Reina took a seat as she sat down on the seats on the side of the train. She waited until the door closed and the train started moving before she leaned back and relaxed in her seat.

The reason she was currently by herself was the same reason she was headed towards her destination, more specifically, Kumiko's apartment.

Something was up when Reina had noticed that Kumiko wasn't on the train to get to school and her seat had remained empty during practice at school.

During the band's free time to practice, she had asked what Midori what happened, knowing she probably had noticed her disappearance as well and was probably the first one to text Kumiko in worry over what happened to her. Midori had told her that apparently Kumiko was down with another sickness and was resting at home again. So she decided that she would come over to visit like the last time Kumiko was sick.

The train began to roll to a slow as it was about to stop at another station. As the train came at a complete halt, the doors opened to allow either people to get off or for them to get on.

"I'll see you tomorrow Chikao."

"Mhm, see you tomorrow Shuuichi."

Reina turned her head towards the voices, voices that had sounded familiar.

She was right in that they were familiar when she saw Tsukamoto walk onto the train at the door that had been near her and she saw Takigawa standing at the platform as well waving goodbye.

As the doors began to close and Shuuichi surveyed the train as to where he was going to sit, his gaze brushed over Reina.

Reina had already been looking at him and so when he saw her, they locked eyes.

They had stared at each other for a quick moment. But only for a moment. Shuuichi acknowledged her presence with a quick nod to which Reina responded with a nod as well as he walked over to sit down on the sides of the train, but at a little distance away from Reina to her left.

They glanced at each other occasionally, kind of uneased by a weird air.

Both of them were thinking the same thing. They were at the very least acquaintances so they felt compelled that they needed to say something. But it was kind of an awkward situation for 2 people that usually never talked to each other directly. Especially since the bridge that would connect them was gone.

But it was Shuuichi that had said the first word. "I'm guessing you're going to visit Kumiko if you're taking this train?"

Reina nodded at his question and responded with a simple "Yes, I am."

"That's what I figured." Shuuichi said still staring ahead.

A silence washed over them again for a little bit before Reina shot back at him.

"What about you?"

Shuuichi turned his head slightly towards Reina. "What about me?"

"Are you going to visit her too?" Reina asked.

"Ah, no. I'm just heading home right now."

"I see." Reina said. "As a friend, do you not want to check up on her as well?"

"Ah, it's not that I don't want to." Shuuichi waved his hands. "I would but..."

"But?"

"I don't think she'd really want me to visit her." Shuuichi said scratching his cheeks.

"Hmm? Why not? You two are close friends are you not?"

"Close is a little bit stretching it at this point." Shuuichi said. "She usually gets annoyed whenever I'm near her."

"She's annoyed at you? I thought that was how she normally was around you."

Shuuichi's face fell with a sweatdrop. "You thought that was normal?"

Reina nodded. She never really thought of it out of the ordinary. From her time spent with Kumiko, that's what she thought that her personality was usually like.

Shuuichi's expression dropped to an unamused look at Reina's answer. But her expression and nod seemed like she was completely serious.

Seeing Shuuichi's befuddled expression, Reina brought up a question. "Why would she be annoyed at you? I thought you were her childhood friend."

Shuuichi suddenly looked a little downtrodden after Reina asked her question.

"Well, I kind of did something that ticked Kumiko off."

"What did you do to tick her off? Did you hang around another girl or something? Was it that 2nd year trombone girl that you're always with?"

"No, it wasn't that. I doubt she even cares about something like that, she wouldn't get jealous over me."

"Then what is it? Why is she annoyed at you?"

Shuuichi let out a sigh as he began to recall the reason for Kumiko's ire at him. "During our last year of middle school together, I kind of screwed up."

"Last year...what did you do?" Reina asked with a curious expression

"Well..." Shuuichi started. "I was just hanging out with my friends when Kumiko suddenly came up to me asking whether or not I was coming over to her place to eat dinner, and I kind of..."

"Kind of?"

"I kind of said something along the lines of 'Don't talk to me ugly!' in response to her question."

Almost immediately after Shuuichi finished telling his story, Reina almost let out a laugh a snicker as she placed a fist over her mouth. A couple of giggles making their way out occasionally

"Yeah, yeah. I know, go ahead and laugh."

"I'm sorry, it's just, wow." Reina said as she let go of her mouth and let out a breath of laughter. "Yeah, I do think any girl would be annoyed at something like that."

"I know that." Shuuichi sighed. "It was a...less than reasonable response."

"You're using less than reasonable to describe that?" Reina said with an amused look on her face.

"Okay, it was a horrible response." Shuuichi corrected himself begrudgingly. "But it was on a stupid impulse. I was just embarrassed to have a girl ask me to come over to their house in front of my friends."

"Why would you get embarrassed? Wouldn't that be a dream for most guys to have a girl say that to them?"

"I guess so, But I was just an idiot." Shuuichi said.

"After hearing all of that, I'm inclined to agree." Reina snickered.

Shuichi let out a bemoaned sigh. "Ever since all of that, Kumiko has basically been annoyed with me and we haven't been as close ever since."

"I see." Reina said. This was a surprising development that Reina had learned. She had really thought that Shuuichi and Kumiko were very close friends which was why she often teased Kumiko about him.

"If you want to make up with her, why don't you apologize for it?" Reina said.

"I already tried doing that. Kumiko has just been cynical about it and didn't care."

"Calling her cynical doesn't really sound like you apologized to her."

"You're close to her Kousaka-san, you know how she is."

Although Reina felt compelled to defend her friend, she thought that maybe Tsukamoto was right a little when she thought about it.

"So yeah. I haven't really had any way to make up with her. I guess I would say our friendship is kind of strained right now." Shuuichi said. "With the way she's been treating me, I think it's best if I just give her some space."

After Shuuichi finished talking, Reina mulled it over as she brought her hand another her chin. This was a peculiar situation that she had just listened to. This whole time she could have sworn that Kumiko and Shuuichi had been a

Then, a thought came to mind.

"If you want to make up with her, why don't you just tell her about what you did for her?"

"Hmm? What did I do for her?" Shuuichi asked curiously. He didn't really recall anything he had done for Kumiko aside from giving her her birthday present.

"Why don't you just tell her about that one time where you convinced her sister to make up with her?" She said.

"Are you talking about Mamiko-san?"

Reina nodded.

"Wait..." Shuuichi recalled that moment where he had talked with Mamiko in the lobby of their apartment building. "How do you know I talked to her?"

"I overheard you guys in the lobby." Reina stated bluntly.

"But I didn't see you."

"Well because I was hiding. I didn't want to interrupt your guys' conversation." Reina said.

"Uh huh." Shuuichi sweatdropped. "So I guess you were the friend that Mamiko-san said was visiting."

Reina nodded.

"Putting aside where I was. As I said why don't you tell her about what you did? I'm sure that what you did was the event that set things in motion for them to make up. Surely Kumiko would be happy to know what you did and you can easily get back closer to her."

"Hmmm." Shuuichi leaned his head back as if he was mulling over what Reina suggested. After a couple of moments he turned back to Reina.

"Well it's not like I did that all that much really. All I did was suggest that she should listen to us and remind her that she was Kumiko's inspiration for band." Shuuichi said. "I wasn't exactly trying to score points with Kumiko or to curry favor. I did that because I cared about them. I've known those two ever since I was a child. I know how close they've been and I thought I would just do my little part to help them reconcile."

"Hmm. That's surprisingly mature of you Tsukamoto-kun." Reina responded.

"Ehehe." Shuuichi rubbed the back of his head.

"You might be a little too humble though in your role." Reina said.

"All I want to do is support her as much as I can. It doesn't really matter how big of a role I play." Shuuichi said. "Which is why I'm fine with the way things are even if she is annoyed at me."

"Oh?" Reina questioned.

"I've accepted that we've grown apart. We used to be each others' best friends but now we have our own friend group and you're her best friend now." Shuuichi said gazing at Reina. "But I'll continue to do what I can to support her even from this distance."

Reina was surprised at Shuuichi's response. What she initially thought was that he was just a guy that was pining very hard for Kumiko. Heck, she still thought he was pining for her since it was obvious. But his response certainly revealed a little bit more to his character than what she had perceived.

"You know, I think my opinion has changed of you Tsukamoto-kun."

"Hmm? How so?" Shuuichi asked surprised.

"Well at first I just thought you were just this spineless childhood friend Kumiko had that was too chicken to ask her out."

"Geh." Shuuichi said surprised at Reina's jab at him. "Well thanks Kousaka-san. I also do seem to recall you saying that back at the festival" Shuuichi thought back to the festival when he and Chikao had encountered the pair.

"But now, my view of you has changed." Reina said. "You're certainly more than what meets the eye."

"Thanks?...I guess." Shuuichi slowly responded, kind of skeptical what Reina meant about that.

"Don't worry, it's a good thing." Reina giggled. "If you don't want to mention your deeds to Kumiko, that's fine I guess. But at the very least, I'll commend you for it and say you're a pretty good friend to her Tsukamoto-kun."

At Reina's words, Shuuichi slowly smiled. "Thanks Kousaka-san." Shuuichi said. "And to pay back your compliments, let me say the same thing and say the same to you."

"Hmm?" Reina tilted her head.

"As I said before, you're Kumiko's best friend now and you've been a good friend and influence on her." Shuuichi said. "I'll do what I can to support her and you continue to do what you can right by Kumiko's side." Shuuichi said to Reina.

Reina nodded and smile. "I'll do my best."

AN: Too many fics try to paint Shuuichi as the bad guy so I thought I'd try this little tidbit. We never really see Shuuichi and Reina interact directly so this idea came to mind after seeing the little scene where Reina overheard Shuuichi and Mamiko talking. I thought that was a scene with potential to be used as a topic between the two and lo and behold we have this chapter.