Call It Whatever

Chapter 7

Lui is still in the hospital. Apparently, he definitely has something wrong with him. Something so wrong, in fact, that they have to keep him there for a while. I decide to head down there, even though I don't think Lui is going to tell me anything. But who knows? That cold, heartless Blader has been surprising everyone lately.

Thankfully, they're allowing visitors. He isn't so messed up to the point where he's dangerous. They think there's a possibility that he might be schizophrenic. My mind is leaning more towards multiple personalities. Sometimes Lui doesn't act like himself in the slightest.

But I'm not a psychologist. The only people that can diagnose him are the people in the hospital. I'll let them do their job.

I walk in, trying to be quiet in case he's sleeping. He isn't. In fact, he's staring blankly at the ceiling, which is kind of creeping me out. I don't know what drugs they have him on, if any. I assume he's on something, though, since his eyes are glossed over and he doesn't look as angry.

Keyword: as. His face always looks angry. If not angry, then disgusted. It's like his eyebrows are permanently angled downwards. It's intimidating, but almost everyone is used to it by this point.

"Lui?" I say when I walk in. What else can I do? Watch him stare at the ceiling until he talks to me?

His eyes don't move. He seems really out of touch with reality right now. "Who's there?" he asks.

"Ukyo... Ukyo Ibuki."

"Oh, you." He actually looks at me. My heart speeds up the second we make eye contact.

"How are you?" That is the dumbest question I could ask right now. He's in the hospital. It should be obvious how he's doing.

"Bored. Tired." He stares at the ceiling again. "I have no memory of what happened yesterday."

Lui doesn't remember his suicide attempt? "You tried to jump off the roof of the WBBA."

"I was told what I did. But don't remember doing it. It's like someone else had control of my body."

That's unsettling. "Someone else had control of your body?"

"That's what I said." Lui sits up at last, and looks over at me. "They think I'm crazy."

They think he's crazy? Oh, Lui. It's not just them. "To be fair, you did try to kill yourself and you don't remember doing it."

"I know what I did." Lui crosses his arms. "Whatever. I just wanna find out what's wrong with me and get out of here."

I don't blame him. "I don't like hospitals much, either."

Lui scoffs. "I hate hospitals. You can't do anything, and you get all of these doctors asking you weird, personal questions." He glares at nothing. "'Are you sexually active?' Uh, WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!?"

I can't help but snicker. "I hate those questions."

Lui scoffs again. "And then they're asking me if I do drugs. Like, I hate people. You think I'm gonna go around asking them for drugs and sex? No way."

I don't know how to respond to that. "I'm not very social, either."

He looks at me funny. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"

I blink. "Yes."

He looks away. "You're way more social than I am. People annoy me to no end." He turns back to look at me again. "Except you. You don't annoy me, for some reason."

That is the nicest thing that Lui has ever said to anyone. "Thanks, Lui."

He stares at me some more. "You're really pretty."