1607/The Prince's Parting Words

The Prince's Parting Words
Date of Scene:	30 May 2024
Location:	Mitakihara General Hospital
Synopsis:	A visit, and a farewell for the time being.
Thanks to:	Mochi
Cast of Characters:	Tadase Hotori, Ikuto Tsukiyomi

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Tadase Hotori has posed:
    While Mitakihara General didn't have an Ikuto Tsukiyomi on the list of patients, they did have another familiar name Tadase tried a little later: Taichi Suzuki, the same pseduonym Ikuto uses at school to avoid Easter. When he asked what had happened to them, the burns confirmed that it was Ikuto - or at least someone using the same name who'd battled Sunbreaker. So probably Ikuto.

    Tadase doesn't want to go through the complications of explaining how he's family to "Taichi" and getting permission to see him - so he does something very un-Tadase like, and uses his henshin to allow him to vault up to the roof of the hospital and head to the burn ward from there after dehenshin'ing. Tadase knows people don't usually ask the clean cut, blonde boy who looks like he knows what he's doing what he's doing and finds his way to 'Taichis room.

    After a moment, taking a breath, Tadase opens the door and simply walks in like he's supposed to be there - not a knock or anything, closing the door behind him. After a moment of making sure nobody else but the patient is in the room he just waltzed into, he calls out. "Tsukiyomi-san?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto is sitting up in his hospital bed, having awoken from yet another nightmare not long before. "Hotori-san? Did someone tell you I was here?"

The catboy looks like he hasn't had a restful sleep in days. His right hand is heavily bandaged, and there are still lighter bandages indicating less urgent burns being treated on his shoulder and leg. Yoru sleeps quietly on his unburnt shoulder, curled up.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase nods, takes another breath, and steps over to Ikuto's bedside."Actually... I heard you were here a while back." He says, calmly. "You don't show up to school and Student Council knows." he points out. "But... Kaname-san told me the actual 'reason' why you ended up here." he says.

    "So... firstly... I'm sorry. I assumed you'd gotten yourself in here doing something..." he pauses, looking for the word. "Something more like you would have done in the past. So I didn't come by sooner, not till she told me." he says.

    "But I was going to end up coming by one way or another, either way. Just... sorry for presuming you were out doing bad things."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto grins. "Ah...Madoka-chan told you that I was protecting Yuki-chan, then. I know it was dangerous, and foolish. But if I hadn't put myself in the way, she could have..." He doesn't finish the sentence. He doesn't want to think about what could have happened to Yuki if he hadn't been there.

"It's better that it was me." He gives Tadase a serious look. "Be careful, Hotori-san. That...demon, running the show in that girl's body right now is incredibly dangerous. All she did was grab me for a few seconds and this happened."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase nods quietly. "It might have been foolish, Tsukiyomi-san... but it was a good kind of foolish." He says, with a smile. "Putting yourself in the line of fire to protect others... that's not what Easter does. But it is what we do." he says. "It means that you're more serious about turning over a new leaf than it felt like - like you're not just doing it for your sake."

    "...yeah, Sunbreaker, that girl, she's very dangerous. I've heard." he pauses. "So... I know you're in the hospital and you haven't snuck out successfully yet, which tells me a lot but... how bad is it. How are you? How bad?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto smiles. "Maybe I'll make for a decent hero someday. Yuki-chan's the real hero though; she came back for me after distracting Sunbreaker and managed to get me here. Without her, I er...the burn on my hand is pretty bad."

"That big claw I wear as Black Lynx? Sunbreaker had her hand over it when she grabbed hold of me. One of the doctors kept asking if it was some sort of new yakuza initiation they should come up with treatment plans for because it looked like I'd had a branding iron put to my hand. When I told him the only thing even remotely yakuza-adjacent I'd done was wear a wild suit to the Radiant Heart prom, he couldn't stop laughing for about ten minutes."

Ikuto looks at Yoru on his shoulder. "Yoru's taking it worse than me. Sunbreaker drained all of the magic in me, so he's just been asleep since then. The Heart's Egg is keeping him going I suppose, but until all of that magic in Sunbreaker gets let back out to the people it belongs to, he's probably not going to wake up."

The catboy is clearly trying to avoid admitting how bad his current state is. Trying not to make his friend worry more.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase looks up at the sky. "You've got a ways to go but it at least seems like you're getting on the right track. Hopefully with less hospital stays. And you know, you have a phone too. I shouldn't be finding out about this stuff second hand." he points out. "You always try not to worry people and always end up worrying them more. I hope you've texted your poor sister."

    Tadase's head comes back down to look at Ikuto and he is smirking. "Yeah that suit was... A Choice." he nods. "Maybe try something a little bit more traditional next time if you get to take a girl out without going out a window." he notes.

    "Yeah, probably the quietest Yoru has been since he hatched." He says. It's an attempt at humor. "But... I can imagine how it would feel. Kind of a part of you, but also a constant companion, and now he's not talking." Tadase looks at Yoru with a lot of sympathy.

    And then after a moment, he looks Ikuto up and down. "Alright, Tsukiyomi-san. Now that you've tried telling me it's worse for Yoru, how about you try to turn over a new leaf again and tell me what you're actually going through?" He says. "Because I know you didn't tell me all of it. You have to at least try to hide it first, right?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto frowns. "Figures it wouldn't get by you...fine. It's not good. I keep having nightmares about it. About...if I'd been a few seconds slower, and hadn't gotten in Sunbreaker's way. I don't think it's anything Sunbreaker herself did. She's not subtle like that. It's like...I don't know. Maybe I'm just scared by what happened. Scared that I could have been a bit slower and Yuki-chan could have gotten hurt. Is that...normal, Hotori-san?"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase nods. "I've had a few of those nightmares myself. I think it's natural to wonder what if. It's part of the job I guess. We stop really horrible things from happening, and we can't help but think about what would happen if we weren't there." he agrees.

    "But that's the catch. We 'are' there. There's a ton of us - people who are going to do good when things are difficult, get in the way, get hurt, but in doing so we prevent those worst-case situations from happening."

    "And especially if it's someone you care about, you can worry. A lot. But don't let the worry cripple you, cause you need to be there. Not just for Yuki - but most people are 'somebody's' Yuki. Or going to be. And I don't want to see any of them get hurt. But... also not you so hopefully don't be working alone."

    "... wish I could say don't go out and get in fights without me."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto opens his mouth to say something. Closes it. Tilts his head. "I really do care about Yuki-chan a lot, don't I? When I felt that surge of energy from Sunbreaker appearing, my heart sank. When I saw her taking aim at Yuki-chan, I...wasn't even thinking at that point. I just wanted to do anything it took to keep Sunbreaker from hurting her, no matter the cost."

"Chi-ch- Um. Chiyo-chan that is, said that rumor around the academy is that Yuki-chan and I are you know...together. Said that I should ask Yuki-chan about her feelings. But...hey, what do you mean 'wish I could say don't go out and get in fights without me'? I don't plan on taking Easter on all by myself, you know. You're stuck in this mess too."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase shook his head. "If she likes you enough to hang around with you, you probably should ask her out. You're not gonna find many girls like that." Tadase teases his near-brother. "No question about it. Don't want to be single for so long that suit comes back into fashion, after all." the younger boy chides. "But more seriously, if she inspires those feelings in you, you should at least ask. If she doesn't feel that way it's good to know up front, rather than keeping it all buried. Just make sure YOUR feelings are true too."

    And then Tadase pauses. "Ikuto-san... my grandmother is getting worse." Tadase says. Ikuto will know of all people how much Tadase looks up to his grandmother, how much she means to him. "...she's going to need to go to a specialist facility on the other side of Japan. And my parents can't really leave their jobs... and she shouldn't go alone..."

    He pauses. Takes a deep breath. "She asked me to go with her. She asked me, for help, specifically. So she wouldn't be alone. And it's my grandmother. I can't say no." he says. "So... I'm going to be gone from Tokyo for a while. I don't know how long. Obviously I hope it's short but... I can't say." Tadase admits. "So this chapter of your fight, at least, is probably going to be without me." he admits. "But... I'm really glad I got to see you like this. Not... hurting... obviously. But putting yourself in the line of fire for someone else. Being strong enough to break away from Easter. Because... Tokyo needs a lot of help, too. Easter's still messing with things they don't understand, and Obsidian above them too. Threatening regular people, who don't have hatched charas or whatever. And even magical people. There's a lot of other people's Yuki's who are gonna be in the line of fire. Me leaving won't change that. So... I need someone who can help when I'm not around. Lots of someones."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto nods. "If your grandmother asked you for help, the only thing you can do is be there for her. Take care of her, and try not to worry too much about Tokyo while you're away. There are a lot of good people here, and I'll keep doing what I can to make up for the past too. With people like Madoka-chan and Usagi-san around, there's no way anything bad will happen. Hopefully I won't be stuck like this for too long, so I can get back to stopping Easter, and protecting people. Don't worry...I won't let Easter keep hurting people, Tadase-kun. I'll uh..try not to get myself put in the hospital too much, too."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase looks at Ikuto. "If you want me to not worry, you're never gonna get that." He admits. "This is my city, my school, my friends, my family. All of that is here." he says. "Except for my Grandmother, everything I care about will still be here and I'll still worry about it." he says, bluntly.

    "If you want me to worry less you can join Kaname-san in texting me and keeping me aware of what's going on. That way I can at least think about stuff and know you're on it. Even if you think it'll stress me out... I mean, I know Tokyo. I know magic. I know something's gonna be happening, you might as well tell me." he says, and laughs a little. "If it's all peaceful I'll know it's crap, and if you and other people tell me different stuff I'll know someone's lying." he continues.

    "Yeah, not letting Easter hurt people includes you and Utau too, you know." Tadase adds.

    "...Also, you should know. I gave the Humpty Lock to Kaname-san. I thought about giving it to you, but I've also been hearing one of Obsidian's goons is going around stealing magical stuff... and even if I don't know what the lock and key are used for together, I think it'd be a bad idea to keep them in the same place if there's some jerk like that around." he says.

    "Plus, Kaname-san already has so many chara, giving her another chara-related thing probably won't make her more of a target." he says. "I... know she's planning to use it if she gets a chance, to try to stop Sunbreaker."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto smiles and nods. "Madoka-chan is exactly the right person to trust with it. I wouldn't have accepted it even if you'd offered. I'd be too tempted to try and get them to work together, and...well we know that cats and curiosity don't mix. As for Utau...I haven't heard from her in quite some time. I don't want her to feel like I'm pressuring her to do what's 'right' so I've kept some distance."

He looks down at his hand. "I hope Madoka-chan and the others can...I hope they save Hinoiri-chan from that monster. I saw her up-close Tadase-kun. That wasn't Hinoiri-chan; it was evil, plain and simple. She has as much a right to be happy as the rest of us..."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase nods. "Yeah I thought about it a lot. I considered Kagari-san too but he's still pretty new to magic, and with only one chara, I thought the lock might make him more of a target, and all of that." he explains.

    Tadase looks down. "That's how Dark Energy is. You've seen X-Charas, you know what it's like. They are kind of... bad imitations of the chara the person would actually have, all anger and evil. It's... probably the same way for Sunbreaker. The girl she is without Dark Energy is as different as a chara and an X-Chara, I bet. It's just taking all of her worst traits and magnifying them." he says.

    "Looking at how you're doing they'll probably have her handled before you're out of the hospital, though. Maybe that'll help you and Yoru."

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto looks down at Yoru again. "Yeah...I hope so. I just hope nobody gets hurt too badly in the process. I've heard there are some other people here at the hospital because of Sunbreaker. Seems like she may have stirred up a real hornets' nest with all the attacks. What a mess..."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase looks around. "Yeah, the burn ward's got a lot of patients it seems, and I bet they're not all unrelated to Sunbreaker." He says. And then he takes a deep breath. "I hope she is stopped soon. I would try to be a part of it but... I'm leaving tomorrow." Tadase says. "I hate leaving Tokyo during such a critical time, but I can't help it. So I've done what I could. Actually... I should be packing now. But it was important to come and see you." he says.

    "I want you to... keep doing good - Obviously only once you're out of the hospital. But, there are people who are going to need your help. Need you to protect them. Need you to stand with them. And you know stuff about Easter they don't, so you can help stop them from doing... whatever they're trying to do with Witches. I have to go... but I'm leaving this in your hands and Kaname-san's hands." he says, looking down.

    "I dunno, I'm trying to be inspirational, but... I don't know if I'm doing it right." He admits. "So just... keep in contact with me, man. Don't go dark like you did. Both in terms of working for Easter and in terms of not returning my texts. Alright?"

Ikuto Tsukiyomi has posed:
Ikuto nods. "I'll make sure to keep you up-to-date on what's going on here."

Then, he grins. "But in return...I want you to be a bit taller when you come back. That means you'd better drink lots of milk. Just you wait; when you come back to Tokyo, Easter will be a thing of the past and I'll be a proper hero doing...proper hero stuff. That's a promise, Tadase-kun."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    The 'taller' comment makes Tadase frown a little. He glares at Ikuto for a moment, silently. It's just a few moments until he starts laughing, though.

    "Well, I guess you're not TOO badly banged up. But you know..." he says, standing up. "I'm gonna hold you to that promise. It'll be good to come back and see an Ikuto-san that I can be proud of." he says, and leaves it at that, stepping out of the room before leaving via the normal way.