Foggy

Ryuo, along with the rest of the student council, entered the hospital. It was teeming alive with numerous nurses and doctors running about, likely due to the sudden influx of patients they had received the night before.

“Are you going to be all right?” He stopped for a moment to ask Meguru.

“Of course I’ll be fine.” He replied, but his demeanor indicated a shift from his earlier cheerful vibe. “I’m not a child, I can handle myself.” Azuyoto looked over at him with an eyebrow raised. Was this nerd afraid of needles or something, he thought.

“We’d like to know the rooms of the injured Monta students please.” Ryuo walked to the desk and asked the nurse. She informed him of all the rooms numbers. Her manner of speaking was tense, something that tipped him off in realizing the Capa students were already here.

In fact, the moment they stepped inside they could tell there was a bit of a tone shift from the workers. While hospitals generally weren’t the most cheerful of places due to their line of work. They could all tell there was a heavy atmosphere upon their arrival.

“Listen, I understand we all like to engage in a bit of banter with the Capa students.” Said Riyone as they headed down the hall. “But considering the situation, we should try to at least be the ones to have some decorum.” They all nodded agreement as they reached the first of the rooms.

“I’ll talk to this one alone.” Said Ryuo, pointing them further down the hall. “You should all find the others and see what they can tell us.” With that he was left alone as he stepped into one of the private rooms. Inside, he saw one of the Monta students laying peacefully in bed.

This one wasn’t chosen by him simply because it was convenient. Knowing the group that had gotten themselves into this mess, he already knew this was the one that could be called the leader of the pack. “I hope it’s not too soon for someone like me to be talking to you.” He spoke, revealing himself to the boy.

“I figured this was going to happen. So I’m already ready to tell you anything you ask.” He spoke softly. The boy had a cast on his arm and bandages covering parts of his body and face, hiding away the visible parts of his injuries.

“First off, I understand you must be quite angry towards those Capas.” Ryuo pulled up a chair and sat besides his bed. “But I want to be very clear that I will not tolerate any dishonesty. So please, tell me the truth on what led to this.”

Given their environment, he knew people would try and twist things to make them appear as the good guy. So Ryuo had to look around every avenue to figure out the actual truth to the situation. Though as of this moment, without any third-party individuals helping him, he was stuck with not enough evidence to know either way.

“It’s true that we were being stupid.” The boy admitted. “We probably should’ve just walked away when they were ribbing us. Especially seeing as they were loitering in that construction site.” Though it was the fact that they were doing so that only fueled the anger of the Monta students.

“While I agree that what they were doing was wrong.” Ryuo responded to the statement on the alleged crime. “Last time I checked, they’re Capa students. It’s not under our jurisdiction to punish them ourselves.” Especially given that this was done in the neutral zone. The correct protocol from the Monta side of things was simply to report it to the authorities.

“That’s easy to say when you’re not in that situation.” The boy tried to defend himself, but a simple knowing glare from Ryuo promptly caused him to return to the subject at hand. “Anyway, we got to arguing and yelling at each other. Then he grabbed me, like he was going to get physical and…” He paused, as if trying to rack his brain on any more information. “And that’s all I know. After that I held some loud noises and next thing I know, there’s some guy hovering over me asking if I’m okay.”

“That’s interesting.” Ryuo pondered over this information for a minute or two. It was understandable that his injuries could’ve taken some memories away. But he seemed to be alert to his surroundings and recalled the prior parts without issue. There was also no reason to suspect he was lying or making up anything given there was no conclusion to this story. “Thanks for telling me all this.”

He got up, returned the seat exactly where he found it, and left the room without saying much else. While Ryuo was glad to get some truth to this strange plot. He wasn’t left with enough to make any headway on what his decisions should be. There was also the problem that he only could get the Monta side of the story. There was no way any of the injured Capas would even entertain the notion of answering his questions.

Fortunately there was one card up his sleeve to resolve that issue. Jurie.

Ryuo pulled out his phone and immediately began composing a message to send her way. He told her everything the boy had told him without any prompt so that she could also get the full picture. Something he was confident she was in need of knowing that she should be at this hospital right now too.

***

After Jurie had finished up talking to one of the patients, she got a notification from Ryuo. She knew this meant he had to be at the hospital too as she quickly read through his long winded message. It was capped off with him asking her to let him know what she learns from the injured Capa students. Which she promptly did, albeit writing it much more concisely and with some shortened phrases that would take him time to decipher.

Unfortunately for him, and for her, their stories they were given mostly lined up and they were unable to give each other much in the way of new information. The only thing she noticed, which she didn’t outright mention to him in her response, was the part where he told her that the Capa student grabbed his classmate. From what she heard, it was the other way around.

“I’m surprised you’re on your phone at a time like this.” Niiya surprised her from behind, nearly causing her to drop her phone as she quickly hid away the screen. It would be an issue if she saw her messaging Ryuo. While it didn’t have his name, as that would be idiotic of her to have saved, it would be awkward trying to explain who ‘darling’ was.

“Just writing down what I found out, that’s all.” She anxiously responded, trying to regain her composure. “But I get the feeling you probably got about as much as I did.”

“Yep, they say they were arguing. Then suddenly something happened and the next thing they know, there’s some girl asking if they’re all right.” Which the pair understood it to be Yumoko. “Too bad we can’t ask those Montas what’s up, but I guess they’d probably just lie to us anyway.”

“Heh, yeah I guess so.” Jurie couldn’t reveal the extra information she had gained thanks to Ryuo. There was no good explanation on why she would be privy to such information. “Anyway, we should go join up with the others.”

“Go ahead and do that.” She replied, looking down the hall towards something else. “I’ll just go take a quick break, if you know what I mean.”

“Of course, I’ll see you later.” Jurie assumed she meant she needed to use the restroom. So she didn’t have any more questions to ask and walked away. However that was far from the truth as Niiya had a big grin on her face as she walked the opposite direction.

It wasn’t the restrooms that she had been looking down the hall for. It was something, or rather someone, else. The girl had spotted Meguru walking alone and realized this would be make for a golden, albeit risky, opportunity.

For what better way to get the Monta’s side of the story, then to intimidate it out of one of their members?