1600/Visting Hours

Visting Hours
Date of Scene:	29 May 2024
Location:	Mitakihara General Hospital
Synopsis:	Taro visits his mentor/teacher/boss in the hospital. He has lunch. She has... wisdom?
Cast of Characters:	Fuyuko Yuuhi, Taro Yamada
Tinyplot:	Sunset of Sora

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Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
So Fuyuko's in a lot of pain - nothing new. She's got a new, bad, haircut - also nothing new, she had been a teenager, once.

She has to take time off of work to remain in the burn ward for a time, and she's completely without magic. That, unfortunately, is new. She hates it, actually, and the message she'd sent out to her staff was a simple one.

    Team: I'll be out of the office for at least a week on recovery at Mitakihara General Hospital. I am fine. Do not send get well gifts.

She's still anticipating that a few well-wishers will ignore her request and send something and she's... unfortunately... expecting her sticky student.

"If Taro Yamada comes by," she tells a nurse, when they come into change her dressings, "He's an allowed guest."

When he eventually is shown to her room, he'll find that she's covered in bandages and in a hospital gown under a blanket, even her face partially bandaged. Her hair is pulled back, but seems to have been haphazardly cut away to treat burns on her scalp.

Taro Yamada has posed:
The hospital. The hospital?? The strongest fighter he knew (outside of that maniac Beryl, who he'd only seen from a distance) and whatever menace was afoot had hospitalized her?

Bad. Bad. Bad. If his powers could do anything, he'd do - something, ANYTHING.

But he is not that strong. The training he had been waiting for? Cancelled.

He didn't cook all this post-exercise food for nothing!

So he hoofs it to the hospital, taking part of the trip by the roof in his henshin form to speed things up, and comes in with his bookbag over one shoulder and a plastic bag full of bentos in his hand.

When he comes in, his normally expressive face flickers - but he's trying to not show the worry. After all, a boss should exert ultimate confidence over her minions, and he is a henchman right now.

"The hospital has shit food," is what he says. "It's healthy and it'll taste better than the slop they feed people here. You at least got a few good hits on that brat, didn't you?"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"I took her hand, before she regrew it with stolen power," Fuyuko says, and she's propped up so at least she doesn't feel humiliated by being encountered by her student in a vulnerable position. "Irritating brat. It was Sunbreaker, and she's not against hunting her former co-workers. And seeing as she stole my power, she'll know you have magic - stay away, got it?"

It bears repeating, this kid so full of steam and with absolutely no real clue of what to do with it -

"I'll be fine. She's kicked over too many wasps nests, and she's going to crash back to earth before long."

The food... is glanced at, before she gestures for him to put it on her tray.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You already told me to keep my head down yesterday. I'm aware I can't do shit," and he can't hide the bitterness in his voice as he says it, mouth twisting. "I have got to get some long range attacks when you're back on your feet."

When, not if. He has no doubt that it will be a when.

"Good," he says to the wasp nest comment. "That means we just have to wait. When that healer Tuxedo gets his powers back, we can get him in here, problem solved." Problem!! Solved!!

He sets the bentos down, and he cracks open one of them. He splurged on pork belly; the long trip means it's cooled and the fat has soaked into the rice, and the lightly pickled cucumbers and carrots have gotten soggy in their side area. "This was supposed to be for after you kicked my ass in training, but it'll do here. Burns are a bitch and a half."

...He hasn't sworn this much since she'd beaten him down in an alley.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"It's not that you can't do shit," she snorts, "It's that she's going to need an entire gang to take her in, and you don't want to out yourself. I only went after her because she was picking off the new girls and they're mine."

All of these annoying kids are hers to protect, and hers to train up, look after, answer their calls.

"We'll work on it. You could try actual knives, in addition to your blood ones.

"Exactly. I know the kid, so he'll do me a favor. Won't charge too much when it's time to pay up, either."

Which is fortunate, because this will be the second favor she owes him, a fact she isn't particularly pleased about. "You realy don't need to go feeding mme, you know. I didn't agree to train you in exchange for your food. In fact, pretty sure you started working for me to get fed."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Right. I have an image to maintain and working with a crowd of pre-adolescents with sparkle sparkle heart murder powers is NOT on brant," Taro says primly. He's been working on his reputation for literal decades; he can't have his true fearsome yokai self get put on the level of all those....pink sparkle children. Even if they're currently stronger. He will fix that.

"I was going to do it anyway. I've got enough budget to buy food and it's cheaper in the long run to make it myself than going to the dorm cafeteria. And you eat like shit." It's better for the budget. Better for survival. To consume and consume and consume without end - and to know it came from a trustworthy source.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
It hurts, to take up the chopsticks and take a bit of pork belly, but hospital food is shit, and this brat won't shove off unless he's sure she eats - so she eats, chewing thoughtfully, ignoring the sting, the ache, the pain, even though it's significant.

Second degree burns over most of her body. It would leave pretty horrible scarring, if she had to heal normally, some of it needing surgery. She was lucky her chest hadn't been terribly burned - it would have made it hard to breathe, would have needed her skin split apart, seeing as burned flesh lost it's elasticity.

"You have an image to maintain alright. Though, if you want to get stronger, you'll want to work alongside someone, eventually."

Taro Yamada has posed:
She's eating. Good.

The thought of it consumes him, phrasing intentional. His life has beena cycle of consumption, being eaten by yokai and then eating his way through humanity, scrounging enough normal food by day while hunting for blood at night. It's only due to her that the cycle has changed - school by day, and work in the afternoon, and he beats rice and seasons meat to music by night. It is mostly solitary, for now, but what kind of monster needs much company? All living things must eat. The needs of the stomach overwhelm the needs of the heart.

And these injuries would need fuel to heal. He'll drag that healer in here if he won't come in on his own - shouldn't be too hard, maybe he can guilt him like the little goodie goodie that he is - and then it'll be all fixed. Training can begin. His boss can be back on her feet in the office, all power, a swan gliding with all effort hidden under the water's surface.

"And when I find someone worthy, I'll work with them," he says. "I can't say I'm impressed with my so-called agemates so far, but there's got to be some diamond in this needle stack. I can't be the only genius you've recruited."

(Is he preening? He is, a little. For all that he was born in the 40s, his soul is still sixteen.)

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
She is eating. It takes energy to heal, and food is energy. She, unlike her student, and unlike a certain other vampire she isn't keen to introduce him too, isn't dependent on the energy of others.

And while she eats, she keeps an eye on him, too. Because the kid's a little stupid. He's bold, brave, and a little stupid, but he knows what he wants, and he goes for it.

It's what she values most - people who know what they want. People who go for it.

"You're not, but considering the last one decided to go all despairing dramatics and steal my power, you're definitely my favorite."

Hm.

Probably shouldn't have said that.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Her favorite?

Her favorite!

He lights up as a Christmas tree. This is not the critical point to stop him from getting attached, that time is months past, but this is likely the time when Fuyuko may realize that her stupid, brave, blustering student is not so much sticky as one of those spikey little briars that gets trapped in a dog's fur for months on end.

"Please. Even if I go off the deep end, I know better than to bite the hand that feeds me," he preens. "What's the point of going mad with power if you're gonna be sad about it? Power should make a person happy. What's the point of it otherwise?" He leans forward on the hospital bed's end, his eyes wide and dilated. "There ought to be plenty for both of us, Fuyuko-sensei. There's enough room for two people to be the strongest." A beat. "Three if you have to bring that girl in red, I guess."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
She definitely shouldn't have said that. Look at the shine in his eyes. This kid might as well have been dunked in honey with how sticky he's about to be.
gh, gross.

But she doesn't say anything to discourage him, now does she. No, she realizes she's not going to be able to go back. So what else can she do but sigh and go forward.

"Yeah, you're smarter than her. The problem with genius' is they're inevitably fragile little hothouse flowers."

She finger guns, which is a sign the morphine may have been present all along.

"Exactly. If you're going to go mad with power, you should have fun with it. And I don't really care about being the strongest, but if you think I won't push you your hardest, you're crazy kid. You're going to - wait, what girl in red?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"And I am the one exception, being a hardy little tuber," and now he's just going to be preening all night. Sparkling,even. Especially with the finger guns.

"Exactly! I'll just have to get stronger than you, and then you can stop getting yourself mauled by all these randos and I'll take care of them," because frankly it was inconvenient and stressful to have his boss laid up when she could be! Teaching him! Being safe!

(Long, long ago, his ma had been in and out of the hospital. He was too young to do anything except worry. Being strong meant control, meant it wouldn't happen, meant he wouldn't lose anyone -)

"Back when I saw you as a yok - as a mahou? it might be a decade ago now. The two of you were just smashing the street open," Taro says, and he grins. "You looking like a purple zebra and that girl in red, agents of destruction in the night, womano a womano."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
A hardy little tuber. Nerd. Nerd. She's not going to tell him to his face, but she's thinking it loudly. She puts pork belly in her mouth rather than call him a nerd out loud with her mouth, like she's still a shithead teenager.

"Wow, rude," she grumbles, "I'm not getting mauled by randos, it's taking big bosses to put me down."

At least there's that. Her pride would not cope if she was getting jobbed by a nobody. Might as well put her in the ground, if that happened.

"Stellar. She has red hair, but her costume is gold and white. She's my counterpart, still. Probably doing something stupid as we speak, she's pissy about all of this."

As if she, Fuyuko, was not.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Good. You're my sensei, you can't let some small fry put you in the hospital. It'd make both of us look bad," Taro says, arms crossed.

After all, with her being a former yokai terror and him being a current one, they had reputations to maintain. Powers to wield. He'd been a medium fish in a small pond for too long, but he'd climb that metaphorical mountain.

"Red girl. Stellar. Probably helping all the sparkle kiddies with their magic wands. I'll keep her in mind and I won't piss her off if she shows up. At least it's not that maniac Beryl - I know we can't off other members of the company but she's been too disrsepectful," because clearly, obviously, everyone should understand Fuyuko's power.

"I know I told you this yesterday, but I'll keep on playing defense. If you need me to carry Stellar information or whatever, I can. i've kept my powers quiet so I can be a normie boy who works for Obsideon, I can be a good little courier."

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
Us, he says.

Stickier than honey, that's what he is. He's stickier than honey. Us!

"You sound like her, worrying about disrespect from a monster," she rolls her eyes a little. "I don't care about that maniac, or any of them. They're doing what they want, and they'll get crushed when the time comes. Take that as a note, if you have to; people who push are the only people who can get what they want, but they have to be ready for the smackdown when it comes."

Beryl isn't ready. Hinoiri isn't ready either, no matter what she thinks now.

"You can do that. If I have messages, I'll send them. For now, you're playing defense is all I want, aside from Sunny getting smacked upside the head."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Even a monster can have respect. I am the yokai that lurks in the night; I can respect an opponent if they can take me on, and plot to overthrow them accordingly." Wait, that sounds bad since she did kick his ass. "Unless I'm currently employed, because I like having a job. I *am* capable of maintaining a mutuall beneficial alliance because I am not a moron." There we go.

He has no plans of betraying her, after all; if her goal is for him to do what he pleases, he'll do that, and part of that is repaying his dues to the one who assisted him. Does the wolf rebuke the mountain that shelters it? Does the shark deny the ocean that sustains it? Shall the babe rebuke a mother's milk? He is no fool; he will consume all and pay it back.

"Defense it is!" Regrettably. "You're getting dinner whether you want it or not. I"m too wired to goof off after school, so you're getting my stress cooking. You can get out of it when you don't. End up. In the hospital."

He's not - yelling. He's being careful not to yell at his boss. But - hospitals are still as shit as they were back when he was a kid. Being here is making him itch.

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Respect is worthwhile, but it isn't the end all or be all," she looks at him, injured but not broken, surviving, if not well. She's got injuries that would alter her life irreparably, if she weren't confident in the power of the other side to band together and beat down one particularly angsty teenager. She could spend her time mourning what she's lost - but she'll get her power back, and Mamoru Chiba will get his back. It might cost her a favor, but she'll be back to her old self, and the idea of having been disrespected - it will be dust on the wind.

"You and my old partner, you're both so caught up in respect and disrespect, in the idea of being treated by others as you deserve. What does someone else's opinion matter, when you know the truth?"

When you are who you are and you know that that won't, and can't, be changed?

She wouldn't care too much if he was plotting to take her down. It's what a baby antagonist like him is supposed to do, even if he is technically older than she is.

"If you were plotting to get your own back after I kicked your ass, I wouldn't be particularly upset, so long as you didn't whine when I knocked you back down."

If she could. She hadn't gotten lucky when she'd defeated him - she'd had skill and experience on her side, and the simple fact that her shields could hurt if someone decided to reach inside. The kid's survived by playing the coward's game, but he's still survived. With some proper experience on his side, he'll be a real threat.

Some day, anyway.

"Stress cooking, seriously? Just for that, I'm giving you a training regimen. Something to put into your training regimen, so you're not spending all your time trying to feed me like a stray cat."

She's not... terribly displeased.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I know the truth. But how much is that gonna help me if no one else knows? Power isn't just about how strong I am, it's about making others react to me."

To not attack him. To serve him. To offer him gifts. To part before him in a crowd. To be in the headlights, in the spotlight, in the news every night! Everything, everything, everything will revolve around him!

"I'll kick your ass in a fair fight when I'm stronger. I'll fight you as many times as it takes. When I'm the strongest in Japan, you can bask in my power and share in the spoils. Doesn't it piss you off that no one remembers how cool you are? I'll MAKE them remember us." He'll carve his name into the wall of history!

And he pouts. "Hey, I was going from job to job before and sleeping in capsule hotels. All the jobs that take people who look underage," HE'S AN ADULT, "And have no ID pay like shit. I gotta eat as much as I can to make up for lost time. If this Obsideon thing falls through, I can go become a caterer or something so I can get free food from my job instead of having to be waitstaff again." But! Oh! "Yes! You need to train me! I was waiting all day for you to show up!"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Well, you're right about that, at least. Power is about making right. That's what might is for, after all." She is a supervillain. All the pain-killing drugs in the world (not that she'd let them put her on too many) can't change that. "You want to be the strongest in all of Japan? Pretty sure most of the magic is here in Tokyo. But if you want to be the strongest here, I'm going to have to have to kick your training up a gear."

Fuyuko, you've not been training him at all yet! You've been forcing him to live a regular life! You don't even care about a regular life!

Don't worry about that, universe.

"Obviously it does," she says flatly, "I was a terror. When I split from the so-called side of light, youma across the city became more successful. When I was on the side of light? I saved thousands, easy. And none of it was worth anything, gone from the march of time. But getting pissy about it won't change the facts. You think you can make them remember you?"

She grins, nastily.

"Good fucking luck, kid. I'll be watching."

Breaking the Fade is one thing. But the Veil will make sure none of them are remembered, except by those like them.

And they die.

"You mean the jobs for kids? Yeah, they don't always pay too good. Good thing you tried chomping the wrong person." A snort. "Yeah, well, I was on my way to kick your ass - I mean train you - when I got a call and ended up in the hospital."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I've got to catch up a lot if I want to beat up all these sparkly adolescents," he says, and begins to pace. "I don't even have a way to attack from a distance unless I count throwing rocks. They've got lasers and giant hammers and I think one of them can force people to sing? I can revive from just about anything, but that doesn't matter if they take me out twenty feet away..."

Which wasn't usually a problem in a nation with very few gun owners, but would be a very big problem for him beginning to actively prey on mahou.

"I remember you," he says. "I saw you both flattening - I dunno what you were fighting, but the road was in pieces by the end of it. The papers called it a freak earthquake the next day. Even if you weren't in the papers, there was something."

It was a start!

"Besides, I've been making them remember my name - even if they can't remember *why*. Starting an attack as a human and then transforming helps it stick. Leaving witnesses to the human part and then cornering the victim so the memory loss only affects them... It's taken a lot of trial and error but Japan has learned to fear me - The Back Alley Slasher!"

The fearsome yokai that lurked in back alleys! The monster that left victims with freshly healed wounds and memory loss! (And usually empty wallets. Look, cash was cash!) A terror well known enough to have a couple RPGMaker games, a straight to TV movie, and lots of creepypastas.

"Construction isn't a kid's job!" He's terrifying! He's an adult! He's not a sulking teenager! "Good. We've got a lot of work to do. Being a terror is a lot more work than people think!" Huffs!

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Well, the first thing you need to figure out is defenses from far-off then. After that, figuring out if you can launch those blades of yours. You're a close range fighter, and getting beyond that might be difficult - not everyoen is a swiss army knife of a person."

Like she had been, not to brag, but, she'd been a close and mid-range fighter with great defense and offense, and yes, she's smug about it. No, she's not thinking about the possibility of her trainee picking up dark energy down the line. SHe doesn't use the stuff, why would she imagine one of her trainees picking it up, especially when he's been smarter than that so far.

"Yeah, we were an earthquake. A freak storm. A typhoon, once, after we shattered a water pipe and flooded half of Shibuya. Plenty of things, but never us. Just like you're not you, in their eyes. You think Back Alley Slasher is you? That's the name of a dime store horror villain. The kind that die in the end."

The Slasher Dies In No Time.

And yet, she's pretty sure that will piss him off, hearing what she knows is true, and what a kid like him, will feel.

"Yeah, construction's not a kid's job, which is why you can't do it anymore." She's throwing a knife in the dark, but she'd bet he hasn't been hired for construction work in ages.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"....Might be worth seeing if I can use my blades as as shield. If not, then I need to get better at dodging. Do you know if I can get one of those fun little weapon and armor combos if I catch one of those little flying creatures or if I can only use one power set at a time?" He can steal! He loves stealing! Maybe he could get a magic car. Or a pile driver. "Not that power stealing thing Sunbreaker's doing, but double dipping."

...His little doll Jack would probably love eating a little talking guy too. Which is a creepy thought to have, but Jack's gonnna be Jack. He's just glad his little Dory has a better personality.

"I've been introducing myself as the Back Alley Slasher since the moon landing. If I'm not the Back Street Slasher, then someone owes me copyright money." He bares his teeth, as if showing the fangs of his other form. "I *am* a horror villain! This," and he gestures at himself in his rumpled school uniform, "is the costume! Everyone dies someday, but I'm not going down easy!"

He eats people to live. He's a clawed freak who doesn't show in the mirror. He's been hurting people to live since before Fuyuko was born. There's no point in denying he's the monster. He's been given his role and he's going to enjoy it before the end credits roll.

"They're all cowards. I can haul just as well as anyone else," which is a denial that shows just how on the mark Fuyuko is. "I pass for sixteen these days and that's a good age for hiring!"

Fuyuko Yuuhi has posed:
"Far as I know, it's one at a time. Doesn't mean you shouldn't steal, though. Riventon loves stealing, from what I hear, maybe you can ask him about it while you're pretending you're just in the know and not actively a part of everything. If anyone's got experience with stealing and figuring out if you can use it, it will be him."

Fuyuko had not been a thief and hadn't needed anyone else's power. Still doesn't. But since not everyone is as blessed as her, it's only natural she connect pieces where pieces should be connected.

Of course. It would be easier if she weren't dealing with an enormous moron, otherwise known as a teenager.

"You're an idiot teenager and if had anything to throw at you and the ability to bend my arms enough to throw things at you, I'd be doing just that," Fuyuko snaps, "You're an idiot who's been on an extended hormonal journey called puberty and the fact that the best you've done with yourself is spook mundanes is not actually something to be proud of. Any idiot with a knife can do it. It's not hard. You've got magic, if you want to be known then do better."

Be better.

"And besides, sixteen isn't a good age for hiring, it's been proven over and over that teenagers are idiots and that hard labor in youth leads to health impacts as an adult." She would know. She actually got her degree in human resources, which includes employment law. "Congratulations. You're legally and physically a child."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Ok, ask Riventon about theft. See what I can get." Hm. He pauses in his pacing, then turns to her. "Did you know that with how people keep forgetting stuff, you can steal anything if you're transformed? Vending machines are great for that. Just open them up as long as you've got a bag, you've got snacks for days."

It was a trick he didn't use too often, just in case some normie caught on and called the cops for a stake out, but it was kind of hilarious how much one could get away with when people just. Forgot you existed.

"But-cha don't," Taro teases, and he leans over the foot of the hospital bed again. "I may be legally and physically a teenager, but my soul and brains are that of a fully grown man. Yeah, any idiot with a knife can scare people, but I've stuck around!" He's got the skills! He just needs to add more skills! "Once you're back on your feet, I'll become better. There's got to be a way to get around that forgetting spell!"

He'll find it he'll find it he'll find it i't sFINE.

"Besides. No one cares if hard labor hurts kids. The laws may be tightening up now that there's a kid shortage but nobody gave a shit."