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[ Terry's senses are pretty much dulled out while recovering, so he doesn't see Hibiki coming in. ]

Ow! Ow, ow, ow! [ COUGH HACK WHEEZE ] Stop-- [ wheeze ] --that! Let go!

[ He's having trouble with the mom cat right now... She's biting his arm and overall being hostile to Terry, and only Terry. If Hibiki tries to intervene, the cat will immediately relax.

Other than that, the kittens are huddled up in the corner, Terry is hooked up to a blood IV on the other arm, and there is absolutely no pulse machine because what's the point of that for someone with a recovering crushed heart. Anyway, Terry is bedridden, shaking his arm in an attempt to get the cat off his arm. He's having coughing fits in the meantime. ]

[ At least he sounds pretty much alive even though not all that well...this might be the last time Hibiki intervenes without becoming a sneezing mess. He manages to pull the cat mom away after a few tries and ends Terry's feline suffering. Not much can be done about everything else, unfortunately. ]

Okay, now I can finally say it...hi.

[ Just in case cat mom decides to go after Terry again, Hibiki is going to keep her in his lap and pet her. He'd take the kittens too just in case, but it might be a bit too much. ]

It breaks my heart seeing you like this, Terrence Nowell.

[ It's not one of his jokes, otherwise it'd be bad—he doesn't know what really happened, after all. ]

[ The mom cat gets all cozy in Hibiki's lap and purrs when he pets her, completely forgetting about her hostility with Terry. The kittens don't seem to do much of anything from their far corner, since Terry it out of their reach.

Terry looks over at Hibiki for a moment when he says his full name. What are you, his nonexistent mom?? The only people who've called him by his full name were doctors and people he'd rather kill on sight, so. That... certainly doesn't feel pleasant. But it's Hibiki. He can't really get mad at him.

He gets out some spare bandages and ointment from the drawer and starts treating his bite wound. ]

Sorry about that. I'm... doing better though.

[ Using his full name makes him feel somewhat powerful, so he's going to do this again. ]

Terrence. [ Okay, let's drop the surname. He can't be like this to a friend. ] What are you sorry for? I'm glad to see that you're...

[ Well, "okay" would be pushing it. "Alive" sounds about right, though. ]

That you're alive. It's nice to see you again. Did the doctors ask you what happened?

[ People living in Hirajiro have no idea what's going on in here most likely, so maybe now they'd realize that something weird is happening. Hibiki himself doesn't have the full story either, but he's seen that boss, so... ]

[ Kido always calls him by Terrence, so at least that's a lot more bearable. And at Hibiki's question, he wonders... ]

It's nice to see you too. But actually, no. They didn't...

[ He finds it weird now that he thinks about it. ]

Normally, I'd be written off for dead in that sort of situation, but they kept working on me. It wasn't something ambiguous either. I had my heart crushed.

[ ... ]

Literally.

[ So they still haven't realized that something weird is going on in here...not to mention that they're not even questioning how Terry managed to get a wound like this. ]

I had no idea that you had a crush. [ 3 minutes without a joke, might be a new record. ] So I guess that the "don't take any hits" plan didn't quite work out...

[ Well, Hibiki never said anything about not taking any critical hits, so... ]

Yeah, Hibiki. I took a direct hit to my heart.

[ He can't help but to reply with a joke to a joke... Hibiki's pace is so easy to get caught up in for Terry. ]

Well... I didn't think the big bird boss would have been that fast. I was trying to get Rei to safety, and he kicked me really far away from my Persona. Couldn't do much after getting my neck trapped by the gaps in his sandals.

[ No matter how attractive the Daitengu was, that... that wasn't hot. It might be to other people, but not him!! ]

[ I can't believe that the Daitengu could've stolen Terry's heart and make it doki but instead it just stepped on it. ]

Be still, Terry's heart.

[ Will the jokes ever end. ]

But...there's no stopping you, is there? [ Hibiki's smile is soft as he makes sure their gazes meet. ] I could tell you to be more careful, but it wasn't your fault. You were doing the right thing.

[ Trying to protect someone is always the right thing. Even if it's stupid or reckless. Hibiki happens to be both of those, so maybe that's why he can't really scold Terry. ]

... Thanks.

[ He smiles a little, but it falters quickly. Well, right thing or not, if he was a normal human, he thinks he certainly would have gotten killed for it. How unfortunate that he's thinking his semi immortality is still here when it's just game mechanics. ]

Rei was on healing duty and she healed way too much with her Persona. She looked so tired... she needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

[ He is a little scared to ask, after contributing so much to the fight and then nearly dying for his troubles, but he needs to know. ]

Did... the fight go well?

[ Rei is out there doing the god's work, healing all these dumbasses. ]

I'm not sure...I didn't last for too long and had to be escorted to the entrance.

[ That's one way to describe being bridal carried. ]

I can check how it went for you? If we succeeded, it's probably no longer here...

[ Terry understands the pain of low endurance... ]

You don't have to go all the way there to check. Just ask someone else... they should know. [ Probably. ]

If you have a phone, I can give you someone's number to call...

Someone else...someone's number...

[ Hibiki watches him carefully. ]

Haven't you seen my shaking hands? [ Phone addiction too real. ] I got one, but I don't have a charger. Who's that "someone", though?

[ At least he's getting one soon... ]

It's Kido.

[ Yup. ]

I have a charger. It should be in the drawer.

[ Should Hibiki open the drawer to find the charger cord, it's... quite something. The charging port seems to be aimed for newer smartphone models though, so maybe it'll fit. Maybe it won't. ]

[ It won't because I'm the worst and Hibiki's stuck with his phone from 2010. ]

I've never seen this kind of cable before...are you from the future or what?

[ It doesn't fit no matter what Hibiki tries to do. Kido is safe for now... ]

Uh... I'm from 2029.

[ The whole world nonsense thing really is starting to mesh together. ]

It's pretty durable too. I sometimes use it for things other than charging.

[ Like choking people. ]

Can we teleport in the year 2029?

[ Fingers crossed for an affirmative answer. ]

Things other than charging...it looks like you can kill someone with it.

[ Do you want to tell Hibiki about something, Terry... ]

[ Terry only smiles at that last bit. ]

Um...

[ Demigods can. He can't though, since he's a botched up clone. Terry will assume that Hibiki's talking about normal humans though. ]

No, you can't. It's actually not all that different apart from small technological advances...

[ He looks at Hibiki, as if to try to gauge something. ]

... from early 2000?

Add eleven years to 2000 and you're set.

[ Technology is one thing, but there's also something else worth mentioning: ]

In 2029 I'll be older than you. Feels weird.

[ He doesn't even know how old Terry is exactly, but. ]

[ His smile gets a little more lax with less energy at that. ]

Yeah, you'll be older than me eventually.

It's not like it's going to change much, Cookmaster.

[ Hibiki doesn't know what Terry is expecting of older Hibiki, but he shouldn't get his hopes up. ]

Are you still going to be cute when you're older? I'm gonna be forever young, so we can't have too much of an age discrepancy!

[ lmao......

This doesn't really count as flirting in Terry's book, surprisingly, since he's joking around. ]

Forever young? So what's your beauty routine?

[ Honestly, Hibiki has no idea what beauty routine even is, he just overheard some girls talking about it. ]

Your love for me?

[ lol

that

that totally makes sense... (no it doesn't) ]

Are you telling me to love yourself so I'll stay young forever?

[ This.....makes even less sense. That's why they're friends. ]

I guess we can both be young forever.

[ Problem solved! This is why Terry enjoys Hibiki's company. They can lightly joke about stuff even though he just got killed several days before. It's no big deal. ]

Hey, Hibiki... you look fine, but you said you didn't last long in the dungeon. Did something happen?

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