Patient Out, Patient In

"I can just go sleep at my house." comes the half-groggy sound of a young boy from outside of Iris door as someone knocks on it. "Tadase, stop moving, you're hurt!" comes a higher pitched and much more concerned-sounding voice."I'm sure he'll be fine, Kiseki. But I think it would be better to be safe than sorry, and at least get him looked over." comes the older, male voice.

The door is less being knocked on, and more having Kiseki fling his body against it, because Tsukasa Amagawa has his hands full carrying the King's Chair, Tadase Hotori, in his arms. Because Tadase is frankly, too weak to walk.

"Besides. If something worse happened to you, your grandmother would kill me. And if she found out what already happened to you, your grandmother would kill me." Tsukasa adds, with his very standard mischevious smile plastered on his face. "So I am at least going to have you looked over!"

Meanwhile, inside, Mamoru's putting his shoes on. There are still some bandages, but they'll be gone by tomorrow, since due to the eventual regeneration of his linker core, he's been able to crank up his self-healing back to its usual rates. "...why I called Homura-san," he's explaining to Dr. Shelby. "I mean-- I can henshin again, which was my prerequisite for leaving, but you'd better believe it won't be to fight yet, it'll be to run the hell away and get someone who can actually fight whoever or whatever it is. But I'm staying home another day, I promise."

He glances at the door, blinking, then to Iris, then to Homura. "Um. Damn."

And this is where he proves he can henshin, because there's been enough bleedover and muddying of the waters; the masked boy in formalwear leans to open the door, since he's already right by it.

Homura Akemi is here, as called. Visiting Mamoru in the hospital is starting to become a habit. At least this one is a bit less awkward... though still awkward in some ways.

It's a bad habit to have, getting sent to the hospital. Homura doesn't like it, but what are you going to do when your friend is someone who throws himself into harm's way just so he wont have to see someone else suffer?

Too selfless. Well, it was /his/ hospital bill to pay. Homura Akemi always liked those who were heroic, and yet she always resented when they got hurt for it.

Homura's motorcycle helmet is tucked under her arm, riding jacket hanging around her shoulders. She's in her henshin, under the jacket. The shield more or less confirms it.

Homura flips her hair. "You /better/ be staying home. I swear. If I find you with another Witch's Kiss on your neck..."

Homura doesn't finish that sentence. What would she do? Well she wouldn't be /happy/ that's for sure.

She opens her mouth to say something else, but apparently more people have arrived. She steps aside to let people pass.

"You know yourself better than I do," Iris concedes. "If you want to leave now, you can. If you want to stay here and someone tries to hunt you down, I can convert them into being my newest patients... that's part of my service, too." It's also likely to end in her needing a new place to live, but she's apparently willing to use magic beams to protect those in her care. In any event, while she's not thrilled about Mamoru leaving early (in her estimation), she makes no move to actually prevent him from making calls and preparing to head out.

Then there's a knock. "Huh? There's only a few people that could be. I wonder who?" She starts for the door, but Mamo-- no, 'Mr. Mask', as he just transformed, is already on it. And that's when she sees some vaguely familiar faces. "Oh dear. That's not your ride home, I presume." No, that appears to be Tsukasa bringing her another patient. One of her youngest, possibly outright the youngest, to date. "Please bring him to the couch. I'm guessing he's not too hurt to move, if you carried him here like that?"

Then Homura's ride appears. Iris opts to tease Homura with bright eyes and playful, near sing-song voice despite the situation. "Now, now. Part of my standard service includes stern lectures on keeping yourself out of trouble while you recuperate. I promise you, he got the point. I think Mr. Mask's words were..." She tries to deepen her voice, a joking copy of Tuxedo Kamen's, "'Argh, enough, I get it already, if I promise to not go skydiving without five parachutes will you stop talking?'"

And then she's bringing her wing-hairclip off to check out Tadase. Interestingly enough, the hairclip's gem expands to be about hand-sized, serving as a display for her to begin checking out Tadase. Its mechanical female voice explains itself: <Diagnosis Mode. Scanning patient.> As energy hums while it works, she looks over to ask Tsukasa, "Anything you can tell me about this?"

Reiko is coming on a favor. Besides. Mei said she should meet someone. And that, that someone is at some hospital. So she's on the way! Along the way, she's apparently picked up Ikiko. Okay. So Ikiko's following her! She's doing a little jog. She has an orange backpack on. It is not koi shaped. Those that know her and probably floored by this notion.

She has however. Manifiested a little Parade of koi behind her on the way to the adress. 1. 2. 3. 5... 10! Little Koifish following her in a hustle, all doing thier best to swim frantically through the air after her. Ikiko can keep up probably with her.

She passes by Tsukawa a moment. Who double takes. Because for a moment. He thinks he just saw someone with 10 Guardian Charas just pass by and they were /all koi/.

He's pretty sure this isn't the case and he's pretty sure 3 or 4 were supposed to be the max. Maybe he needs to get home faster and lie down himself! This is after of course, he tells Iris anything he needs to know.

Reiko makes it to the door and blinks. All the koi crash into one another, folding into an accordian into one another before they become one panting koi, who then pops out of existence. Oh. This doesn't look like a hospital. She peeks in just behind the hells of Homura. Who looks familar.

"Um..hello?" she asks peeking her head in. "Is this... a hospital?... oh.. um. maybe. it's not... uh?" she asks. Kind of embarasedly. She expecting. Well. a Clinic at least!

Ikiko Hisakata had been checking on some stray dogs several blocks away when Reiko had happened by. Her younger friend was in some sort of hurry, and since her visit with the strays had basically wrapped up, she quickly jogged after Reiko... and her impromptu school of koi.

She slows to a halt faster than the koi do, and she giggles slightly as the fish follies. Since she's just tagging along with Reiko, she hangs back slightly while the younger girl makes her inquiries.

With all of the people standing around, there's not much she can see -- but is that a small floating figure with a crown, about the same size as the smaller catboy jerk? And her eyes widen slightly as she realizes that the shield on that jacket is surprisingly familiar.

-= NOT TOO LONG AGO =-

The tiny cat-boy Guardian Character flew over the city with a big yawn. "Nyaaaaaaan~... so bored. There's gotta be something fun to do out here-nya..." He dips down over the street and finds something familiar! Or rather someONE familiar. Tsukasa Amagawa, carrying Tadase, Kiseki floating worriedly nearby. Quickly Yoru finds a place to hide and watches. "...Wonder what's going on here-nya..." Curiosity gets the better of him, and he follows to the house. He doesn't go in, though... he knows someone who will want to hear about this. Once he's made sure he'll remember where the house is, he heads back to where Ikuto is.

The Chara Bearer in question is on a roof sleeping, pretty usual for him, when Yoru returns. "Ikuto, Ikuto!" Yoru calls out. "Get up, I found something important-nya!" Ikuto says nothing, but turns over on his side to his back is to Yoru. And in response, Yoru alights upon Ikuto's shoulder and pulls at his sleeve. "Ikuto, get up-nya!" Pull pull pull. The Founding King brought Tadase somewhere, and Tadase looked like he was hurt-nya!"

That gets Ikuto's attention. His eyes snap open, and he draws in a breath of surprise. But he doesn't immediately sit up. In fact, it... almost looks like he's about to go to sleep again. He looks at his violin case... at the key twined around the handle. "...Tadase, huh?"

Yoru nods, looking quite sure of himself. He says confidently, "Mhm! Kiseki was with them too-nya!" Ikuto finally sits up and looking out over the city from his vantage point. But he doesn't speak. "C'mon, I wanna go see what's up-nya!"

Ikuto suddenly sprouts the cat ears and tail. "Show me."

-= PRESENT TIME =-

There's a shadow at the window. It's a humanoid shadow, but it's got a tail. And cat ears, if anyone can see it well enough (or is specifically looking at the shadow). There's also resonance of the type characteristic (no pun intended) of Chara Bearers and their Guardian Characters-- in fact, this may be sensed (possibly by Kiseki in particular, though it's not limited to just him) even before the shadow becomes visible.

The form alights on the ledge outside the window. It's a young man, dressed in black, with blue hair, and cat ears and tail that match his hair color. He's also carrying a white plastic bag. If no one notices him, he'll rap softly on the window. The cat is asking to be let in!

Tsukasa drapes Tadase on the couch carefully. "He can move, he's mostly just bruised up, except for the magic that hit him." Tsukasa says. Tadase slumps sideways on the couch and makes a groaning noise.

When Iris asks what happened, Tadase's eyes flicker, and he opens his mouth - but before he can say anything, that part is handled by Kiseki - who floats practically right up to Iris' face to explain. "He was attacked! But not by an X-chara or anything like that... by a girl calling herself the Princess!" he says - Kiseki nearly spits the word Princess from his mouth like a child rejecting vegetables. "She's no princess! No real royal would ever do what she did to someone!" he continues. It takes him a moment to calm down.

"And I think she hurt him. She took something out him with some strange crystal." he says, softly. It's obvious he's actually really concerned - far more so than the adult that brought him in.

Then suddenly, he snaps out of it - because other problems have appeared. He zips over the room to the window and starts yelling at it. "NOT NOW! YOU THIEVING CAT! GO AWAY! WE HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS WITHOUT YOU!" he shouts through the window at Ikuto in the most angry little voice he can managed.

Tadase looks up at Iris. "I'm... mostly just tired." he informs her, as Kiseki continues to go on his rant.

Tsukasa smiles, a calm, knowing smile, as he takes the phone from Iris. "I'll check on you two later." he adds as he leaves, before passing Reiko and her koi-school in the hallway.

"I won't!" Tuxedo Kamen tells Homura indignantly as he pulls the door open. "My linker core is fine now, won't get tagged by a Witch--"

And then he looks out and sees Tsukasa carrying Tadase, and abruptly looks very grim. He steps back silently. "Thanks, Dr. Shelby. And yeah, five parachutes or it's a no-go," he says after a moment. A glance aside to Homura and he adds quietly, "I'd like to stick around a minute to find out what happened."

Then Reiko sticks her head in with a giant koi floating in the air, and another little girl, and his eyes widen behind his mask. "Oh, hey, you helped Madoka-chan, didn't you? She was worried, she didn't know if you were okay-- now I can tell her for sure you're fine. Pink-haired girl Mr. Black was harassing--?"

And then there's a catboy at the window, and he and his cape swoosh over to open it. IT IS A MOTION HE IS COMMITTED TO. So he makes a D: face at Kiseki because whoops, the window's open now. "Uh? Sorry-- wait, did you say a princess hit him with a crystal?"

Quick glance to Iris. A KNOWING GLANCE in fact. And then he's over by the couch and Iris and Tadase in a heartbeat, and he crouches down. "You're not going to have any magic for a few days, probably," he says seriously, "do what Dr. Shelby here says. It's the person I told you and Tsukasa-san about in the garden with the Sailor Senshi. I'm going to spread the word around that she yanked your linker core, but I'll be back to visit you, okay? This is really not cool and more people need to be aware of what's going on."

Then he stands, cape swirling a little, and tells the rest of the room, "If you need to get in touch with me, Prism Keeper Red has my number, and so do a few other people. Akemi-san-- let's stop crowding the place--?"

If she goes, he'll go with her. Magical jerks and their disappearing.

"Six parachutes would be better," says Homura to Iris, glumly. Then a smile cracks across her lips. "Well, I see you've done a thorough job. Thank you, again. I wouldn't know how I'd /ever/ get a dance without this one."

Mamoru isn't allowed to forget the gala that quickly.

Homura watches as the parade passes by. Another patient, rather princely himself, and... koi? Oh right, Orange. Homura has seen her a couple of times before. She waves at the two of them, and Tsukasa, before the latter leaves. "I see business for you is good, at least."

She doesn't quite notice the cat sneaking up to the window. The room is so crowded, it just escapes her notice.

She extends her hand to Mamoru with a playful grin, asking, "Of course. Well you've managed to live so far. Shall we?"

Whether Mamoru accepts or spurns her hand, she leaves with him to go take him home.

Woe betide anyone who tries to interfere with that this night.

Reiko Touyama looks at Tuxedo Kamen. O--ohhh! "Ah----R..Red! Sent me here! actually. To.. see if you were. Okay n' stuff and... uh...." she opens her backpack and begins rummaging out for a sketchpad and pulls it out. The koi dissapered moments ago. Things get ridicolous with her magical koi sometimes. She flips pages frantically... "Ah---! Don't go---yet..." she begs.

She carefully begins to tear the page out of her sketchbook, as to make sure it's leaving a flat edge and not some crummy jagged one. "Uh.. I did this. Of you! N' stuff." she says, handing over the picture! It's a pretty well drawn picture of Tuxedo Kamen! Some specifics are wrong, it's clear Reiko was drawing from memory. Like some of his blings probably missing.

She looks to Homura. She blinks. So familar.... she head tilts a little. She doesn't say anything to her because she seems flustered for some reason. "Uh-- I don't know. when I'd given that to you otherwise. N' stuff." she says quietly.

Her eyes look over to Tadase...

And the catboy. And now she has other concerns....

"KOI THIEF!" she yells at the top of her lungs while pointing at the window.

Iris' apartment looks nothing like a clinic. At least not up front. While one of the bedrooms further back has been converted to be reasonably clean and 'for patients only' use and operating if need be... the front looks like a low-end apartment living room. Which it is. It has a low-end couch, bland furniture in various places, and a cheap TV resting by one wall. So Reiko asking if this even a hospital is a very fair question. "That depends," Iris responds to her. "Do you know what sort of patients you're looking for?"

Then there's knocking. "Huh?" Iris looks over and starts to raise her voice in hopes of being heard through the window, "I'm with a pa--" No, that's not something you shout when you're hiding this entire operation from your landlord, who would /not/ be happy to discover a genuine black market clinic is being operated out of the building! "Ah, can someone please go tell him I'm with a patient and I really can't leave just yet unless it's a super-duper emergency? Regardless of whether he's a thief or not?"

With Tsukasa, Tadase, and Kiseki all offering insights on the problem, Iris takes this news pretty well. She's calm, if a little unhappy once Tuxedo Kamen fills in a few more blanks. "Oh dear. I think I have enough to understand what's going on now." This will definitely help her interpret vital signs for her patients. "Thank you."

Valkyrie Wing continues its scan, and reports aloud, <Minor blunt trauma over roughly whole body, magical in origin. Moderate wide-area impact centered around torso, magical in origin.> Well, those match what Tsukasa told her. <Alert! Doctor!> The voice sounds more alarmed now, but quickly calms down once it has Iris' undivided attention. <Linker Core fluctuating, lowest values are less than the average citizen of Tokyo. Displaying lowest value, local average, and estimated proper value for patient. Values stable, will monitor and alert if further decrease detected.>

Homura gets a raised eye. "Six is fine, but I didn't know parachute dancing had caught on here too? Good night, and enjoy the latest fad!"

Finally, she brings her attention to Tadase. "Then you're going to get plenty of rest. Don't you worry, if that princess shows up here trying to finish what she started, I'll demote her to janitor." She makes a broad plea for anyone listening, "Can someone please get the extra pillows and blankets over by that wall?" She points off to the area beside the TV, which is currently off. "I'd like to get him some extra padding to rest on."

He's on his way out, hand in Homura's and saluting Iris, when Reiko stops them-- and gives him a drawing of himself.

...Tuxedo Kamen just stops and stares at it for a moment, and something's breaking a little in his chest, and his eyes are bright behind the mask. He lets go Homura's hand for a moment, crouching down to give Reiko a big hug. "Thanks," he whispers, "really very a lot. I'll put it up. But I have to go. Have Mei-chan give me a call when you're over sometime, I'll drop by."

And then he's up again, and he smiles, and his eyes are still bright, and he leaves with Homura.

Ikiko Hisakata giggles a bit at the mention of parachute dancing, then cranes her neck so she can see Reiko's artwork. "Oh, that's neat!" she murmurs, giving her friend a smile.

She steps out of the way and waves to the Puella and Tuxedo Kamen as they take their leave, then whirls back around at Reiko's shout. The catboy jerk is here?! Hopefully not to cause problems... but she's still wary of him.

"I'll get them," she replies to the doctor, then she steps into the apartment, keeping an eye on the catboy while she gathers up an armful of pillows and blankets. It's slightly slow going to make sure none of them wind up underfoot, but she brings them over to Tadase and carefully puts them down next to him, sorting the pillows and blankets into something less like a pile.

...Well, Kiseki's rant will certainly get attention to the window, that's for sure. While Ikuto does seem surprised at suddenly having a tiny little king shouting at him through the window, Yoru is not so affected. In fact, the chibi cat-boy lunges at the window, making the scariest faces he can manage, pulling at his face with his paws and sticking his tongue out, pressing his face against the window. Mainly he's doing it to try and startle Kiseki, hence why Yoru LEAPED at the window so suddenly.

Whoops! Mamoru's a little quicker on the draw at opening the window than Kiseki is at convincing people that Ikuto shouldn't be let in. And so into the room he slides, followed by his chibi cat-boy mascot Character! Not to worry, though. He doesn't immediately start causing trouble. Neither, surprisingly, does Yoru (though the floating cat-fairy does start looking around the place).

In fact, Ikuto stays quiet for the time being, watching Mamoru and Homura leave. And he also stays out of Iris's way too, finding a wall to lean against for the time being. "I won't be here long," he assures Iris. He's actually pretty good at finding a place that's out of Iris's way. He listens to the Device's assessment of Tadase... and a frown makes itself known, his brow pinching ever so slightly.

When there's a lull in conversation, Ikuto holds up the plastic bag. There's a lot of stuff in it from the looks of it. "...I didn't think sweets would be good if he's hurt. These might be better." If anyone looks in the bag, it's filled with energy bars, granola, and an assortment of other foods that claim to be healthy. None of the packages have been tampered with.

Meanwhile Yoru floats over to Kiseki. But instead of a proper greeting? "...You're still a loudmouth-nya."

Reiko Touyama obtain +1 hug from handsome masked hero who thanks her for picture. Beaaaaaam!

Two kois shoot out from behind her back and burst out in fireworks. In the apartment. "Eeeeeee~" she squeals.

She blinks. "Ah---right...clinic. Quiet... don't.. Yell at Catboy. Or anything." she says meekly.

She she silently fumes at Ikuto, rage building inside like a torrent of many many many koi swimming in circles inside her heart. This is going to end up poorly no way.

Her eyes however, trace over to Tadase.....

A vibrant watercolor roseframe falls around her vision along with countless shoujo bubbles for a moment.

Wait. No. that guys hurt! Nrg!!!!

She head tilts. "Is there anything else we can do to help?" she asks, head tilting to the side.

Tadase accepts the pillows from Ikiko, and smiles. "Thank you." he adds, leaning on them. He has to admit, it's much better this way. And there's so many peop... wait that's Ikuto! He's almost ready to make a very ill-advised and unlikely to succeed attempt at fighting him off before Ikuto shows what he brought. And now, he's just confused.

Kiseki is too, because he just sort of jawdrops. "And you're still trouble!" he shouts at Yoru before returning to sit near Tadase.

To Reiko, he has to respond simply. "No, no - I don't think all of this fuss is really neccessary. I just need to rest is all. I got attacked... because it was better for me than..." he pauses "a friend to get hurt." he adds, not wanting to give away Amu.

"You got attacked by some horrid woman pretending to be a princess!" Kiseki adds with vitriol.

To Iris, he gives another smile of many. "Thank you very much for helping. I apologize for barging in without an appointment." He does not get how the illegal clinic likely works.

The situation with Ikuto is starting to worry Iris. Everyone seems to be in a huge fuss, identifying him as 'thief, 'koi thief', she has to wonder what other accusations might be coming and whether this is a problem. "Okay, listen... I know emotions are running high right now, but you can't make too much noise, everyone. I don't have enough money for a plane ticket to a tropical island nation as I flee from the authorities for multiple counts of felony medical practice without a license!" She giggles at her own predicted problems. "So you have to keep this quiet, that way they won't find out."

That addresses the general situation. She faces Ikuto. "I don't know who you are, but usually I prefer visitors come through the front door so my patients have a chance to say whether they want you in here or not. That window is for letting sunlight in, and me to jump through, glass shards and all, if I need to make a daring escape! I'll let it go this once, though." She makes a note to scan the food just in case, since Ikuto's arrival seemed to freak everyone out. She'll do that later, out of sight; it wouldn't do to do it in front of him and respond to a possible kind gesture with that kind of mistrust, that kind of insult. "After all, you did bring something for the patient."

Ikiko brings her better bedding, drawing a bright, approving smile from Iris. "Thank you. That's perfect." She helps get Tadase set up more comfortably on the couch, glancing to Kiseki afterward. "It sounds like this isn't the first time this has happened. At least now I know enough to put together what's happening with these vital signs."

And then Tadase apologizes. "Don't be sorry. I think every single one of my patients shows up out of nowhere because of an emergency. That's kind of how this works; I understand what's going on, so I ask the right questions. And if you refuse to answer, that's okay, you still get treated. I even offer to /not/ call your parents, or I can pretend to be school staff to explain a field trip is running late and you won't be back tonight. All part of my standard, super illegal service!" Iris serves up felonies with a bright, playful smile, it seems.

"If you'll wait right here, I'll get you the bill." She rises, heading over to the kitchen to begin writing on a slip of paper. It's not far from here, and she remains perfectly in view from the living room.

Ikiko Hisakata blushes slightly and ducks her head a bit at Tadase's words. "Thanks," she murmurs awkwardly, then she smiles at the thanks from Iris. "Sure, we'll keep it down," she nods. "I can understand trying to keep things a secret from the people you're living around."

She still keeps a watchful eye on Ikuto, but she's no longer quite as on edge -- he's apparently here for a non-hostile reason, and she can respect that. She still doesn't trust him much past that, but there's no need to pick a fight here, especially when the doctor has requested quiet.

Reiko Touyama head tilts. "There's a princess draining energy!? That isn't right!" she huffs. "Why do... why do jerks always do that! They want... Energy, Color.. and.. all sorts of stuff!" she clenches her fists a bit. "We-ll! If I see this princess I am going to give her a piece of my mind and my kois mind those kois kois mind and... AND!" she's really just started a surreal tirade at the second set of koi and it really made no sense.

She blinks at Iris. "AH!? Run away!?" she says, taking the statement /entirely/ seriously.

Ikuto looks at Ikiko, without saying anything. He seems to be peering at her just as intently as she's peering at him. Almost as if to say 'I can stare at you too, y'know!' Tadase's explanation causes the smirk to fade, and he frowns a bit. A girl pretending to be a Princess, huh? He'll have to keep his eyes and ears open. Maybe there are some people he can ask about this girl. Find out something, see if he can track her down.

Iris begins to speak, and he comes out of his reverie to look at her. Ikuto nods. "It was necessary this time." Iris can see how everyone reacted to his and Yoru's presence; she must realize that Tadase wouldn't have wanted him here if he'd known he was coming. And then Reiko starts up, and Ikuto smirks. "How mean of you to yell so loud when Seiyou's poor King is helpless?" he teases, keeping his voice quiet. "For shame." Maybe he just feels the need to antagonize her because she's fish-girl and he's cat-boy? Who knows? Either way there's not much venom in it, so he's probably kidding.

For his part, Yoru grins toothily at Kiseki. "So? Is HIS HIGH AND MIGHTY MAJESTY gonna do somethin'-nya?" He makes clawing gestures in the air at Kiseki. "C'mon, I dare you-nya!"

Ikuto frowns at this, looking up at his Guardian Character. "/Yoru/." An intense look follows. "Be quiet." Yoru pauses, looking to Ikuto, and huffs. Then he turns to Kiseki again, and pulls down his lower eyelid and sticks his tongue out, emitting a very distinct "Biiiii~!" Though he retreats to Ikuto's side after this.

Tadase lays on the pillows and frowns at Ikuto. "I'm not helpless, you... big... cat... jerk." he says, reaching for and not finding better words. "I'm just tired." He looks a lot more than tired.

He looks at Reiko. "Don't go after her alone. She's very dangerous. I wouldn't have fought her if I didn't need to protect someone from her." he says, trying to be as stern as he can in this circumstance. "Please, don't seek her out - I wouldn't want to see anybody hurt over it."

Then, onto happier things. "Actually..." he begins, looking at Reiko "...I don't recognize you. I guess you don't go to Seiyou?"

Iris hands him the bill. He will, relatively soon, be handing Tsukasa the bill. He wanted to go home, after all. "Well, I'll keep quiet while I'm here if you keep quiet about me being here."

A minute later, Iris returns with a piece of paper. "It's not just my neighbors. It's the landlord too," she explains to Ikiko, walking over to offer it to Tadase. Even as her hand holds it out to him, her head turns to face Yoru. "No, seriously. Last warning, no kidding around here. I will show you the door if you do not quiet down right now. Actually, that goes for anyone and everyone here." Her gaze sweeps the entire living room as she speaks to everyone, "Get too loud, I will show you the door. Aggravate my patient, I will show you the door. Start a fight, I will end it, then show you the door, then end /another/ fight with you, then show you /another/ door just so you really know what time it is. If you don't like those rules, there's the door." Apparently Iris has a fascination with doors when she fears a magical fight might unfold next to someone she's treating.

Yet this darker mood fades quickly. To Reiko, a soft laugh. "Why, yes. You never know when I'll need to make a daring escape into the night."

As for the bill she just presented Tadase, it is handwritten on regular paper. No official letterhead or other signs of this being premade. It reads: 'Unknown Patient #4. Balance Due in Full Within 30 Days of Discharge.' An itemized list of services follows, including 'Linker Core Observation - 500,000,000,000,000 yen', 'General healing - 300,000 Yen', 'Couch privileges - 1 yen', 'Hazard Pay (Excessive Noise from Visitors) - 487,128,886,386 Yen'.

And finally, the Balance Due is listed as a completely random, absurdly long string of numbers... with an asterisk after it. Below that, it reads, '*: Or one (1) refrigerator drawing by the patient will satisfy this balance in full.'

It is perhaps one more crime Iris is racking up tonight. Idea theft, from Reiko. Then Iris' hands begin glowing with a soft red light as she kneels down by Tadase, pouring healing magic over him. It won't be a cure-all. Really, it amounts to minor clean-up and taking the edge off any immediate pains. But it's a start, hopefully something that will give him a little boost in beginning his recovery. Most of this will be up to him and his body, but she can help, she can observe, and she can watch over him in case 'Princess Janitor', as Iris decides to mentally file this unknown attacker as, shows up for a second round.

Reiko Touyama clenches her teeth at Ikuto! "You.. you fish harassing freak!" she calls out, shaking her fist. She's not yelling, but she is calling Ikuto names. Because she is ten. But really, it's all she can do here. She's not transforming and gonna try to chase Ikuto off. SHE WANTS TO. SO BAD. But she isn't because Iris seems nice and this is a hospital so she grits her teeth and bears it.

Though... the handsome boy speaks up. No rose-watercolor frame this time.

"Ah---! No. I'm.. I go to Seishou. My name's... Reiko Touyama! I'm a Prism Keeper!" she insists. She head tilts. "Is the guy who looks like a tiny prin-----------"

A koi suddenly comes from nowhere and places fin to her mouth. Why did it do that!? Maybe the koi knows something she doesn't. Perhaps she just shakes her head. "What's the tiny guy? Is he like that guys tiny guy? Like a small version of you or something? That's really weird." she says. "I dunno what that's about. Is it like my koi?" she asks, head tilting. "Like something projecting them?"

She looks back to Iris and blushes. "Ah...! I didn't mean to..." she mumbles. "Just that guy does bad things." she says looking at Ikuto with a huff!

Ikiko Hisakata nods to Iris, then makes a zipper motion across half of her lips -- a sign not of full silence, but of reduced noise.

"And I'm Ikiko Hisakata, also from Seishou," she remarks to Tadase. "I'm not a Prism Keeper, but I /am/ a friend and ally of Reiko's." It feels kind of odd talking about magic with people she's not that familiar with, but there's enough obvious signs of magic around that there's not much point in not mentioning it.

Ikuto turns his head to regard Tadase as he speaks. He smirks. "You look like you'd fall over in a cool summer breeze if you tried to stand. You can barely string words together. Close enough." He pauses then, and steps over a little closer to where Tadase is. He's trying to look at the bill himself. "Let's see how much your trouble's worth..." he muses curiously.

...Of course he does have an ulterior motive for looking at the bill. He is planning on trying to pay at least part of it. He's on Easter's payroll, after all. But he doesn't use most of the money anyway. If he's going to throw it away anyway, it might as well be for a good cause. Not that he's going to admit that to Tadase...

Should he be able to observe the bill, he'll pause. That's... a lot of money. But still, he's intending on paying her SOMETHING after all. This is one problem he can throw money at. Besides, if she's willing to trade all that for a drawing for her refrigerator, there's a high likelihood that those astronomically high numbers are full of crap. Though he sighs a moment later. "Your knight complex is expensive, Tadase-kun." And he tries to mess up Tadase's hair. Gently, mind. And only for a moment, before he steps back, out of swinging range.

Though the smirk widens when Reiko starts shaking her fist at him and calling him names. It doesn't bother him in the slightest. He chuckles. "You use fish. I'm a cat. Why does this surprise you?" Though he takes a few steps towards the window again when Reiko aaaaaaalmost says 'prince'. Yeah, he knows where that leads, and here it might lead to further injury to Tadase. And despite his being a pain in the butt, that's not what he's looking for.

Surprisingly, he answers Reiko's question. "A Guardian Character," he says. "Born from the greatest dream in the heart." He is surprisingly helpful in this respect. Not only that, but this might actually give ikiko more perspective on what he's been doing with those weird black eggs with the white Xs on them-- she saw him steal an egg that seemed to be made from a child's dream. But if Guardian Characters are ALSO made from dreams...

Can she make the intuitive leap? Ikuto hopes she can. It will add more fuel to the fire... and to his plan. Plus, she might also tell the others.

He also doesn't introduce himself the Ikiko does. He's rude like that. Besides, enough people around here know him, even if not by name.

Tadase is really drifting now. "It's not a complex." he mumbles a bit, and Kiseki has to step in for him. "A good King, a just King protects." Tadase nods in the background.

Then he's ruffled, and there's a small burst of energy as he tries to swat Ikuto's hands away.

"And I am Tadase's Guardian Character." Kiseki says with a dramatic flourish of his tiny cape. "And also the best."

Tadase is doing a bad job of hiding the 'bill' as it were, partly because he has to read it a few times. Then he looks up. "A Prism Keeper... I think I've met one of you before." Tadase murmurs. Kiseki turns. "Relax, Tadase. That's what the nice doctor lady said to do." he comments, before responding to Reiko. "I'm not a projection - I'm just part of Tadase's heart - the person he wants to be. But I'm also very real!

Despite Kiseki's pleas, Tadase can't help but look at each girl again and properly introduce himself. "I am Tadase Hotori, King's Chair, Seiyou Academy Guardians. It is nice to meet you both, Reiko and Ikiko." he says.

"No, he reportedly does bad things outside this apartment," Iris comments to Reiko. "This clinic however is a magical land where there are exactly five kinds of people. Doctors, Devices, Patients, Visitors, and People who get Shown the Door. Until I'm given a reason, /in here/, to put him in that fifth group, I do not care."

Then she returns the introductions going around: "I'm Dr. Iris Shelby, and this is my shockingly illegal treatment center for people who would otherwise have to tell the doctors at Mitakihara how many flights of stairs they fell down because the truth would get you a job as a bestselling fiction writer. And just like when you're in Mitakihara, I trust that people showing up here will show discretion." More discretion than she showed in making up complete nonsense numbers for the costs of Tadase's treatment, at least.

"I'm going to step into the back to prepare a better room for Mr. Hotori," 'Mr. Hotori' despite being 11 years old, "which will take a few minutes. Will anyone need to be evicted beforehand? Or when I get back? Otherwise I'll be seeing to my work."

Reiko Touyama head tilts at Tadase. "Yo...you met Red!?" she says and quickly deflatesssssssss slowly. Mei meets all these handsome guys and /she's not telling her!?/. She thinks she can hog them all to herself! SHE WON'T ALLOW IT MEI AKATSUKI! YOU MAY BE HER BEST FRIEND! BUT ALL IS FAIR AND LOVE AND WAR AND KOI AND--AND! She just huffs and calms down. She can't even really /pretend/ to be annoyed at her best friend. Though she might ask her about it later!

"Yeah..I'm. Prism Keeper Orange. You had to have met Prism Keeper Red. She's my partner and best friend! Um, Theres only two of us right now." she says meekly.

"...supposed to be each one for the colors in the rainbow and stuff. But we haven't found em yet." she says with a series of nods. That's as indepth as she goes with catboy over there.

She peeks at Kiskei. "... Guardian Character. Huh." she blinks.

She opens a small red notebook. Oh! Mei did leave a note about Tadase in here. It says 'Don't call 'Prince''. She blinks as her eyes flutter. So maybe that's why the koi stopped her. >,> Now she feels bad. She needs to consult this little notebook more often. Mei met a lotta stuff until she came around!

She puts the book back into her pocket.

But she does look at Ikuto with a hard frown. "Just because I use koi isn't free reign to attack me and my fish and koi! What if a magical girl used yarn balls!? That shouldn't give you right to harass them!" she huffs.

She's kind of really just adorably angry at this point. Puffed out cheeks and all. She looks to Iris.

"Ah---s-sorry Doctor." she huffs a bit to herself.

Ikiko Hisakata ponders what the larger catboy mentioned. So Guardian Characters are related to dreams, and catboy has the ability to steal dream-related eggs. Quite possibly related, but nothing she would swear to without further proof.

Definitely something to keep in mind, though.

"Nice to meet you as well!" she says to Tadase, a shy smile trying to make an appearance on her face. It's not that she's really looking for love... but Tadase /is/ quite attractive! Enough so that she's feeling slightly flustered when she looks at him.

"And I'm Cute Wolf Tsukiko," she murmurs, turning slightly so that she's not looking directly at Tadase. Well, if Reiko's going to mention her identity, she might as well do so as well. "I'm kind of a diluted werewolf."

Ikuto quiets as Kiseki confirms what he said. That's who Tadase wants to be, indeed. Though he actually smiles-- for once not a smirk-- as Tadase tries weakly to bat his hands away. He's got a number though. No way he's going to be able to pay that much, but he'll do something. He figures Iris needs the money, if she's running a secret clinic for magical types that don't need their parents getting involved.

Iris gets a smirk. "No. I'll behave. So will Yoru," he promises. As for Reiko's words? His smirk widens a bit. "It would be at her own risk," he notes. "I don't eat yarn. But fish? That's something else."

Yoru puts his paws up to his mouth, swaying in the air. "Mmmm, fish... Ikuto, let's get fish on the way home-nya~!"

Speaking of which. Ikuto places the back down on a table or a chair where it won't be in the way. "Anyway. I just came by to drop this off." Rather than the door, he's heading for the window again. yoru exits first, followed by Ikuto, who makes his way swiftly out the window.

Though both of them pause outside. Yoru presses his face against the glass again and make another scary/silly face at Kiseki, and Ikuto turns to look at Tadase, "Sleep well, little king," he says, with a smirk. And then he's away.

On the bright side, despite the disruption he brought, the OTHER things he brought are completley safe. They're all store-bought energy and granola bars, completely un-tampered with. He probably just didn't know what else to bring. But better this than fatty, sugary sweets, right?

Tadase smiles - even at Ikuto - and sits the bill on the table. Kiseki floats over and reads the bill, as Tadase gives his last few comments. The mass of pillows and blankets is, to be honest, feeling very comfortable right now.

"Thank you all for your concern." he says, looking at both girls and Iris in turn. "I'm sure I'll be fine after a little nap. Or maybe a few days of nap. And then I can thank you properly. I'm sure I'll run into both of you brave girls in better times sooner or later." he adds.

He looks like he's about to say something more, but his eyes just do not cooperate. In the morning, he'll probably feel a little rude about the fact that he just fell asleep while talking to them, but... in his defense, all of his energy was just hijacked.