i decide that today ill get some training in, better to do it while my head is clear for the most part. i look in the dusty mirror in my room, my hairs getting long, i hadnt noticed it until now but it could become a hindrance in battle.
i leave my room and seek out jeiku, it isnt long before i find him conversing with some of the other members of the revolution, i dont know any of their names but one of them looks very similar to yori, i wonder if theyre siblings or something?
"hey jeiku i need to talk to you" he waves goodbye to the People he's talking to
"whats wrong ibuki?" i get really embarrassed all of a sudden, im not quite sure why.
"will you help me cut my hair" i say quietly, why am i being such a baby? jeiku laughs
"yeah sure ibuki, swing by my room later today"
"thanks" i briskly walk away and then stop when im alone, i breathe heavily, i dont understand why but i want to be friends with jeiku and fuya and maybe even yori. i dont understand these emotions, they dont make sense and i feel weak. i cant have friends because they'll only end up dead and ill be lonelier than when i started. i take mayumis headband out of my pocket and stare at it blankly. would mayumi want for me to be this way? i don't know and i never will. whatever mayumi would have wanted for me is left to my imagination. i wonder if shes happy wherever she is. must be better than here.
several hours pass by and i dont do much of anything, i cant go outside because of the potential of someone finding the base and theres too many people in the training area and i dont feel like talking to them. so i stay in my room and do some basic exercises with the limited space i have, we dont have a whole lot of time before the battle and i need to stay healthy, ill probably train when everyones asleep. after a few dozen reps i sit on the cement floor of the room, this place sure as hell wasnt designed for luxury. theres a creaky wooden desk in the room with a stool that looks like any weight put on it would break it. i wonder just how long this bunker has been here? i find a pencil and paper and begin to write. after about ten or so minutes i fold the paper and stick it into my coat pocket.
i decide to go see jeiku for my haircut. i leave my room and head down the long hallway.
"hey! ibuki wait up!" i turn and see yori jogging towards me and i slow down, i dont really want to talk to her but it'd be rude to ignore her "i was digging around in storage" she catches up to me and is out of breath "and i found an old prosthetic arm that has like full mobility, it might be a little small for you but you can have it, i can help install it" i think about it, why is she being nice to me? what have i done to deserve someone being kind to me.
"uh yeah that sounds great" what am i thinking? i dont want to be friends with yori. "im going to see jeiku now but after that you can help me" what is wrong with me? my words just slipped out of my mouth without thinking. yori smiles
"ok meet me at the training grounds in one hour"
i get to jeikus room and knock, after a moment the door swings open and jeiku is there
"yo" he says and i nod "well come on in"
"thanks for helping me with this" i sit on the stool in his room, our rooms are identical which isnt surprising.
"yeah no problem, so how short do you want your hair?
"i want it gone"
i head down to the training grounds feeling my freshly shaven hair, its barely an inch long now. i spot yori and she waves at me.
"i like the new look" i cant tell if shes mocking me or if its a genuine compliment so i just awkwardly laugh
"thanks jeiku cut it" i put my hand into my pocket and clutch mayumis headband tightly
"follow me" i walk alongside yori
"hi momo!" yori waves at the boy i saw that looked like a relative of her
"momo?" i ask
"his names moritomo, hes my little brother"
"who are you?" moritomo asks me
"hes ibuki from the hidden leaf village, we're going to get him a new arm" yori says, im glad she does because i dont want to talk
"have fun" moritomo waves and walks off. yori and i continue along
"we're here" we walk into the storage room and yori picks up a prosthetic arm from a table, im guessing she left it out. "sorry if its a little small"
"it should be fine"
"ok sit down and hold still" i do as she says, theres silence as the procedure is carried out. "there you go" i look at my arm and its metallic, it moves at my will but theres no feeling in it, its there but its not. come to think of it thats how i feel about my whole body, it moves and functions but it isnt there, theres no emotion behind it. this arm just reinforces that i am in fact a robot not capable of human emotions. i feel empty. i want to see mayumi...