After sleeping for some time, Tsukiyo seemed to have recovered enough to have her old energy back and she was soon bouncing off the walls again. Dowasure couldn't get a straight answer from her about what happened, only cryptic lyrics again...
"Electric...when we're together! So electric, feelin' like this..."
Soon, Tsukiyo and Dowasure were allowed to mingle with the other patients, provided that Dowasure promised to keep an eye on Tsukiyo. Both of them were offended by this request, but Dowasure complied, even if it was just to see other people. Despite Tsukiyo's enthusiastic company, he still felt alone. He felt as if he was missing something.
Walking through the crowd of other patients, they instantly moved away from Tsukiyo as if she truly would burn them. It wasn't fear on their faces however, but disgust. No doubt each of them had encountered the girl in their own way and not all of them had reacted as favorably as Dowasure had.
"Dowa-chan!" Tsukiyo grabbed his hand and led him forward slightly, then knelt so she was near the ground. She lifted one of her firey hands and pointed forward. "Nagamete!"
Dowasure looked where she was pointing and found a boy who looked slightly older then he was sitting by himself in a corner. His hair was a light lavender color, greyish at the tips, and it seemed to almost be in control, but not quite. A small ponytail curled on his shoulder and his blue eyes stared directly forward at nothing. That wasn't what caught his attention though...what caught his attention were the marks all over the boy's body.
Over his limbs and his face, over what must have been his entire body, the boy was covered with dark black marks which reminded Dowasure of clouds for some reason.
Tsukiyo seemed extremely interested and wasn't afraid to show it. She walked forward, putting one of her hands on her chest, watching the boy turn to face her slowly.
"Tsukiyo no Kaji!" She smiled broadly. She pointed at him. "Anata wa...ni niteiru gekkani no kumori?"
For some reason, this made the boy smile. It was a soft smile and Dowasure could already tell it was precious for it's rarity, even though he hadn't even spoken with the boy yet.
"Hi...my name's Dowasure." He moved forward, hoping to lower the affect Tsukiyo would have on him in case he felt, like everyone else did, like avoiding the two of them. "This is Tsukiyo no Kaji..."
"Really...?" The boy responded and Dowasure was relieved to find he spoke English. His voice was soft and whispery, like he hadn't used it in a long time and never for shouting or anything above normal speaking volume. "No doubt..."
Tsukiyo smiled proudly.
"And suppose there is a resemblance to...gekkani no kumori..." He looked thoughtful. Dowasure stared at him for a moment.
"You know japanese?" He was again, immensely relieved. That would make the conversation much easier on Tsukiyo.
He nodded and put a hand on his chest.
"Gavin..." He turned to Tsukiyo and smiled thinly. "Although...your name...Gekkani no Kumori...seems more accurate..."
Dowasure rubbed the back of his head with his hand awkwardly, looking upward and feeling awkward for having to ask his next question. "What...does that mean...?"
Gavin turned to him and again smiled. "Gekkani no Kumori...a Moonlight Shadow."
Tsukiyo began singing to herself, her voice floating over the crowd that had gathered a short distance away from them.
"The last that ever she saw him, carried away by a moonlight shadow...she passed on worried and wanting, carried away by a moonlight shadow..."
Her voice, instead of the energetic voice that Dowasure was used to, was quiet and almost mournful.
Gavin turned to him and held out one of his thin, mottled hands. "Now...it's Gekkani."
Dowasure took the hand gently, noting how cold it was compared to his own. "Okay."
Tsukiyo whirled in a circle slowly, completely losing herself in what she was singing now that someone had triggered it.
"Love in the riddle that's saturday night, far away on the other side, he was caught in the middle of a desperate fight, and she couldn't find how to push through..."
Dowasure and Gekkani turned and watched her, Gekkani having a sad, serious look in his face and Dowasure was just mystified by how slow Tsukiyo was moving and singing compared to her normal behavior.
"The trees that whisper in the evening, carried away by a moonlight shadow...in the soft sorrow and grieving, carried away by a moonlight shadow...oh, she so wants to see the way that he's gone, far away on the other side...he was shot six times by a man on the run and she couldn't find how to push through..."
She held her arms in the air, pain in her voice obviously clear.
"I stay! And I pray! Seeing you in heaven...one day..."
She whirled again, her hair floating around her, as her voice continued onwards with the song.
"So again in the morning, carried away by a moonlight shadow, I watch your vision falling, carried away by a moonlight shadow..."
She turned back to Gekkani, smiling to herself. Gekkani slowly clapped for her, as did Dowasure, until she abruptly jumped onto a nearby table and began shouting loudly.
"OIYOI OIYOI OIYOI YEAH! I AM JANE AND I LOVE TO RIDE AN ELEPHANT!"
Dowasure felt his face redden with embarrasment and he turned to Gekkani, hearing a loud crash and then some wild whoops as Tsukiyo apparently had pulled a light fixture from the ceiling by trying to swing from it. This didn't seem to faze her, however.
"She does this a lot, she switches moods very quickly."
"Like a real fire." Gekkani's voice was soft. "Not surprised."
Tsukiyo was whirling the lamp around on the remnants of the cord and laughing hysterically. "Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong! He's real cute and his hair is long! Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong! So listen to the jungle sonnng!"
She dashed over before Gekkani or Dowasure could move and grabbed them both, beginning the circling dance that she always did when she was overcome with one of her songs. The light fixture had dropped out of her hands and crashed against the floor with a shatter of glass.
"Oiyoi oiyoi oiyoi yeah! I am Tarzan from jungle, you can be my friend! Oiyoi oiyoi oiyoi yeah, I am Jane and I love to ride an elepant!"
She broke from them and proceeded to try and jump on top of a nearby couch, succeeding only in knocking it over and causing herself to fall against the floor in the process. Dazed for a few moments, she turned back to her companions, one of whom was laughing and the other looked confused.
She shouted again, pointing in all directions. "GO CHEETAH, GET BANANA! HEY MONKEY, GET FUNKY!"
Everyone was completely silent, staring in confusion and amazement at Tsukiyo who apparently didn't see any of them.
"Uh oh..." Gekkani pointed to the orderlies that were coming to stop Tsukiyo, who was busy trying to rip the cushions apart for some song-related reason only known to her. "Looks like trouble's coming..."
"Tsukiyo! Tsukiyo, come on!" Dowasure called in worry.
Tsukiyo was amazingly good at making it look as if she headed over to them as a result of her dancing to the song, now decorated with strips of cushion around her hands and fluff in her hair.
"Swing along, Tarzan!"
She danced around Gekkani and Tsukiyo as if they weren't even there, singing to herself in an alternating voice between deep and extremely high.
"When I am dancing I feel funky! Why do you keep ignoring me? Tarzan is here, come kiss me Baby! Oochie-koochie kiss me tenderly!"
Tsukiyo darted behind Gekkani and Dowasure as the orderlies came closer and, amazingly, did not stop dancing or singing for one moment.
"I thought you said you'd take care of her..." A hand was pointed in Dowasure's direction, one that he wasn't sure how to deal wih.
"Tarzan is handsome and Tarzan is strong!"
"I didn't know she would do this-"
"Me Tarzan!"
"Honestly, she just started so fast I couldn't do anything-"
"He's real cute and his hair is long!"
"I had no idea-"
Tsukiyo draped her arms over his shoulders and grabbed his ponytail, waving it around and saying in a mockingly deep voice.
"Long hair!"
Gekkani had a hand on his forehead now as if signalling that they had completely lost this battle. Dowasure tried to gently remove Tsukiyo, but she ended up letting go by herself and continuing her dance behind them.
"You have to control her, she can't just destroy things like this-"
"Tarzan is handsome, Tarzan is strong!"
"I really can't do anything, I don't tell her to do this and she changes so fast I can't do anything about it..."
"So listen to the jungle song!"
Tsukiyo stomped her feet repeatedly and whooshed her hair around in circles, creating a veritable epileptic-seizure-enducing whirl of colors. Unable to do anything else, the orderlies and the two boys stared helplessly at her as she began shouting once again.
"OIYOI OIYOI OIYOI YEAH! I AM TARZAN FROM JUNGLE, YOU CAN BE MY FRIEND!"
"Tsukiyo..." Dowasure's voice was completely lost on her.
"OIYOI OIYOI OIYOI YEAH!" Tsukiyo, apparently for the finale, threw the strips she had wrapped around her hands into the air and gave one final, piercing cry. "I AM JANE AND I LOVE TO RIDE AN ELEPHANT!"
"Oh boy..." Gekkani kept his eyes hidden by his hands as Tsukiyo looked around her as if she had no idea how she had gotten there.
"EE!" She shrieked as she saw the orderlies nearby, grabbing Dowasure's shoulders once again and ducking back and forth as if expecting them to make a grab for her at any moment. "Dame! Dame!"
"You have to keep her under control, okay?" The orderly repeated himself again, and Dowasure decided it was probably best to just agree.
"I can try..."
"Why did you come?" Gekkani finally spoke up again. This seemed to surprise the orderlies, who apparently didn't hear the pale boy speak often.
"Well, since she's being so destructive, the doc's thought that some time in solitary might calm her down-"
"IIIIIIEEEEEE!" Tsukiyo literally screamed in fear and clutched Dowasure's neck convulsively, almost near tears. Dowasure was nearly choked, but he allowed her to hold onto him. She apparently viewed him as her only protection.
"I can take care of her." Dowasure managed to gasp out. "I can, really, you don't have to take her away..."
Gekkani nodded, reinforcing the opinion, and finally the orderlies sighed and turned to leave.
"If she destroys one more thing in those fits of hers..."
"Don't worry, I'll be more careful..." Dowasure waved at them reassuringly and watched them leave. Behind him, Tsukiyo watched with wide, surprised eyes, then she hugged Dowasure wildly, nearly lifting him off the ground.
"He's my best friend, best of all best friends, do you have a best friend too?!" She sounded near tears from happiness.
"Looks like you got a friend for life there." Gekkani smirked slightly. Dowasure gasped for air awkwardly, both from the pressure and at the sudden close contact once again.
"Tsukiyo...can't breathe..."
"He's sooooooo sweet!" Although she was trying to sound joyful in her singing voice, her emotions took control of her and her voice cracked. She finally did break down and began crying, burying her face in Dowasure's chest. "Arigatou, Dowa-chan, arigatou...arigatou...arigatou..."
"Thank you..." Gekkani mumbled behind him. "Thank you."

~~~
Apparently Tsukiyo had learned something from the previous experience and quieted down some, sitting on the fallen couch and staring at her two new friends. She began talking rapidly, Gekkani translating for Dowasure who listened quietly.
"Came here a while ago...they didn't like the singing...thought being alone would fix it..." Tsukiyo shuddered at this point. "Locked in a room...no one listens...no one can hear anything...alone in the dark..."
Tsukiyo shook her head and pointed at Dowasure.
"But you saved Tsukiyo from the lonely dark...thanks so much."
"No problem." Dowasure smiled and felt relief in his heart at sparing Tsukiyo from what must have been a horribly painful experience.
"...was in solitary a lot...everytime it was worse...most of the sessions are electric shocks...very painful...was alone, but now..."
Tsukiyo reached out and took hold of Dowasure's hand, causing him to shudder slightly.
"Now...no more loneliness. No more dark rooms."
Dowasure smiled, feeling joy at Tsukiyo's apparent happiness. Gekkani looked at the two of them, his voice still extremely soft and unassuming.
"You two are different then anyone else here so far..."
"If...you don't mind me asking...why...are you here?" Dowasure faltered for a few seconds, not sure of how to breach what must have been a painful or traumatizing experience.
Gekkani looked off to one side and gave one small, humorless laugh. "Jisatsumisui."
Tsukyio stared at Gekkani for a few moments in what seemed to be surprise. Dowasure waited patiently for him to translate, which he wasn't wrong in doing. Gekkani returned his eyes back to Dowasure.
"Attempted suicide."
Dowasure stared for a few seconds, then finally ventured to speak again. "...why...?"
"Reasons...?" Gekkani got a distant tone in his voice, one that Dowasure recognized him using when speaking to the orderlies. Tsukiyo stared at Gekkani in utter confusion, as if not able to understand what he was saying.
Dowasure shook his head slowly. "Why did you stop...? Who was there...? What made you stop...?"
Gekkani brushed some hair out of his face, a smile appearing that seemed all to cruel and somewhat ironic. "Got caught."
Dowasure struggled to keep eye contact with Gekkani, who seemed very intent at not looking at him. "Was that all?"
Gekkani paused and didn't answer.
Tsukiyo looked back and forth between them, then waved a hand over her head and made a whooshing noise.

~~~
As much as possible after that, Dowasure and Tsukiyo tried to keep in contact with Gekkani, who, although he didn't refuse them, didn't encourage them either. Dowasure was worried because he felt a pain in his heart whenever he came near him that he knew must have been because Gekkani was hiding something...his lack of first-person pronouns was enough to confirm something was wrong...
Tsukiyo pointed to her head at one point in reference to Gekkani and sang softly. "There a war inside my head, if I take a day off I'll be dead..."
Dowasure was increasingly worried by how deeply he could empathize with others. Other people couldn't do this, could they...? What if he really was insane...
No. No, he wasn't crazy. He knew what he saw and he knew what was true, and that was all he needed. No matter what happened, he'd never change what he knew to be truth to a lie.
In his next session, which was another heated argument over what happened and how to say his (and Tsukiyo's) name, the psychiatrist asked him something she hadn't before.
"You know Gavin, right?"
"Gekkani?" He responded automatically.
The psychiatrist seemed pleased by this response and marked something down on her clipboard. "I thought you were involved with that. Could you tell me why he insists on calling himself that now?"
Dowasure shrugged gently, the memory already fading somewhat from his mind. Although his memory was becoming slightly better, it still seemed to have large holes and he put a hand to his head in thought. "I...I think that...it meant something, but I don't remember what..."
An image of Gekkani with one of the dark black marks over his eyes flitted across his mind for a moment, and he decided to ask a question that had been on his mind ever since he had met the quiet boy.
"Why does he have those marks?"
The woman was writing something down, but she looked up at his question. "Gavin, you mean?"
Dowasure nodded.
"A strange form of Seasonal Affect Disorder. Gavin is here not only because his parents were worried for him, but also because we'd like to study him to learn more."
"What's..."
The woman seemed surprised for a moment that he didn't know, then remembered who she was talking to. "Gekkani, at the moment, is extremely depressed by bright lights. The sun would make him curl up and not move, simply to overcome with sadness to want to live. He spent most of his time in the dark, without any light at all, and that's where we assume those marks came from..."
Dowasure thought of the boy, huddled in a corner, limbs drawn close, in complete and utter darkness and felt another pang of sadness go through his body.
"So you're responsible for his Gekkani thing?"
"Well...I don't think so...I think...Tsukiyo came up with it."
The doctor snapped her fingers and adopted a tired tone. "Should have known. Tell me..." She leaned forward and stared him in the eyes quite seriously. "Has he ever said 'me' or 'my' or 'I' around you two? Because you're the only ones he seems willing to take to...to everyone else he's virtually mute."
Dowasure shook his head slowly and the woman sighed. "Why doesn't he say those?"
"He doesn't have a very clear view of himself. Being in the dark so long did some things to his mind and he doesn't really think of himself as existing anymore as a being, but rather as a consciousness to watch others."
Dowasure again found, much like her analysis of Tsukiyo, a flaw that he could easily see. Gekkani didn't think he didn't exist...he made a conscious effort to avoid all first-person pronouns...it wasn't induced by some psychological problem. And Dowasure doubted that, if Gekkani could only truly be happy in darkness, that the dark could have some adverse affect on him.
"How is Tsukiyo, by the way? Is she speaking intelligibly?"
Dowasure tried to keep the edge of annoyance that always crept into his voice when people spoke of Tsukiyo as being insane or some kind of thing out of his voice. "She always has."
The woman stared at him for a few moments, then decided to rephrase her question. "Is she speaking english?"
Dowasure nodded, knowing the reaction the woman would have.
"Really? She's stopped speaking Japanese? What has she said?"
Dowasure smiled softly to himself, singing for the first time in what felt like years. "Oiyoi oiyoi oiyoi yeah, I am Jane and I love to ride an elephant."
The doctor sighed heavily and turned away from him.
"There are others too, want to hear them?" Dowasure had a good memory for songs, although not for much else.
"Have to increase the voltage..." The woman mumbled to herself, then waved off to one side where one of the orderlies waited. "Take him out, we're done."

~~~
When he returned to his room, he found Tsukiyo sitting and rocking back and forth on his bed, singing in a surprisingly deep, melodic voice.
"Kaze no uta ga...kokoro o furuwaseru...ima wa me o tojite, toki o wasurete miru...kurai sora o...honoo ga someteyuku....subete yakitsukushite! ...Yasuragi ni kaesu..."
Dowasure could hear her voice from some distance away, which was what no doubt had attracted Gekkani. He could hear his voice coming from behind him and although it was sudden and unexpected, it didn't frighten him. It was almost as if Gekkani's voice COULDN'T be frightening.
"The song of the wind shakes the heart...would close the eyes for now, and forget about the time that goes on...flames color the dark sky...burn everything, and let them go back to the calmness."
Dowasure turned and watched Gekkani enter his room without any pause whatsoever, as if some barrier had psychically been breached by mentioning his name in his session. Dowasure followed him inside, noting that Tsukiyo had her eyes shut tightly closed and was rocking back and forth without any sign of knowing them being there.
"Namae mo shiranai hana ga....tatakai no akai hi ni tsutsumareru..."
This was worrying Dowasure, as he had never seen Tsukiyo sing a song with such seriousness and in such a way. He knelt near her on the bed and touched her shoulder gently, causing her to jump and give a surprised noise. Seeing that it was Dowasure, she was visibly relieved.
Gekkani walked to the window, translating as if he was the one who was speaking.
"A flower that so that...you even don't know its name....is being enveloped in the red fires of war..."
"Tsukiyo, are you okay? What happened?"
Tsukiyo looked at Gekkani and seemed to sigh for a moment. As she spoke, Gekkani translated her words for Dowasure.
"He's not translating it exactly, but it's close. He doesn't like..." Gekkani smiled for a few moments. "'watashi' or 'boku'."
Dowasure could guess what those two words meant.
"Anyway...yelled at for singing...shot with electricity...locked in a room for an hour with no light...same old thing." Tsukiyo smiled almost painfully at Dowasure. "How about you, Dowa-chan?"
"Tsukiyo..." Dowasure felt tears rising in his eyes at the fake happiness she was putting forth when so much sadness seemed to be flowing into his heart. "Tsukiyo, you take such pain and you keep smiling...how...?"
Gekkani sat down next to them on the bed, waiting for Tsukiyo to finish before speaking.
"You can take the pain and die...you can take the pain and return it...you can take the pain and nullify it by not registering it...it's a choice."
Dowasure sat and sighed, staring at his hands and again feeling a dark, oily feeling on his chest that made him feel dizzy. For a few moments he couldn't see, his vision blacked out, but it eventually passed. Looking at his hands caused him so much pain...
"You...you're doing even more by trying to stop it..."
Tsukiyo leaned against the wall and waved her hands back and forth slowly, singing again in a mournful kind of way. "My sweet prince...you are...the one...my sweet prince...you are the one..."
Gekkani sighed himself as well.
"Did they ask about...?"
Dowasure was confused for a moment to hear Gekkani speak when he wasn't translating, but soon caught on. "Ask about you?"
"Lately, they've been asking why..."
"Where Gekkani no Kumori came from..." Dowasure was slightly frightened for a moment that Gekkani would be resentful if he finished his sentences for him, but in contrast Gekkani seemed almost relieved. He nodded, his soft lavender hair floating about his face in a way that seemed almost identical to Dowasure and Tsukiyo's.
"Won't say." Gekkani looked off. "Did they ask you?"
Dowasure nodded. "I...couldn't remember exactly, but I mentioned Tsukiyo and such."
Tsukiyo nodded.
"That must have been why...they asked those questions today..." Gekkani translated for her. She also seemed relieved that now she could express herself in such a way that Dowasure could understand her.
"What else...?" Gekkani's eyes flicked to his for but a moment, then returned to the wall where Gekkani was steadily staring.
"They asked...if Tsukiyo was speaking English-"
She laughed at that.
"And...how you were..."
This time the boy laughed.
"And I asked some things myself..."
Gekkani nodded. "Ditto...you saw demons...?"
Dowasure didn't want to get into this argument with his new friends and he didn't want them to think him a liar. But he didn't know what else to do, since the truth didn't seem to be the truth anymore...
"Yes...I saw them..." Tears flowed slowly down Dowasure's face. "I saw them and they...did it all, I know I saw them but no one believes me..."
"Dowa-chan..." Tsukiyo reached out and wiped away the fallen tears, causing Dowasure too react even worse considering he was trying to remember what had happened.
Gekkani looked at Tsukiyo, then the two both met gazes with Dowasure. A pale boy with dark markings all over his body and a girl who had fire written in her very skin. "We believe you."
Dowasure normally would have felt overjoyed, but instead this only fueled his sadness and he began sobbing in earnest. "Why? No one else does..."
"You haven't lied before."
Dowasure now wanted someone to hold him, to tell him that it was okay, that he was right, and he wanted Tsukiyo and Gekkani to hold him, but the inner sense of fear and disgust for himself wouldn't allow himself to even ask, and if it happened...his body wouldn't allow it for long, he knew it. So as a weak alternative, he curled into a ball and shivered, trying to force himself to calm.
"Dowasure...we trust you." Gekkani and Tsukiyo moved closer, but didn't touch him as he so badly wanted and feared. "You've been our only friend here who hasn't ran away from us. We believe you..."
Tsukiyo mumbled something under her breath which caused Gekkani to laugh slightly. "Now, if only the demons would come back to get us out of here..."