"...What."

Shin's derisive tone snaps Rui from her fragmented thoughts, and before she's even realized what she's doing, she's rounding on him, hands raised in a show of surrender - already forgetting the warmth of his hand on hers. Her cheeks darken as her eyes widen to comic proportions, but though her mouth opens no sound comes out. She swallows thickly, cutting her eyes to the woman leaning against the door frame.

"I-I can explain," she rushes, her tone pleading, a wildfire of anxiety flooding through her veins. She doesn't need Shin turning on her, thinking she's some crazed fan of his (do investigators even have fans?) that's done all this just to get his attention. Rationally, she knows Shin isn't that kind of person; he may be an ass, but she hasn't found him all that vain. But Rui's still running on fumes, having only slept a few fitful hours the night before, and the terror and grief of Akane's death has yet to release her heart. She's panicking unnecessarily, but it doesn't feel that way to her.

"Then explain," Shin says, deceptively neutral in his wording, at least to Rui; she's half-recoiling already, waiting for the reprimand she thinks is well on its way.

So she does. It's a quick story, made a tad more pathetic when told through Rui's uncontrollable stuttering, and by the end of it Shin's sister is laughing, bent halfway over the bed now that she's moved closer. Shin himself remains unamused, and he's sunk further into his pillows as though trying to escape his sister's boisterous presence.

Rui, even in her state of near-hysteria, reflexively moves to adjust his pillow to prop up his head (she imagines his neck wound is far from pleasant when the muscles beneath it stretch, and she wants to keep him from moving his head as much as possible). Shin doesn't react beyond flicking a glance at her, and she tries to act like she's allowed to treat Shin as she would any other sick person.

"You sure there's nothing going on?" Emi asks, brows lifting suggestively. She laughs again when Rui draws her hands against her chest, cheeks blistering; she doesn't leave the bedside, though, as she knows her guilt would only double if she abandoned Shin now.

"Emi, you're here because...?" Shin drawls, ghosting over her question, to which she puffs out her cheeks and narrows her eyes at him. "Weren't you working on... whatever the hell you're painting right now? Don't you have a commission?"

"Finished it," she says with a shrug as she drops onto the end of Shin's bed, her weight sinking the mattress and causing Shin to hiss as his bad arm is jostled. Emi winces apologetically, her smile somewhat sheepish. "When that kid called - Amon or whatever - I really didn't think it was anything that bad. You're always getting into scrapes, aren't you, Shin?"

"My subordinate wouldn't lie about his superior almost getting killed," Shin replies dryly, his voice so raspy and apathetic towards his sister that Rui wonders if she should ask the woman to leave for the time being. Anything that spikes Shin's blood pressure or makes him uncomfortable should be removed for a while, herself included. If he asked to leave she'd do it in a heartbeat - and not just because of their history together. "Former subordinate, anyway," Shin adds after a short, contemplative pause.

Rui's heart feels as though it's being crushed in an iron fist.

Shin may never show it, but he must care for Amon, if only because the man was entrusted to his care for the duration of his stay in the eighteenth ward. And now he's having his prodigie ripped away from him as a result of circumstances he can't even help.

Did Amon tell him? she wonders, fiddling with the hem of her jacket while Shin and Emi talk. Or did he figure it out for himself? It couldn't have been that hard... with Shin as injured as he is, there's no way he can fulfill his duties as an investigator... and Amon wouldn't get much guidance stuck here in the hospital...

Regardless, she still feels this is utterly unfair for Shin and Amon. They've been together this long, they've formed something of a bond - it won't be easy for Amon to go off and try to learn under another investigator.

"...mura. Kitamura."

Rui jumps, her head snapping up at the sound of Shin's voice. She zeroes in on his face, the curious expression he's wearing, and she mumbles something that hopefully translates to I swear I was listening, please go on.

"Get out of here, alright?"

'Wait, I..." Rui scrambles for an excuse to stay. She genuinely doesn't want to leave, but if Shin is asking her to... didn't she already promise she'd do as he wished?

Shin rolls his eyes, but the motion looks like it pains him. A headache, perhaps?

"Kitamura, you don't even have a reason to be here, do you?"

"I do!"

Shin raises a brow, prompting her to go on; Emi grins from her place at the end of the bed, obnoxiously pleased with how things are playing out. She's always been fond of teasing her older brother, especially about girls. Unfortunately for her, he's never pursued a serious relationship long enough for her to get her kicks.

Rui fidgets. Again with the fidgeting. So annoying.

"I, um... I'm not just here out of guilt, Nomura-san. I... See, I know we don't really get along all that well--"

I'd beg to differ is what Emi mouths to her brother, who subtly flips her off.

"--but I've, um, I'm lost a lot of people to ghouls recently. When I heard you were attacked by the same ghoul that's been running rampant in our ward, I couldn't... I couldn't exactly stay away, now could I?"

Shin's silent for a moment, and Emi takes the opportunity to turn to Rui, pulling her legs up onto the bed and settling her paint-streaked hands on her ankles.

"Kitamura-san, is it?" she asks, head cocked, and while Rui thinks there's very little resemblance between the two siblings, she thinks this expression - one that sits somewhere between interrogative and curious - is a defining feature of the Nomura family. "Suppose I should introduce myself. Nomura Emi."

She offers her hand. Rui stares at it, uncomprehending. Is this really the time to bother with formalities. Nonetheless, Rui is nothing if not polite; she shakes with Emi, avoiding eye contact all the while. 

Polite, but never graceful.

"Kitamura Rui," she says in return, trying and failing to produce an acceptable smile. She can feel Shin's incredulous stare, hot on the back of her neck, and she closes her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again and curling up her lips, showing teeth and everything. "You're Nomura-san's younger sister?"

"Hard to tell, isn't it?" Emi laughs, swatting a hand at her brother's knee, to which he hisses a curse and jerks a leg, driving his heel into her hip. She shoots him a glower and shoves him away, but looks back at Rui soon enough, none the worse for the experience, apparently. "I take after our dad; Shin's got more of our mom in him, though he doesn't like admitting that. And then there's the whole thing about us being total opposites..." 

Rui wouldn't say they're total opposites; she can see bits of Shin in Emi, and vice versa. The way they look at people feels the same, like they're measuring them against a scale they've created in their heads, one only they are privy to. It's the reason Rui felt so abrasive during her first encounter with Nomura Shin (well, one of the reasons, in any case). 

 "Emi."

"Yes, Shin-nii?"

"I changed my mind. You get out."

Emi claps a hand over heart, her face slackening in mock astonishment.

"How dare you?" she breathes, before dissolving into a fit of laughter that has Rui questioning her mental stability. She may have to reconsider her stance on the matter of their opposing personalities; no matter how hard she tries, she can't picture Shin laughing so carefreely, or so loudly.

Shin waits for her to catch her breath, brows drawn into a unyielding V. Eventually, Emi straightens up, flicking a tear from the corner of her eye. She flashes Rui a warm (yet somehow still disturbing) smile, then reaches over to pat Shin's knee again. He doesn't throw her off, though his mouth twitches, the beginnings of a scowl pulling at his passive expression.

"Fine, fine," Emi says, still smiling. "I see you want your alone time" - Rui flushes at this, and from the smirk curling Emi's lips, it's because she enjoys Rui's volatile reactions that she's kept up her teasing - "and anyway, I only came to make sure you weren't dead. It'd suck for me if I had to deal with your funeral."

Before Rui can say something, anything really, because dear God, how can anyone be so flippant about their own brother's life - Shin wraps a hand around her wrist, staying her. She stares down at his hand, the fingers pressed firmly to her pulse point; he doesn't spare her a glance, continuing to watch his sister as she slides down from his bed and dusts herself off, adjusting her shirt and pulling at patches of her jeans, shaking her head ruefully and muttering that she'll have to replace them again if she ever wants to leave the house.

"I'll come by again, bring you some books or something," she says over her shoulder, her hand on the door handle. "Sound good?"

"I'd rather you not," Shin says, though it's so low that Rui suspects she's the only one to hear it. Louder, he says, "Go make a living for yourself, idiot."

Emi beams and offers her brother a mock salute, then she's gone, out the door and down the hall in a flash.

"Um..."

"Don't say it."

"She's... she's nice, Nomura-san..."

"She's a selfish bitch," he corrects, finally releasing his grip on her wrist, letting his arm drop lifelessly onto the bed. His eyelids are drooping, the dark eyes beneath them dull and tired. "But she's my sister. So I put up with it."

Rui can't help but smile. 

 "I think I misjudged you, Nomura-san."

"No, you didn't. I'm also a selfish, apathetic bastard. You got it right on the mark the first time, Kitamura."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I plan to, thanks." He pauses. "Are you going or what?"

Rui responds by shaking her head and dropping back down into her seat.

"I told Amon-san over the phone that I'd stay until someone else came. And now that Emi-san is gone..."

Shin rolls his eyes.

"He really is an overstepping bastard..."

"Amon-san cares about you, Nomura-san. Be grateful."

"Yeah, yeah, I've been read this riot act before. Don't bother."

"Whatever you say, Nomura-san."