Aichi awoke to find the sun setting. He didn't see Daisuke anywhere, and when he looked in his bag, all his money was gone.
He began the walk home. He got strange looks from the others heading home, so Aichi supposed he looked as bad as he felt.
I couldn't do anything... He thought, depressed.
When he arrived home, he said a quiet "I'm home" and headed upstairs to his room.
No more than a minute later he heard his mother outside the door.
"Sweetie, are you ok? You came home late, and you didn't eat dinner."
"I'm ok, Mom. And I'm not hungry." Aichi responded as normally as possible.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
All Aichi wanted to do was rest, but after he heard his mother go back downstairs, Emi, who had come out of her room, quietly said from the hall:
"You didn't go to Card Capital today." She paused, waiting for Aichi to say something. When he kept quiet, she asked,
"Where were you? Are you ok?"
"I'm ok, Emi." He replied, forcing a smile even though she couldn't see it.
"You still didn't say where you were."
Aichi didn't speak.
"I'm coming in...!" Emi turned the knob.
Aichi turned on his side so she couldn't see his face; he knew it was bruised.
"Aichi!" Emi ran to his side. "Aichi?"
He pretended to be asleep, and hopefully she wouldn't look at his face too closely.
"Aichi, you can't fall asleep that fast." She looked over and saw Aichi's face turning black and blue. "Aichi! You're hurt!"
Aichi sat up. "Uh, t-this is, um, I fell!" For the third time that day, he forced a smile to deceive the people he loved the most. "I'm fine!" He stood to prove his point, but it backfired. He collapsed to the floor, faintly hearing Emi calling his name and his mother's footsteps running up the stairs.
The next day before homeroom, Kourin, Naoki, and Shingo all noticed Aichi was absent.
"Maybe he got sick?" Kourin suggested.
"But he didn't look sick, just kinda out-of-it." Naoki pointed out.
"For once, I think you're right, Ishida-kun, and I believe it is because of that transfer student." Shingo confidently stated.
"What do you mean 'for once!?' I'm—"
Kourin cut him off. "Stop it, you guys. This isn't the time." She turned to Shingo. "So you think this has to do with Itou-kun? Why?"
"Well, think about—" BRRIING!
"We'll talk later." Kourin said quickly. They all nodded in agreement.
School ended quickly and the three headed to the club room discussing Daisuke Itou. They found a healthy Misaki, who asked,
"Where's Aichi?"
"He's absent." replied Naoki.
"Absent? That's unusual for him." Misaki said. "Did something happen?"
"I have reason to think something did happen." Shingo adjusted his glasses.
"What do you mean?" Misaki asked, concerned.
"We don't have any proof of anything, Shingo!" Kourin cut in.
"But did you see? He told something to Aichi before lunch yesterday." Naoki retorted.
"Still, we don't have enough information—"
"What are you talking about?" Misaki was confused.
"We have new a transfer student in our class that appears to know Aichi." Shingo answered.
"How is he connected?"
Kourin spoke for all of them. "We don't know, but we have a strange feeling about this guy."
"Yeah! The guy's kinda creepy, too!" Naoki loudly exclaimed.
"Oh, as if you don't look creepy yourself!" Shingo said back.
"What'd you say!?"
"Stop it, you two! Geez, all the time! Can't you guys get along for one day!?" Kourin exploded.
Scared from the ominous aura surrounding Kourin, the boys cowered and answered hastily:
"Sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again."
She gave a look of approval. Misaki then wondered aloud,
"Maybe we should visit Aichi and see if he's ok..."
They all agreed and went to see Aichi after half-hearted club activities. When they rang the doorbell, Aichi's mother answered.
"Are you Aichi's friends from school?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Aichi isn't feeling well..." She told them. She started mumbling to herself. "The doctor said it was minor, but to see friends now...?"
Minor? All of them thought.
"Is Aichi ok?" Kourin asked what they all wanted to ask.
"Well, come in, would you like some tea?"
They all politely refused, and then she told them what happened yesterday evening.
They all looked at each other, speechless.
Aichi has a concussion?
