Why didn't you come to see me?

Ririko committed that string of numbers firmly to memory.

She had no clearance to enter Sector L, so she had no way of knowing what lay behind door 27 on the fifth floor.

She could only stick to her original plan and look for an opportunity to leave when Thomas Wayne visited.

To carry out that plan, she appeared in the corridor of Sector B at eight sharp every morning, holding her stack of forms and pretending to record data.

"Have you heard anything about Thomas Wayne coming to Arkham?"

Over a meal, she struck up a supposedly casual conversation with a guard.

The guard shook his head and said he never paid attention to that sort of thing, though security seemed to have been beefed up.

"Is someone important coming for a tour soon?"

She put the same question to Derek, who supervised her work.

Derek scratched his bald head in confusion. "I think I heard the warden mention it a few days ago. Someone from higher up is coming, but he didn't say who."

Ririko quietly filed away these scraps of information.

She felt her chance to leave was drawing closer and closer.

Five days later, when Ririko pushed open her door after work, the first thing she saw was the light on in her room. She thought she had walked into the wrong room.

Then she saw a figure sitting right there in the folding chair.

Hugo Strange had actually barged into her room?!

He wasn't wearing his white coat, just a dark gray suit with his shirt buttoned all the way to the top.

His legs were too long, and the folding chair was too small for him. His knees nearly touched the edge of the narrow table.

The sight of the distinguished "chief therapist" squeezed into a room barely a dozen square meters in size, waiting for her to get off work, was incongruous.

Ririko swept a quick glance around the room.

Before leaving that morning, she had put the Clown Doll beneath her pillow and covered it with the blanket.

The pillow was still in place, and there was no sign that the doll had been moved.

Forcing herself to stay calm, she entered the room, closed the door, then edged toward the bed.

"What brings you here all of a sudden?" Her voice held just the right amount of surprise.

Hugo didn't answer immediately.

He watched her sit on the edge of the bed, then said slowly, "Have you been doing all right these past few days?"

Ririko shifted another few centimeters onto the bed, sitting with her legs pressed together.

"Pretty well. I get along with my coworkers."

Hugo's gaze stayed fixed on her face.

He wasn't wearing his tinted sunglasses, as though he wanted to see her with perfect clarity, to etch her features into his very bones.

"What else?" he pressed.

Ririko tilted her head.

The movement let the hair on her left side slip down, hiding the gauze on her face behind it.

"Did you miss me, so you came to see me?" she asked.

Hugo's fingers stirred slightly on his knee.

"What about you? Why didn't you come to see me?"

Ririko laughed inwardly.

He made it sound as though she could stroll up to his office after work as freely as she went to the cafeteria, knock, walk in, sit on his lap, and say, "I'm here."

He was the one who had restricted her movements to designated areas. He was the one who had said, "You may not do that without my permission," after she kissed his cheek.

And now he was being weird about it, asking why she hadn't come to see him.

None of those sarcastic remarks showed on her face.

She wasn't foolish enough to try to reason with a mentally disturbed older man.

She lowered her head slightly, adopting a faintly bashful expression.

"These are the staff quarters. You staying here... isn't really appropriate, is it?"

Anyone with any sense should have understood what she meant: it was time for him to leave.

Hugo rose from the folding chair.

The room was small. One stride of his long legs brought him to the bed, and he bent down and pulled her into his arms.

The embrace came too quickly for her to even think about how to dodge it.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, lifting her slightly off the edge of the bed until her chest pressed against his.

His chin rested on the crown of her head, his warm breath passing through her hair to brush her scalp.

[Current infatuation value: 55/100.]

She could feel the heat of his body.

Her face was buried in the crook of his neck, where she could smell that familiar scent on his skin: disinfectant mixed with air freshener and baking soda.

His heart was beating far too fast, pounding in his chest like a caged bird beating its wings fiercely against the bars. Every beat carried through to her chest.

"How much sedative did you bring today?" she asked, her voice muffled.

Hugo tightened his arms a little more.

"I came to find out how far you and I can go."

Ririko cursed him several times in her head.

He's just horny, but he refuses to admit it.

She had to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

Ririko lifted her face a little from the crook of his neck. "Why not hold out a few more days? This is a test for you."

Hugo's arms cinched tighter around her.

"I'll be busy soon. Today is the only day I have time."

Ririko's heart skipped a beat.

Whatever was about to keep Hugo busy had to be closely connected to Arkham. In other words, Thomas Wayne was coming.

She could almost picture Thomas touring Arkham in an expensive suit, wealth radiating from every inch of him.

Ririko forced down her excitement.

"What exactly do you want to do, then?" she asked softly. "But you can't do anything I don't want."

Hugo's breathing grew noticeably heavier.

He buried his face in her hair, his nose moving slowly, greedily along the edge of her hairline. His breath left a warm, damp trail over her skin.

"Then tell me what to do." His voice was hoarse, so low it was almost a breathy whisper.

Ririko needed to lure him away from the bed.

"How about we go into the bathroom?" she said.

Hugo lifted his face from her hair and looked at her, his eyes hazy.

[Current infatuation value: 60/100.]

"Then let's go to the bathroom," he said.

Ririko slipped out of his embrace and headed for the bathroom. Turning, she brushed back her long hair and said, "Come in."

There was a little hesitation in Hugo's eyes, but far more desire. He stepped over the bathroom threshold and approached her.

Ririko quietly closed the bathroom door behind her.

The bathroom light was off.

Ririko's back rested against the cold tiled wall, while Hugo's heavy breathing was amplified in the cramped space.

His hand touched the wall, then closed around hers.

In the darkness, his palm pressed firmly against hers, his grip growing tighter and tighter.

His other hand touched her chin, then moved slowly along the edge of her jaw. His fingers paused over the pulse at the side of her neck before gently tipping her face upward.

His lips landed on her jaw, leaving a warm, wet kiss with barely any pressure.

Then he followed that line downward, passing over the shallow hollow where her jaw met her neck and reaching the side of her throat.

He greedily sought a little warmth from her skin.

"Here."

Ririko slid her fingers into his hair, guiding his lips beneath her earlobe.

She pressed lightly there with her fingertips, and Hugo's lips followed, like an obedient puppet pulled by its strings.

[Current infatuation value: 70/100]