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“So do you remember anything before you got here?”
The blonde nurse asks with a strained smile, painted on her face. It’s like her lips were sewn into that smile, nevertheless she looks pretty trustable.
“Uh…I don’t.”
“Not a single thing?”
“Not a single thing.”
“Hmmm..”
The nurse puts a hand on her forehead, rubbing her forehead as she thinks deeply as her lips form into a frown, taking that strained smile off her face.
“Well, I do remember that I loved someone a lot…”
The nurse perks up, grabbing her pen from the clipboard again to write down the information.
“Ah, well could you tell me more?”
She starts to tap her pen against the clipboard, which is annoyingly loud for Akane to think in.
“Well- first could you– not do that?”
The nurse looks down at her clipboard with a puzzled expression then back up with a blank smile.
“Not do what?”
“That noise.”
The nurse looks back down again with that same blank smile and puzzled expression in her eyes.
“Stop tapping your pen so much on that.”
The nurse tilts her head, her lips stitched in that smile forming into a small “o” shape as she looks up as if she’s thinking.
“Oh. Alright then, why?”
“Because it’s annoying.”
“Oh. Alright then.”
The nurse opens her mouth again but she stops herself, biting her lip, as if she was gonna ask another “why”.
“So, would you tell me more about this lover of yours?”
“Oh- that…yeah, well- I remember that I loved him…a lot I think?”
“You already said that.”
“Well…I remember that I was kind of obsessed with him? Not to an unhealthy extent though- well I’m pretty sure. I’d hope so.”
She fidgets with the hem of her hospital gown, looking around the room a little nervously as the nurse thinks while tapping her pen again.
“And is that all?”
“Uh- I’m pretty sure we were neighbors and…our names are really similar.”
The nurse's eyes light up like she just found gold.
“Ah! And do you remember your name?”
She fidgets more with the hem of her dress, sweating bullets.
It’s a simple question that anyone should be able to answer. Any human being with a functioning brain, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t remember her own name. She doesn’t even remember if she’s human to begin with.
The nurse notices her fidgeting and tilts her head as she blinks with a puzzled, concerned look on her face.
“Are you oka-”
“I don’t remember! I don’t remember my name!”
The nurse flinches as her sudden outburst, her small angel wings (that she never noticed until now) fluttering.
“Ah…well it’s okay.”
The nurse just smiles blankly, but her eyes are now filled with uncertainty. Like she thinks that this patient is a lost case.
It does not encourage the already nervous patient.
She starts to feel panic arise in her scrambled thoughts, she fidgets more with her hospital gown that it almost tears.
“Hey– calm down… it’s okay. This is…normal for patients who came like you. I’m sure you’ll be able to remember slowly.”
The nurse says putting a hand on her back gently to soothe her.
The sudden contact makes her jolt, it’s been long since she’s had human contact.
“I- am calm.”
She says stubbornly, crossing her arms with a huff. The nurse only frowns at her, the circular motions she’s doing slowing to a stop. At least the contact made the girl stop panicking, though now she’s being a pain.
“You are stubborn.”
The nurse sighs.
“I am not.”
She huffs. The nurse just rolls her eyes at her.
“I’m not gonna fight you.”
The nurse sighs gruffly, writing down stuff on her clipboard as the level headed patient grumbles under her breath.
“What are you writing?”
The nurse barely spares a glance for her as she still keeps writing.
“About you.”
“Me?”
“You’re a lost cause.”
It just slips out of the nurse's mouth. She didn’t mean for herself to just blurt it out, but she did. Now she has to see if the stubborn red head will start to panic or curse her out, to her surprise it's none. The patient is still calm, for now.
“Lost cause?”
She nods, coughing in her hands stiffly.
“I mean, you don’t even remember your name. That’s what makes you well…you.”
The patient stiffens, her shoulders going rigid in a tense line and her breathing slowing. She tries to concentrate on the cold hospital floor and not on her scattered panicked thoughts, but even if she tries to, her vision gets blurry and she starts feeling dizzy.
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have said that.”
The nurse says, breaking her out of her thoughts and waves of nausea. She turns to look up at the nurse with wide eyes to see that the nurse has a small reassuring smile.
“I’m sure you’ll be able to remember. Everyone does eventually…”
But the nurse sounds and looks so uncertain while saying this, it’s making her more nervous. The nurse looks at her with an intense expression for a split second before she forces a smile again.
“I must get going now. You’ll be staying here until you start showing signs of clear memory.”
That really makes her feel nauseous. Staying here for who knows how long seems like hell, and she’s sure she has family waiting out there. She doesn’t remember them, but she feels like she knows what they were like at least.
“How long will that be? What about my family- my friends?”
The nurse gives her a sympathetic look, but she looks set on this.
“I’m sure your family will visit, they have before. You were just…asleep.”
“You mean I was in a damn coma?”
“Deep sleep.”
She rolls her eyes at the nurse, feeling frustrated. Why won’t this get through her head? She needs to get out of this place. The lights here make her head hurt and it smells like…blood and hand sanitizer. It’s horrible.
“I can’t stay here for the night. It’s horrible, I’m sure I’ll start slowly remembering once I start spending time with people I know.”
“I’m afraid I cannot let you leave.”
The nurse is really stubborn and set on this. It’s making her so frustrated, why won’t this nurse just work with her? And she’s the one that's stubborn, right.
“Why not?”
“I said you cannot leave.”
That makes her pause, the nurses tone suddenly turned so sharp and serious. The look in the nurse's eyes is intense, but she still has that stupid smile. She’s starting to get weird vibes from this nurse.
“But why?”
The nurse pauses, pursing her lips together as she thinks.
“...because even if you leave you would have nowhere to go.”
That sounds reasonable and logical, doesn’t it?
“But…you have my records right? You work here so you should. Can’t you just check them?”
“...”
Silence fills the room again as the nurse looks at her with blank eyes. It makes her feel weird, and she doesn’t want to be here any longer.
“Well. I suppose… but how can I if you can’t even tell me your name?”
Oh, that. The whole issue of this, she doesn’t remember her own name. How could she forget something so crucial?
“Well-... I- you could just match my face to the pictures, you are given facial recognition ids for records right? I’m sure-”
“Oh but…people change over time. I’m sure you have too… and I can’t really see your face when the right side of your face is bandaged.”
Right. That too, damn it this nurse is too sharp.
“Well-... you can still see childhood features can’t you? Those don’t change.”
“Sure. But half your face is bandaged, how am I supposed to see? We don’t even know what's under your little bandages.”
The nurse chuckles a little, poking the bandaged side of her face which prompts her to slap her hand away.
“Aghh stop it!”
“Oh feisty!”
The nurse teases with a chuckle, she seems to be enjoying this way too much.
“Hmph.”
She crosses her arms, puffing out her cheeks with a pout. The nurse finds this even more amusing.
“Hmm.”
The nurse imitates her expression and stance, as if this is the first time she’s seen something like this.
“Stop that!”
“Stop what?”
“Stop copying me.”
“Hm.”
This nurse is really weird. She’s not exactly normal like other nurses, or how she thinks other nurses would be like. She wonders if this nurse is even licensed. Now that she thinks about it…the nurse does look young, too young to be a nurse, but what does she know about that? She’s been out for so long she’s not sure if her suspicions are true.
Now that she thinks more about it she doesn’t know anything about what happened to her, or anything about this place, or anything about the nurse. Now that she thinks about it the nurse hasn’t told her her own name.
“What is your name?”
That makes the nurse pause and stop her giggles. For a moment the nurse stands there as if she doesn't know her own name either.
“Why do you need to know?”
“...Because it feels weird talking to someone for so long without knowing what to call them in my head.”
“...”
At first she’d think the nurse would lash out on her for some reason. She doesn’t know why, but she just does. Then the nurse just blinks and smiles.
“Tell me about it.”
Her shoulders drop with a sigh of relief when the nurse agrees, but then she realizes the nurse might be talking about her.
“Well if you must know, my name is Minamoto.”
“Oh- okay then. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me.”
The nurse smiles gently at her as she starts to organize some medicines and such in some cabinets.
“But I really must get going now. I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you.”
The nurse says as she straightens herself, dusting off non-existent dirt off her nurse dress, her small angel wings flutter as she does this.
“But-”
“Goodbye.”
And before she could protest even more the nurse leaves quickly, as if she disappeared with the snap of her finger. She doesn’t even know if she saw the nurse open a door and leave.
Weird. Minamoto is very weird.