"Tomoki…"

The dark haired boy said nothing. Reiko tried again.

"Tomoki-kun…"

He still said nothing, and continued to stare, unseeing, at the wall.

"You know it's not your fault Tomoki, we didn't know-"

"Yes we did. We knew," Tomoki whispered, his voice hoarse, "we knew that leaving Yomiyama would trigger the curse. We knew that it was risky. We also knew that Kei's brother was from Tokyo and didn't know about the curse. We knew that he only agreed to take us because he had no idea what would happen if he did!"

Tomoki's voice had been getting progressively louder and louder, and now, as he glared at Reiko, he was almost shouting. His normally warm, brown eyes had become cold and hard, and where they usually reminded Reiko of chocolate and caramel, they were now like cool, sharp metal.

She felt her throat constrict and her lip tremble at his harsh words. She knew what he was saying was true, but something in the back of her mind nagged at her to deny the truth- if only to be allowed some happiness. She bowed her head.

"I know."

One solitary, shining tear rolled slowly over Reiko's pale cheek. Frozen and numb, she made no move to wipe it away.

"Don't cry…" Tomoki murmured, raising a gentle hand to brush away the remnants of Reiko's sorrow, "I'm sorry."

His touch warmed her and, with a sudden bout of confidence, she rested her head on his shoulder. He tensed, but the momentary confusion soon faded and he relaxed into Reiko's embrace, resting his chin on her forehead. Tomoki smelled musky and warm, almost like how Reiko imagined a pine forest would smell if you laid on the leaf-strewn ground and gazed at the sky through the gaps in the trees.

She reached for his hand, but did not hold it, instead resting the side of her pinkie on his thumb. It was the tiniest contact, and with anyone else Reiko would probably not even have noticed, but Tomoki's hand seemed to emit strange electricity that travelled up her arm and made her chest shudder.

For a while they were silent, simply enjoying each other's company. It was if as if they caught in a spell, and the first to speak would be the one to break the perfectly still air and disrupt the peace. Maybe it was because of this then, thought Reiko, that when Tomoki spoke his voice was barely audible, and as hard to capture as a butterfly.

"When my sister died, the house was silent for weeks."

He paused and did not continue for so long that Reiko wondered if that was all he was going to say.

"It was like there were no words that could fill the gap she left, and to try and do so was to dishonour her memory." Another silence. "It was my brother who spoke first. We were all sat around the table in silence, each of us paying attention only to our food, when he looked up and said 'has Ami gone to heaven?'"

Reiko felt her eyes tear up for the second time and she nestled closer to Tomoki in an attempt to comfort him.

"Both my mother and father ignored him, and simply stared at him like he was a ghost. Eventually it was me who replied to him."

"What did you say?" Reiko asked quietly.

"Yes," Tomoki whispered, "All I said was 'yes', but that was enough. The silence was broken. Our grief was lifted like a shroud blowing away in the wind. After that, me and my brother were as close as two peas in a pod. I used to take him swimming on a Sunday morning- he always dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer and winning the gold for Japan. I knew, of course, that he would never be good enough, but I encouraged him, and even paid for his classes with my wages when my parents were away."

"Did... do your parents go away a lot?" Reiko whispered.

"Yes," came the reply, "They travel a lot with work, and being the oldest now Ami is gone I look after him."

"H-how old was Ami when she died?"

"Our age. She died in the ninth grade when I was ten and my brother was seven."

Reiko swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat and took Tomoki's hand in her own. She was dying to ask whether Ami had been in class three, whether he thought it was the calamity that had killed her, but pushed the questions away to the back of her mind. It was a shame that Tomoki and his brother had been so close and were now so distant. She couldn't imagine ever growing apart from Misaki, who had been so much more to her than just her sister ever since they were born. But maybe it was different when you were three years apart? Maybe moving into seventh grade had matured the younger boy in some way?

Reiko frowned.

"Tomoki… I thought you said your brother was two years younger than you, that he was in seventh grade?" she asked, not unkindly, "But just then you said that you were ten and he was seven…"

Tomoki did not reply immediately. "It's funny how the school year sometimes works like that isn't it… I often wonder how it happened that way but my head hurts when I try to fathom the reason. It's funny really…"

That evening the Sakakibara's ate their meal in silence. Misaki could tell that her mother was disappointed in them both for lying and leaving Yomiyama, but there was no way to lecture the twins without bringing up Kei's brother and so Mei said nothing. The twins cleared away the empty plates in silence, but when they were washing up, the conversation turned to Tomoki.

"I feel sorry for him," Reiko admitted, "he and his brother used to get on really well, but ever since he moved in seventh grade they've hardly spoken. Apparently he doesn't speak to anyone anymore, apart from to say 'thank-you' or answer questions. It's sad, but I wonder what happened to make him so separated from the world."

"Maybe he's being bullied? Sometimes victims get so worried about being noticed by the bullies they sink into themselves, even when they're at home." Misaki suggested thoughtfully.

"You could be right, I wish there was something we could do to help him, it would really make Tomoki happy."

The next day, Reiko asked for permission to go to the toilet, but instead of heading left, turned right, towards the seventh grade classrooms. She and Misaki had looked up which class Tomoki's brother was in and had agreed to keep secret what they were doing.

"Um, sensei, I need Tsujii Kensaku for, um, the school newspaper. He won't be long."

The teacher peered at Reiko over her glasses before glancing around the room for Kensaku. Seeing that he had completed his work, she signalled for him to leave and carried on with her lesson.

Outside, Reiko leaned against a wall and inspected the boy before her. He was small with neat, black hair unlike the unruly black curls Tomoki sported, and unreadable, analytical eyes. He stood away from her, one arm wrapped around his middle as if he was holding himself together, and watched her guardedly.

"Okay Tsujii, I've heard you like swimming? The school newspaper is doing an article on sports in the student body and I can't think of any other swimmers. Could you maybe answer a few questions for me?" she asked as nicely as she could.

"I did like swimming. I don't swim anymore." He said coolly.

"Oh, well, that's even better then. You see, the, um, theme this month is motivation, so maybe you could tell me why you lost motivation."

He narrowed his eyes, clearly suspicious.

"I just couldn't afford the lessons anymore." He said finally.

Reiko frowned. She knew this was a lie as Tomoki had even told her he had paid for Kensaku's classes.

"I see, but surely you still go swimming, even if you don't take lessons anymore? It seems a shame to stop because of financial reasons." Reiko pushed.

Kensaku took a step backwards and paused before answering.

"You're not really from the newspaper are you?" he asked quietly.

"Yes I am! Why else would I ask you these questions?" Reiko replied indignantly.

"That I don't know. But if you were interviewing me for the newspaper you would have brought a notebook to write down my answers, and you also lied about not knowing ant other swimmers because the school has a swimming team." He said blandly, his voice bored. "So whatever this is about, I don't have the time."

Reiko scowled. He sounded years older than he was, and had sussed her out from the start. She sighed.

"Look, you're right. I'm not from the newspaper, in fact, I'm failing Japanese and wouldn't have a hope in hell of even getting on the newspaper team, but will you please just answer my questions? Please?"

Kensaku looked mildly shocked at her outburst, perhaps he was expecting her to back down, embarrassed?

"I'll ask again," Reiko said, sensing a weakening in his shell, "Why did you stop swimming? Is it because you're being bullied?"

Kensaku bit his lip. "No. I'm not being bullied. But the truth is I don't remember why I stopped swimming. Something happened the summer before I moved into seventh grade and since then my parents stopped taking me."

"I thought your brother took you swimming?" Reiko asked, unable to hold back anymore.

Kensaku shot her a strange look. "He stopped taking me too."

Okay, I am really, really sorry for not updating in so long! I haven't been motivated to write at all and then someone reviewed after months and I thought you know what? I'm gonna write the next chapter! SO you've got a longer one this time:) Review please, although I understand if you're annoyed at me for taking so long:(