In a room, a girl with short hair sits before a desk. It is a wooden desk. Two drawers sit upon a shelf on it, and a potted plat sits on top of them. Beside it, a single window with orange curtain welcomes the morning sun, allowing it to pour over a single bed against the wall; cushions and a bear plushy still half buried in blankets.

The scritch scratch of a pencil against paper is the only sound in the room; the sound of someone writing. A single letter is taking shape on flowery stationary.

Faint smile and sad eyes, but no tears are shed. This isn't the time for it yet.

Standing up, she seals the letter into a cute envelope; packaging her emotions into it.

The letter she wrote, a message of goodbye, read thus:

Dear Seiko,

How are you doing? Are you alright?

I guess those might be silly questions, but I still have to ask them. Even if it's only for you to laugh at me and ask me if I'm still half asleep.

I'm better than before, I guess. My left eye is healing and I don't have to wear an eye patch anymore. The doctor said that the cut is mostly closed up, and that I'll be able to see with it normally, soon.

Oh, maybe you don't know what happened to my eye? Sorry, I never got to see you, so I don't know whether you knew what was going on.

You'll probably call me stupid, but my left eye got cursed while I was looking at a photo of you on my phone. It wasn't because of your "voluptuous body", so don't get any ideas, alright?

It was because I couldn't move on. I didn't want to forget you.

I'm sorry.

Even though you tried to tell me so many times, I was never able to listen to you in the end.

Because of that I hurt my mother greatly.

I'm sorry.

I guess I'm a worse family member than you, even though I said those things back then. I'm sorry.

Ugh, look at me apologizing all over the place. I guess I haven't really gotten any better. But, I'll try from now on, so can you forgive me for now?

Mom is getting better. We had a long talk after getting back from Heavenly Host. I didn't see you when I was there. I probably disappointed you a lot. I couldn't let go. I couldn't accept it. Those few months after we got back, I wanted to see you. I wanted to see you so much, but I couldn't. Your face had disappeared. I couldn't see you anywhere.

I don't know what I wanted to say to you. I just wanted to see you, even though you told me to leave you behind.

Do you remember that sleep over we had, before the cultural festival? Remember how it was the first time either of us had invited anyone to our house? It was fun. When we slept side by side, it was warm.

Seiko, do you remember how you said you were able to hear my voice, even if you were asleep? I wonder if you could hear me, before we finished it all.

Sorry, I've just been writing about myself this entire time. That's really selfish of me, right? Your brothers are doing fine. Yuu's stepped up to being the mommy of the other two. I drop by every day after school. Yesterday, your father asked me if I could look after them until he got back. He seems to have managed to gain a little reprieve from work. Something about a promotion or something. Apparently one of his superiors was hurt sometime after we got back. I don't know the details. He's trying to come back home more often, but he doesn't know how to cook very well. I'm helping out as much as I can. You'll be surprised though. Yuu knows quite a lot about the kitchen. I wonder if he was watching you secretly while you were cooking.

Kisaragi Academy is still not open, they're still people using it as a shelter but most of them have gone home or have been moved to hospitals. They say we might be able to go back in a month or so. At the moment we're using a different school until ours frees up. It's quite a long way away but since there aren't many cars at the moment my eye doesn't stop me from going.

Satoshi is with me every day. He walks me to and from home with Yuka-chan. We go to school together, and next year Yuka-chan will be in high school with us. She still shows no signs of dropping her way of talking though. Really, is the entire Mochida family built from cuteness or something? Sometimes, he comes with me to visit your siblings. They like him a lot, but he's too nice, so they end up taking advantage of him. Last time, while he was playing with them, he got tied up while re-enacting Gulliver's travels which they had read at school. Yuu came in and scolded them with Yuka-chan. He's very nice and seems to be quite popular at school. You probably knew that already, but he's getting more and more dependable every day. He kind of reminds me of Satoshi a little bit.

Satoshi's worried about me quite a lot. He asked for his seat to be moved next to me in class so he can help me stand up and so he can guide me around the school. It's surprisingly hard to get around with only one eye. I'm frequently bumping into things. It's not that bad but he keeps on insisting, and I can't really stop him. If he wasn't so cute I would call it annoying, but sometimes, the look he gives me. It's strong, and I sort of give in.

We still haven't kissed or anything. Even though he keeps on getting teased about it, Satoshi doesn't say anything. I guess, you're still the only one I've ever kissed. I bet you'd be rubbing it into Satoshi's face if you could wouldn't you?

Seiko, your funeral's been decided. It's 2 weeks from now, and that's why I'm writing this letter.

I wish I could see you again, but I don't really have the right to ask for that. Even though you forgive me, I can't really forgive myself, no matter what. I'm sorry, I know now that's not what you wanted. But don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. So it's alright. Take it easy. I hope we see each other someday, and if we do. Can we have a sleep over again?

I love you.

To my dearest friend.

Nakashima, Naomi

The girl finishes writing, and puts down her pen. Taking out a cellphone, she flicks it open and opens up a single picture; a picture of 5 students and their teacher.

A small smile crosses her face as she looks at the photo.

"Someday, let's play together again... Seiko." She continues smiling at the photo, before frowning slightly. "But, I wonder who took this picture again? It's so off center."

There was an empty space on the left hand side of the photo, a space for another row of people there.

"Really, Yui-sensei is almost out of the picture." Talking to herself, the girl smiles hopelessly, before closing the phone and folding the letter into an envelope.

"Naomi~!" A woman's voice comes from downstairs. "Satoshi-kun is here to pick you up again."

"Coming, mom!" Calling back, Naomi Nakashima places the letter in her desk before running downstairs.

The relationship between mother and daughter has mostly gone back to normal. At first it was awkward. Both had hurt the other. Both felt guilty for their actions. But, the daughter reached out towards the mother. She asked for forgiveness, and asked to forgive; the strength to do so given by the memory of a good friend.

Now, they work to rebuild their lives. Natsumi Nakashima found a new job at the company Seiko's father works at. She had lost her previous one due to taking too many days off to care for her daughter's grief.

Naomi opens the door to their house, and a boy and a girl stand there.

"Morning, Satoshi, Yuka-chan!"

"Morning, Naomi." "Morning, Naomi-onéchan!"

The three greet each other in front of the house.

"Have a safe trip!" Natsumi says from the doorway.

"Got it Mom. I'll be going!"

Smiling, they start their walk to school, under the blue skies and warm sun.

Suddenly, a police car goes past them. It's siren's shattering the morning peace for a moment before fading away as it disappears behind a corner.

"I wonder what that's about?" Satoshi says.

"Oh, they say there was a break in and entry at a house not far from here." A woman says, one of the house wives living in the neighborhood. "Something about some hooligan in a red shirt breaking into a house in the neighborhood. Really, just when things are getting back to normal." She sighs, before walking away.

Satoshi continues looking back at the corner the police care disappeared behind.

"Hey... Naomi, does anyone we know live in that direction?"

"Huh? Ummm, I don't think so, at least not that I can remember."

"Oh, alright..." A puzzled expression remains on his face, then he looks at his watch. "huh? Crap! We're going to be late, Naomi, I'll carry you on my back!"

"HUH! What are you saying, I'm fine already, plus there's no real traffic going around at the moment, so it's okay." Sputtering and blushing, Naomi waves her hands in front of her.

"Well, then, at least, let me hold your hand so I can guide you." Satoshi grumbles.

"Oh, um, I guess that's fine." Gingerly, her hand reaches for his and squeezes it lightly. Red cheeks turn crimson, and the blush extends to her ears. The same color begins to darken Satoshi's cheeks as well.

"Heeeey, if you two don't hurry, I'll leave you behi~nd" A sing song voice wakes the two of them.

"Ah, Yuka, hold up." "! Yuka-chan, just a moment!" The two older students jog down the road, hand in hand.

"Eh, he he~, Morning Yuka-chi~, Oh~ what's this, is big bro cheating on you Yuka-chi~."

"Oh, Satsuki-chan, good morning!"

A fourth student appears, Yuka's classmate; Satsuki Mizuhara. She skips up to them, a bag of potato chips in her hand, another one peeking out of her school bag.

"Really, big bro you're too much of a hound dog. If you don't treat Yuka-chi right, I'll eat you!"

"Wh-Wh-Wha-What are you saying all of sudden, really now it's still early in the morning, let's just get to school shall we. We're already late enough as it is."

Grumbling Satoshi starts walking towards our temporary school, not once did he let go of Naomi's hand.

"Really, Satoshi, you worry wart." Sighing Naomi takes a step forward, pulling Satoshi. "We might be able to sneak in before they take the roll call if we run, let's go!"

"! O-oi, hold on don't suddenly start running like that, w-wait Naomi! You're too fast!"

As they run to school, Naomi looks up into the sky.

'Seiko, I might miss you,' She says in her heart. 'and I'll never forget you. But, I won't waste this life you gave me.'

'I won't hurt myself to try to atone, nor will I let others be hurt by my pain. I'll live this life for you Seiko.'

'Because you wanted me to be happy.'

A/N: Sometimes I hate the English language, I wanted to say Mom and I's which in Japanese would go Atashi to Ka-san which is Me and my mother, but you can't do it like that so I had to re-word the entire sentence, ugh.

I personally felt that this chapter went along pretty well, it was a good break from always doing Yoshiki and Ayumi all the time, also gave me the opportunity to try and put a more happier tone in the fic as well. Maybe should have listed it as an interlude. Oh well.

Edited: 2015/10/12