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The blonde girl stared the doctor down with her angry green eyes; He was pretending to listen to her again, for whatever advantage this allowed him as leverage in this situation. To wake up confined in a mental hospital was bad enough. To wake up without her Mei beside her on their big bed, and be told she had imagined the entire last three years, was insufferable, maddening... it was insanity itself. What had happened? Was this a dream, or had she been taken up by parties unknown for some kind of insane experiment, like it was a crazy movie?...
"Miss Okogi..." the man in the white coat tried again...
She glared at him fiercely.
"The name, "Doctor", if that indeed is what you are, is Aihara. Aihara Yuzu. I'm the step-sister of Aihara Mei, whom I am married to- and who I want to see right goddamn now!"
"Miss Okogi..."
The green eyes filled with an anger as bitter as venom. "I'm not talking to you anymore! And if you've done something to Mei, you're going to pray to God for death before I'm through with you!"
She slumped back in the chair, her face showing a complex mixture of painful emotion. Tears of suffering and frustration suddenly began raining down the haggard cheeks. The young woman turned away from the man in the white coat as he sighed.
"I want to see Mei!' she pleaded, her voice broken, 'Please get in touch with her! She has to be looking for me! I'm not saying anything else until I see her!..." There was the sound of a sob of frustration as she turned her face away.
There was a long pause, and it became obvious that, just like the recent attempts to coax her into further discussions that he noted on the report, she would certainly remain silent. The doctor sighed again, shrugged heavily, and picked up the telephone receiver...
"Guys, could you come in here please? I think the interview has been terminated by the patient!" He looked at the blonde with sadness in his eyes, and genuine concern. Turned away from him, she was unable to see that, nor look into the thoughts that tumbled through his mind ceaselessly, looking for an answer...
The two strong attendants came into the room, and stood at either side of the young woman's chair. She looked up then, the taught face showing she had rallied her strength again. She shook her head in disgust and disbelief...
"You don't need your fucking bullies..." she began...
"You're not going to be abused, Yuzu. They're just here to see you get safely back to your room."
"What am I going to do- gnaw the bars off the windows with my teeth?" she sneered in reply.
"There are concerns for your safety."
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever!" she rose from the seat, allowing the two men to each gingerly, but firmly take an arm. The three then walked slowly to the door, but just before it opened, the young woman turned around and fixed the doctor with a look of pure malice.
"Mei had better be alright, so help me... " she whispered, and was led out into the hall, another doctor edging around the three before entering the room and closing the door.
The man seated at the desk looked up at the pretty, round-faced middle aged woman who had just entered. "Doctor Reiki! What do you think of the patient who just left? Do you know any more than I do?..."
She adjusted her glasses, and paused a moment. Where could she begin?
"Ah, yes, you were just brought in on this, weren't you? Doctor Sagasu, abnormal psychology, correct? My pleasure, sir! The patient?...They were brought in six weeks ago suffering from a sudden onset of a mixed delusion with unknown cause. No prior history of psychosis, no history of drug use or even alcohol, brain scans, both C.T. and M.R.I., show normal development and no sign of any lesion, bleeding, bruising, or other trauma. No previous encephalitis; in fact, no traceable disease pathogen. Imaging scan of neural working brain flow normal. I've tested her for young-adult onset Schizophrenia, negative, so far. No clues for causal factors in such a complete and persistent psychotic episode. Eyes reactive normally, speech appropriate when not agitated, obviously very physically healthy, intelligent when we've spoken... effect normal until the delusional details begin to present. She becomes quite maudlin and sentimental when speaking of the young woman she believes she's married to, and will cry at these occasions. She becomes angry when contradicted, but that is at least understandable in the context of her delusion, as she believes she's being held prisoner. She doubtless indicated her displeasure to you..."
"Well, she certainly let me know what would befall me if I harmed this young lady. And speaking of her... Is there any basis in reality for the existence of this person she claims as a spouse?"
Doctor Reiki sighed, shaking her head. "To the best we can ascertain, there is no step-sister named Aihara Mei, Her mother is a widower named Okogi Ume, who has informed us she has never remarried. She further states her daughter has never been interested in females sexually, no mention of same-sex attraction proclivities... in fact, in high school she was somewhat of a Gyaru and talked about boys incessantly... Like a lot of girls...' She smiled for the first time, briefly. 'The description of this "Aihara Mei" , although fulsome in detail, doesn't resemble any known acquaintance of her daughter, to the best of her knowledge. We've just run up against a wall with that one..."
Doctor Sagasu rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if a set of invisible glasses had rested there. "Thank you so much, Doctor. I believe... this is going to be a tough one. This delusion is quite strong, and very complete."
"She has a whole little world she's developed, with a complex backstory, doctor! Although it's rather fantastic in several respects- the detailed descriptions of her sudden involvement with her stepsister, the implausible list of incidents leading up to the wedding, going back for several years... A world in which there is scarcely a male presence outside of this "Mei's" improbable two fiance's, this same person's constantly absent father, and her mysterious grandfather who runs a vast private school system, and wields an unreasonable amount of control in the background. It's almost like... like..."
She stopped in mid-sentence, a puzzled look on her formerly non-committal face.
"What is it, Doctor Reiki?"
"I was just struck by the similarity between this young lady's delusion... and, well... It's so much in form like the Mangas my oldest girl used to read when she was in school. The unusual developments and improbable obstacles coming out of the blue, the coincidences, the obsessive and uncommon relationship... ' She shook her head. 'I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I actually got into one of those books with her back then... she told me if I wasn't careful, that I'd become addicted to them, and I can certainly see how people do..."
She smiled, remembering the two of them sitting on the edge of their seats as another cliff-hanger chapter ended...
"It was about these two step-sisters, you see, who fell in love with each other. The story was absolutely absurd... Although a typical boy-crazy romance -manga schoolgirl in the scenes as it opens, the main protagonist becomes attracted to the other after receiving a forced kiss intended as a nasty prank. But, well... the characters... Their personalities were eventually developed so realistically, as the ridiculous story spun out. They became so believable, so relatable somehow that we both just loved and fretted over them! There were all these fantastic twists, multiple character reboots, endless drama, frightfully implausible story arcs, heartbreak, crossed signals and separations that happened along the way, little side stories featuring their friends... And this... our patient's story she relates so matter of fact... it's just so much like that manga we'd read together!" she finished hurriedly. The doctor was nearly blushing, reminiscing over her silly divertissement of years before.
Doctor Sagasu looked up, his interest peaked. "Doctor... you just might have given me a vital clue to this case..." His eyes became dreamy, focused on something within...
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The blonde girl lay in her bed, listlessly looking around her room, the soft ambient light that was meant to soothe only making her feel more alone, more hopeless and sad. A thousand thoughts went through her mind... The doctors would have had a field day with them...
More than anything else, her thoughts returned to the one she loved more than anyone on earth, that she longed for above all others...
The door to her room suddenly opened, and in the periphery of her vision, a young nurse tip-toed in, probably to bring the evening medication to force her into a few hours of torturous, restless somnolence. She unexpectedly felt a hand on her shoulder; there was something familiar about where, and how the gentle touch of the visitor had sought her...
She looked up... drawing her breath close in disbelief and wonder! Her beautiful green eyes burst into tears as she sat up, throwing herself into warm, loving arms...
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Have I finally gone mad, like they've been telling me?"
The beloved face above her own was smiling, a finger placed over the perfect red lips...
"Shh! Yuzu!' whispered the violet-eyed girl. 'How you wound up slipping through the cracks, and got yourself into this mess, I don't know... But we're working on it, Angel... we're trying to get you back home!... "