Maki's grandfather suddenly pokes his head out of the kitchen, looking over towards the group, frowning.
"You should all clear out soon, whoever you all are. I'm closing up soon. Maki, if you'd mind helping out in the kitchen? Tohru's called in sick today, so I've had to run the place myself for dinner. Sometimes, I swear that boy wants to avoid me, that he's scared of me. The only thing that boy has to fear is missing his paychecks. Hmph! Don't you all mind this old man."
"I think that's an end to the meeting. Let's meet up tomorrow, see what we get, yeah?"
As Maki joins her grandfather in the kitchen quickly, the rest of the group presumably starts filing out of the steakhouse except possibly for Haruko. Ito, however, notices something odd about Hayato's eyes; or rather, where they're looking. Precisely, he's staring right at his damaged coat, on his chair.
Right at the symbol in the Makai language on the back of his coat, known only to himself and others of the Makai Order.
A moment passes, before Hayato looks up, his eyes following Ito as he leaves. Maki pokes her head back out of the kitchen, as Hayato continues staring at the door of the steakhouse.
"Grandpa? Something wrong?"
".....nothing. It's fine. I was just admiring your friend's excellent dress sense. Coats like that? They're hard to come by. Get started on those dishes."
As Maki steps back inside the kitchen, Hayato pauses for a few moments, thinking briefly. It was probably nothing, anyway. Kids nowadays liked dressing like their favourite heroes, didn't they? Kamen Rider Volt and all that were relatively popular; he'd seen the helmets in Seito, knockoffs made of plastic and terribly painted. He personally remembered back when Kamen Rider Astra was a trend, and he'd seen people copying him with papier-mache masks and poses like on that Kamen Rider show he'd heard his granddaughter gush about. It wasn't what Hayato thought it was, hopefully, and probably just a nice coat. After all, he could appreciate nice coats. And he hoped it was probably nothing.
Probably nothing. His eyes drifted towards Maki, her back to him putting dishes away.
Probably nothing. For now.
Between that night and the next day, Kiyo received a call from Lieutenant Godai, giving her the all-clear to investigate the hospital. All they'd have to do is explain that Lieutenant Kazuma sent them; Kiyo was unfamiliar with Lieutenant Kazuma, but presumably he was someone else with the authority to get what Kiyo wanted.
As for the girls that Spica and Ito were taking care of, neither of them have woken up. Spica visited Ito in the morning, keeping him updated on her condition. The girl under Spica's care had not improved massively; her wounds had mostly healed, but she showed no sign of waking up, no sign of becoming conscious, no sign of changing state at all since Spica got her hands on her. The only other change Spica notes is her looking less pained, as if whatever was hurting her has begun to wane. The girl with Tsubaki and Ito, meanwhile, seems to have improved a fair bit; she's not awake, but she's breathing easier, her wounds are closed and she doesn't seem so pained. She may wake up in a day or two, given some more care.
The Next Day, Early Afternoon, Touto University Hospital
Maki is waiting outside the hospital, in her usual hoodie-shirt-and-skirt combo, waiting for everyone else to show up. Something had caught her eye, of course, something unusual that she wanted to discuss with the others. Not particularly bad, of course, but it was odd.
It was the presence of a car with the Eden Foundation logo hanging on an ID from the rearview mirror, and Maki swears she's seen at least one or two Eden Foundation soldiers around the hospital grounds.
That was cause for curiosity, at the very least.
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Topic: Rise of the Magic Girls: Rebirth [IC]: The Spider, Snake and Bat (Read 44025 times)