I haven't updated for a while now. A billion apologies, everyone!


"Seiichi?" His Aunt Hanaka (who preferred to be called by her nonexistent English name Laura) peeked into the room. "Are you all right? You've been in there all day—your mother and I are awfully worried."

Aunt Hanaka was a bit nosy.

I smiled up at her. "I'm fine, Aunt Hanaka. It's nice of you to check up on me." But she paid no attention to my words and instead began looking around my room.

"Call me Aunt Laura. Why do you have so many books here? Why are they scattered around your bed? Why is one of the pages folded? Did you clean your room yesterday like I told you to?"

Very nosy.

"I'm fine," I assured, and stacked the books on my bookshelf. "I guess I forgot to clean the mess. Thank you for reminding me."

She huffed. "I should think so." With a trace of worry, she added, "It's unlike you to be so messy. Is something the matter? You've been rather distant recently."

"It's no—" But before I could finish the sentence, a sudden headache consumed me and I collapsed onto the floor. And everything grew dark.

"Seiichi? Seiichi!" But the voice grew fainter and fainter. "Oh, wait here, I'll go get your parents right away!"

With a sort of relief, I thought, At last, they know...


Tennis, I thought with a renewed sense of confidence, is great. Niou and I were playing singles, and as of now it was six games to five, him in the lead. He seemed to be getting his health back. I sighed silently.

While I was thinking, Niou scored an ace. I had to keep my guard up. "Nice one," I called.

He responded with a grin and a thumbs up. "You haven't lost your touch, have you, Hiroshi?"

I pushed up my glasses. "We'll see."

He served again—a quick, clean shot. A perfect time for my Golf Swing. I kept the position, the ball drew nearer—and I swung.

He sent it right back, just one point from winning.

I threw a ball over to him, not wanting to hear him gloat again. "Serve."

But to my surprise, he let the ball fall to the ground. My eyes followed it behind my glasses. "What are you doing? It's your turn to serve. You know that."

"I've got to meet somebody," he answered stiffly.

"You're about to win. You never give up a victory," I protested disbelievingly.

He knelt, stuffed his tennis racquet back into his bag and stood again. "See you later."

I watched, suspecting I knew who it was he was about to meet.


"Akaya! Where are you going?" my mother called. "You haven't cleaned your room yet."

"I want to look for Mura-buchou," I answered absentmindedly, and ran out of the house. Yukimura's neighborhood wasn't very far from mine (which was why I usually ran there whenever Marui and Niou ganged up on me)—I'd be able to walk there easily.

But when I arrived, the house was completely empty. On the other hand, the streets were packed with people, all gathered around the house in earnest.

"What's going on here?" I asked a girl standing next to me.

"Oh, Kiri-chan!" I twitched at the nickname. "It's so nice to see you! How old are you now? Eight, I'll bet!" She tweaked my cheek. In a baby-ish voice she added, "Aren't you a big boy now?"

I twitched again. "What's going on here?" I repeated.

"Oh, an ambulance came not so long ago. Seii-chan fainted, I think. Something about a rare recurring disease." She shrugged. "I'm just here 'cause everyone else is."

My mouth hung open. I guess his family found out the hard way.