Shadow came with a paper bag. He said nothing and put it on Kyrin's lap. She looked in and smelled fruits. There were red and green apples, about 8 of them. At the side was a small container, which contained cut oranges. Kyrin ate the oranges while Shadow watched out of the corner of his eye.

"Thank you for the fruits," she said.

"You are most welcome." It was Chris's idea to have the oranges cut before they sent it to her, because they did not trust her with a knife. Chris was worried Kyrin might cut herself, accidentally on purpose, if her emotional state was unstable. The gang had observed that she seemed out of sorts even though she was now able to back to work in the Ark labs.

Shadow thought it was strange that she ate the oranges so nonchalantly. He'd picked the most sour ones, to test if she would notice. As usual, she does not seem to be in touch with the world. Her eyes glazed over again, and she ate them as if they were plain bread. His eyes slid to the little dustbin nearby, where empty packets of chilli sauce laid. Just the night before, they were full and lying on her desk while he scribbled away. There did not seem to have been anything to go with them. Could she have eaten them from the packet? That was not impossible, but it seemed a strange thing to do. Surely she would have a hard time swallowing all of them? Unless she could not taste…

Kyrin looked up and handed Shadow the container. "I think this belongs to Amy. Please thank her for me," she said and smiled wanly. He smiled politely and took the box. "I will check on you later," he said, "just to make sure you are alright."

When she opened the door to Lab 47, a heated argument was going on. At first, she thought that some experiment had gone wrong, or maybe Bokkun had been up to some of his explosive tricks and messed up important research procedures. But the Bokkun sped towards her and pulled at her ponytail, tied on the left of her head.

"Kyrin! We are going to die! We are all dead! Boohoohoohoo.."

"What happened, Bokkun?"

"Somebody sneaked into this building and stole several important files from the Main Labs in the basements. They also broke into the other labs downstairs, and we are not sure what else they have taken or made copies of!"

"How can that be?"

"Nobody knows! Dr Eggman will kill all of us! He thinks that it is the Freedom Fighters who did it, and he blames us for not preventing this from happening!"

Kyrin's heart went to her mouth. 'Kim Woo?' she wondered. 'Could he have got in from the rooftop? Could he have…used me to find a way in?' Then she argued that he could not have done that. The Freedom Fighters are so advanced, they probably had a way of entering all planned out even before she got the job. No, she could not have been the cause. Swallowing her fears, she consoled Bokkun and said that she was sure no one will be hurt. "Let's go get lunch together later," she coaxed, "and you can have my green apple, you will feel better after eating it."

As she spoke, there was a soft click on her head. She always held up her fringe with a black plastic hairclip, and at this moment it broke. This coincidence was too much for Bokkun, who saw it as a bad omen and forgot about the apple, wailing down the hallway. As she picked up the broken hairclip, Kyrin wondered if Bokkun might have been right. There was no time for what if, because she had work to do and the Lab Techs were not in the mood to be nice.

That evening, while the lab coats spun merrily in the washing machine, Kyrin ventured up to the rooftop again. It was late but she could see the ribbons from the neighboring rooftop. 'White – I am here', 'Green – Are you ok?'

She pondered whether to ask him, and across the rooftop she could see him watching her in anticipation. There were two more blanks left on the card. What should she say? 'Orange – I am fine.'

Kim Woo smiled, but she thought he looked tired and listless. 'Green – Are you ok?' she signaled. 'Orange – I am fine.' She was about to think of the last two blanks when he signaled, 'Yellow – I am busy' and 'Red – Be Careful'. Then he was gone from the rooftop.

"Kim Woo," she thought as she bit into the apple, "I'm afraid."

Shadow knocked softly on Kyrin's door. It was near lights out, and he wondered if she was already asleep. There was a thud from the other side of the door, and what sounded like muffled sobs. Worry surfaced, and he turned the knob. She had locked the door from inside. Frowning, he took out his blue Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!"

Once he was inside her room, his eyes adjusted to the darkness rapidly. Kyrin was lying on the floor. She had eaten 6 of the apples at one go, the last of them still half eaten in her hand. She was crying so hard that her erratic breathing problem returned. There were about half a dozen empty beer cans on the floor and the room reeked of stale beer.

Shadow rushed over and picked her up. The half eaten apple fell to the ground with a sullen thud. Kicking aside the beer cans, he carried her to her bed and laid her down. He dampened a small towel at her wash basin and gently wiped her face with it, pushing away hair from her face. Her eyes were shut tightly, but the tears kept oozing. She had cried so hard that she could not utter a sound anymore.

Shadow wondered what to do. Maybe he should get help. Just as he was about to turn and leave, Kyrin whispered something. He turned and leant closer. She was repeating the same words, "Don't go… don't leave me… please…" Something made him want to run out the door and shut it behind him. Her sobs reminded him of his own loss. He wanted to suppress his own painful feelings by going away, but he felt sorry for Kyrin.

The half eaten apple caught his eye. Lying on its whole side, the gaping hole seemed to scream, "I'm never going to be whole again!" The longer he looked at it, the more certain he was that he should stay.

He sat on the bed and cradled her head awkwardly in his lap. Stroking her hair as if she was a lost kitten, he waited for her sobs to die down. The lights in the hallways went out and still he waited. Eventually, the sleep crept in and even the maimed apple went out of sight.