The sun was shining harshly through the hospital window. Horohoro sleepily stretched, yawning and opening his eyes. "Where am I?" he muttered, realizing he was sitting in a chair in the camp's small clinic.

He sighed as the previous night's horrific events flooded back into his memory. He glanced at Ren, who was still unconcious. He looked so peaceful and innocent, that Horohoro couldn't help but gently reach out and touch his face.

"Ow!" Horohoro snapped as someone else slapped his hand away. He looked up.

"Don't touch him, kid," a grumpy Doctor Faust grunted. "He needs undistrubed rest."

"Oh..." Horohoro said. "Uh, so, doctor? How is he? Is he gonna make it?"

"I don't know yet," Faust said. "But I do know that you'd better get your midget butt out of here and go back to your cabin right now."

"Fine," Horohoro grunted, "But I'll come back to visit him later during lunch." He stood up, looked at Ren one last time, and walked away and back to his cabin.

He opened the door, scowling as he saw everyone but Hao was up and getting ready to go to the cafeteria. The fire shaman was smiling in a sick, smug way in his sleep. The fury flooded back into Horohoro, and he grabbed Hao, shaking him vicously.

"Wake up and smell the goddamn roses, Hao," he spat.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hao growled. "I was sleeping perfectly and you just have to barge in and wake me up."

"Do you know what you did, Hao!? Because of you, he might die!"

"Oh, really? Good, then."

Horohoro tried to punch Hao again. but Yoh grabbed his arms. "Come on, Horo," Yoh said. "Don't pick any more fights. Someone else can get hurt again."

"Fine," Horohoro snapped, dropping his arm, but his hateful glare directed at Hao did not falter. "If Ren dies, I'm never gonna forgive you."

"Come on," Chocolove implored. "Just relax and let's go to the cafeteria for breakfast, okay? I'm sure he'll be fine."

Hao and Horohoro glared maliciously at each other, letting the other 3 nervously direct them to the cafeteria, trying to prevent another fight from breaking out.

All through breakfast, Horohoro couldn't stop worrying about Ren, and wondering if he really was going to be alright.

He couldn't stop thinking about it, either, during the various camp activities. He even spaced out in the middle of a water polo game, too immersed in his concerns to focus on the game.

"Pay attention, Usui!" his annoyed teammates shouted as he let the ball fly past him with no effort to stop it.

"He apologized, and tryed to concentrate on winning the game with his team, and it worked, but when it was lunch time, the worries came back.

As promised, he went back to visit Ren during the lunch period.

He pulled up a chair next to Ren's bed and seated himself. "Hey," he said softly. "How're you doing, huh, Ren?"

Ren opened his eyes, turning his head to look at Horohoro. "Oh..." he whispered weakly. "H-hi...I guess..." Horohoro couldn't help but notice how much paler and weaker he looked than usual.

The Ainu pulled a sloppily folded origami crane made from a napkin he had taken with him before he had left the cafeteria. Grinning, he said, "You know, there's an old Japanese legend that says if you fold a thousand paper cranes, then the gods will grant you a wish."

Ren nodded. "I've heard it before..."

"Well," Horohoro continued, "My wish is that you'll get better real soon, but I obviously don't have a thousand freaking napkins to make into a thousand freaking cranes, so I'm hoping that one will work." He laughed, placing the crane on the small table next to Ren's bed. Ren smiled faintly, making the Ainu's heart skip just the slightest bit.

"Thank you..." the Chinese boy whispered gratefully.

At that moment, a sharp blow from a whistle outside cut through the air, notifying the students that lunch was over.

"Crap," Horohoro muttered. "I gotta go." He grabbed Ren's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Promise me you'll stay alive, okay?"

"I...I'll try..."

Horohoro grinned. "You'd better try really hard, you hear me?"

"Yeah," Ren said softly, smiling back. "I...I will..."

"I'll see you later, then." Horohoro patted Ren's head and hurried off to meet up with Yoh, Chocolove, Lyzerg, and, unfortunately, Hao.