Yuu didn't hear much of the conversation between Krul and Shinya. He was focused on calling out to Mika. He started to ask Mika to wake up since he really wanted to meet him again in the real world, one where they look about the same age and not have all these machinery used to keep Mika alive. Then he decided to talk about his life after he woke up. Mika always loved to hear about those stories.

When he started to run out of things to say, Yuu started to panic. He needed to keep talking to Mika to bring him back and the thoughts of his parents came back as well. He never really talked to anyone about his parents.

He tried to find the right words but there was no way to express everything that happened. He held onto Mika's hand tighter as he tried to will himself to speak. Mika was counting on him, but he can't bring himself to speak as he was assaulted by the very vivid images of the accident. He wanted to speak anything would do, but no words came out.

If the nurse hadn't walked in and interrupted his thought process, he wouldn't be able to control his emotions any longer.

The car ride back home, his new home, was silence. Shinya probably noticed that Yuu didn't want to speak. He always picked up on those subtle cues after all.

Guren was back and they were all waiting for the two to return before they ate dinner. Guren teased Yuu briefly before stopping after seeing the lack of response. Dinner was still full of clatter and laughter but none of them came from Yuu.

Yuu excused himself from dinner after eating a few bites of food. He normally ate a lot more than necessary for a small boy like him but he didn't feel like stuffing his face with food.

He thought about laying in bed for the rest of the night but he thought a nice hot shower would do him some good.

The warm water did help melt away some of the stress he was dealing with. It was almost criminal to not have hot showers in that other world. To think that he had only been there for a week, Mika spent three years there. But it was hard to tell time with the unmoving sun.

He exited the bathroom and intended on walking to his room but he stopped when he heard the mention of Mika's name.

"Shindo? It sounds really familiar…" Mahiru said in a hushed whisper but was loud enough for Yuu to hear.

"Weren't they on the news before? There was a terrible accident and there were no survivors," Guren said, not bothering to lower his voice.

"Krul-san must have kept Mikaela away from the media. It only makes sense not to have the poor boy hounded by reporters," Shinya added. "But Mikaela had been in a coma since he was 5. Where did Yuu meet him?"

"Maybe they were friends before the accident," Mahiru suggested.

"In any case, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Guren said and the sounds of rustling paper could be heard.

Yuu walked down to the main floor and ignored the surprised looks from the three adult. He quietly walked to the kitchen and got a drink of water.

"How was your shower?" Mahiru asked.

"Good."

"Are you hungry? I can heat up some leftovers for you," Mahiru suggested when Yuu walked out of the open kitchen.

"No thank you."

"Was Yuu actually being polite?"

"Guren!" Mahiru hissed as Yuu reached the top floor. He walked into his room and closed the door to his room before he could hear anymore of Mahiru's scolding.

He crawled into bed and looked at his dimly lit room. To think that he started to live here only a month ago and it already felt more like home than when he lived with his parents. The couple, plus Shinya, wasted no time to welcome Yuu into his new home. Having Shinoa there as well was both a blessing and a pain. Even with his half empty room, he felt much more safe and loved in his new home.

When Yuu heard the door knob turn, he instinctively turned to face the wall and squeezed his eyes shut. It was only when Shinya called his name that he relaxed.

"I'm asleep," Yuu softly called out.

"People that are asleep doing say that."

"Maybe I do."

"They also don't reply." Yuu decided to be quiet. Shinya let out a soft chuckle before sitting down on the bed. "Is there something bothering you? If there is, you can talk to me about it."

"I don't want to talk about it," Yuu mumbled.

"That's okay too. But just know that we are here for you," Shinya said.

"I know…"

"I was also talking with Mahiru. We should be able to take you to visit Mikaela once a week," Shinya casually mentioned.

"Really?" Yuu exclaimed as he sat up, looking at Shinya with big hopeful eyes.

"Yes," Shinya softly laughed, "We'll let you know tomorrow what we have planned but sleep for now."

"Aren't you going to ask me about Mika?" Yuu asked. Shinya looked surprised by the question but let out a breath and lightly ruffled Yuu's hair.

"You'd tell if you wanted to," Shinya said and Yuu hugged him, "Yuu?"

"Thank you," Yuu said, his voice muffled against Shinya's shirt. Shinya gave him a small pat on the back before tucking him in for the night since Yuu still had school in the morning.

The days went on as normal, aside from Yuu growing silent once in a while. It was almost saddening to see the distance look on his face. They tried to get professional help for him but he wasn't cooperating so they decided to wait until he was ready.

And true to his promise, Shinya and Mahiru brought Yuu to visit Mika. Sometimes Guren was the one to take Yuu if the other two were both busy.

Yuu always talked about his week to Mika. He would tell him what he was doing at school, what kind of good food he ate, anything interesting that happened and so on. A few times, he entered the room to see Krul talking to Mika like he suggested. On a recent visit, he learned that she was a very successful business lady and told Mika he has a really cool aunt. But there was never a response.

It was disheartening to see the happy and bright child that would always smile at him be laying almost lifeless on a hospital bed with various tunes and machinery around him. To make matters worse, Mika's condition was not doing so well when Yuu first visited and there had been no improvement since then.

Yuu started to wish that he had stayed if he had known how lonely it would be to wait for Mika to come back. But he had to keep his promise.

"You have to pinky promise me!"

"Pinky promise?"

"You don't know what it is? Okay, so hold out your pinky, and then I hook mine to yours and curl up your pinky like mine. Yup, now I promise that if I return to the real world first, I will find you and call you back!"

"And I promise to go back to the real world and find Yuu-chan."

"Remember your pinky promise, okay?"

"…Yuu-kun?"

Yuu looked up at the back of Shinya's head. He could barely make out the clear blue eyes that glanced back at him in the rear view mirror before focusing on the road. "Yes, Shinya?"

"I know you're a good boy, but… when we get to the hospital, I need you to be on your best behaviour. Krul-san sounded very worried over the phone."

"Mika… he's going to be okay… right?"

"I… I don't know either. But let's both hope that he's okay."