The sun shone brightly outside Tsukasa's window, but he felt sluggish and a little angry. He wasn't sure why. The feeling hit him sometime yesterday morning, and even though nothing in particular set him off in this foul mood, he couldn't shake it. It was already past noon, but he had barely even left his room. Tsukushi may disapprove, but he just couldn't face his classes today.

Tsukasa felt his heartstrings pull at the thought of her. The past 10 months or so since he last saw her were agonizing at best, but somehow they were making it work. He had been afraid that it would all fall apart once he left for New York. He knew that Tsukushi could be frustratingly shy when it came to their relationship. But little by little, Tsukushi opened up to him more each day, and he found that – when they had the time – they could talk for hours about all the little things and intimate things that he had never been able to talk about with anyone before.

He stared out the window at the gardens below. He had called her a few hours ago to catch her before she went to bed, but she didn't answer. She was probably already asleep. Though this happened often, Tsukasa was always left with a feeling of disappointment and irritation whenever she didn't pick up. Sighing, he left his room to get some lunch downstairs. He could always try her again when she woke up in a few hours.

As he finished his lunch of scallops and prosciutto, a maid approached him. "You have some visitors, sir."

"Visitors?" Tsukasa turned in his chair and blinked in surprise as Rui, Soujirou, and Akira walked in. "What are you doing here?"

None of them said anything. It was then that Tsukasa noticed Rui, hanging in the back behind the others. His face was scratched up and black and blue from bruises. His right arm was in a cast, held against his torso in a sling.

"What happened?" Tsukasa exclaimed, leaping up to examine his friend. "Who did this to you?"

"No one," Rui replied softly.

"What do you mean, 'no one'? How'd you get so beaten up? Tell me who they are, and I'll kill them for you."

"Tsukasa." Akira put a hand on his shoulder. "Really, it was no one."

Soujirou paced beside them, looking uncomfortable. "We told him just to call you, but he insisted on coming to tell you himself."

Tsukasa glanced at all his friends curiously, but none of them would meet his gaze. "Tell me what? What's going on?"

"About Makino…" Rui said in a near whisper.

Tsukasa took Rui by the shoulders, looking him in the eye. "What about Makino?"

"She's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean? Where did she go? Did she run away again?"

Soujirou shook his head. "No, you don't understand…"

Rui looked up. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and thin. "Makino's dead, Tsukasa."

Tsukasa pushed Rui away from him, as if suddenly burned by the contact. He glared at them all, anger swelling inside him. "What kind of sick joke is this? You come all this way to New York just to play some childish prank on me? You expect me to believe that?"

Akira approached him carefully. "It's the truth. We're so sorry."

"Don't apologize to me! There isn't anything to apologize for! She's fine! I just talked to her yesterday!"

"It happened yesterday, Tsukasa," Soujirou said, still not meeting his eyes. "There was an accident."

"Stop it!"

"Rui called for an ambulance, but they didn't get there in time. She was already…"

"STOP!" Tsukasa bellowed, his eyes wild. "STOP LYING TO ME!"

There was silence for a moment as he glared at them all. He couldn't believe what he was hearing – this, from his own best friends. This blatant lie.

Rui finally broke the silence, eyes filling with tears. "I was driving her home from the library yesterday. It was raining and dark, but I could see fine. I wasn't even speeding… not when it happened. A car came out of nowhere. I tried to avoid it, but…" He stopped, unable to continue.

"You… did this?" Tsukasa said in a suddenly quiet voice. "You, Rui?"

Rui paused, then nodded.

"That's not true!" Akira cut in. "It's not his fault! The police said the other driver had been drinking and lost control."

"I don't care!" Tsukasa yelled back. "You heard what he said!" He turned back to Rui, his face filled with rage. "How could you do this? We're best friends, aren't we? How could you do this to me?! YOU BASTARD!" Tsukasa ran at his friend, arm swung back, preparing to punch.

Rui did not move, did not even shut his eyes in preparation of the blow coming toward him. Yet when the blow did not come, he blinked up at Tsukasa, who was inches from his face.

Tsukasa stood before Rui, frozen, arm still raised behind him. The rage in his face drained away as a look of anguish overtook him. Suddenly choking on his own breath, Tsukasa fell to his knees. Dry, gulping sobs coursed through him.

"Please, tell me you're lying," he begged them. His pleading eyes searched his friends for some sign, some hope. Only Rui could look at him. "Please, just tell me you're lying, and I'll forgive you. I'll forget this all happened, I'll forget you were even here. Just tell me you're lying to me. Please."

Rui shook his head and bent down to put his good arm around Tsukasa's shoulders. "I… I'm sorry, Tsukasa."

And he knew. Tsukasa knew Rui would never lie to him.

A cry of despair bereft Tsukasa of all the air in his lungs, and he couldn't breathe. Tears poured down his face, unbidden, as he crumbled into himself, burying his face in his arms. Images of Tsukushi's life flashed before him, his mind running through them over and over again like a broken record. But it was not her whole life he saw. He saw one year – one glorious year. And try as he might, he could not wrap his mind around the thought that there would be no more years to follow.