Chapter Text
Something was wrong.
Jyugo knew it immediately upon entering the room. It felt empty and cold and strange.
The only person in there was Tsukumo, who was curled up in the couch, looking off at something Jyugo couldn't see. It was a look he'd seen a few times, usually whenever someone was under some intense stress.
"Tsu? Hey, Earth to Tsukumo, do you copy?"
Tsukumo bolts upright, "Jyugo, I didn't see you there!"
Jyugo grew worried, even more so. It wasn't like Tsukumo to be so unaware. I mean, ninjas don't usually get snuck up on right?
"Hey, are you feeling okay? You've been kind of distracted lately. I overheard Yamato telling Seitorou that your mile time went up thirty seconds."
"I... I suppose I have been feeling slightly off as of late." Tsukumo broke eye contact, looking down, "I fear I may be ill."
"How so? What's the symptoms?"
"Well, occasionally I feel as though I'm not even in my own body. It's as if I'm acting again, like I'm playing a character but that character is just me. Or I'll be overcome with random bouts of immense pain- not physical, well sometimes I'll be sick to my stomach, but mostly it's this sickening, inescapable wrongness. It's like there's something wrong but it's not anything in particular, it's just bad. I caught sight of my body whilst changing near a mirror and I swear I nearly started to astral project in the locker room."
Something, a clue, clicked in Jyugo's mind. He'd been many a place, and seen many a thing. More than most could hope to see in their lives.
He'd seen a case like this, back in a prison in California. It was no physical ailment, no ailment at all, but rather a disassociated state where the person feels as if they are not actually themselves, or at least are not being perceived that way, which can cause extreme distress. It doesn't always, but it can.
It was a risky idea, but there was some sneaky way he could potentially "diagnose" Tsukumo. He had to potentially cause harm however.
Was it worth the risk? Well, it was a tad less awkward than outright asking (which depended on if Tsukumo even knew of the issue itself rather than just the symptoms), and he could gauge the severity of the issue.
Well, as the kids say, yolo.
"It's okay dude, we'll-"
Tsukumo's eyes glazed over near immediately, breath hitching, hands beginning to twitch.
On a scale of one to ten Jyugo's gonna cap the severity level at a solid Nuclear Detonation. He'd never seen it get that bad. He'd been expecting mild irritation, a "don't call me dude" possibly, but this was worse than he'd thought.
Either Tsukumo was coupling an identity crisis with an anxiety disorder, or this was long coming and somehow no one noticed.
Or both. Likely both. One likely caused the other. Tsukumo was an actor after all, in a profession like that one gets used to not feeling like oneself.
Shaking Tsukumo back to earth more or less, Jyugo began to speak.
"Well I just figured out what your problem is but I'm in no way qualified to help you. I'm not sure if anyone here is actually. Probably someone, there's gotta be somebody; this place is huge. Hitoshi probably knows somebody. I'll call him. He definitely knows terminology better than I do anyway."
"Wait Jyugo what's wrong with me?"
"Nothing, you're just... not a guy. All that crazy astral projection and anxiety was just your brain freaking out because you're being perceived the wrong way."
Tsukumo blinked and said nothing.
"Tsu, listen, is there any connection between when these bouts of anxiety happen?"
Tsukumo thought long and hard.
"Sometimes when the guards talk to me, or about me? Kind of like when you tried to talk to me a minute ago. And when I have to get dressed."
Jyugo nodded, "yeah it's just like this guy I met in California. Thing is I only knew him for like a week so I don't really know how to help you other thsn find someone who knows about this stuff. I'm betting Hitoshi, he's like really smart. Enlightened. Spends a lot of time on this app full of smart people. It's like intellectual warfare."
Tsukumo nodded, said nothing.
Stunned.