Minato, Fuuka, Aigis, Ken, Yukari and Junpei stared at the door into Mitsuru's room, waiting for Akihiko to come out with news on the redhead's condition. It was already the middle of the day, and Mitsuru still hadn't gotten out of bed yet. 'I wonder what's wrong with Mitsuru-sempai...?' Junpei thought when Akihiko finally walked out with a look of despair in his eyes.

"It doesn't look good," Akihiko said, "She has a really high fever. She won't be able to come with us to Tartarus tonight. She'll probably have to miss school tomorrow, too..."

Minato pushed off the wall he had been leaning on and replied, "But...there's going to be another full moon in about a week. We need to get in all the training we can...but we obviously can't force Mitsuru out of bed, either..."

Akihiko thought for a while, before he came up with a solution. "Maybe...maybe we can go to Tartarus. While we train, one of us will have to stay behind and take care of Mitsuru. I obviously can't be that person since I'll need to take you guys into Tartarus myself. So...I believe Junpei is most suited for this job!"

Junpei found himself at a loss for words, but he eventually snapped, "H-Hey! Hold on here! Why do I have to stay behind and take care of her?"

Akihiko frowned and walked in front of Junpei. Leaning down, his expression remained unchanged as he pitifully begged, "C'mon, Junpei! You always complained about getting a break from training anyway! Don't you want to help us...?"

Junpei gulped and thought, 'If I don't take care of Mitsuru-sempai...he'll kill me!'

Sighing, Junpei accepted his fate...much to Akihiko's satisfaction...

Mitsuru looked miserable, lying there in bed. Her skin was pale, she had about 5 heavy blankets over her body, a heat pad had been placed on her forehead, her cheeks were flushed, and she was breathing heavily. Even worse, Junpei had to sit beside her for the entire Dark Hour while the others were busy training.

'I wish I brought a magazine to read or something...' Junpei thought while yawning. Suddenly, Mitsuru sat up in bed and moaned, "...I can't sleep anymore...dammit..." She was wearing a sleeveless thin t-shirt, and Junpei did his best to keep himself from staring at the ill redhead's nice plump breasts.

"You really shouldn't be sitting up, sempai...go back to sleep..." Junpei instructed as he tried to help her lie down. Mitsuru tried to fight back, but her sickness made her too weak to resist. Pretty soon, she was back asleep and Junpei was once again left with nothing to do. It only was about a minute before Mitsuru woke up again. This time, though, she didn't try and sit up; she just turned to stare at Junpei and she said, "...You know...you have really nice eyes, Iori..."

Junpei blushed and quickly tore his eyes away from Mitsuru's cute yet pale face. "No..." Mitsuru groaned, "You don't need to be upset...I'm the one who should be upset..." Junpei turned back to Mitsuru and asked, "...What do you mean?"

"I'm gonna die soon..." Mitsuru replied with a sad smile.

Junpei gasped. "...What?"

"JUST KIDDING!" Mitsuru replied with a grin.

"...you're a bitch, sempai..." Junpei muttered.

Mitsuru chuckled softly and stared up at the ceiling for a while. Her sick disposition had seemed to completely alter her personality for some reason. Junpei shook his head and laid back in his chair. He wasn't even sure if he could handle this job anymore. 'I wish the others would just get back already...Mitsuru-sempai is really starting to act strange...'

Suddenly, Mitsuru got up and tried to climb out of bed. "H-Hey!" Junpei exclaimed, "You have to stay in bed, sempai..." As Junpei tried to pull the covers back over her, Mitsuru bent forward and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Thanks for taking care of me...Junpei-kun..." Mitsuru purred before falling asleep once again. A shiver crawled up Junpei's spine and he collapsed onto the floor, his face completely flushed...

The next day, Mitsuru was completely healed and was able to go to Tartarus again. Junpei, however, had now fallen ill and Mitsuru herself volunteered to take care of him...she wanted to pay him back...