When the initial sorrow wore down, all that was left was guilt. I did not have the slightest idea why I felt guilty, but that was the only emotion that seemed to find its way into my everyday actions. Guilt that I was alive or maybe that I could not comfort those really hurting.

Over a week and a half had trudged along since Meiko's passing. Only a few government officials roamed the streets every now and then. She was the religious leader's wife, but she was still a small town woman. Staring out across the back porch, I wondered what Len was doing.

The funeral was okay, ceremonial and traditional. Kaito did not perform there, a friend from a neighboring town came. I could not find Len in the crowd, but I did not know what I would do if I did. Enobizaka was lethargically and subtly returning to its former serenity, though it would never be said that it was one of the safest places in the country again.

"Mayu-ne?" Luka called from the workroom.

"Hm?" I answered. We had rarely spoken since she refused to go to the funeral.

"Can you get some more water from the stream, please?"

I sighed and looked back at the tree line beyond the houses in the way. What was the point of staring into nothingness any longer?

"Sure."

My legs were asleep, I realized. How long had I been sitting there, again? It didn't matter. I fetched the wooden pail by the doorway and left.

When I saw the long purple hair and pale form of Gakupo, the guilt crept back in like a beast sinking its claws into me. I could not bear to look at him any longer, so I kept walking at a brisker pace. I could feel his eyes on me before he called out.

"Hidari!" his voice cracked like it had not been used in days.

There was no point in pretending I did not hear. I made my way easily towards him, bucket clanking against my leg, until I could ask monotonously how he was doing.

"As to be expected," he replied. "I noticed that you have been holed up since…I take a walk every day through here, and…well, it's better to think about others or else you will be forced to think about yourself, and I don't really want to do that. Who knows what sort of thoughts might find their way into my head, so I am asking if you're okay."

"I-I'm well. I mean, I'm fine, really. If you want to think about others, the Kagamine's are much better suited to be comforted right now."

"Of course, I visit them every day."

"That's good. That's-"

"There is a problem, however," he interrupted. His voice had finally regained its lucidity in his franticness. "I am being sent away, government's orders, to the border. I can't request to stay any longer, so I will be leaving tomorrow."

"There must be…I suppose there can't be any exceptions. Is there anything you want me to do?"

Gakupo looked around all of a sudden, swiftly like he might be seen. How different he was since the first time I met the samurai. He was annoying and flirtatious, but I preferred him happy to this.

"They're all taking it hard, especially Miku. Len, though. I think he would like to see you, someone to talk to or something. He and Rin haven't been on the best of terms."

"Yes! I mean, I'll definitely go to see him. I just thought he needed to be left alone for a while," I said.

"Good." He smiled fleetingly but it was there. He turned around and walked off at a careful pace without another word. Everything needed to be said was said, and I would probably never see him again.

I stared blankly at the pail in my hands and remembered what I set out to do in the first place. On the way to the fresh stream and back to the square, I tried not to think too much. I understood what he meant by thinking about yourself. Self-reflection was one of the most hazardous things you could do. I was how you dug yourself a hole you could never climb your way out of.

I was meters away from my home, hauling the sloshing water, when my sandal hit the ground just the wrong way to make me fall on my face. The clear liquid spilled everywhere, including half of my kimono. I laid there for a moment, a scream knotted in my throat.

My body rigid, I pushed myself up and threw the pail with all my strength against the dirt. To my disappointment, it did not shatter or break. I stomped on it, and the wood finally gave way and broke in half. If I hadn't have broken something, I would break myself.

When I slid back into the house, Luka was still where I left her, weaving some sandals despite our drawers already filled to the brim with them. I hoped weakly that she wouldn't question me as I snuck my way towards the hallway.

"Where's the water?" she asked. "And why are you all wet?'

"I don't have the water or the bucket," I replied simply. "It broke."

"How did the bucket break?"

"THINGS BREAK!"
I stormed through the rooms until I sat right back down where I was before, staring at the tree-line and brooding over everything. Time seemed irrelevant until Luka jolted me out of my little world again.

"Your friends are here, Mayu-ne!" she called. "Welcome them, please!"

Friends? Who were my friends again? Len wouldn't come over, so it must have been Yuka. The other one with her was what made that bad suggestion into a nightmarish one.

"N-!" I stopped. I was utterly depressing myself. Gakupo knew how thinking too much could ruin someone. I sighed over-dramatically. "Okay!"

I shook out my legs again and cracked my neck before walking to the entrance. Yuka and Gumi gave favoring degrees of pitying smiles before stepping in and taking off their sandals. Gumi kept her eyes on Luka, who watched from the workroom just as intensely.

"Haven't seen you since the funeral," Yuka said. "How're you doing?"

"Fine enough," I responded. "Is there anyth-"

"We knew this was going to happen," Gumi intervened. "The tree told me."

Yuka must have seen the dark look in my eyes, so she stepped between us before I could wring her neck. "Sh-she may sound crazy about all the tree nonsense, but she is right. She told me the day before it happened that Meiko was going to die!"

"Really now?" my response had more bite than I expected. "Then maybe she's the one who did it! You can't expect me to believe that trees predicted her death; take this more seriously!"

"We are serious!" Gumi shouted.

"Gumi would have never done it. L-listen, she says that someone else is in danger too!"

"Oh, like how my life is in danger, and my sister is apparently an evil witch?"

"Exactly," Gumi said gravely.

I was inches away from pouncing on her, but I took a deep breath and told them calmly, "Please, leave."

"Mayu-"

"PLEASE!"

Yuka looked hurt while Gumi looked indignant, but they both obeyed. My gut told me that was wrong. Maybe it was time to follow my common sense instead. It told me trees could never speak, and Meiko was dead no matter how long I stare out the porch doors.