I woke up rather unpleasantly, the energetic Nurse Joy from earlier had snuck in surprisingly quietly for someone like her; I was a pretty light sleeper. She was not, however, careful about how to wake someone up. I was awakened by a few quick shakes of the shoulders, my eyes eventually coming to focus on her groggily. "…Hm?"

"Has he decided yet?" She asked eagerly. She seemed to be trying to whisper, but her voice was still pretty loud. I felt the hand, which still had previously grasped mine loosely tighten its grip. She had ended up waking him too I suppose, although he didn't seem to be showing it openly yet. I frowned a bit. She was being too pushy, although personally I did agree with her. His wounds would need to be taken care of.

"…I think you need to give him time to decide. It's not an easy decision for him." The fingers around my own seemed to relax slightly.

"But… Don't you agree that those burns need to be taken care of?" She frowned- She must have thought I would have tried to persuade him or something. "They'll just get worse you know."

"Look, I'm not saying that ignoring his wounds is the best decision, but if he doesn't want the help you can't force it on him. That's not how it works. Or at least, I'm pretty sure," I muttered lowly. She pouted a bit, mumbling something about 'no fun' before collapsing to sit cross-legged in front of me.

"… You're right, but there's nothing to do. I'm so bored…" She rested her hands on her knees.

I made a face at her. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to consider experimenting on people with medicines as a hobby. We went into a small silence, sans her tapping fingers on the wooden floor. Directing my attention to the bed, I spoke up. "You're awake, right?"

The nurse suddenly perked up, looking past me attentively. His eyes flickered open now that it was plainly obvious he had been found out. He looked coldly towards the two of us, his light grey eyes void of any recognizable emotion. He didn't attempt to move beyond that.

"Do you need anything?" Joy asked enthusiastically. "If you're hungry or thirsty I can get you something."

He pushed himself up shakily, wincing, but made it to a sitting position nonetheless. "… N-No," he finally was able to answer after a few struggling breaths.

"Your voice is really hoarse…! I'll go get you some water!" With that she was sprinting out of the room, entirely discarding his previous answer. He watched her go, caution and a bit of worry plastered on his face. I sighed.

"She really is a handful… And I've only known her since…" I suddenly realized that I had no idea how long I had been asleep. I carefully let go of the Triad member's hand to be able to see my C-Gear screen. "Oh, wow. It is almost 5 in the afternoon. I guess considering how impatient she seems, that's a long time to wait." Shrugging, I let my hand drop to the floor. He blinked at me, his facial expression relaxing a bit, despite the fact that he still looked in pain. I frowned. "Are you okay?"

It took a few moments to muster up the words. "I'm… F-Fine." By the way his face contorted as he began to cough immediately after, it was obvious that this wasn't the case.

"Hey, I'm back!" Joy walked back into the room with a quick pace, holding a cup of water and a bendy straw. "I figured you wouldn't want to take your mask off, so here! I got you a straw. That should help, right?" She looked particularly proud to be of use, smiling happily as she held it out to him. He took it hesitantly after sending a sharp glance my way, drinking the water slowly through the straw. He stopped occasionally because of coughing fits, but ended up emptying the whole glass. It was handed back to Joy, who accepted it delightedly.

"Is your throat feeling a bit better?" I asked, tilting my head a bit. He nodded hesitantly, sliding silently back down into the covers. He still didn't seem willing to discuss the more urgent situation at hand.

He gave a short cough. "Y… Yes."

There was a small silence before Joy spoke up again. "Well, it would probably be good for you to rest a while more." She stood, lingering at the door. "Um, I'll check up on you later to make sure your bandages are clean!" With that she was gone, skittishly wandering the hallways, probably looking for something to do.

I turned back to the Triad member. "Do… You want me to stay here again?" With the absence of the nurse his guarded body language seemed to relax a bit.

"…Alright." His voice was still wispy and worn, but at least he throat didn't seem as sore as before. I nodded a bit; that was the closest to an affirmative as I would probably get, leaning back against the bed frame once again.