A quick glimpse inside his room reveals that it’s been left empty.
The nurse frowns. Checks his chart. Visits to the bathroom were supervised, any meals were delivered to the room itself and supervised, there was no entering or leaving this room without approval beforehand. There was no way he could have just left.
And yet, the room is empty.
Monoma is gone.
The nurse takes a step back, struck with a careful, professional dread. The halls had to be checked. Every room in the ward had to be checked. A patient couldn’t just escape. Not like now, not like this.
Neito? If it's because of what I said, I was halfasleep. I'm sorry. You can just...pretend it didn't happen. I'm just worried because you never came back to your room.
2:34 PM
ua-awaseyosetsu
You can hate me. Just. Let me know you're okay. And I'll never message you again
Monoma’s eyes widen and snap upwards to face his new visitor. A detective looks down on him, hands in her pockets, eyes hard but smile sympathetic as she paces slowly in front of him.
He bites his lip after a moment, fighting back his protests. He needs to keep the act up.
Watching him, an eyebrow raises on her face as she studies his expression. “What, do you think he’ll hurt you here? What did he do to make you too scared to talk to the authorities? Or do you just not want to give him up?”
Paling slightly, Monoma’s eyes return to fix on the table.
She paces a little more, still staring.
“Was that the first time you two have interacted?”
“...”
“Have you ever talked to him before that night?”
“...”
“You are aware of who he is, right? He’s with the League. Has he ever tried to coerce you into any sort of villainous activity, has he ever mentioned it? How close were you two?”
“...”
“Monoma.” She leans closer to him, her hands on the table, interrupting his gaze. “You need to start answering these questions. We’re trying to help you.”
Monoma bites his lip, staring hard as his eyes start to tear up. “I want to talk to Hawks.”
A flicker of recognition passes over her face, acknowledging his sudden break from silence. “He’s not here right now. How did you and Dabi meet?”
His vision blurs, burning as he starts to cry. “I want my parents.”
“They’re not here yet either. How did you and Dabi know each other?”
“...”
Her jaw clenches. “Where did the blood come from, Monoma?”
Monoma flinches.
She continues, uncaring. “You arrived here covered in it. We tested it, it’s yours, you were covered in your own blood and that’s the only thing keeping us from arresting you. You do realize that, yes? How bad this looks, based on this report?”
“...”
“Did he hurt you that night? Has he hurt you before? If you’re being abused, we can-”
“Oh my God...” Monoma covers his face with his hands. He starts sobbing.
Looking stricken, the detective steps back. She waits for him to calm down, only to look guilty when his sobs start to get more out of control. “... Okay. We can stop for now. We can stop.”
“...”
“...” She grimaces before snatching her file up from the desk behind her. Hesitant, she eventually turns on her heel and leaves the room.
Monoma continues for a few more minutes before slowly tapering to a stop, eyes blank as he uncovers his face to check that she’s gone. He frowns to himself, processing her words quietly as he’s left alone again.
It's like something straight out of a dream. One that is naive and ludicrous and completely idealistic, catering so blatantly to a childish fantasy of hope that he would never dare to entertain otherwise. Monoma rouses from bed in an instant the very same second he hears a distant sound outside the room, so faint he's sure it's his imagination. Paranoia and anxiety races in his chest, a sudden fear hitting him that he's hallucinating it all, a worse terror joining in at the thought that he wasn't, that he was being visited by a possessive shadow of his darker past.
Monoma gathers his things quietly. He’s so used to the excess he lived in at home, so it’s odd to have so few belongings to put together.
There’s no real reason he’s doing it. Trepidation. Restlessness after so many days of idleness. He flips through the textbook Setsuna has left him. He pokes at his phone, reading through all his messages, unresponding.
