Persona: The Side Reflected (IC)

[Psyker Landshark]

Much to Marina's relief, Hayley seemed to be fine, if not as responsive to her flipping the bird as she'd hoped. At least she wasn't complaining about any injuries, though. Which was either absurd or a ridiculous streak of luck.

"Where the hell am I, Marina? I'm no stranger to hospitals, mind you, but I've never been to this place and it's eerily quiet..."

"You're asking me? I just woke up too, you know. And I'm fine, thanks for asking." Marina raised an eyebrow before pausing for a second. Hayley was right. No hospital was this quiet. "But you've got a point there. Where are the nurses?"

"I swear, whoever this A person is, I'm going to take him down a peg or two!" Hayley snarled in pain as she tried to leave her bed, Marina moving to force her to stay lying down.

...Wait, what?

"Okay, what." She said flatly, her mind racing. "How do you know that A was the one who..." Marina cut herself off. If Igor had visited them all in their dreams, it was certainly feasible that the other voice had spoken to everyone who had gotten caught in the blast. "Alright, question. When you got knocked out, did some voice in your head talk to you about 'finding A' or whatever?"

[LentWhiteninja]

As time passed, Kouta had plenty of time to think after his emotions died down. Thinking was all he really could do while he recovered. Several questions floated in his head while he tried to comprehend the whole situation. That grenade should have killed everyone that was close enough, yet it didn't. The worse they're going to get would be a few scars, but they should be missing limbs at the least. This was more that dumb luck, Kouta was sure. Speaking of weapons, A might have already left a clue for him unintentionally. Reaching for a remote, Kouta turned on the small TV by his bed. Of course, today's incident was all over the news. Maybe the police had found something? They did, luckily. The law had managed to recover the weapon used in the trap. That weapon was a M79 standalone grenade launcher. Kouta made sure to write this down. If video games had taught him anything, M79s were made mostly in America. Could that support a theory of A being of American decent? Not yet; more evidence would need to be collected first. Also, where the heck were the nurses? Kouta hasn't seen one since he's arrived. He didn't have much time to ponder this though, for one actually showed up.

She was a pleasant lady on the eyes, with long blonde hair, fair skin and hazel eyes. "Hey," he asked, "where are the other nurses?"
"I haven't seen them either. Strange, isn't it?" He recognized that voice! There'd be no way... "Can I see your back for a moment? I need to make sure you're healing properly." Kouta nodded, sitting up and removing his shirt. He flinched slightly when she pressed an icy hand on his gashes, but it wasn't painful. Quite the opposite, actually.
"I think you were in a dream of mine not too long ago. Funny."
The woman chuckled at this, "Was I? That is funny, granting we've never met before, Yamato-san."
"Just call me Kouta. Could I get a name from you?"
"Certainly, Kouta. You may call me Margaret. It's a pleasure meeting you face-to-face."
"That's an interesting name. You're not from here, are you?"
"No. I'm sorry, but it would be difficult to explain where I come from. On the other hand, your back looks fine. You should be fit to leave. I'm glad your stay here was a short one." She smiled again. "All I have to do now is get that IV out of your arm." As she was saying this, Margaret was already peeling off the itchy tape from Kouta's forearm. "Brace yourself. 1... 2... 3." The high school student grimaced as the IV cord was removed. He didn't expect the feeling to be pleasant, but he has had worse. Margaret then promptly wrapped a bandage around the IV site to stop the bleeding. "I have to get going now, I have other patients that need my care. Who knows? Maybe I'll see you again, but hopefully not here." With that, the mysterious nurse left Kouta's room and vanished within the hospital.

That was certainly odd, Kouta thought. He took a moment to feel his back, and he found it remarkably healed. All that remained were light pink scars. There's no way that could happen naturally; even paper cuts take at least a few days to heal, so shrapnel wounds healing in the span of a few hours arose suspicion on both himself and Margaret. Reaching into the room's closet, Kouta retrieved his usual clothes: a simple grey t-shit, blue jeans, and a black jacket. He felt relieved that he was discharged from the hospital already, but felt a little unnerved on what is going on. To add even more tension, his phone vibrated. Kouta was almost too freaked out to check it, but his nerves of steel shone through. It read:

"Gather your friends and muster your courage. The second you leave that hospital, it's game on.
-A."

This can't end well. A had something planed for them, and it wasn't going to be pretty based on last time. If there was any opportunity to back out before, there isn't any now. The second Kouta and his friends left the building, A would target them again. There's no avoiding it. With his renewed strength, Kouta half walked half ran down the hospital halls and down the stairs, eventually finding himself in the hospital lobby. It was vacant, and the night sky outside looked nothing but ominous. Kouta soon found himself pacing back and fourth, waiting for his friends that will come down here sooner or later. None of them had a choice at this point; Kouta felt like everyone was at the mercy of A, and he hated it.

[Stalydan]

Matsuhide was about to go back to his room to when he saw Kouta walking down the hallway in his casual clothes. Noting his direction, he looked at the signs hanging from the ceiling that indicated he was heading towards the lobby. Going to his room, he looked in the closet and found a spare change of clothes that he recognized as his own along with his bag and phone.

"I wonder how this stuff got here. Did my dad visit?" he wondered as he flicked the television on in the background, hearing the reports of the attacks whilst he changed. It was starting to sink in what had happened the more he heard about it from people who weren't involved in it. Now changing into a pair of purple jeans with a light brown t-shirt and a warm hooded jacket, he sat on the bed with his breath taken out of him. "Wow, I'm really not up to a lot of moving am I?"

"Well you did just get hit by a grenade only a few hours ago. It's a small miracle your able to move at all." a familiar voice said as his door opened. Turning, he was greeted by a nice looking nurse with long blonde hair with fair skin and hazel eyes.

"Have we met before? Your voice sounds familiar." Matsuhide replied, looking at her with confusion.

"I don't think so Takena-san. I'm not from around here. But I would like to check on injuries; make sure that they're okay." she replied, lifting up the sleeve of his jacket and unravelling the bandages. Looking at the wounds, Matsuhide noticed they were just small little slash marks now. The same had occurred with his waist and leg too. After checking the wounds, the nurse re-bandaged them. "There you go. I'll be on my way now to check on more patients. My name is Margaret by the way for future reference. I feel that we will most likely meet again."

As the nurse left the room, Matsu went to slide himself back into the wheelchair when he realised he had regained the strength in his legs that wasn't there a moment ago. "Strange. That can't- shouldn't happen." he thought to himself as he stretched out, warming his legs up. Slipping the bag over his shoulder, he exited the room and went in the direction of the lobby. Walking to the elevator, he pressed the call button. Noticing the light wasn't appearing, he pressed it again and then a third time when it wouldn't work. "Must be busted." he thought to himself, deciding to take the stairs instead. Eventually making his way to the lobby, he saw Kouta there, pacing backwards and forwards.

"Yamato-san, where is everyone?"

[Renose]

Reno's sleep was peaceful for a while, until he awoke slowly when he felt someone. A nurse that carried a mysterious aura about her was changing his bandages to give him fresh, new ones that were not covered in blood. Noticing his awakening the fair skinned, blonde nurse smiled at him. "I just happened to be changing your bandages, you are lucky that you even survived that explosion, most people who get hit by grenades aren't as lucky as you are" said a very familiar voice. The familiarity of this voice caused Reno's eyes to widen a little as he realized just who this was.

"A-Aren't you..." Reno began to ask, but was cut off when the familiar woman simply nodded, understanding what he was going to ask her.

"We can get into these things some other time, but for now I must be off. I hope to see you some time soon" said the mysterious, yet familiar nurse as she slowly walked out of the room.

Reno simply watched her leave, then looked at his bandaged torso. He gently touched the bandages, expecting pain to shoot through his body, but there was none. He felt extremely rested and his mind felt refreshed. "That's...impossible, I have only been here for less than a day...there is no way I can be fully healed already" Reno thought to himself as he slowly removed his bandages. To his amazement the wounds were no longer there. There wasn't even any scarring on his body, which amazed Reno even more.

Deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth and just take it as it goes, he slowly got out of bed, and found that he could move much easier. He had wanted to get on his laptop, but when he reached inside he found his casual clothes inside folded neatly and put next to his laptop. He didn't remember packing these nor did he have any relatives to deliver, but then again not much of this entire day made logical sense. For now Reno simply assumed that he must have put them into his bag this morning without thinking much of it.

Once he had changed into his clothes he picked up his bag and walked out of the room, feeling alot better than he did before. He saw Kouta and another senpai both heading towards the lobby. Deciding that leaving the seemingly deserted hospital was the best course of action for now. So he simply walked towards the lobby after the two of them, choosing to stay a little ways behind them for now as he tried to deduce what he could do so out of the current situation.

[Verbande]

"Hey, hold up, aren't you supposed to be one of those kids from that high school?"

"Yes indeed, sir~"

"Didn't you people get hit with a grenade?"

"I guess. It was kindof a blur. Oh well, I feel well enough to walk around now. So bye!" Gakuko hurried along on her way, leaving the doctor dumbfounded. "Who the heck walks off a grenade blast in a day like that...?" But there were no answers to be given to him, Gakuko had left, and there was certainly no one else to speak with him. Only she knew she had been treated by some strange nurse a short while earlier. Though even if someone knew that, they wouldn't understand how or why this nurse managed to patch people up so well. Mysteries were hidden in every detail, it seemed.

But none of that was the concern of Gakuko, at least that was how it seemed. She skipped her way through the halls, making her way out towards the lobby. As she went, she accidentally bumped into some younger kid. "Oops, sorry~" She said before carrying on her way. Then, she caught a glimpse of the student council president and some other boy. In Gakuko's head, there was no better person to answer a question than a figure of authority, so she stopped and decided to ask the president a question. "Hey! You're the prez, aren't you? Now someone like you has to know a thing or two about this 'A' person, surely?"

[Vocalia]

"Alright, question. When you got knocked out, did some voice in your head talk to you about 'finding A' or whatever?"

"... Sort of." Hayley bit her lip, feeling Marina's body weight pinning her already battered body down. "Marina, did you gain weight? You feel heavier than usual." She bluntly teased the girl, indirectly asking her to move herself away from her.

"I will not suggest pining the girl like that, especially given your condition." A woman spoke up. Hearing what sounded like a very familiar voice, Hayley's head turned with a swift move, noticing a fair-skinned, blonde nurse coming into the room. "About time you showed up. I was wondering who runs this place." Hayley frowned. "What the fuck is going on?"

"It seems that someone had planted an explosive in the school area. Perhaps this person had managed to pass the security perimeter." The nurse calmly replied, despite Hayley's clear and abrasive tone. "In any case, let's get the two of you checked. I'm sure neither of you are keen on staying here any longer. Let's start with you first, Summerland-san."

"Fuck yeah, I'm not." Hayley scoffed, taking a closer look at the nurse.
"By the way, you sound familiar. Not to sound like a crazy-ass stalker, but do you think we've met before?" The blonde asked with a curiously raised brow.

"No, Summerland-san. We've never met before. In fact, I'm not from around here." The nurse replied, pressing her hands that oddly felt cold to the touch. Hayley flinched slightly when she felt such cold hands against her skin, but when she saw that she was just checking on her bandaged wounds, she mentally scolded herself for being so seemingly paranoid. Unraveling the bandage on her head, Hayley could see a small bruise and an accompanying cut above her left ear, presumably from where she had hit against the wall as a result of the explosion's shock wave. Even she couldn't help but wonder why the wounds weren't as severe as she thought. "It seems that you've escaped danger, fortunately, and I don't see anything of immediate concern. You're good to go, but try to keep yourself safe."

"R-really? Sweet~! I'm so getting out of here." Hayley's mood went from the state of confusion to a happy relief. "Still, I'm not leaving without her." She pointed to Marina, looking at her with a trusting, friendly glance.

[Zombehs]

As he walked through the corridors, Ota’s sense of unease only grew. Every step he took echoed through the building, painting out the lack of noise that should have filled the air. It’s a hospital… where are the doctors, the nurses, the other patients? he wondered as he continued forward, an eerie feeling following behind him, tugging at each of his steps. He glanced about quickly, but as far as he could tell, he was the only patient on the floor, the other rooms conspicuously empty and devoid of life. Too spooky for me, he thought before trying his luck with the stairs. “Awesome….” he muttered to break the silence as the stairwell’s door creaked open to reveal utter darkness within. “If this was a horror movie, I’d be so dead….” he complained to himself as he took one last look around on the floor he was on. Sighing deeply, Ota stepped into the stairwell and let the door shut behind him with a damning thud. When did I change out of the gown…. was his last confused thought before he took the first step downwards.

Echoes bounced off the walls all around him, a steady rhythm Ota made heading down the stairs. With one hand on the railing and the other out in front of him, he descended through the darkness, carefully if a bit slowly. Stepping onto the ground floor Ota felt around for a doorknob and finding it, pulled it open slowly. He raised a hand to shield himself from the sudden brightness, blinded as his eyes adjusted. A voice caught his attention though, quiet yet elegant and immediately recognizable. It’s the same as my dream, was his thought before the voice snatched his thoughts away. “It’s good you’re awake, Fujika-san, though your injuries were the least severe.”

Ota flinched as he was addressed by his last name, refusing to believe it to be sheer coincidence that the voices matched up. Things had been too strange lately from that strange dream last night to what had happened at school. A bit cautiously, Ota found his voice to ask, “I see. You know my name; I don’t suppose I could ask for your own?”

His eyes were still adjusting so he couldn’t see, but the lady seemed to find his caution amusing, chuckling lightly. “Of course Fujika-san. My name is Margaret and though nice meeting you, I must be on my way.”

“Huh?” Ota managed to get out as he stepped into the hallway, but a quick glance revealed that the lady had vanished as suddenly as she had appeared. Confused, Ota scratched his head for a few moments before he let the door shut behind him and headed towards the lobby.

Pushing open a door Ota stepped into the lobby and looked around. It seemed he wasn’t the first person to make it here; a few others were already talking. He could make out the Student Council President beside two others, and taking himself into account, Ota assumed everyone was a student. Which just made things even more confusing, but a faint buzz from his pocket distracted him from his thoughts. Slipping his phone from his pocket, Ota frowned at the text on his screen. How the hell does s/he/it even have my number… he thought to himself as he read the latest message.

"Gather your friends and muster your courage. The second you leave that hospital, it's game on.
-A."

[Joshua Tamashii]

Joshua sat in the waiting room area of the hospital, looking up at the ceiling with thoughts flying through his head. Why was he even here to begin with? He barely knew anyone who had been hurt in the blast and even those he did he had only known for less then an hour. He also had little to know reason to see them, it wasn't like they were friends with him or anything. Yet for some reason he felt as if he had to come here and see them, like something had subconsciously influenced him to go to the hospital. But again why would he want to be here.

"It's nice to see you Tamashii-kun" A voice said, snapping Joshua out of his thoughts and causing him to actually look in front of him. He saw a nurse in front of him though there seemed to be nothing remarkable about her. Blond hair, Hazel eyes, fair skin. Decent looking he guessed but nothing that special in his opinion. Looking around he realized the hospital was a bit quiet and oddly deserted

"Yeah nice to... wait, how the hell did you know my name?" He said, now on gaurd"I don't think we're met before."

"No we haven't, but I know of you." The nurse said"My name is Margaret. I just came to tell you some of your friends are feeling better and that you can go see them if you wish. Here's a list of the rooms they can be found in."

"Thanks." Joshua said, taking the paper she had handed him and skimming it over quickly. When he looked up Margaret was gone. He guessed she had gone to look after some other patients"Well good-bye to you too."

Getting up he prepared to visit one of the injured students when his phone vibrated. Opening it he saw a text message that sent a chill down his spine
"Gather your friends and muster your courage. The second you leave that hospital, it's game on.
-A."

[LentWhiteninja]

One by one, Kouta's friends made their way down to the hospital lobby. He felt relieved that they were alright. In his head, he was running down a mental checklist to see who showed up. Of course, people were missing. "There are people missing. Has anyone seen TK, Chiharu, Kyou, Yurika, or Takashi? If they're not in the hospital, they're in serious danger," Kouta held up his phone for people who didn't get the message, "A is going to start hunting us when we leave the hospital, according to this text, so what worries me in regards to the missing people... is that they could all be dead at this very moment." Despite his cool and collected exterior, Kouta was illegitimately terrified at his core. He had built himself to work under pressure, but this was pushing his limits to a breaking point. He had to think before he acted, he knew this. A felt like a puppet master to Kouta, so what did he want the puppets to do? Kouta could hypothesize two motives. On one side, A could be trying to keep everyone boxed in by saying the hospital is the only safe haven he will provide. However, he could also be baiting them out by taunting them with his texts. Did A's plans have to do with Margaret and her whereabouts, or was she even involved at all? The senior tried to focus, but he soon found that to be difficult, which was to be expected after all.

After about a minute of serious contemplation (and pacing back and forth like a madman), Kouta felt like he has thoroughly analyzed every possible angle of the situation, and has devised a course of operation. "Everyone, I think it would be in our best interest to leave this place immediately," he said, making eye contact with everyone to emphasize his point. "If we stay here, A will just have more time to prepare for when we do eventually step outside. Also, there are lives at stake here! If we don't act now, a lot of our friends might die from our hesitation. In fact, it might already be too late!" Realizing he was sounding a bit panicked, Kouta took a second to settle back down before continuing. I think we've all watched enough horror movies to realize that splitting up is suicide. We're all going together, and I'm not going to take no for an answer. Not convinced? There is one A, and eight of us, and we're smart enough to not waltz into another trap like we did earlier today." He turned away from the group and faced the glass hospital doors. "We're wasting enough time as it is. Let's get moving."

Kouta braced himself for another trap, clenched his teeth, and swung open the hospital door. His brain went into high-alert in anticipation of another grenade flying towards his face. After a few second with his heart stopped, he realized that the door wasn't even rigged with anything. Heaving a sigh of relief, Kouta soldiered on, hopefully with everyone following. Of course, the moonlit streets were totally vacant, only to add to the tension of the situation. He wasn't at a loss for long, for his phone vibrated yet again. "Again with this... ?"

The text read: "Do you see yourself as the hunter, or the hunted? Think about it, but not for too long. I get bored quickly, so I have your friends and family. Are they alive? Follow my trail of red, and see whose corpses you find."
-A

Of course, more cryptic messages, whose meanings are always ones of imminent doom. Trail of red? He obviously means the blood of his victims. Who did A murder while everyone was in the hospital? Kouta's heart had a sinking feeling again as he looked to his friends with concern in his eyes. He pressed on with a knot in his stomach. As he walked out into the intersection in front of the hospital, he could see where A's trail began. "Well, I guess this explains where the nurses were this whole time..." Kouta forced his food to stay down as he got a whiff of the horrible odors of a dead body. After all, puking would only demoralize everyone else, and Kouta couldn't have that with their spirits already pretty low. This place was usually busy; how could no one see this?! "How sick do you have to be to do something like this?" the senior muttered to himself, leaving the dead nurse behind and following the drops of blood on the sidewalk. This is only the beginning, and Kouta felt like it was going to get much worse.

[Zombehs]

With a shake of his head Ota slipped his phone back into the pocket before stepping closer to the Student Council President. Judging from how Kouta acted and what he said, A was probably the reason they were all even in the hospital at the moment. Ota shook his head as Kouta continued to talk further, withdrawing into his own mind to work out exactly what had happened and what might happen. Evidently A had set up a trap for some of the students at the school, how Kouta and the others had walked in to it, Ota still had no idea. Now with the group assembled in the hospital, was it time for A to play his game? Too much like Saw, Ota thought as he shook his head at the distasteful movies. Watching as Kouta swung open the hospital doors without incident, Ota made to follow after him. While he didn’t agree with everyone staying together as one big group, he could bring it up at a later time. He didn’t agree with staying in the hospital, that much was for sure. It might just have been him, but empty and devoid of almost all life, the walls seemed to close in on Ota.

Walking through the doors into the open street behind Kouta, despite being empty and the game having begun, it still felt safer than the hospital. He paused as he took a slow look around the streets, trying to see if he could see anything. Noticing that Kouta had begun to pull ahead though, Ota began to call out to him. “Y-“ he stopped though, as the ever familiar buzz of his phone interrupted him.

"Do you see yourself as the hunter, or the hunted? Think about it, but not for too long. I get bored quickly, so I have your friends and family. Are they alive? Follow my trail of red, and see whose corpses you find."-A

Putting the phone away, Ota steeled himself and pushed forward to catch up to Kouta. If A wanted to play a game, he had a player, one that would like to introduce fist to face afterwards. Hitting the intersection right before the hospital, a faintly familiar scent was in the air and Ota frowned, afraid of what he might see. Blood… he thought as he laid eyes to the gruesome sight that decorated the streets, A’s first gift to them apparently. Turning away quickly, Ota felt a rush of emotions as the image stayed vivid in his mind.

Disgust, fear, anger, denial, and more threatened to overwhelm him, but Ota refused, his mind trying its best to stay rational at such a horrific sight. Fear is what he wants. Panic and I’ll die. Move damnit. Think damnit. Slamming his fist against a brick wall, the pain showed him he was still alive and cleared away his run-away emotions. With a final look at the corpse, Ota followed after Kouta sombrely, his thoughts still in turmoil. As much as he’d like to just ignore the fact that he’d just walked past a corpse, his mind wouldn’t let him. As the scene kept appearing in his thoughts, another thought joined it and the realization hit Ota. Fumbling about, Ota pulled out from his back pocket the card he had found on his bed this last night. He paused and as he held it up to the dark sky, Ota found looking at the card calmed his mind, settled his thoughts. What's the meaning behind this, he wondered as he stared at the card, the intricate designs capturing his attention.