a child to understand though. He could easily understand that Yuma had memory loss, but he couldn't understand the complex feelings that Yuma had about all of this, and truth be told, Jin wasn't too sure either. He was only guessing on what Yuma was feeling or thinking. Without Yuma opening up to them more, he couldn't do more than that. Having never had amnesia before, Jin just couldn't understand Yuma's emotions.
"But how will he get used to us if we give him space?" Yotaro asked.
"We just can't push him when he is showing the signs for wanting space." Jin said, frowning. The problem was that he didn't think Yotaro would be able to tell what those signs were. "As long as we respect when he wants to come out of his room and respect when he needs his space, it will help him get used to us, so if Yuma tries to back up, give him his space. Can you do that for me, Yotaro?"
Yotaro still looked a bit confused, but he nodded to show his agreement with Jin's request.
*L*S*A*
"I heard the away team returned yesterday."
"Yes, they did." Shinoda replied. He expected that to be the first thing Kido would want to discuss when he walked into Kido's office. It would have been better to tell Kido about the away team's return yesterday, but with the chaos of Yuma's amnesia and having to whisk him off to the medical ward for a checkup, it had slipped his mind. "Yuma-kun did return with them, however, it seems his surgery had some complications. After waking up from his surgery, it was revealed he has forgotten the last five years. The last thing he remembers is Yugo-san's death."
If he was anyone else, Shinoda would have thought that Kido didn't react at all to the news of the amnesia. However, he wasn't anyone else. Shinoda had been in Border for a very long time so he had known Kido for a long time. For that reason, Shinoda was able to catch the quirk of Kido's eyebrow and the slight widening of his eyes in surprise before his facial expression quickly shifted back to neutral.
"Kinuta-san and Kubo-sensei gave Yuma-kun a check up last night. Besides the Trion prosthetics and the amnesia, he is a perfectly healthy sixteen year old." Shinoda held out a file towards Kido. "This is the general assessment from them. Galopoula gave us a medical file on Yuma-kun's condition and more details on his surgery that Kinuta-san is going to study in depth so he can be prepared if Yuma-kun has any health issues as a result of his prosthetics."
"Is it likely something will go wrong with his prosthetics?" Kido asked.
Shinoda shook his head. "From what Jin told me, Yuma-kun's doctors are quite confident in his recovering health, but they warned us to keep an eye on his health since there is always the chance of something going wrong."
"And the durability of the prosthetics?" Kido asked. "Can they withstand getting hit by a car?"
A grimace pulled at Shinoda's face. It seemed that even Kido was aware of Yuma's issue with walking into traffic. "From my understanding, the durability is similar to the durability his previous Trion body had. His Trion prosthetics are created by a Trigger he has attached to his wrist and it is always passively active, similar to how his Black Trigger was. I don't know everything about how they work though. Kinuta-san might have more answers after he studies the files Galopoula gave us."
Kido nodded as he turned his attention to the file Shinoda gave him. He flipped through it quickly, eyes scanning over a few words to just get an idea of what it was. It seemed to be the preliminary report from Yuma's check up. This would be something he would read more in depth later on. "And the amnesia? Are there any answers on that?"
"According to Jin, what caused the memory loss isn't one hundred percent confirmed, but we are working on the assumption that it was caused by the trauma of the surgery." Shinoda explained. "His doctors think his memories will return as he recovers from the surgery. For now, we just need to give Yuma-kun some time and see what comes from his recovery. Rindo and Jin asked that we keep Yuma-kun's return a secret for now so as to not overwhelm him with too much."
Kido waved that information off. "Tamakoma can do whatever they like in regards to this. Kuga is a Tamakoma agent after all. It is up to their discretion how they want to handle this. I just asked to be kept up to date on Kuga's health and his amnesia and how that recovery is going."
Shinoda nodded. "Understood."
*L*S*A*
"I could go for some good okonmiyaki."
Kageura's steps slowed down to a halt so he could flash a glare over his shoulder at Toma who was walking towards him down the hall. "Then go to the restaurant yourself, Toma. We already went there for the week a couple days ago."
"But I didn't get to go." Toma complained.
Kageura scoffed. "It's not my fault that you didn't come. I texted you and you ignored it." He even asked Ema to check with Toma if he was coming when he didn't answer his text only to learn from his teammate that Toma wasn't even at joint sniper training. If he wanted to skip out on training, then he had no right to complain when he missed their meetup at his restaurant.
"Am I being blamed for being busy?" Toma asked amused, unconcerned with the glare being shot his way.
"I don't care if you're busy. You could at least respond so I know you're aren't coming." Kageura replied.
Toma just shrugged in reply. He really couldn't say anything to that. He didn't get the text that Kageura sent because he was in the Neighborhood at the time, but he couldn't tell Kageura that. It would cause too many questions about what he was doing and Toma felt like those questions would somehow lead to Yuma. Right now, Toma didn't want Yuma brought up in a conversation. Kageura would lose his mind if he learned Yuma was back, but without any memories of his time in Japan or time as a Border agent.
When they initially saw Yuma and learned he had amnesia, Jin told them to stay out of the room at the start to keep their foul mouths away from an amnesic Yuma. After Jin figured out that Yuma was well enough to handle them, they got the chance to meet Yuma. However, Toma, for as much as he liked Kageura, did not think Kageura was someone who should be around Yuma right now. Yuma's mental state probably couldn't handle Kageura's aggressive nature right in this moment.
Plus, Kageura's aggressive nature would probably get worse when he learned of Yuma's amnesia.
Toma wondered how that would all go. He heard from Murakami about why Kageura and Yuma had been fighting before Yuma left for his surgery. Yuma didn't want to fight for his life while Kageura wanted to push his friend towards fighting for his life. It caused a rift between them until Yuma suddenly told them all he was leaving for a surgery.
Considering that, Kageura should be happy that Yuma was alive. Toma knew he was relieved his friend survived the surgery, but that didn't make it easy to deal with those eyes just staring at him without recognition. It didn't make it easy to deal with that suspicious stare being thrown at them.
A huff of air escaped Toma. It really wasn't funny, but he couldn't help but see the irony of how Yuma was staring at them with suspicion when a few months ago, it was the opposite. Yuma was going about his life in Japan and learning about this world and all the A-Ranks that knew he was a Neighbor were the ones staring at him in suspicion and waiting to see if trusting him would blow up in their faces.
Somehow, their roles got reversed.
"What's so funny?" Kageura snapped, glaring at his friend as something weird was starting to prick at his skin. Was it concern? Was Toma really throwing concern at him right now? He did not get to disappear for a few days and then show up and immediately throw concern at him. "If you don't stop looking at me, I will drag you into a training match right now, Toma."
Toma smirked. "I would snipe you down before you could reach me."
Kageura scoffed. "Who do you think you are? Azuma-san or Kuga?"
Azuma was the only sniper that he didn't act recklessly around because he couldn't sense when his attacks were coming or where he was going to hit him. He had no such reservations against all the other snipers. It didn't matter if Toma was the number one sniper. In a one-on-one, any attack that could be predicted perfectly wasn't going to hit him.
There was a reason why Kageura often got teamed up against in Rank Wars. In terms of solo challenges, Murakami and Yuma were the best ones for him to fight. Murakami's side effect gave him an edge that countered Kageura's side effect. Yuma somehow avoiding setting off his side effect gave him an edge in combat against Kageura.
Those challenges were a reason why Kageura loved fighting against them. It helped Kageura learn a lot more when he got pushed by his rivals. Since he was so used to having his side effect telling him where attacks were coming from, fighting against Yuma was a thrill and a lesson all the same. It got him used to learning how to predict his enemies that he couldn't sense. It was useful in case Kageura ever met an enemy Neighbor that he couldn't sense.
Kageura scowled and scratched the back of his head. Stupid Toma. Stupid Yuma. He had been keeping himself so focused on the Rank Wars in the last few weeks to boost his team's rank and his solo rank. He was trying to climb up as high as he could go to give Yuma a thrill of having to fight to get it back when he came back home.
That was his reasoning for his intense focus on the Rank Wars this season, but he had been pushing his concern about Yuma and his surgery to the back of his mind. He was using his focus on the Rank Wars to keep his concern down. The concern was too distracting, especially when after a week of Yuma being gone, it was clear they wouldn't be getting any answers about Yuma's surgery any time soon.
And then Toma just had to show up here and now and start a conversation that got him thinking about his missing friend.
"Geez, that's a scary glare, Kage. What are you thinking about?" Toma asked.
"It's been three weeks." Kageura grumbled.
Toma raised a brow. "And? He had a dangerous surgery, Kage. He's not going to just bounce back from that." He didn't need any more context then 'three weeks' to know what Kageura was complaining about.
"And?" Kageura snapped back mockingly. "I never said anything about Kuga jumping back into Rank Wars. I just want to know how his surgery went." He scuffed his foot against the floor in annoyance. "I know he went to the Neighborhood for the surgery so it's hard to figure out how the surgery went, but it's surely not impossible. They could at least let us know if it was a success and he's still alive."
That was enough to get Toma to give Kageura his full attention, eyes zeroing in on the Attacker. The Attacker who twisted his head to the side to catch Toma's eyes, telling him everything with just that one expression.
"By the way, did anyone mention to anyone that we were going on an away mission?" Mikami asked.
"Nope." Izumi replied. "It seemed to be pretty downlow since it was done so quickly so we avoided mentioning it to anyone. Since the higher ups seem to want us to do this quickly, I doubt we'll be gone long enough for anyone to truly notice we weren't at the base for a few days."
"I mentioned it to Arashiyama, Kakizaki, and Ikomacchi." Jin said. "But of those three, only Arashiyama knows that Yuma is in the Neighborhood. The other two are still under the assumption he is simply in a different city for the surgery."
"I can't believe that anyone truly believes Kuga went to a different city for a surgery." Izumi muttered. "We all know about his Trion body and his Black Trigger. They would have to be pretty stupid to think there is a solution in our world that is outside of Border."
"Where did you hear Kuga was in the Neighborhood?" Toma asked sharply. Maybe Izumi's theory that people guessed where Yuma went for the surgery, but just weren't bringing it up was true.
"Tch, don't give me that look." Kageura closed the distance between him and Toma. The hallway was mostly empty. No one was really close enough to them to hear them, but he was going to make sure to keep his voice even lower than he already had been. "Kuga told me about where he is from and that he needed to go Galopoula for his surgery." Since he had moved closer to Toma, he could see the clear look of surprise that passed very briefly through Toma's eyes before it was replaced by a guarded look. The look got Kageura to scoff. "Getting protective on me, Toma?"
"It's a secret, Kage." Toma warned.
"Oh, I realized that." Kageura snipped back. "When Kuga told me and he also let it out that you've known since he moved here!"
Toma simply shrugged. He would not apologize for keeping Yuma's secret from Kageura. Just because they were all friends, that did not mean he would betray that secret and tell Kageura without Yuma's consent. "Just making sure. I wasn't aware you knew."
Kageura tsked softly to himself. "Because Kō told me going off on you for keeping it a secret wouldn't be fair to you." He scratched the back of his head. He wasn't blaming Toma for keeping the secret. It was something Toma was let in on from the higher ups. It wasn't because Yuma told him. "Kuga told both of us right before he left for his surgery."
"And you're fine with it?" Toma asked.
"Stupid question." Kageura said annoyed. "I've known for three weeks and do you hear the rumor of him being a Neighbor being spread around? No? Yeah, because we haven't even talked about except for the one time that Midorikawa brought it up with us."
"Midorikawa knows too?" Toma asked surprised.
Kageura stared at Toma, feeling just as surprised as Toma. For a moment, the two just stared at each other in silence before Kageura started crackling. "Knowing that Kuga kept that from you makes me feel better about being left in the dark for months. It seems that he doesn't tell anyone anything."
Toma shook his head. "Worst kept secret ever." After a moment, he sighed and just shrugged his shoulders. It was his business to the keep the secret, but beyond that, he wasn't involved in all the particulars of the secret. It was Yuma and Tamakoma's business. "So, about that okonmiyaki."
"Go by yourself! I just got here!" Kageura snapped. "I haven't even made it to my squad's room yet."
Toma laughed as Kageura stormed off to get away from him. The laugh only lasted as long as it took for Kageura to disappear around the corner at the end of the hall.
Toma understood why Jin asked them to keep quiet about Yuma being back in Japan. It would cause a lot of questions to be thrown at Tamakoma and Yuma. It would cause Yuma's friends to want to go visit him and see with their own eyes that he was okay. The problem with all of that would be that Tamakoma would be distracted with focusing on helping Yuma to divert the questions and concerns.
At the same time, Toma disagreed with Jin wanting to keep everything silent. He could keep quiet that Yuma was at Tamakoma, but knowing how Yuma's friends had been worried for weeks, Toma felt like they should at least tell them that Yuma was still alive. It would take some of the burden of concern off of their shoulders and lessen the stress in their minds.
Though, if they told them Yuma was alive, but left out the amnesia, it would only cause their stress to come back in full force if Yuma's memories didn't recover and they had to reintroduce Yuma to everyone at Border.
Argh, this was too complicated. This was why this was Jin and Tamakoma's problem.
*L*S*A*
Yuma flipped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. Jin suggested he try to get some more sleep after he ate his breakfast, but Yuma just couldn't. He didn't know what it was, but he just didn't want to sleep. It had nothing to do with being unnerved by being in an unknown location. The hospital in Galopoula had been unknown to him, but he still managed to sleep there. By that logic, he could see why Jin would think it was being in Japan, being in the Tamakoma building surrounded by strangers, was causing him issues.
Was it the pain?
Yuma shifted to move to lying on his side. His body was aching. It had been aching since yesterday. It's possible he just pushed himself too hard trying to walk for as long as he did to get the away ship when they were getting ready to leave Galopoula yesterday. While he was in the hospital, he had access to pain medication so when his pain got too much, he was able to get his dosed increased and that made him drowsy.
Maybe that was the difference between the hospital and here. His pain medication made him tired so it let him sleep. He didn't have access to that here so he was just uncomfortable. It didn't matter how soft this bed was. It was hard to sleep when he was distracted with the soreness radiating through his body.
Needing something to distract him from his aches, Yuma picked up his phone. He wasn't sure of what to look at though. He already spent so much time staring at the pictures while he was in Galopoula when he was trying to figure out what was going on. So much time was spent staring at them, but nothing came back to Yuma. The pictures were not going to–
The phone suddenly started to vibrate in Yuma's hand. It was so unexpected that Yuma flung the phone from his hand. He watched, blinking in surprise, when it hit the wall before thumping onto the ground. As he stared at it, it vibrated again and then again.
Curious, Yuma rolled off his bed, wincing when his Trion leg screamed at him for putting weight on it. He should probably do his physical therapy, but he was tired, physically and mentally, from yesterday. With all the walking he did yesterday, Yuma thought he deserved a break anyway so snatching his phone back up off the ground, he went back to his bed and laid down.
And because of how rotten his luck was, laying back down just brought a fresh wave of pain to Yuma. Seeing as he was alone in his room, he had no qualms about letting out a groan of pain. He couldn't wait for his body to properly adjust and get used to his Trion prosthetics. Doctor Deacon assured him that the sore, achy muscles wouldn't last. What Yuma was feeling was natural as his body got used to the Trion prosthetic being connected to his nerves. It took time to heal from the surgery.
After taking a moment to just breathe and let his muscles relax, Yuma turned his attention to his phone to go back to his hunt for a distraction. When he woke his phone up, he found his screen full of notifications.
Attackers Group Chat:
Kumagai: Anyone free for some training?
Okudera: Is your scary captain coming with you?
Kumagai: Will it affect your answer?
Koarai: Yes
Kageura: Cowards
Koarai: Look, Kumagai-senpai. Someone has stepped up for a fight.
Kageura: Did I say I was free, you idiots?
Arafune: Can't be too busy if you're in the chat.
Kageura: Right back at you.
Kageura: It's called taking a break.
Arafune: My next match is against Nasu squad. I'm not training with her right before that.
Kumagai: Forget I even asked.
Midorikawa: No, no! I'll train with you! I'm free!
Midorikawa: Please say yes? I want to test something in actual combat.
Yoneya: Oh? That? I want to come see this trainwreck. Don't start fighting until I get there.
Midorikawa: Shut up, Yoneyan-senpai! I'm not that bad!
Kumagai: Alright, Shun-kun. Can you meet up in ten minutes?
Midorikawa: I can be there in five!
Yuma stared blankly at the chat. Even as he read what started making his phone vibrate, the messages just kept flooding the chat so fast. He could barely keep up as he struggled to read what everyone said. Maybe it was a bad idea to only pay half attention to those Kanji lessons his father always put him through. He just assumed he wouldn't need to know how to read Kanji so he didn't put a lot of effort into the lessons.
Clearly, a mistake on his part.
Yuma's brows furrowed as he stared at the chat. Who even were the people talking in this chat? He didn't recognize a single one of these names. Did he know who any of them were? Were some of these people in the pictures he spent time looking at?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Yuma?"
Knock. Knock.
"Yuma."
"Jin?" Yuma called back confused, dragging his attention off of his phone.
"Can I come in?"
Yuma shifted uncomfortably on his bed again. He really didn't feel like rolling off of this bed again. "Door is unlocked."
That was all the invitation that Jin needed as he quickly opened the door and stepped in. His eyes swept over the room quickly, only stopping on Yuma's empty dishes from breakfast before he moved them to Yuma. He raised a brow when he saw Yuma lying on his right side while having his right arm stretched out to have it hanging over the bed.
"Comfy?"
"Not really." Yuma grumbled.
"Also not really awake." Jin added. "You didn't get any more sleep, did you?"
Yuma grumbled under his breath as he shifted a bit to try to move his limbs in a way that would be more comfortable. There really wasn't a better position than this to keep weight off of all his Trion parts.
Jin didn't seem surprised by that. He simply hummed as he saw this coming and sat down at the desk chair. "So, I thought about it, Yuma, and looking at you now, I am going to assume I am right." He withdrew a bottle from his jacket pocket and planted it on the desk in a very showy manner to draw Yuma's attention to it. "This was my mistake. You usually tell us when something is wrong or ask us for help so I didn't consider that you wouldn't admit the pain you are in."
Yuma scowled in annoyance. He had never told Jin anything of the sort. Maybe the Yuma Jin knew did because that Yuma trusted Jin and everyone here, but that Yuma wasn't him. They could all say as much as they like that they knew Yuma and they were his friends, but Yuma did not share the sentiment as them.
He had no reason to share anything with them.
Jin planted a finger on top of the bottle and wobbled it around on the desk. "Your doctor gave me this. It's Tripioid. I am going to assume this is the same pain medication they had you on in the hospital." He tapped the top of the bottle. "I was told you shouldn't need it as much, but you pushed your body too hard yesterday and then you didn't sleep well. So, do you want a pill?"
"Sure." Yuma had no issue with taking something that might help minimize the pain in his body, especially if it would help him sleep. He didn't understand why he couldn't get to sleep, but blaming the pain in his body from being off the pain medication seemed like a good excuse.
Jin popped the lid off the bottle and dropped a pill out into one of his hands which he passed over to Yuma along with his glass from breakfast that still had some juice left in it. As Yuma drowned the pill with some juice, Jin return to sitting at the desk. While Yuma tried to get comfortable on the bed again, Jin took the moment to examine Yuma's desk. Pushed to the side to make room for the tray that Jin brought him earlier for breakfast, was Yuma's Border Trigger and some vouchers.
"Do you know what those are?" Yuma asked when he noticed Jin examining his desk.
"Hmm?" Jin looked at the desk again, unsure of what Yuma was referring to.
"Those papers." Yuma clarified.
"Ah," Jin picked up the vouchers. "These? They are vouchers for free meals at Okonomiyaki Kageura. It's a restaurant owned by one of your closest friends. He gave you these vouchers for your birthday right before you left for the surgery." To keep Yuma from losing them before he could use them, Jin opened the desk drawer and put them in it so they wouldn't go missing.
"Hmm."
Yuma averted his eyes towards the ceiling. One of his closest friends? Yuma didn't know anyone who had a family restaurant. The person who knew him and was friends with him wasn't Yuma. That was someone else that Jin and everyone else knew. He wasn't that person anymore.
He wasn't the person they knew anymore.
Jin watched Yuma, smiling sadly. It seemed the medicine Deacon gave them was fast acting as Yuma's eyes were already starting to droop shut. He thought it was just pain medication, but maybe it had a side effect of helping him to sleep too. It would be good for Yuma to get some more sleep since he didn't sleep well last night.
What made Jin sad though was Yuma's complete lack of reaction to learning about Kageura's family restaurant. He thought his friend would ask more questions or be more curious about his friends. He was interested enough to ask those questions while he was in the hospital still, but since they returned to Japan, it seemed like Yuma was pulling back.
It was something that Jin was worried about happening when they got Yuma back to Japan. He wanted to introduce Yuma to Tamakoma first to keep him from being overwhelmed and to prevent them from shoving too much information in Yuma's head all at once. Even with that decision in place, it seemed Yuma wasn't getting comfortable here.
However, it had been less than a day since they arrived back in Japan. Maybe Yuma was still just adjusting to everything that this world had to offer. They did throw him in a medical exam the moment they got back yesterday and then immediately introduced him to Tamakoma afterwards. It may have been too much to start with.
Seeing as Yuma was drifting off to sleep, Jin stood up from the desk. He snatched Yuma's empty cup out of his hand before it could tumble to the ground as he fully fell asleep. He set it on the desk before turning to the closet where he pulled out a spare blanket. Yuma's room was filled with blankets and pillows that he never used since he never slept in this world except for the times that his body shut down on him.
Now that Yuma had the ability to sleep, he could start using these things. Unraveling the blanket, Jin dropped it over Yuma's sleeping form. Yuma subconsciously took to the soft blanket immediately as he curled himself into it. Seeing as Yuma was finally getting comfortable in his bed and was asleep, Jin grabbed his tray from breakfast and left the room, pulling the door shut behind him as quietly as he could.
"You're just going to let him hide away like this?"
"He's exhausted, Konami." Jin replied, keeping his voice low as he walked away from the room to head downstairs with Konami following after him. "And I don't want to push him too hard. It might cause him to pull away."
"You can't let him hide away forever. He's not going to get his memory back while hiding inside his room." Konami said.
"I know." Jin replied. "He's not going to hide forever, Konami. Yesterday was too much for him mentally and physically. He just needs a break today."
Konami raised a brow. "He'll come out of his room then? Is that what your side effect is telling you?" Jin seemed so assured that Yuma wasn't just going to hide away forever. Konami would hope that would be the case. If Yuma never came out of his room, he would get bored pretty fast. There was not going to be anything interesting in there for him.
"Yep," Jin replied confidentially. "He just needs time to mentally recharge." He stepped to the side to let Konami opened the door to the kitchen and walked in after her to set the tray on the counter. "But, how are you, Konami? You're the one Yuma snapped at last night."
Konami turned on the water to start filling the sink with water and soap. As it filled up, she grabbed a wash cloth from the drawer. "I won't say it didn't surprise me, but I'm not weak enough to let a few harsh words hurt me. It just upset me because it felt like it came out of nowhere. Initially, he seemed like the Yuma we're used to, just without the memories and experiences of the past five years, but..." She trailed off, staring down at the sink with a frown.
"Those five years were very important." Jin finished. "They helped Yuma grow into who he was. Without them, of course he is going to be different than what we remembered. So, the question is, what can we do about that?"
Konami took the dishes from the tray and set them in the sink. "Nothing. We can't change who Yuma is just by telling him what he has done or what he has been through. It's like me telling you about the first time Yuma and I trained together. I can tell you how shocked I was to see how skilled he was. I can tell you how angry and impressed I was when he got his first kill on me, but it won't mean anything to you because you weren't the one experiencing it. I can Yuma that, but it won't mean anything because right now, he isn't the person that was there for it. The emotions we felt in that moment. My shock and impressed nature. Yuma being pride of his accomplishment. Those will mean nothing to Yuma right now. You told us to try to jog his memories, but will telling him things like that even help him?"
"I don't know." Jin admitted, taking a plate that Konami just washed so he could dry it. "My side effect tells me he is in our future, but I don't know anything about what is going on in his head, Konami. I don't know if anything we do or say to him will help, but there is nothing else we can do. Telling him things we've been through together, showing him things he likes, giving him foods he likes. This is all we have."
Konami frowned, but accepted the answer. Amnesia didn't have a magical cure. It was horrible, but they were going to have to live with Yuma's cautious eyes staring at them until he got used to them again. It really was a sharp difference to when they met Yuma back in December. Back then, he had a smile that came easily and eyes filled with excitement and curiosity. That was all gone from Yuma now.
She knew Yuma's last memory was his father's death so that meant he lost those three years of war and the manipulation from the Calvaria military, but his issues with the Calvaria military was not what started his grief and his attitude to watch out for his own safety above all else. That came from the assassin and his father's sacrifice.
They weren't involved with the Calvaria war so there was no reason for them to bring that up with Yuma. They wouldn't be able to answer his questions as the information they got about it just came from Yuma and Replica. They could tell Yuma what he told them about the war, but that didn't sit right with Konami. That information came from an 'older Yuma' and though 'older Yuma' and 'current Yuma' were the same person, it would feel too much like second hand information they would be giving Yuma about Calvaria.
Besides, Konami had no interest in discussing Calvaria. The war was in the past and she didn't want to bother Yuma with anything related to Calvaria. Even though she felt like that, Calvaria was a part of Yuma's past. If Yuma were to get his memories back, those memories would return to, but Konami wasn't sure how it would happen.
It's not like any of them were experts on how amnesia worked. Would Yuma get his memories back in one go? Would they come back in waves? Would he go to sleep one night and just wake up fully aware of who he was and where he was?
Konami just didn't know. What she did know was that she wanted to see Yuma smile again. She wanted him to smile again as he realized that he had his whole life ahead of him. She wanted him to smile as he realized this surgery was a success and he was safe now that his doctors saved him from his impending death.
More than that, she just wanted to see him smile and start to enjoy the life he had ahead of him. She hated seeing the confusion and suspicion on his face. She hated seeing him frown as he looked around the room to try to figure out what was going on and who everyone was.
Konami had only seen him for a little bit last night when he came back and he hadn't come out of his room again yet. She had only seen him for a little bit, but that little bit was all she needed to know that she didn't want to see that expression on his face. Life wasn't fair. Konami was quite aware of that fact, but it just seemed like anytime something was going in Yuma's favor, something had to come and rip it away from him.
He didn't deserve this amnesia.
"Tachikawa-san did cause a memory to hit him." Jin added.
"You mentioned something like that last night." Konami replied. Though, Tachikawa's name hadn't been brought up when Jin was telling them about that. What did that idiot do to actually get a memory to hit Yuma?
"Yuma didn't go into much detail, but it seems the memory didn't clarify anything to him and it wasn't too clear to him." Jin said. "But, I took it as a good sign that his amnesia isn't permanent. The memories are still there. We just have to find a way to bring them out."
"Well, what did Tachikawa-san do to cause a memory to return?" Konami asked.
"Honestly, it wasn't anything special. We were just talking." Jin replied. "About Rank Wars and stuff. Tachikawa-san said something about elites and it gave Yuma a headache."
"A headache?" Konami echoed in concern.
Jin shot her a smile. "It's normal. Or, so I'm told. Recovering memories can take a physical toll on the body which is why I'm saying to give him space if he needs it. Don't push him too hard."
That was understandable. It would have been understandable even without the amnesia since it was clear that Yuma was still getting used to his Trion prosthetics. He needed to take it easy as he got used to the prosthetics. At least, that was what Konami assumed. Like with amnesia, she wasn't an expert on how prosthetics worked, much less Trion prosthetics which were a completely foreign concept to all of them until recently.
"What should we do then? Wait for him to come to us and then just start talking?"
Jin shrugged. "Maybe. We should probably leave it up to Yuma for now."
Konami just sighed. This was much too complicated. None of them were equipped to handle a Yuma with amnesia. It had thrown them off so much that they were scrambling on how to handle it and what to do. On top of that, Konami got the sense that there was a little bit of fear on their side. They didn't want to approach Yuma in fear of pushing him away because they came on too strong.
Konami was saying Yuma couldn't hide in his room forever, but it's not like they were free of blame either. Only Jin and Yotaro had the nerve to approach Yuma's room. Yuma may have been avoiding leaving his room as he felt overwhelmed, but the rest of them were avoiding his room by claiming a sign of respect for his privacy, but really, it was just a fear of scaring him off.
None of them were dealing with this properly.