"What was that?" Honjo murmured. Ren was too overwhelmed to reply. "Did her fiancé really try to kill her?" Honjo's eyes filled with tears.

"Who would dare?" Kura asked. "Whoever he was, he'd never beat her in a fight."

"Not in a fair fight." Ichi corrected. "But what if she was sick or he had a hostage or something? I think she'd take a beating for us, if any of us were held hostage." The guys nodded. She might drive them crazy, but they believed in her.

"If that guy knew her from junior high and high school, doesn't that mean it happened when she was our age? Who is engaged in high school?" Yamato pointed out.

"Someone with a powerful family." Kamiya replied. They all looked at him. "What if she's an heiress?"

"Well, she's not normal, but she's always eating at Kumai-san's and her clothes are never very expensive." Ren commented. Having an older sister and little money for the last eight years, Ren had become very aware of what women's clothes cost. "Besides, they way that man talked about her family, he really made it sound terrible."

"Is that why she didn't want to meet your sister near her place? To hide her family?" Yamato asked, glancing at Ren. Ren shook his head. Until he had heard about the fiancé, Ren had been wondering about that too. Aneki hadn't mentioned anything about Yamaguchi.

"Yeah." Ichi frowned. "I wonder where your sister and Yankumi met? It seemed like they knew each other when your sister came to school."

"I agree." Kamiya contributed. "I bet she knows about Yankumi and that's why Yankumi pulled her out of class. I think your sister knows Yankumi's secret!"

"Demo, what kind of woman hides the fact that she's an heiress?" Honjo asked. "Don't they normally want people to know?" Ren frowned. Her being an heiress didn't quite fit in his mind. What heiress hid the fact that she was an heiress, ate ramen all the time, walked to school, spoke like a yakuza and fought like a shinigami (death god)?

"What if her fiancé was after her money? Wouldn't she try to hide it if someone had tried to kill her for her money?" Honjo wondered.

"They weren't married, if that guy had the story right." Ichi replied. "The money wouldn't go to him until they were married."

"But if he tried to kill her, they obviously weren't in love." Kamiya reasoned.

"She might have been." Kura said. The guys looked at him. "She's a bit of an idiot, right? She sounded really upset talking about it, so maybe…" Ren felt his stomach clench. The thought of someone Yamaguchi loved trying to kill her left him sick.

"Kumichou. That's a hell of a nickname to give a little girl." Ren commented, shifting the focus slightly. "And that shit about her family? I've heard a lot of that kind of crap before. That asshole is a bully."

"I don't think I'll be able to tease her about not having a guy anymore." Yamato said quietly. Ren grimaced, thinking of all the times they had hounded her about it.

"Yeah. It's not funny anymore." Ren agreed. "But I can't believe Ryu-senpai pretended to be her boyfriend!"

"Take." Ryu's voice was strained. "Do you have time?" Keita's jaw dropped. In all the years they'd been friends, Keita couldn't remember Ryu ever asking for his help. Keita had been studying, but he could do that later.

"I'll meet you." Keita replied quickly. "Where are you?"

"Right outside your door."

Keita sprinted to the door, still clutching the phone. Ryu was waiting outside and hadn't rung the bell? He'd walked all the way over on the off-chance Keita was free? Throwing open the door, Keita stared. Ryu looked awful.

"What's wrong?" Keita asked immediately, skipping all greetings.

"I really screwed up, Take." Ryu confided. "Can I come in?"

"Touzen." Keita motioned for Ryu to step in, and went to make tea. Tea was something his mom always made when someone was upset, and he found himself doing the same.

"So?" He asked, as gently as he could.

"I confessed to Yamaguchi, Take." Since Ryu had been planning on confessing, Keita couldn't see the disaster.

"Did she say no?"

"No, I… I told her not to answer. I'm taking her to dinner tonight." Since taking her to dinner was a lot like a date, that sounded like good news. How had Ryu ended up like this?

"I thought you intended to confess?"

"Yes, but… Not while shouting at her in an alley." Keita grimaced. Alright, not the most romantic confession ever, but watching his friend, Keita realized the confession wasn't really the problem, so what…

"Why were you yelling at her?" He watched his friend flinch.

"I… It's not her fault. I didn't mean to yell. I just…" Ryu covered his face with his hands and Keita knew his friend was crying. Ryu never cried. He'd been mistaken for a girl a lot as a kid and had come to hate anything 'girly.' Keita grabbed Ryu's shoulders.

"Tell me." He spoke quietly, and as gently as he could. What had happened? Never having seen Ryu in such a state, Keita found it alarming. Ryu had cried when desperately pleading with his dad, and had shed tears when they got Yankumi fired, but those were the only two times Keita could think of since elementary.

"I can't." Ryu took a shuddering breath. "It's not mine to tell. I just had no idea…" Ryu met Keita's eyes. "I had no idea she been through something so awful. Wasn't her parents dying enough? Why…" Tears finally ran freely down Ryu's face. "He hurt her." Ryu rested his head against Keita's. "He really hurt her."

Who was 'he'?