Haru stayed in the bathroom for a very long time. She wasn't entirely sure how long - more than an hour, though. It was a good thing her parents had their own bathroom. Her father was never very sympathetic, and her mother just did whatever her father told her to.

God, who could she talk to about this? Dad was horrible, mom would be obligated to tell dad, Eiji was going to hate her...

Haru sat up straight as she suddenly remembered Nao. How could she forget her little sister? She could always talk to Nao! Nao was the only person who would never judge her over anything. She was the only one she could count on anymore.

Opening the door a crack, Haru peered down the hall. Good, no one around. Hopefully Nao wasn't with their parents.

She shuffled silently down the hall to Nao's door and knocked. She had butterflies in her stomach - Nao was amazing, but this was so extreme. Would she be okay with this? Well, no time to worry. Nao opened the door within seconds of Haru's knock.

"Haru! Is everything okay?" Nao asked, looking extremely worried. She had tried to talk to Haru when she first came home, but she hadn't been ready.

"Y-yes, um... do you have some time? I need to talk to you..." Haru was practically whispering. She didn't want there to be any risk of someone overhearing them.

"Of course! Come on in."

Haru entered Nao's room somewhat hesitantly. As usual, the room was pretty messy - CDs, music magazines, and books scattered everywhere. She would need to remind Nao to tidy up later.

Nao sat herself on her bed and gestured for Haru to join her. Haru declined and sat on the desk's chair instead. "So, what's up?" Nao asked.

Haru fidgeted with her skirt while she thought of how to tell her. Blurt it out? Start from the beginning? Well, Nao would ask questions anyway - so telling her the whole story would be best. And it would delay actually telling her.

"Well..." Haru paused again and sighed. She took a deep breath, and then dived into the story. "Well, you see, last month I ran out of birth control. I-it's supposed to last for a few days before the effects wear off, so, so I thought it'd be fine to, um, well, but... But I didn't get my... my period, and..."

"Wait, wait, wait. Haru, are you saying...?" Nao had sat there with unusual patience, but her eyes had grown wider with each passing second. Now she had a look of utter disbelief on her face.

Haru nodded, her eyes welling up. "I-I went to see my doctor and... I'm..." Her voice broke at this point. She couldn't take this anymore. Everything bad happened to her. She just wanted to be normal! Was that too much to ask? Was it really?

As the tears finally spilled out, Nao jumped from her bed and crushed Haru in a hug. "Don't cry, Haru! It's okay!"

"I-i-it's n-not!" Haru choked. "What am I s-supposed to do? Eiji will... He'll..." Flip out, was what she wanted to say.

Nao didn't argue with that. Anyone who knew Eiji knew that his reaction would be bad... He had an infamous temper. But it usually died down pretty quickly. She tried to explain this to Haru, to make her see that things could be just fine.

"... so, Eiji may be kind of a dickhole at times, but he loves you, you know? So, once he gets over it, he'll be fine! That's how things always go, right?"

"Well... yes, usually..." Nao's comforting words - and her backrub - had calmed Haru down a bit. She was able to talk without choking on her own words again, and her tears only fell on occasion. "But Eiji can be so unpredictable. What if... what if he leaves me...? What'll I do then?"

"The only thing we can do is deal with it as it comes. Gotta be optimistic, Haru! C'mon, let's see a smile!" Nao gave her a super goofy looking grin to prompt one out of her sister. As usual, it worked, and Haru gave her a meek smile.

"There we go. You're going to see Serial Mama perform tonight, right?" Haru nodded. "Great! He's usually in a good mood after a show, so you can find a way to tell him then! Plus, you can have fun while you wait!"

Haru wiped her eyes and nodded again. Eiji did tend to be happier after a good performance. At the very least, it would better her chances. She loved his music, anyway. "You're right. You're always right, Nao." Haru gave her a weary, but genuine smile. "I owe you one."

"Naaaah, it's cool." Nao leaned back a bit and gave her a sly grin. "If you insist, though, you can make pancakes tomorrow."

"Deal," Haru laughed.

Haru made sure to arrive at the dive a little earlier than usual. She wanted to spend at least some time with Eiji before... Well, before everything went to shit, as Nao would say. He was waiting in the back, with the rest of his band.

"Hey, Haru. You're early today," he commented as he was tuning his guitar.

"Y-yeah. I just thought I'd spend some extra time with you before the show." Haru forced a smile and took a seat nearby. The rest of the band greeted her, but they were busy getting their instruments ready, too.

"So, how was work?" It was such a stupid question to ask. Eiji hated his job. She couldn't exactly blame him either... he was always getting dragged in for overtime, and it was hard work. "Oh, well, I know how it went, but..." she stuttered, trying to correct her mistake.

"It's fine," Eiji chuckled. "Yeah, it was same old. Your appointment go okay?" He raised his eyes from his guitar to give her a rather searching look. Did he have suspicions? No, how could he? She hadn't had anything obvious like morning sickness yet.

"It was okay. It was... the same as always..." Eiji frowned, but went back to his guitar. Right, she was a horrible liar. That must be why he was concerned. "It looks like a lot of people are already here," she mentioned, trying to change the subject.

"Hell yeah! Everyone knows Serial Mama's awesome!" Teppei, the vocalist, chimed in from the corner. She could've sworn Ryusuke rolled his eyes. At least Eiji didn't pick up on that. She grew concerned when Eiji didn't acknowledge what she said. Were things with the band going that badly...?

Before it was time for the show, Haru gathered up the courage to talk to the band's drummer, Togo. He was the most frank member of the group, and he would probably be able to tell her what was really going on.

"Togo, how is... how is the band going? Eiji told me there's been some problems but... are things really as bad as they feel tonight?" She hoped not. Music was everything to Eiji.

Togo scratched his head awkwardly, mulling over his words. "Well... Let me put it this way. If we don't get signed soon, there won't be a band." He shook his head sadly, but didn't have time to say anything more. The band had to perform.

Haru was left feeling even worse. Even if things went well tonight, things were going so badly. Could she really add to that?

The show went well, like it always did. Serial Mama was a seriously great band. Teppei had a powerful voice, Eiji and Ryusuke were both incredible guitarists... Really, only the drums and bass could be improved on, and even they were very good. Haru ran towards the back room full of hope. Surely everyone would be happy, right? How could they not be, after such an incredible performance?

However, as she neared the door, she could hear voices that were... less than happy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"It's not my fault you fucked up the chorus!" That was Eiji's voice. Something about... Ryusuke fucking up the chorus? She hadn't noticed that. She thought they'd both been amazing.

"Your shitty playing threw me off!" Ryusuke retaliated.

"You always screw up that part! You said you were going to get your shit together! You're just bringing us down!"

Haru heard a commotion behind the door, and Togo's voice yelling "Guys! Knock it off!"

"Why are you yelling at me?! It's him!"

"What are you, five?!"

Haru decided it was best to wait by Eiji's truck. Whenever she tried to get involved in their fights, it only made things worse. As she left the club, she felt terrible. Where was the good mood he was supposed to have? She was pregnant, Serial Mama might break up... Things couldn't get any worse.

It took Eiji about ten minutes to come out. He tossed his equipment into the back of the truck before getting behind the wheel, barely acknowledging Haru. Haru got into the passenger seat quickly, just in case he left without her.

"... D-did you and Ryusuke have another fight...?" she asked timidly. She could tell right away that this was going to trigger a rant.

"Ryusuke is such a self centered prick! He always puts himself before the band, and yet he actually accuses me of being the reason we're failing?! He does whatever the fuck he wants! It's not all about him! You have to actually put effort into a band, and work with each other! It's like he doesn't know how to do that!"

Haru sat quietly, allowing him to vent. It went on for a while, but she understood where he was coming from. She wasn't sure if she liked Ryusuke, really. Eiji had always spoken badly of him, even before he formed Serial Mama. He insisted the only reason he recruited Ryusuke was because of his legendary guitar playing.

Eiji was still finding things to gripe about when they arrived at his apartment. Haru helped him carry some of the lighter equipment up to his place, still keeping her voice down. He wasn't really ready to hear anything she had to say. Instead, she sat on the couch, and prepared to wait him out.

Several minutes later, Eiji was still going on. He hadn't gotten this bad in a while.

"Um, Eiji...? I-I have something important to, um..."

"Haru, not now!"

"B-but..." Haru could feel her eyes beginning to sting again. She just wanted to get this over with. Why did Eiji have to be like this, tonight of all nights?

"Not now! Seriously, Haru, I've got enough shit to deal with tonight, I just need to-"

"I'm pregnant."

Eiji stopped talking and fell into a dangerous silence. He had his back to her, so she had no idea what he was thinking. Oh god, why had she just blurted it out like that? He was just going to get even more angry!

"... Repeat that." His voice was low, but Haru could recognize the dangerous growl he sometimes had when he was furious. She wanted to keep her mouth shut and let it all go away, but she couldn't.

"I'm... p-pregnant..." She was trying so hard not to cry.

Another few seconds of uneasy silence followed before she got a reaction. "Get rid of it."

"B-but, Eiji...!"

"Get. Rid. Of. It." Eiji seemed to think this ended their "discussion", since he turned to go to his room.

"I-I can't! Eiji, I know you're having a really, really bad day, but we need to talk about this! I can't just... 'get rid of it'!" Haru protested louder than she had thought possible for herself. Eiji even stopped walking and looked at her with surprise.

"... Well, what else is there to do? You're not keeping it, Haru." Eiji's voice was gentler than before, she could tell his anger hadn't dulled a bit.

"I don't know-"

"Exactly. Because there's nothing we can do."

Haru took a few seconds to try to think. She was nearly in tears, but she had to. Having an abortion wasn't something she could go through with. Even thinking about it made her feel sick. But, the other options were keeping it, or giving it up for adoption. Both would be so hard...

"I... I just can't get rid of it, Eiji..." she finally whispered. Eiji cursed and slammed his fist into the wall, which had the effect of finally making Haru cry. "I'm sorry..."

"Fucking hell, Haru! Do you really think this is something either of us can deal with right now?! My band's falling apart, I'm broke, and you're not exactly sane! Keeping it is the stupidest fucking idea you've ever had!" He was back to yelling, and he was giving her the look he usually reserved for Ryusuke. That scared her more than anything.

"I-I know, but... but..."

"Would you stop crying?! You need to figure this out!"

That certainly didn't help, and only made her cry harder. Finally, Eiji got fed up with her and stormed into his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Eiji...! P-please, don't... I... I just..." Haru took one step toward his door before crumpling in a heap on the ground. She loved him so much, he was one of the only people in the entire world she cared about. She was willing to do almost anything for him, so why, why couldn't she do this?

Through her sobs, she thought she could hear Eiji muttering curses about her. About what a self-centered bitch she was, and how she had ruined his life. Eiji would never say those things, would he? Sh-she must be mishearing him. But the voice was getting louder.

Oh god, not now.

"No, I-I don't need this now..." she whimpered, covering her ears with her hands. "Please, no... Eiji, please, help..." Her voice was too low for him to possibly hear. And the voice was just getting louder, and more violent. She needed to get out of here, fast.

So she ran.