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It had been more than 6 months since she last saw him, and it was the first time he accepted her request to visit him despite her persistence even when he was originally sent to juvie, then a medical reformatory that the courts insisted both brothers be sent to, and now to the current institution on the other side of the city where Kyouji could receive more adequate care. She was already discouraged by her new friends to go visit him for a while, not because they didn't trust her, nor the facilities to keep her safe, no they just didn't think the younger Shinkawa brother deserved her friendship anymore, not after what he tried to do to her. Especially her close friend Kazuto, also known as Kirito online, who told her repeatedly that she should just forget about him and give up on the guy; but even this was only said after a moment of paranoid fear of what the older Shinkawa brother had left as a message to Kirito. He later admitted that it had just been cycling in his head for days after he talked about it with his therapist and how he still couldn't figure out what it could mean. Part of him did mean what he said when he just wanted Sinon to forget about Shinkawa Kyouji but for her it was hard to just give up those memories. The happy times, the sad times, their laughter over stupid jokes, the times where they stood in to get fast food and then spend hours hanging out before he had to run out to cram school. She had a hard time believing that everything Shinkawa said that night of the Bullet of Bullets 3 Tournament Finals was an act, a lie, some sort of performance he put on for the past couple of years she's known him. She had been willfully ignorant of his feelings for her despite him making them clear for a couple weeks leading up to BoB3. Even upon listening to this a second time Kazuto seemed reluctant to let her make an appointment to go see him in the future, but was reminded once again that it was her choice not his on what she wanted to do and whom she wanted to forgive. She was ready to forgive him ready for both of them to heal, she was happy now with many friends and wanted to share that joy. She wanted to extend that happiness toward her first friend she had since she became a pariah, the first person who tried to help her, the first person who tried to tell her the words 'I love you' even if they weren't requited in the same way. It was just something Kirito would have to accept, and he would wish her luck, as she would need it. She would need a lot of luck as it would be, as Shinkawa Shouichi's accomplice Johnny Black, seemed to have been tracking Kirito even in real life as she later found out. Using a syringe of the succinylcholine to stop his heart, causing one of her closest friend to be on the verge of death days before she was about to reconcile with another. But would she now even get the chance if they found him suspicious of being a part of Kirito's attack? Or would they only go after Shouichi since he was part of Laughing Coffin? When Asuna was explaining everything to her with Suguha she was baffled, unable to piece together what happened in the short time of her leaving the two love birds and them getting attacked by the crazed maniac from SAO. There wasn't anything she could do. Not now. Even when Asuna told her to focus on her meeting for now, telling her that Kirito would understand, and that she wants her friend Sinonon to do what makes her happy even though things are troubling right now. So despite the pit in her stomach gnawing a larger hole by the day. Despite the uncertainty that would come with her ability to visit her old friend. And despite all odds. Shino Asada walked through the doors of the hospital not knowing where that day would go but she needed to take the step to get there regardless
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“On June 30th authorities finally were able to capture Kanamoto Atsushi also known under the alias Johnny Black, a former SAO survivor turned murderer who escaped police radar after the incident back last December where players from the VRMMORPG Gun Gale Online were killed in their homes by a player known as ‘Death Gun’. Kanamoto’s arrest was carried out after his subsequent injury after an attack on another SAO player whose name will be omitted per request of his family. Kanamoto’s accomplices during the Gun Gale Online incident are currently under investigation once again by the police to see if they had any influence or involvement in the current attack. Both Shinkawa Shouichi and Shinkawa Kyouji however are unable to make any public statement and police are unable to confirm or deny any inquires. Dr. Shinkawa Ami and Dr. Shinkawa Daichi of the Shinkawa Medical Center and Research Institute have no comment on the issue and asked to be left out of further discussions about their children’s mental condition. Police are-“ “Last time on Magical Princess Fairy Leafa…” The television suddenly changed to a colorful screen, promoting fairy with striking similarity to Suguha’s avatar and original AFO box art of a Sylph fairy with a pixie companion flying around the screen, distracting Shino from the news that was staring her in the face beforehand. “These morons never shut up… you shouldn’t worry about it. Okay Miss Asada.” The man at the reception desk chuckled, already beginning to type on his computer, clearly less distracted that the teen in front of him and already back into work mode despite the trashy news broadcast from just seconds ago.“What!? You know me?” She asked, startled from not only the sudden attention but from the instant recognition from the receptionist she didn’t even know. “Yes… Miss Asada Shino, you are here to see Shinkawa Kyouji this is you correct?” Her picture appeared on a tablet like screen facing her near the receptionist desk displaying her name, the time expected to visit and even the person whose permission she got to visit the facility. “Umm yes... that… is me….”“Great. I’ll just need you to sign in the boxes there and have your bag and jacket checked before entering the facility. We will then have someone guide you to the visiting area. Will that be alright with you?” The man gave Shino a pleasant smile just clicking a few more buttons for the signature boxes to appear on the touch screen in front of her waiting for her to proceed.
“Umm yes it will…” Shino walked up to the screens and signed the appropriate paperwork, blinking in surprise when she read through the forms more thoroughly, eyes moving back and forth between the man and the words on the screen before mustering up the courage to speak up.“Excuse me sir. This says that I will be able to know some of Shinkawa’s personal information like his progress, physical health and such. Isn’t that only reserved for his parents and guardians?” She asked with the utmost confusion, the man looked a bit off guard himself, before taking a look at the file himself, sighing and typing lightly on the keyboard searching for what the reasoning as to why might be. “Let’s see here… It seems Shinkawa and his doctor as well as his family gave permission to let you know. It doesn’t let you access everything but it gives you some basic information such as if he wasn’t allowed to have visitors, we could tell you why, or if he had changes recently in his therapy, we could inform you of them if you inquired of them. We wouldn’t disclose any medication changes, what those medicines were, or what was discussed during his therapy sessions but I guess it was something around the lines of trying to give you some familial rights. I’m sorry if that doesn’t make much sense. This doesn’t normally happen and the procedures to allow this take months to get approved so it’s not usually done. “The man explained as best as possible, from what Shino could tell even this was an uncommon occurrence, such a rare thing wasn’t done often especially in places like this.“Okay I’ll finish signing then…” The girl tapped the screen a few more times and then pressed her hand against the screen for a hand print scan, and then as a final step it asked for her to step back, prompting her to stand still while to was about to take a photo for her as a pass. “Okay just a few more minutes to process this and we will be done. With this you will be easier to get in and out of the facility. You will still have to sign in each time but you won’t need a guest pass or go through any other formal proceedings. If you’d like to bring anything, clothes, food, items, you will have to contact us ahead of time as to what they are and have them up for inspection before we determine if they can be given to the patient. But otherwise, you should be set to go for today. Just make sure nothing of yours leaves your side alright?” The made smiled as he handed Shino her ID with a lanyard to hang around her neck, punching a few buttons to unlock the doors to the right in the lobby where someone was waiting on the other side already to guide her to their meeting room. “Thank you for all your help. I’ll see you again...” Shino bowed, walking away with a young nurse whom waited patiently at the door and typed another code into a wall keypad, in this in between room that was meant to act as a barrier between the lobby and the hospital wards. “It’s nice of you to visit Shinkawa, he doesn’t get anyone coming to see him and his mood has been down the past few days. I’m sure seeing a friend will brighten his day. “The nurse said with a small smile.“Is he alright? Did something happen to make him…” Shino paused, her feet never stopped moving but her mouth couldn’t seem to open, and her tongue was stuck as if filled with cotton; unable to articulate what she wanted to say next out of some unknown fear. “The police have been questioning him non-stop for three days and it’s been stressing him out. I’m sure you’ve heard it from the news about the investigation. His doctor, Dr. Hanabara, had to tell all media outlets that he would sue them for invasion of privacy and solicitation if they wouldn’t stop loitering outside. Not that he has the authority to do that but it seemed to keep most of them away.” The nurse sighed heavily, not quite happy herself with the current state of affairs. “What were they doing exactly?” Were the only words that seemed to leave Shino’s mouth to her own surprise, not sure why she even bothered to probe for such a sensitive topic. “Let’s see…The children here were getting quite nervous with all of this drama from the police the past few days, and well… it’s hard to keep them calm if a reporter is trying to sneak in through the garden area when animal therapy was occurring outside. Since it was a nice day many of the children here were trying to enjoy themselves and destress only for someone to climb over our fence and then fall from a tree and in a crazed frenzy to run away scared half of the younger children. Or when you are trying to get someone who is a shut-in to go outside only to be scared off by that idea because some stranger is at their window and they become paranoid over another stalker situation.” The nurse sighed once more seemingly too tired to realize she may have over spoken to the young girl following behind her. “I see… So with all of that happening right now…Would it have been better if Shinkawa was just transferred…” Shino said quietly, unsure of whether she was saying this out of pity for her friend or for the trouble it caused the hospital patients and staff. “No… The last facility he was at was a fine hospital, but Shinkawa didn’t do well under their treatment. He was quite closed off and probably felt like he was trapped. Additionally, there were more adults there than children and teenagers making recovery more difficult. I believe he was one of the youngest people there… Well, I’m sure when he’s ready he can tell you more about it, but he’s improved so much more in the short time he’s been here than the many months he was at the other facility.” “Is that really true?” The young girl looked at the nurse with a mix of shock and confusion, not expecting such an answer. “Dr. Hanabara, his primary doctor here, and many of the other doctors here really focus on what is best for each patient and really try to tailor care to each one of them in a special way, it tends to be more tedious as it requires a lot of different type of treatment methods but it’s for the goal of making sure each one of these children can live a healthy life... It may take longer and it may not be as easy, but as I said they do this because these children and teenagers really are suffering and need more care than the average person. And your friend just happens to fall into the category. Not everything can be fixed by throwing pills at people after all.” The nurse gave a small polite smile continuing their walk down the seemingly long hallway to what Shino assumed to be the guest visitation room. “Ugh what were we expecting. He wasn’t going to cooperate it from the beginning like last time.” One officer scratched his head walking out of a nearby room. “Well, the kid said he didn’t know anything. I think he was telling the truth…” A younger officer followed behind him, only to earn a dirty look from his superior, at least that is what Shino noticed. “Now you don’t seem to know what is going on but last time I had to interrogate that kid he kept silent for weeks on end refusing to talk. He probably just wants to avoid getting blamed for being an accomplice to this attempted murder too.” The older officer scoffed, clearly frustrated at what was going on. “S-sir I think you might be a bit…” “Excuse me but is there an issue you are having with our patient? You remember what happened last time Officer Fukawa? Shinkawa isn'-" "Yeah I remember, we are going to be out of here. So expect us back her in a couple of days to talk to him again. He still hasn't answered any questions. And we need those answers." Officer Fukawa interrupted the nurse and with a huff made a quick paced walk down the hallway toward the lobby. " Well... Miss Asada right through this door. We have someone nearby to come in at any time as the room is being monitored but unless you or him are uncomfortable being left alone physically in the same room or something else were to occur we will leave you alone. " She gave Shino one final smile before turning to leave. "Thank you so much." Shino gave a small bow before gripping her back and taking a deep breath in and out. "Hey Shinkawa.... it's nice to see you again!"