The weekend had come and gone, and Jin and Sayori were walking to school the next morning like usual. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it seems like they were finally going to get a string of days with good weather, even if it was pretty chilly now.

Suddenly, Jin remembered something that made his stomach harshly jump into his throat. He lowered his head and palmed himself in the face in frustration.

"What's wrong Jin?" Sayori asks.

"I have a test today that I completely forgot to study for," Jin answered. "I guess I'll just have to wing it again."

Sayori's heart sank. "Oh…maybe I shouldn't have stayed over last night then…I really shouldn't have… made you waste your time on-" Jin grabbed Sayori's hands quickly.

"No Sayori, it's not your fault. I was going to spend time with you last night regardless. Honestly, it's my fault for wasting time watching anime late at night last week. You're more important to me than anything, including some test. I'll just have to wing it, I think remember most of what I need to know for the test anyway. Bottom line, you are not worthless, I will never let you forget that," Jin explains, smiling. They pull each other close for a tight hug before heading into school.

The test was oddly easy, much to Jin's relief. He just chalked it up to some weird "learn by osmosis" phenomenon from the past couple of weeks, but he would only know for sure how well he did in the next couple days. When the bell rang, he rushed outside to meet up with Sayori and the other three girls.

Sayori was already chit-chatting outside with Yuri and Monika, until she noticed Jin descend the stairwell at the front of the building. She ran up to give him a hug. Yuri and Monika couldn't help but smile.

"How was the test?" Sayori asked him happily.

"Not hard at all," Jin answered with a smile. "Maybe my brain is spongier than I thought it was, so long as I don't wring it out."

"That sounds like a good line for a poem!" Monika chimed in. "Assuming you still write that is." Jin shook his head and put his hands in his pocket. He had gone back to his old hobbies after the club disbanded. He wasn't sure if Sayori still wrote or not, but considering her new-found interest in guitar, he could only guess she'd put those skills to use by writing music down the road…assuming she stuck with it for more than a week.

"I wonder where Natsuki is. I haven't seen her all day," Yuri said with a tone of concern. She pulled out her phone and sent her a text to ask her where she was. Not even 10 seconds later she got a response back. "Oh my, Natsuki called in to take the day off school today. She's at the coffee shop though."

Everyone shared Yuri's concern at that news. "Let's go pay her a visit then," suggested Sayori. "Hopefully she's alright. The others nodded in agreement and walked off toward the coffee shop.

A few minutes later the girls arrive at the coffee shop to find Natsuki sitting alone in the corner with her face toward the wall, and a frothy mocha on the table in front of her. "Natsuki!" Sayori called out. Natsuki only curled herself up tighter in her booth seat, refusing to look at her friends. The other four walked up to the booth to take a seat, and Sayori addressed her again.

"Natsuki, is something wrong?" She asked. Natsuki looked up at Sayori with a nasty black bruise around her eye and tears streaming down her otherwise smooth face. The four of them were shocked.

"I learned to cry again Sayori," Natsuki said. It was apparent to all of them that Natsuki's father had beaten her again the night before. "Everything hurts…not just my body but my soul. My dad's never been so aggressive as he was last night…I thought he wasn't capable of punching harder than he had in the past but clearly I hadn't seen anything," Natsuki explained. "His words hurt too…calling me good for nothing…telling me that I'll never grow up…never get married…never amount to anything…how could someone who brought me into this world, gave me life, how could someone like that be so cruel? What did I do to deserve this?!" Natsuki stood up and put her arms around Sayori and hugged her tightly. Sayori hugged her back as she began to cry as well. "I want my mom back! I want things back to how they were a year ago! Everything was better back then!"

Sayori tried her best to comfort Natsuki, but she had never heard this about Natsuki. "Your…mom…is it okay if I ask what happened to her?" she said through her tears.

Natsuki pulled back, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. "My mom…she died last year of brain cancer…it was horrible…just slowly watching her lose all her strength and eventually her consciousness…and ever since then my dad and I haven't been the same. I've been jaded and rude, trying to hide my pain in baking, but my dad took to heavy drinking and venting his anger on me…I can't get him to go to therapy because whenever I talk to him he gets angry, and he's threatened to kill me if I call the cops…I just don't understand…it's not my fault mom died, so why does he take it out on me?! I'm just as sad as he is!" Natsuki fell back into Sayori's arms. Sayori couldn't hold it back anymore, and began to sob with Natsuki.

The other four did what they could to comfort Natsuki. When she had calmed herself down, Sayori looked Natsuki in the eyes and said, "We're going to help you do something about this. We're going to tell the police about what's been going on, and we're going to get your dad out of your life at least for a while. There's no way you can handle this treatment any longer." Natsuki wiped her uninjured eye and nodded in agreement. After some more consoling, they left the coffee shop and headed to the police station. After about an hour speaking with the officer, the police assured Natsuki that they would do what they had to get her out of her dad's abusive home.

"I can't even begin to imagine what it must feel like to be in Natsuki's shoes…" said Sayori. She and Jin had decided to go out for dinner that night. "I feel so bad for her."

"I do to, but we did what we could. The police will do what we couldn't," Jin reassured her.

"You know Jin, this takes me back to a couple months ago when you saved me from hanging myself…it feels like ever since then the two of us have not only been helping each other, but we've been helping Monika, Yuri, and Natsuki too. I never would have guessed at first glance that they would have any problems in their lives like mine…" Sayori chuckled. "Especially Monika. She seemed like she had everything all figured out. If it wasn't for you, I can't imagine how things would have turned out for the other three…"

"Yeah, but that just goes to show you there's more to a person than what's on the outside. I mean, just look at you. I've known you all my life and I had no idea what you were going through…I wish I had found out sooner…" Jin answered. Sayori smiled back.

"The important thing is that all five of us are still here, and still friends…and I gotta say, I think it's all thanks to you Jin. I love you so much. You're my hero," said Sayori. The hair on the back of Jin's neck stood on end. Being told that he was a hero was something he never thought he'd hear in his whole life.

"Th-thanks…" he feebly replied.

The two of them stayed at the restaurant long past finishing their meals until closing time. The walk home in the brisk winter air had started to set in each night as the weeks dragged on, and Jin realized that it had been a very long time since Sayori had dragged him to the literature club.

He thought to himself, "Time sure does fly on by doesn't it…"