No matter how hard Oga tried, he could not deny the fact Furuichi's soul had left his body. Though he wasn't dead, his body was put in a state between life and death. The following weeks after the fiasco of Takamiya, everyone noticed some new habits with Furuichi. All linked back to his comatose state.

Oga first learned something was different with Furuichi when his mom asked him if he had feeling tired lately. He said he hadn't and wished he would've lied to her and said yes. A worried expression crossed her face, and she told him that Furuichi lately had been sleeping in. This wasn't the issue that was bothering her though. The issue was that when she did try to wake him for breakfast or from a nap, he wouldn't wake up.

Furuichi had always been a light sleeper, probably from being at his side all these years made him prone to stir at any noises. But from what Furuichi's mom was telling him, it was an abnormal deep sleep. In a shaky voice she confided in him that it was like Furuichi was dead, and she was trying to wake his corpse. Just saying the words had the mother shaken and Oga could tell this had been bothering her for some time.

Mr. Furuichi wouldn't listen to her worries and just pushed it on puberty exhausting their son's body. And Oga too tried to settle her worries by saying that now that he had thought about it, he was going to bed earlier than usual. The lie worked and she seemed less worry.

Unfortunately this was one of the many habits that started to appear.

Lately everyone had been teasing Furuichi by calling him an old man due to his ability to be awake one moment and asleep the next. It was becoming common to watch the first year sit down and be wide awake, only to blink and see Furuichi knocked out. Body completely relaxed and a sleep so deep that one could shake him and he would not wake. Though the sleep was deep, it was often short and a minute long the most.

Everyone seemed a little worried about it at first, but Baby Beel and the other kids got a kick out of it. Thought it was the funniest shit ever. So Furuichi was assigned as the babysitter whenever more than one child was ever present. They would watch him like hawks and wait in anticipation. Everyone knew when he fell asleep because children's laughter would fill the room. Furuichi slipping into an unexpected nap put a smile on everyone's face. Including Furuichi after he woke up.

The new habit was fine, until the idiot started to do it while he was walking or standing. The first time it happened, he had fallen face first into Nene's chest. The look on his face when he woke up to several bruises on his face was hilarious.

But the second time, he fell asleep when he was going down the stairs. Toujo thankfully caught him that time by the scruff of his collar. This new habit wasn't liked by the others and the kids didn't find it funny to watch Furuichi fall to the floor. It scared all of them really.

Thankfully the others had taken the situation seriously, well in a form of a competition to see who could catch Furuichi the most. Majority of the hotheaded competitive delinquents participated and kept a close eye whenever their target was alone. Since Furuichi was rarely away from Oga, when he was it was the competitors' only chance at gaining points. Some idiots (Kanzaki and Yuka) tried to get an edge in the game by pairing up and tripping Furuichi and catching him while pressing a chloroform rag on his face. But Oga put an end to that shit right away.

After a two weeks of this competition, not surprisingly Toujo was in the lead. The third year had surprisingly taken a protective role in Furuichi's life. Oga didn't care who was in the lead, as long as someone caught him, he was happy. Though he didn't like leaving Furuichi's side as of late, there was some relief to know the others would catch his friend when he couldn't.

With Oga constantly being at Furuichi's side he was of course the first one to notice Furuichi's new sleeping trick. As if the last one wasn't bad enough. This one Oga disliked extremely as it reminded him of his failure to protect his best friend.

The first time it happened the two were playing video games as usual. Beel was screaming at Oga as Furuichi was only a few punches away from him, which of course was the time the contractor decided to pause. Mumbling about being thirsty, he exited the room and ignored Furuichi's taunts. He took his time and took even longer when Misaki called him. She was at the convenience store and was calling to see if they wanted anything. He told her what he and Beel wanted and told her to hold on so he could ask Furuichi.

Walking towards his room he heard Beel laughing, so he wasn't really surprised when he came back into his room and found Furuichi knocked out on the floor. By this time there was no surprise to find him like this, he just hoped that he caught Furuichi at the end of his nap. He nudged the other in the chest with his foot, but his foot stilled.

Because he realized something very off and wrong from Furuichi. He wasn't breathing. He dropped the phone, and dropped to his knees in front of Furuichi. His chest wasn't moving and his body was still. His stomach dropped and his hands shook as they hovered over him. He couldn't find it in himself to touch the body to see if there was a heartbeat. It was just like the time when he saw Furuichi's body in the hallway.

He just left his best friend's body on the floor. He felt like a fucking asshole for not moving him or at least take his face out of the growing pool of his own blood. But he couldn't touch him. Because the moment he touched Furuichi, he would have to acknowledge that he was touching his soul less body. No different from a corpse really.

So he left him there on the floor. Face down in a puddle of blood. It was Alaindelon that picked him up from the floor. Lamia was the one that put bandages around him. He stood there useless on the side, unable to even look at Furuichi's bloodied body.

But now right in front of him was Furuichi, who wasn't breathing. He just went to get a fucking drink and he returned to Furuichi's corpse. His chest ached and his breathing became heavy. This wasn't fucking happening. He heard Beel whining in the background, but he couldn't tell the kid that everything was going to be ok.

Because he didn't even know if things were going to be ok. Because Furuichi wasn't fucking breathing! CPR his mind screamed at him. He had to get Furuichi breathing again. He had to save him

Hands shaking harder now as they hovered over Furuichi's chest, a curse escaped him. But before he could touch the body, a heavy breath was taken in and Furuichi's breathing regulated. Not sure what to believe, or if his panicked mind was playing tricks on him, he checked to see if Furuichi was alive. With a little too much strength behind it, he cuffed Furuichi on the backside of the head.

He got a reaction immediately as Furuichi woke with a start and hissed with pain while cradling his head.

"What the hell was that shit!" He yelled while punching Oga in the thigh. The contractor scoffed as if he was annoyed that Furuichi was asking such an obvious question. Sitting himself back down, he looked at his phone and saw that the call had been dropped. Shrugging he picked up his controller and resumed the game. Though he looked calm, his hands were still slightly shaking.

"You pissed me off." He finally answered as he swiftly attacked Furuichi's character. He watched in the corner of his eye as Furuichi cursed groggily at him and stumbled to grab his controller. "Asshole."

He didn't think anything of the comment and instead focused more on that Furuichi had no idea that he stopped breathing. He also noted that the idiot seemed totally fine, with the exception of being a little out of it. He punched him one more time in the shoulder.

It happened again a few days later. Everyone who was there at the night fight of Takamiya was present in the classroom. It was originally supposed to be everyone who held a crest meeting, but when the others heard of the gathering they invited themselves. They were tired of being kept in the dark.

The meeting was more about telling new information and getting everyone on the same page. There were several questions and through the middle of the meeting Himekawa left. But no one stopped him and the meeting went on.

One minute Furuichi was listening to every word and inputting his thoughts here and there, the next he was slumped in his desk. His head thrown back over the chair, looking uncomfortable.

Everyone by now was used to this and knew the other would wake up soon. Except Kanzaki happened to glance at him while trying to catch a look at Yuka. Something didn't look right and he turned to the first year so he could fully look at him. It took him a moment to realize what was wrong.

"Hey! He's not breathing!"

The declaration had everyone turning to look at Furuichi. Staring at his chest they all saw the lack of movement. All the delinquents stilled for a moment, and then majority of them burst into movement. But before any of them could reach him, Oga snapped at them. "Stop."

Everyone followed the command and watched in silence as he walked over to the sleeping figure and growled out. "It's fine." Tipping the desk back, to the point it was standing dangerously on the two back legs, the crowd watched as Furuichi jerked awake and flailed. Instead of letting the desk tip, Oga brought it down and stared at Furuichi.

Eye blinking slowly Furuichi took his surroundings and groggily noticed several worried faces. He turned to Oga and tried to find the reason for worry. The contractor however ignored his questioning look.

"What the fuck was that?" Kanzaki demanded while staring at Furuichi as if he grew another head.

"What was what?" Furuichi replied confused.

"Nothing happened." Oga snapped.

"What do you mean nothing happened." Toujo spat out.

"That's really serious." Nene mumbled loudly.

"I said nothing happened." Oga's tone signified the conversation was over.

Immune to his authority Furuichi repeated his question. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Oga replied nonchalantly.

The meeting ended soon after that, and while the students were streaming out of the class, Kunieda grabbed Oga and made him stay.

A serious aura was around her when she confronted him and Oga knew he wouldn't be able to pull bullshit with her. Sighing he confided to her.

"It can't be helped. Lamia already looked at it."

"Does he know?" She questioned. Oga gave her a look as if she just asked a ridiculous question. But answered in a bored tone.

"What good is it going to do if he knows? I don't want him to start avoiding sleep."

A moment of silence passed between them. Finally with slumped shoulders Kunieda promised. "I'll tell them not to mention it."

Oga nodded in reply and before he could leave the classroom he was stopped by one last question. Demanding more than asking Kunieda said. "What the hell happened that night?"

The feeling of failure overwhelmed him again. With his back towards her he shrugged his shoulders in response. The nonchalant reply did not meet the expression that flashed on his face. The expression of worry, failure, and anger. Before leaving the room, for the last time he would talk about that night he answered.

"Something that will never happen again."

Walking out of the classroom, he saw Furuichi waiting in the hall staring out the window. They said nothing to each other but walked side by side out of the school. Just like how it was always was.

Furuichi's new habits started to become normal and started to occur less. Oga was sure it wasn't natural how the spacing occurred out of nowhere or the fact that when Furuichi did fall unconscious, it was longer and harsher than the several sporadic ones he had before. His gut told him those damn pillar demons had something to do with it but, he couldn't find the time where Furuichi would contact them.

And that was the thing he hated the most about these habits. He couldn't stop them. He could only do so much. So when he forced Furuichi to spend the night at his house at least once a week, it was really for both their benefits. His, so he could monitor Furuichi throughout the night and Furuichi's because Oga would know if he was getting worse. But Furuichi would never know about these benefits.

Because when Furuichi spends the night, the same routine happens. Oga would make Furuichi sleep on the futon on the floor. And when he was asleep he would pick him up and lay him on the bed. Throughout the night in between Beel and Furuichi he would listen. He would listen to both their breathings and when Furuichi's would stop he would count the seconds, his heart beating faster with each passing second. When his best friend's breathing finally resumed he would breathe in rhythm with him unconsciously.

And when morning came, he would put Furuichi back on the futon, but listen all the same. Furuichi's life was in his hands. He let it slip once, but he would never let it go again. He fucked up last time, and it made him realize that he wasn't a man. He still needed to grow.

Because he let Furuichi die. And he left his body there in the hallway. He acted like an idiot when he should have got Furuichi's soul pieces and helped his friend. He wasn't a man, he was just a stupid kid. Because standing around with thumb up your ass while your friends are in trouble isn't anywhere close to being a man.