"Mizuki, are you alright?" Sano asked the bathroom door.
"I'm fine." It answered. But, of course, he wasn't really talking to the bathroom door, he was talking to the person behind it who, even through the bathroom door that he wasn't talking to, he could tell wasn't what she said she was. Fine. "Go on without me, k?"
Sano hesitated before answering. Did he want to leave her alone like this? No, he didn't but… "Alright but.. Hurry down, okay?"
He could have sworn he heard sniffles, and maybe a sob, before a muffled answer that he couldn't understand. Something was very wrong with her.
"Mizuki, I don't have time for you today. I'm busy."
"Doing what doctor?" Sano said as he closed the door behind him."
"Hmm?" Umeda turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, it's you Sano." He turned back to his desk.
"Mizuki…"
"Yes, what about him?"
"How many people know?"
"Know what?"
"That she's…"
"Only those that figured it out for themselves."
"Who else?"
"The woman from hell."
"How?"
"Is this an interrogation?"
"Maybe." Sano sighed. "When did you find out?"
"Most likely right after you."
"Right, cross dressers."
"Yep."
"Something's very wrong with her."
"You two."
"What?"
"I'm not a therapist, yet you both insist on treating me like one."
"Sorry."
Umeda sighed, removed his glasses, and cleaned them. "It's fine."
Mizuki never made it to breakfast, and she wasn't in the bathroom when he got back. Or in the bed, or even under the desk. He'd checked. She wasn't visiting any other rooms, Umeda hadn't seen her, and Yojiro was still tied up. So, after two hours of running around, he still had no idea where she was. An hour of sitting in the dorm, and another round of checking later, and he was beyond worried. She hadn't been at lunch, and it was getting dark. Sano sat on his bed, head in his hands and elbows on his knees.
"Damnit Mizuki, where the hell did you go?"
When he found her, it was almost midnight. He'd given up on the grounds and searched the entire city with Yojiro, every place she could possibly be, and some where it was impossible. It took him hours. The only signs of life were breathing, blinking, and a pulse.
"Mizuki?"
She didn't move.
He touched her shoulder…
Nothing.
He picked her up…
No response.
"Mizuki…"
He could've cried.
Except that he wouldn't.
She'd done all that for him. He could see that in the way that her eyes looked. She'd cried until the tears wouldn't come.
So all he could do was carry her home.
The teacher noticed when half his class was missing. How could he not? It was all those people who were friends with that Ashiya boy, who was also missing. Their dorm R.A., Nanba, shoved his head in the door ten minutes after the start of class.
"Sensei, they sent me to tell you that they won't be coming today, something like a… family emergency."
"What family emergency?"
"We're trying to help Mizuki."
"What's wrong?"
"We're not sure. He's just sitting there all dead-like. He's completely unresponsive."
"Did the doctor-"
"Umeda said there's nothing wrong with him physically, he said it's in his head.
"Fine" he sighed.
"Thank you sensei."
They were all gathered in Sano's dorm in a circle on the floor while Sano sat on the bed with Mizuki. Sano hadn't slept in over 30 hours, and he was showing it. They had no idea what to so; if not for the occasional blink, her breathing, and the fact that she had a pulse, they would think Mizuki was a dead body. Sano was going downhill fast. The rest weren't much better, but at least they could sleep.
Sano held her close and whispered "C'mon girl, you've got to pull through this."
Three days later, Sano still hadn't slept, not one of them had gone to class, and Mizuki was showing no improvement. The only time anyone left that dorm was to get food for the rest. They could barely get Mizuki to eat, and Sano wouldn't eat at all.
That night, Sano cried.
Two days later, Mizuki wasn't the only problem.