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[ She's just going to pretend Terry tripped and fell and hit his head and that's how he almost died, she's never going to ask for any details. But she does freeze when he asks if she's going to sit, because sitting means she can't just walk out as easily— and more than that, she can't really pose cooly like she can leaning against a wall with one foot up and her arms crossed. Sitting is just awkward... sitting next to somebody's bed is also awkward... sitting next to a hospital bed with its white walls and beeping machines is just...

She sighs and walks over to the bed, sitting herself down unceremoniously and goes back to crossing her arms. ]

Miracle or not, I won't question it. How long do you think you'll have to stay this time?

[ It's okay, Kido. There are no beeping machines in this room because you can't have a pulse without a heart! Well, that was the logic of it anyway, so they don't have that here. It's the small things. ]

A while...

[ He quietly sighs. ]

I can't get out of bed even if I wanted to--

[ The nurse knocks on the door, but opens it without waiting to hear back an answer. "Will she be staying overnight, Nowell-kun? Visitor hours are over." And before Kido has the chance to say anything, Terry blurts out: ]

Yes, she is.

[ The nurse nods, jots something down on her clipboard and closes the door behind her as she leaves. ]

[ The doctors here are really too chill about things... The nurses too, just taking Terry's word for it before Kido can catch up to what the conversation is about. ]

What? Uh-

[ Cool. Alright. She's being volunteered for a sleepover. ]

Is that okay??

Mhm.

[ He says, as if this isn't a big deal at all. ]

Well... you don't have to stay the full duration and you can leave during the midnight phase if you want to. The doors are somehow unlocked during that time, even though it's supposed to be locked when visitor hours are over.

[ Maybe it's the haunting rumors of the hospital... no one knows.

ghost jazzhands ]

... I just wanted someone to talk to. That's... okay, right?

[ Terry should never mention anything about haunted hospitals or Kido will never visit him ever again. But she can understand wanting to have somebody to talk to, even though she really thinks he'd be better off resting— but it gets boring to sleep all day without people to talk to, and the nurses are too busy to spend more than the time needed to do their work checking up on people, and night and day sort of all blur together when the days stretch long enough and Kido knows all of that. ]

Yeah, it's okay. I'll listen to whatever's on your mind, and I don't mind staying overnight either. I'm not too keen on being outside when the monsters are out there anyways, so it'll just be an extra hour we can spend together.

[ Though she really should have brought food as a get well gift, because if Terry doesn't eat it, she can. Dinner... ]

[ He smiles a little when Kido says that. ]

Thanks. I thought you would have wanted to leave as soon as possible... You can play with the cats if you want to. I'm sure they'll like you more than me.

[ He sighs. His physical heart had been regenerating somehow a little every day, and it's... so weird at how it does that without help from anyone or anything. Regardless, it's still painful, which is why he's on god knows how many painkillers right now. Despite that, he's here. It's fine. Looking outside the window reminds him of the time though. ]

Did you eat yet...?

[ It's a miracle Terry is awake at all if he's being pumped full of painkillers, but it's not something Kido knows to question, so she's just glad he's awake at all and able to talk, instead of her sitting by herself twiddling her thumbs and not knowing what to do. ]

I've eaten. [ Lunch. It counts. ] And I came so late, that leaving now would hardly make the trip worth it. I'm here to see you, after all, not the cats. ...I meant to come sooner. Sorry.

[ There are always pros and cons to having a stupid high amount of endurance... (single tear) ]

It's fine. You were probably busy. You can open the drawer off to the side. The top one should have a container with three mochis in it. You can eat those.

[ Should Kido decide to get the container, it's full of three big, yellow custard mochis. ]

My coworker dropped them off, saying they were from the owner, but I can't eat it... so you should have it.

[ It's a newest big hit from the cafe, their ever popular dessert menu: the Ryoji Mochi. ]

[ RYOJI MOCHI............ Kido leans over to open said drawer and find the sweets inside, not ones she's had before because there was no point of stopping by the cafe anymore if Terry's in the hospital instead of working there, but she places the container on her lap for whenever she does get hungry. Maybe it'll be soon, once the nerves wear off, but the anxious feeling never quite leaves when she's in a hospital. Either way, mochi's best eaten fresh, so she won't be shy about eating something meant for Terry. ]

That's nice of them— both your coworker and your boss. Does that mean everything's going okay over there? There was that bug that hit a lot of people over the month, and it looks like it's passing.

[ Except, you know. Wyatt and Shore and Zelda who are just permanent zombies now. ]

I... guess so. I've been here ever since the fight with the bird leader, so I haven't really heard much about work. It's good to hear that the thing seems to be going away. Now the owner will have more people at work to help out.

[ He'll be so sad upon seeing those zombies... maybe it's better that he's stuck in the hospital right now. Terry looks relieved about the Hirajiro Lethargy passing over though, and quietly sighs. ]

After I get better and fully recover, I want to get stronger if I have to. I was never a summoner type, so having to fight with a persona was a new thing for me... but I need to be able to defend myself too, when my persona is too far away or something. [ Since that was exactly why this happened in the first place. ] I mean... I can, I guess, but I'm so rusty...

[ He's already thinking about fighting again, when he's like this... But any complaints Kido has about that, she forces herself to keep it to herself, because what's the point of having the Personas if not to fight, especially after seeing what Terry's dragon is capable of. What's even the point of fighting, though, when they could all just stay indoors at night and not risk getting hurt... Stay tuned for next month, ig. ]

Don't push yourself to recover just to get beaten up again... You're ridiculously athletic, so I don't imagine it'd be hard for you to pick up any weapon to learn to fight with, but there's no reason for your Persona to be too far away, is there? Before, we used it as a distraction to get away, but if we're stronger, we wouldn't need to run anymore.

Ah...

[ Well, maybe Kido didn't see what happened. Maybe that's for the best. Terry doesn't really have it in him to argue right now, so he'll just pick apart the things that interests him more. ]

I never had anything personalized to be my own weapon, so I had to improvise a lot... like clothes hangers or umbrellas with a hook handle. The umbrellas were pretty fun to use though. I doubt they'd actually work against the shadow monsters, but I guess it'll be something to use... I could probably poke their eye out or something and run for it. That sounds the best way to handle it, right?

[ It sounds fun, but he won't say that. He'll laugh a little, even though it hurts through all the painkillers he's taken. ]

[ He wonders though... maybe Kido would know something. ]

... Vassago hasn't felt like coming out for a while now. It doesn't work no matter what I do.

Clothes hangers and umbrellas... Were you fighting off burglars, or what?

[ She'd let him have her umbrella, probably, but she doesn't think they'd be the sturdiest thing against fire breathing monsters. ]

Do you have your charm with you? Maybe it got damaged... I could fix it, if that's the case.

Kinda!

[ Using those two things against some sort of demigod sounds like the worst sort of matchup, but it's fine. He managed to hold them off. It's fine. ]

It's in the hoodie pocket. Second drawer.

[ And if Kido goes to get that out, she'll see that it's already been patched up with white flower designs. If she remembers Rei's hairpins, they're pretty much what they look like. A bit of washed out red peeks out from one of the patches, but it's easy to miss. Either way, the omamori itself looks fine. ]

[ It sounds like something an idiot would do, which, unfortunately, tracks. With a sigh, Kido gets up to retrieve the omamori, smiling a little when she sees the little stitched flowers, but then frowning a little, too. Keeping her back turned to Terry, she brings it up close to her face, trying to see if she can tell what that is by smell... it's probably blood, huh, no use fooling herself into thinking it's ketchup or something. ]

...Are you scared of it? Vassago.

No.

[ No hesitation. ]

Well, not anymore. He did a lot of good things when we were fighting the bird leader. Why? Do they not come out if I'm scared of them...? I was kinda afraid of summoning him when we went for recon, but he came out just fine back then...

I'm not sure if it has anthing to do with it.

[ She goes back to the chair beside his bed, holding the charm in her lap. ]

I was scolded by Akira for not getting along with my Persona, so I wondered if Vassago's not coming out because he's mad at you. Or the other way around.

Hm...

[ Terry looks up at the ceiling for a second or two before looking back down. ]

I can't think of anything on my end, so I guess it could be that Vassago is mad at me? For some... reason.

[ Because he nearly died maybe??? That's all Terry can think of. He didn't think he'd had to get along with his Persona though. And he's not sure what to think of that when Vassago tried biting his head off that one time. Despite how it seemed fine during the boss battle, he can't help but wonder... maybe it's best if they keep it something like a mutual business-like relationship.

... ]

Do you think he'll pop back up later?

[ It's not really hard to believe that Vassago is mad and Terry can't tell, because he couldn't tell all the 230495789 reasons Kido was mad at him before despite her blowing up in his face all the time, but she hopes they'll be able to get along and word things out. Mutual business-like relationship probably isn't the best way to do it... ]

Hopefully he will. Maybe he's just giving you the chance to rest, since it takes so much energy to maintain Personas. Can you feel him at all?

[ Search your soul... or something ]

[ Haha what's a soul ]

Nope... I never really felt him there to begin with. Guess I'll just wait for him to come back.

[ Maybe it's because he's spiritually dull. ]

[ Maybe he's just dull. ]

At least you don't seem too worried about it... I won't worry too much over you either, then.

[ He's alive and that's the best outcome she can hope for, so honestly? Yeah. No more worrying; she'll turn her thoughts away from seeing people dead, and pick up one of the mochi to eat. ]

So you stay put, and if I hear anything interesting out on the street, I'll pass it onto you. Though, honestly, it's just school festival stuff now that everybody's getting their energy back...

A school festival?

[ Well, there's the word "festival" in it, so it sounds fun! But... ]

What's that? Is it something big? Are schools normally not busy like that?

I... guess? [ do colleges not have this sort of stuff? who knows ]

I've only been to one, but there's usually a lot of people. It's noisy and crowded... There's a lot of food, and you can play games too. Like a normal festival.

Wow...!

[ If only his eyes could sparkle, they'd be doing that right now. ]

That sounds like so much fun!

[ ... ]

I'll probably miss out, huh? I'll be here for a long time...

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