Instead of Saru getting better, he gradually gets worse. He hears niki's voice in his head constantly and it causes him to be really paranoid and upset. Maybe he accidentally attacks one of his coworkers with a knife when he's particularly agitated one day, having thought it was Niki. He gets placed in an institution and it makes him worse with all the lights and noise and just overwhelmed with people and can't escape in his PDA. Misaki and Muna visiting? Reaction to shattered Saruhiko?
Maybe this is like some side effect of his time in jungle, likeFushimi’s PDA gets infected with all sorts of viruses when he hacksinto jungle in order to open the door and by the time he’s broughtout Fushimi’s seeing hallucinations everywhere. No one realizes whatthe issue is at first, jungle’s been defeated and Hisui’s dead so theidea that the virus might still work seems unlikely. Eventuallythough Munakata has his suspicions and destroys the PDA, at first itseems like things will get better after that but the damage has beendone. Fushimi is released from the hospital and assured thateverything he was seeing and hearing was just the effects of a virus.Except as he’s limping through the halls of Scepter 4 Fushimi can seeNiki staring at him from nearby, laughing as he says that oh look,the monkey comes home in disgrace, taunting Fushimi for being atraitor to Scepter 4 and how no one believes it was a secret mission,they all think Munakata just took pity on him and let him returnbecause he had nowhere else to go. From there the hallucinationsgradually worsen and Fushimi doggedly tries to ignore them, like heacts as though everything’s fine and he’s healing, he goes back onregular duty once his leg heals and he meets Yata for drinks and theytalk and to everyone else it looks like Fushimi’s only gettingbetter. But at night Fushimi returns to the dorm and spends half thenight curled up with his hands over his ears, quietly whispering atNiki to go away as Niki’s voice echoes in his ears, taunting him. Atone point Fushimi throws his alarm clock at the ghost and the clockbreaks against the wall, some of the other alphabet boys run inworried that Fushimi’s been attacked and he just blows it off aswaking up too quickly and knocking the clock off the nightstand.
Finally things are starting to get so bad that other people arebeginning to notice, Fushimi’s barely getting any sleep and he hashorrible bags under his eyes and he’s just constantly on edge andsnappish, his whole body wound tight like a spring, like a mousetrapthat’s going to snap at the slightest movement. One day he’s chasingdown a Strain with some of the alphabet boys when he hears Nikilaughing at him, telling him that he’s gotten slow and he’s going tofail and Fushimi just yells at Niki to shut up as he throws a bunchof knives at him. Niki keeps laughing and floats over like a ghost,hugging Fushimi around the neck as he whispers in Fushimi’s ear thathe’ll never be rid of Niki’s ghost. A moment later Niki fades awayand Fushimi finds himself staring down horrified at a bloody Akiyama,who walked over to ask if Fushimi was okay after seeing him godeathly pale, and who Fushimi himself stabbed with his knives.Fushimi can’t even make an excuse, Munakata comes to see him laterand finds Fushimi curled up in his room muttering almost to himselfbut really talking to Niki. Munakata still wonders if this is someoutside intervention, like is Hisui’s virus still working even afterhis death and even with the old PDA destroyed, but it’s quicklybecoming clear that whatever the sickness is it’s in Fushimi andthere’s no way to drive it out so easily.
So then Fushimi gets sent to an institution and maybe it’s againstMunakata’s will, like Fushimi accidentally attacks an associate ofthe Prime Minister and since Scepter 4 doesn’t have the influence itonce did when the Slate was still around even Munakata can’t stopFushimi from being dragged out in a straitjacket, writhing andyelling at nothing the entire time. Yata obviously is pissed when hefinds out about this, angry that Munakata just let Fushimi be takenaway like that and didn’t stop them or save him. Munakata notes thathis own hands were tied but he doesn’t intend to simply abandonFushimi and states that he knows where Fushimi is. Munakata offers tohave Yata accompany him to pay Fushimi a visit, Yata’s hopeful thatmaybe the institution place was able to help Saruhiko. His hope isdashed the moment they step inside, the place is terrible and full ofdead-eyed patients, everyone’s kept on heavy sedation and Yata’sterrified that he won’t even recognize Fushimi when they see him.
Hisworst fears are realized when they find a Fushimi who’s just a totalmess, half-sedated and dazed and talking to himself when he’s notscreaming, when Yata walks in Fushimi looks right through him asthough he’s not even there. I think Yata would be really devastatedby that too, like he can’t believe this because Saruhiko was gettingbetter and they were friends again and how could things end up thisway. Munakata would be definitely displeased by this too, I thinkthere’s no way he’d just leave Fushimi in that place without tryingas many legal avenues as possible to get him out. While Yata I thinkwould be trying to tell himself that there’s a way Fushimi can be‘fixed’ Munakata takes a more realistic approach, that getting back aFushimi who’s totally free of mental illness is likely impossible atthis point but he believes that Fushimi should have the opportunityto heal as much as he can, to be taken care of in a way where he canstill remain himself even if he’ll never be 'normal’ again. Ithink Munakata would be pulling out all his remaining resources totry and get Fushimi given back into the hands of Scepter 4, so theycan at least get him to a psychiatric facility that would actuallyhelp him rather than keeping him in a stupor, because as far asMunakata’s concerned there is still some of the real Fushimi left inthat shattered and broken mind and Munakata wants to hold onto thosepieces as much as he can, to bring back as much of Fushimi as ifpossible.
