You bitch! We were friends! How could you do this to me?

"Hey, uh, Hitomi? I... I know what you said about this afternoon, but..."

She looks up at me innocently, almost disappointed. She thinks I'm going to ask that she lets me have him. She forces a little smile. "Yes, Sayaka?"

"Before you go to ask him... would you mind meeting me somewhere. I don't want him to see me..." I don't want him to see it. "...I want to talk to you first, before you go to him. Can we meet..." A nice dark alley right next to where he'll be walking on his way home. "...I might be able to... give you some tips on what he likes."

Hitomi, my friend, just smiles and nods. "T-thank you, Sayaka. You don't know how much that would mean to me!"

Oh, I think I might have a clue. "No problem."

After school was finished, I rushed home without waiting for anything. My parents heard me rushing through the door early. I ran into my room and grabbed my baseball bat, heading back down the stairs... only to find my mother standing in front of the door. She held up her hand.

"Where are you going so quickly, young lady? You didn't leave school early, did you? And what's with the bat?"

I held the bat up and looked at it as f it was almost an afterthought. "Oh, this? No, uh, school finished at the regular time. I just rushed home when it finished so I could get this. I, uh... I joined the baseball team, and, uh, I'm late for practice!"

She shook her head. "Baseball team... I told you, Sayaka. I don't want you getting into any of those sports teams until you get your grades back up. They've been suffering ever since you've been hanging out with that pink-haired girl."

Oh, geez, mom. My grades got worse because the work got harder. Besides, getting a B every now and then hardly constitutes worse grades. I'm a great student! It's hardly Madoka's fault. She even helps me with my homework! I mean, sure the classes I get B grades in are the ones that she helps me in, but... that's just a... coincidence.

"Fuck."

...whoops.

"What did you just say?!"

Apologize, Sayaka. It's the quickest way out of this. "S-sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to say that, I just... look, Mom, I promised I'd meet Hitomi somewhere and-"

"Hitomi? Isn't that that green-haired girl? I hardly think she plays baseball." She gave me a look that... I honestly can't decipher. Parents are confusing. "...well, okay, but just this once."

"Yes!" Again, I didn't mean to say that out loud.

"But don't think I'll let it happen again. And you are going to pay for that swear, young lady. It'll be painful, and tearful, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!"

Yeah, so I'm washing the dishes after supper for a whole week. It is because of my excellent acting skills that she still believes I dread standing in front of a sink full of dirty plates. In all honesty, I enjoy it. Not like a fetish or anything, but it is a bit fun. Granted, that's probably only because all the fuss I put up is a great and productive way to vent all my frustrations. Oh well, it's another worry for another time.

I pointed the bat at her. "The valiant warrior requests safe passage through the gateway!"

She sighed and shook her head. "The irked mother reluctantly grants the request. You're blurring the line between model student and juvenile delinquent."

She stepped aside, and I opened the door and walked outside. Of course, before I left, I gave a bow and thanked her, thus proving to her what she had just claimed about lines and... stuff. Okay, now I'm far too busy to worry about whatever she said. I have to hurry if I'm going to make it in time. Hitomi is probably already there waiting, and if she waits too long she might start thinking I asked her to go there just to get her out of the way while I went and met him instead. That's just not true, Hitomi. I wouldn't cheat you like that.

I gripped the bat as I ran back toward the school, talking to myself like a crazy person. "No, I would never cheat a friend like that. I play fairly, Hitomi, as you are about to see." I'm not crazy, I swear.

Almost to where I told Hitomi to meet me, I saw someone else further along the sidewalk. It wasn't Hitomi... it was him. I could see the alley where I was supposed to meet Hitomi, and at the speed I was going we were going to meet right in front of it. If she was already there, she would see us.

He started waving at me. He had spotted me, and he knew it was me. He ran to meet me, and we stopped right in front of the alley. He smiled. "Sayaka! How are you?"

How am I? Really? "Actually..." Truth be told. "I'm not sure yet. I'll figure it out in a moment. I told my friend Hitomi that I was going to meet her. Uh, she wants to tell you something, so... could you stay here for a moment while I go get her. I'm gonna talk to her and then we'll be right back."

"...Oh, okay."

Yeah, I don't think he has a clue about anything. My tact is perfect. I ran off into the alley, and I'm sure that left him wondering. Hitomi was not in the alley, so I ran through to the street at the other end. There she was, running away from the alley. She saw us, but I guess she didn't hear us. I ran to catch her, an easy thing for me. Hitomi isn't very fast.

I caught her wrist and stopped her. "Hitomi! Stop!"

She turned to look at me, tears rolling down her cheeks, and she shouted at me. "Sayaka, how could you!? You told me to go there so you could get me out of the way, didn't you!? So I wouldn't be there when you went for him! And if that wasn't bad enough, you set it up so I would see you doing it! I thought you were my friend!"

I thought for a moment that she was done, but apparently she was just taking a breath.

"Why would you do that to me, Sayaka? How could you do that to me? I gave you the time to tell him! You could have told him at any point, but instead you made me think you were going to help me!" She tried to tug her hand away. "Let go of me! Let go, Sayaka!"

While she was struggling, which was pointless because I really am stronger than her too, she stopped talking long enough for me to say something. "I told him to wait."

She stopped and looked up at me. "W-what? T-told him... to w-wait?"

"I told him that you wanted to talk to him. He's waiting back there. He's waiting for you." She blinked in surprise. I let go of her wrist. "Why were you so quick to believe I would betray you like that?"

Then she jumped me, and suddenly I found myself suffocating in a hug. Not only that, but my shoulder got considerably damp. She pressed her face into my shoulder, making me just a little uncomfortable. After what felt like a minute or two, I determined the best way to escape was to make her uncomfortable as well.

"I never knew you felt this way about me, Hitomi."

She squeaked and jumped back, releasing me from her grip. "S-Sayaka! That's not funny!" There was a brief silence, during which her eyes began to wander, and then she finally asked a question I had completely forgotten was valid. "What's with the baseball bat?"

I almost forgot why I brought that stupid thing. I held it up smiling. "I was gonna practice my swing a bit." Right then, her face changed, and I got the feeling that she could see right through me. I can usually keep a straight face, but right now...

"Were you..." She backed away, looking frightened. "Were you going to... hit me?" I can feel that my face doesn't look terribly convincing. Her eyes widened. "You were!"

Before she could turn and run away again I jumped forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer enough so I could speak quietly. There were people out and about on that street, after all. "Look, fine, that's why I brought it, but that plan broke when he showed up. He's waiting for you, and I'm going to make sure you get to talk to him."

She swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry, Sayaka. I know you liked him."

"Don't worry about it." I led her through a different alley. He would be waiting a little ways down the sidewalk on the other side. And that's when she pushed me aside and turned around to face me. We were alone in the alley. This is where I planned to be in the first place.

She took a deep breath before speaking. "...Sayaka. I didn't realize it hurt you so much when I told you that I liked him. You've given up so much for him." More than you know. "So... so I've decided... you should do it."

Hmm? "Do what?"

She spread her arms out, like she was surrendering. "It's not fair that I should take him away from you without any sort of sacrifice, so hit me."

...

What?

I guess I blanked out trying to figure out if she was for real right there, because she shook me back to reality. "Sayaka, wake up. It's okay. You... you only have to hit me once, but I want you to. To prove that I know how much you've done for him, and that I'm willing to do just as much for him, and for you. I can. I will. I promise."

She... wants me to... "Now I'm supposed to hit you... with the bat?"

She reluctantly nodded. "I'd prefer if you only hit me once. It would be nice if I was still capable of walking out to talk to him afterwards." I suddenly thrust the bat out, and she flinched just as it stopped an inch from her nose. She quickly squealed. "Not the face!"

"Not the face? Really, Hitomi?"

She looked back at me, her nervousness growing with every second. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm doing this because I know it hurt you, so... so you have every right to hurt me back!"

I shook the bat threateningly. "But you're putting limitations on your punishment. You don't know how much you hurt me. The full sum of your punishment, if we were to equal it out, could come out to this." I bopped her on the forehead with the tip of the bat. She squeaked.

Falling back and rubbing her forehead, she shot a glare at me. "That hurt! That really hurt!"

"Yeah, no shit." Without giving her any further warning, I let myself do it. I jumped forward and swung the bat with all my strength. I poured all my anger and grief into that swing, aiming just for that spot on the torso where a girl can bare herself at times without it being indecent. I hit her right in her belly, hoping that the bruise would never go away and that she would never get to wear a two piece swimsuit.

Without a sound, she collapsed to her knees and fell forward. She sat there, bent over and clutching her stomach in pain. Eventually, after what seemed like several minutes, she gasped for breath. She put her left hand on the ground beside her, supporting her so she wouldn't get her hair dirty. And I just stood and watched. Hitomi is such a fragile girl. She's probably never been hit by anything.

My eyes wandered over to her hand, spread out on the ground, trembling with the pain running through her. I gripped the bat. "Twice."

"No! No, don't!" It hurts more than anything she's ever experienced. That's a thing you can tell by someone's voice. Or at least a thing I can tell. "I can't... I didn't think..."

"You didn't think it could hurt that much? No one ever thinks anything can hurt as much as it ends up hurting. Well, I'm saying you don't have a clue yet what I had to go through. Twice."

A few moments passed, during which I just waited for her to answer. The only thing that went through my mind was what the exact measurement of a moment is. Whatever it is, a few of them passed.

Hitomi nodded, shaking. "I'm sorry."

"I know." I raised the bat over my head and brought it down. There was a sick crunch, like bones breaking, and the bat splintered.

Hitomi gasped and rolled onto her side. She seemed to stop being worried about her hair, just letting her head rest on the ground as she stared in shock at her hand. Shaking even more, so much so that it almost looked intentional, she brought her hand to her chest and cradled it.

She looked up at me, her eyes reflecting her terror. "My... hand..."

"Yes. Your hand. I broke your hand, Hitomi, just like his hand was broken." Gulping, she nodded solemnly. I shouldered the bat, ignoring that the end was bent at a horrible angle. "Three times."

She scrambled away from from me, only stopping when she got to the wall. She did her best to cover her head, as well as the two places she had already been hit. "No, please! Sayaka, please, not again! I can't take anymore! No! P-p-p-please... you win... just... no more... he's yours." And then she just broke down into tears.

I knelt down in front of her. "You took those two, only to surrender now? If that's you, then how can you even begin to understand how I feel? You can't limit how much you would give for someone, Hitomi. It's all or nothing. If you truly love someone, you'll give everything. You'll take another hit. No matter how many hits I can deliver, you'll always take one more. If you can't do that, then you don't deserve him."

She balled her right hand into a fist and slammed it against the ground. "Okay! ...do it."

"So you're serious about this. That's good to know." I stood up and raised the broken bat over my head, preparing to strike. She closed her eyes, and it looked like she thought I would aim for her legs; she curled them closer to her body, trying to protect them.

I brought the bat down and tossed it aside. She opened her eyes at the sound of it clattering to the ground. I knelt down again, wrapping my arms around her and helping her up, hugging her closely. She winced, pulling her hand away from the embrace. I pulled back and looked her in the eye.

"When you love someone, you're willing to lose everything for them. You're even willing to let go of them if that is what they need. Can you stand?" She nodded, still teary. "Good, cause he's waiting."

By the end of the day, I had gone through multiple stages. At first, I had planned to simply beat Hitomi until there was nothing left but Hitomush. Then, I decided to let them be, the both of them. Learning what I had originally planned, Hitomi asked that I hit her. If you ask me, she might be unstable. Then, I ended up teaching Hitomi something about pain and love. I admit that most of what I said was completely made up on the spot. It sounded right, though.

Of course, Hitomi ended up in the hospital when he realized there was something wrong with her hand. Her hand never healed, but he visited her every day while she was hospitalized. After she got out, which was longer than you might think, they started going out. They look great together, and I wish them the happiest of lives.

It still hurts. It hurts more than Hitomi can ever know, knowing that I gave my soul for him. Sometimes I wonder if he would have ended up with anyone had I never made that contract. Would it have been me?

I guess I'll never know.