[OPEN] Temporary Escape

Toshiaki sat in the corner of the library, splayed out over one of the several beanbag chairs. His gaze was intently focused on the pages of his current selection, flicking quickly across each line.

He had been frequenting the library for some time now. Although its collection wasn't the largest, it would be enough to keep him satisfied for a while, he supposed.

Ever the completionist, he had started from one end of the library and had begun to work his way across in the past few months, reading every single book (excluding, of course, those he had read already). Easily reading several a week, he was probably at about 100 now, he figured.

Absorbed in his reading, he didn't notice at first who was trying to get his attention.

"Endo, you there? That must be one really good book." Mizo said having failed to get Toshi's attention the first time with a simple "Hey how's it going?"

"Oh… hi Mizo," he finally replied as reality snapped back into place. "Yeah, sorry, caught up in this.

"So what's up with you lately? Sorry last weekend was kinda lame. 0 for 2; I guess I'm not exactly the greatest party planner…" he said with a grimace.

"Don't worry about it, I was glad to get away from the school for a while."

"Yeah, I guess."
It did turn out better than the previous party, in some ways at least.

"So what's new with you?"

"Oh not much really. I was just returning some light reading. How about you?" Mizo said as he held up a book bag containing probably around 7 or 8 books.

"Just killing time, I guess." He held up his book so that the cover was visible:
Doctor Faustus – Thomas Mann.

"Mann's modern reimagining of the tale. Pretty good so far.
Don't know if I'd call it 'light,' though," he said with a grin.

"I don't think I've read that one yet. I recently read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" It was interesting to say the least."
Mizo said as he took a seat in one of the adjacent bean bag chairs.

"I've heard that's good. I'll have to get around to it sometime.

"So, you read a lot of scifi then?"

"No, I just read a lot."

"Okay…"

Not much for conversation, is he.
Probably why I still know hardly anything about him, even though we've seen each other plenty since I started here.

"Well, what kind of stuff do you usually read then?"

"Umm...I guess every thing would be the best way to put it. I'm not really all that choosy, I read just about anything really. What about you?"

"Well… I suppose I read just about everything too," he said with a grin. "But mostly I enjoy scifi, historical fiction, psycho thrillers; anything that really makes you think."

"I love it when a book makes you think. Like you have to step back from it for a second and say to your self "Wait...what just happened there?". I love that."

"Yeah. A twist like that can really make or break a story, I think.
Too many hints and it kills the suspense. Too few and it's just an asspull.
It's a difficult balance to strike, foreshadowing just enough to tie it together without giving it away."

" Exactly, that's where you get the ever famous "The butler did it." or "Pulling an M. Night""

"I thought we agreed that was a Shyamalamadingdong?" he said, chuckling.

"So I take it you watch a lot of movies too?"

I suppose there's not much else to do but read and watch movies when you're stuck in a hospital bed for any extended period.

"Only in the last year really. Not much else to do when you're stuck in a hospital bed."

Eee-yup.

Toshi looked around tentatively, confirming that the library was mostly empty except for them. The librarian appeared to be absorbed in something at her desk.
And her Japanese isn't great anyway… we're as good as private over here.

"Mizo, if you don't mind my asking… what exactly was the reason for that?"

"Uhh..."
Mizo thought about it for a second. There wasn't really anyone to over hear, and he did need someone he could talk to besides Dr.Schmidt.
"...Well...alright, I guess I don't mind telling you about it. The place to start would be with the fact that I was in the hospital twice this last year."

"Yeah, you did mention that. The second one was the car accident, you said…" Toshi replied, his expression neutral.

"Yeah, that was the one that cost me my left eye. The first time was...It was because of a really bad seizure. That was when I learned that I have epilepsy."
Mizo's expression and voice now a combination of sadness and seriousness. It was rather obvious that something more than just the event it's self bothered him while recounting his ordeal

"I see.

"I wouldn't have guessed that. I've never noticed you having anything like that.
Everyone always talks a lot about TV or flashing lights being triggers, but you seemed totally fine at the movie…

"So… how bad is it? What kind of thing might trigger it?"

"Well...from what I was told it's partly from an irregularity in my sleep pattern. So not enough sleep is one of my triggers. The doctors said that they believe that I may also be susceptible to a seizure if I were to receive a blow to the head. I was fine at the movie because I closed my eyes and covered them in situations where it could of been bad. There's actually no guarantee that I'm susceptible to photosensitiveity as a trigger. Better safe than sorry though right?"

"Yeah… definitely want to avoid that. I can understand that."

He paused for a moment.

"Did Hawke ever say anything to you about what really went down at Motozaki's party that first week?"