Yuuri, Kurumi, and Miki sat silently at the table. Yuuri and Miki were next to each other. Miki's head hung limply, as if she were intently staring at her shoes. Yuuri's arm was around her shoulder.

Across from them, Kurumi sat staring at the note that now lay open on the table, reading it slowly.

Don't open this door.

I couldn't bear to see my wife as one of them. I put her to rest, but I was infected. I've locked myself in so that when I turn, I won't be a danger to anyone else.

My journal is in the top drawer of the desk by the stairs. Maybe it can help someone.

I'm sorry.

Kurumi slowly turned the paper so that Yuuri could read it for herself.

"Are… are you sure that your dad wrote this?" Yuuri asked softly. "Isn't it possible it could've been one of his co-workers?"

Miki shook her head. "It's… it's his handwriting. There were times he wasn't home much because of work, so he would… he'd leave notes for me around the house…" She sniffed.

"I'm… I'm sorry." Yuuri hugged her.

Kurumi continued to stare at the note. She had already given her condolences. Before they were even out of the basement, Miki knew that whatever news the note contained, it wasn't good. She didn't know what else to say. At the moment, there wasn't anything to say. No words would mean anything, not now. She wanted to go over to the other side of the table and join in consoling her, but she couldn't.

Part of her didn't want to overwhelm Miki. She couldn't say that she had any idea what it would feel like to learn that her parents fall victim to such a thing, but she had a vague idea that having everyone gather around her and say how sorry they were would only make it worse. One person doing that would be comforting. Having everyone do it… she didn't know quite the right word for it, but it wouldn't have been comfortable.

A smaller part of her tried to be practical. Someone had to keep an eye out for Yuki, to make sure she wouldn't burst in at the wrong time. They would have to try to explain things to her, obviously. But how could they go about that? If Miki was right, Yuki was at least vaguely aware of things. Should they just sit her down and explain things? Or was it too soon for that? They didn't want to make her worse…

She wrung her hands and shivered. That was the other reason she couldn't give Miki a hug.

For now, all they could do was be quiet, and wait for Miki sort out her feelings.

"How are you feeling?" Kurumi asked. As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized it was a stupid question. There was no doubt how Miki was feeling. She had only asked for the sake of breaking the silence. Yuuri had gone upstairs to attempt to somehow tell Yuki what was going on. Kurumi had no clue how she was going to manage that.

"I don't know."

"Huh?" Kurumi looked up. At best, she had been hoping for a simple "Terrible", but had fully expected a harsh "How do you think I feel?" She hadn't expected the answer she received to come so softly.

"I don't know how I feel," Miki mumbled, just barely loud enough for Kurumi to hear. "When we got here, I knew I would probably find something like this. Even before that, I knew it was incredibly unlikely that they survived. I already almost knew they were gone. But… but now that I really know…" She buried her face in her hands and just barely choked out a few more words. "I… just wish I could've seen them again… just one last time…"

She sniffed loudly and took a deep breath, as if she were trying to suck her tears back in through sheer force of will. Miki finally looked up. Her eyes were red, but dry. She took a moment to straighten her hair and clothes, doing her best to look like she usually did. It didn't quite work, but it was an admirable effort.

"I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was scratchy.

"You don't have to be sorry about anything," Kurumi said. "If anybody should be sorry, it's me. I wish I could do something." She looked down at her hands. "But I don't know what. If there was anything at all I could do to help… Or even something I could say…"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." She wrung her hands. "I just need some time."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. Like I said, it's just… now I know what happened to them. There's no more uncertainty. No more wondering about whether they're out there or what happened. It's… it's not what I wanted, but at least I know…" She was silent for a few seconds. "I still don't know how to feel about that."

"Yeah," Kurumi mumbled, not sure what else to say.

The room was silent again. Kurumi tried not to stare. She needed to do something. Just sitting here, awkwardly… if she were in Miki's place, she didn't think she'd want someone else sitting right there, waiting for her. She'd probably want some time to herself. Maybe she should get up and go check on how the other two were doing. But she didn't want to just leave Miki sitting there all by herself…

She was just about to open her mouth to ask when she heard footsteps outside the door.

The door slammed open and Yuki burst through. By the look on her face, one would've thought that she was the one who got the bad news.

"Mii-kun! I'm so sorry!" She rushed forward and before anyone could stop her she had captured Miki in a bear hug.

"Y-yuki…" Miki choked out. The hug had been so sudden that for a second it had knocked all of the conflicting feelings out of her, leaving only surprise. "W-what are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you," Yuki said matter-of-factly. "You need it."

"Yuki, I'm fine." Miki tried to wriggle free, but Yuki clung on.

"Are you, really?" Yuki sniffed. "I know that when something bad happens, you really, really want to pretend that you're fine and act like nothing's wrong…" She paused and sniffed, as if she were trying to hold back tears of her own. "But sometimes… it's okay if you can't. Sometimes it's better to just let it out."

"But...I…"

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to," Yuki said.

Miki didn't. She just buried her face in Yuki's shoulder.

Kurumi followed Yuuri out of the breakroom. As the door closed behind her, she gasped as if she hadn't been able to breathe.

"Ugh, it's so tense in there…" she mumbled. She leaned against the wall and slumped down into a sitting position. "I wish there was something I could do to help. This isn't a problem I can just pound into submission. I just feel so… useless. I can't think of anything to say to her that wouldn't just make things worse."

Yuuri sighed and took a seat next to Kurumi. "I don't know either. I would give anything to know what to do. But situations like this… I think what Miki really needs is just someone who can be with her without needing to say anything. Someone who can help her feel… comfortable, I guess? It's strange, but I feel like Yuki might be the one who understands that the best."

"You're probably right. Yuki's good at just helping you feel better. What did you tell her, anyway? I mean, I don't think she was ready to hear the whole story…"

"I told her that there was an accident." Yuuri shrugged. "I had a story to give her in case she asked questions, but she seemed to accept the vague explanation. It's probably for the best."

"Yeah." Kurumi nodded. "Yuki will help her more than I'd be be able to." She looked down at her hands.

"Maybe there isn't much you can do now," Yuuri said. "But once she's thought things through, she'll need someone to talk to. And I think you'll be better at that than I would."

"Is that because of… you know."

"Partly. But not just that. Miki is the type who is going to want to just face the thing head on. And I think she'll need your support."

"Me? What about you?"

"I don't know. I'm sure I'll be able to help with something. But I think that right now, it might be best to let her work through it her way. I always want everything to be as nice and neat as possible. And I'm not sure that's really possible now. But when the time comes, I'll be there for her."

"Makes sense to me, I guess." Kurumi stood, slowly. "I guess we should give them some space. Why don't you show me what you and Yuki were working on upstairs? I need something to get my mind off of all this." She reached out her hand to help Yuuri up. "What do you say?"

Yuuri took her hand. "Yes, lets."

"So you think we should just leave it in there?" Kurumi asked. Ostensibly, she was helping Yuuri fold up extra sets of winter clothes to pack into the car, but she had never been any good at folding even when she could focus. At the moment, all she was really doing was balling the clothes up for Yuuri to fix. Granted, at the moment Yuuri wasn't doing too great of a job either. The clothes were getting folded, but it was obvious that she wasn't giving it her full attention.

"I suppose so," Yuuri answered. "The door is secure enough that it doesn't present any danger, and it's unlikely that there's anything useful in there. I don't think there's any reason to risk opening it. It makes the most sense to just leave it alone." She glanced over at Kurumi, who looked deep in thought. "But I can see that you'd rather not."

"I know, it isn't really the most… logical thing to do, but…" she absentmindely scratched at the still-bandaged patch on her upper arm. Yuuri chewed on her lip as she watched, wondering if Kurumi even realized she was doing it. After she had recovered from the bite, she had made her best effort to act like it had never happened, but sometimes it was obvious that it rarely left her mind. No wonder she was so happy when things were normal for a moment or two.

She decided not to ask the obvious question. As much as she wanted to hear what Kurumi thought, she couldn't bring herself to force her friend to dredge up that memory.

"Which one of these coats do you like better?" she asked, holding two of them up. "It's definitely the best quality, but I'm not sure which color I like more. Normally I like brighter colors, but the pattern of this blue one is really nice."

"Well, the patterned one might be better camouflage," Kurumi answered. "Though I'm not sure exactly how effective it would be. I think it really comes down to which one you like more."

Yuuri sighed. "If I knew that, I wouldn't need to ask. I suppose I'll ask Yuki when they're done down there."

As if on cue, footsteps began to echo on the stairwell. A moment later, Yuki appeared. She looked happy, but it wasn't the usual overtly enthusiastic happiness. The twitchy excitement she typically exuded was nowhere to be found, but she radiated a more subtle sense of satisfaction, as if she had finally completed something that was a long time in the making.

"Yuki!" Kurumi exclaimed. Then in a lower voice, "How is she?"

"She'll be okay," Yuki said. "It's still really hard for her, but she'll be okay."

"That's great," Yuuri said. "I knew you'd be able to help."

Yuki just shrugged. "I just wanted to help her feel better."

Another set of footsteps began to come up the stairs.

All three girls mentally reminded themselves not to stare as Miki entered the room. Her steps were slightly unsteady, as if she was just remembering how to use her legs. Her eyes were red, but there was a smile on her face.

"Sorry I took so long," she said in a rough, tired voice. "What did I miss?"

Yuuri held up the two coats. "I'm trying to decide which one of these I like more. What do you think?"

Miki thought for a moment. "I think the pink one suits you more."

"Alright then, I'll go with that one."

The rest of the day had gone as normal as any day possibly could've in that situation. Obviously there was a huge elephant in the room, but everyone seemed to have a mutually understood agreement that the elephant could wait. At first it was, of course, a bit awkward, but as they sorted through clothes and attempted to fold and pack everything, the tension softened.

By the time the sun started to set, Miki almost seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened. It was obvious that she hadn't, but if nothing else she was preoccupied enough that it didn't occupy her entire mind. There were other things to do. Kurumi understood. If something was chewing at your mind, the best thing to do was to keep yourself too busy to think of it.

That made Miki's question that much more of a surprise. Yuki and Yuuri had headed back downstairs to try to find some more boxes, leaving the two of them alone.

"Kurumi…"

"Yeah?"

"What should I do about… you know."

"Huh?" Kurumi froze for a moment as she tried to make sure she had heard correctly. "What?"

"I know he's already gone, and I know it's probably safer to keep things as they are…" Miki said softly. "But I just don't know if I can leave him like that… I know it's probably dumb, but…"

"It's not dumb," Kurumi said. "It just means you remember how much he meant to you."

"So you think that we should… put it down?"

Kurumi chewed on her lip. A lump was forming in her throat. "Whenever I have to fight them…" she managed. "There were always two things on my mind. Part of it is just good sense. They're dangerous, and it just makes sense to get them out of the way. But really… I always remember that they used to be just like us. They used to be human. And I just feel like it isn't fair that they should turn into that. I know they're already gone, but it feels like that's the only thing I can do for them; so that even though they're dead, they're human."

"I see. I… I didn't want to ask this, because I know you don't want to think about it but…" Miki was silent for a long time.

"Go ahead and ask."

"If… if it was your dad… what would you do?"

"I think… I would want someone else to do it," she said. She fiddled with the bandage on her arm. "It isn't a good idea to do it yourself when you were close to them."

"I understand." They were quiet for a bit. "Did I ever thank you for taking care of Megu-Nee for us?" she asked.

"I don't remember, honestly," Miki answered. She began to try to keep her hands busy with the clothes. "There was just so much else on my mind that I didn't even think about it. I was just happy to know that you were alright."

"Well, thank you. It sounds weird, but it feels good to know that she's finally… at peace, I guess." She smiled sadly. "You want me to, uh, repay the favor, right?"

Miki silently nodded.

"Alright, then." Kurumi cracked her knuckles. "It's the least I can do. Really."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yuuri asked. She had a feeling that she already knew the answer, but felt she needed to ask.

"It's all I can do," Kurumi answered. She had spent the last twenty minutes scouring the store for any sort of equipment she might need, mainly additional layers of tough clothing that could stand up to a bite. "I need to do it. And I think she needs me to."

"In that case, I'll go tell Yuki to stay with Miki and try to keep her mind off of things. Let me know when you're ready to go. I certainly am not letting you go alone. Not even with your new outfit. Besides, I don't she would want you to put yourself in danger for her sake."

Kurumi nodded. "Thanks. I don't think I want to be alone anyway."

Kurumi poked her head into the break room, trying to keep most of herself outside so that Miki wouldn't notice the heavy layers of additional clothing that were meant to serve as armor.

"Yuuri and I will be heading downstairs for a bit. We won't be long."

She closed the door.