Well, it's only a little late this time! Heh...

Well, new chapter after I killed Kaiko! Spoiler: yes, she's actually dead. Because I love killing my characters off. It's surprising it's taken so long for me to kill one of them off, though... I doubt anyone else will die in this story, if any of you are worried about that!

I will conclude this author's note now. It's was pretty useless, anyway.

Mikuo got back a little after the Hatsunes usually had dinner. His parents let him in and quickly sat him down at the table across from Miku, who crossed her eyes at him and stuck her tongue out.

"Did you have fun?" his mother asked, crunching her fork into her salad.

"Yeah," Mikuo told her. "For the most part." The proof was in the bag of cookies settled on the counter. They tasted heavenly. Was there anything Gumi couldn't do? Life was so unfair.

"What did you do?" Miku asked. "I want to know what I missed."

Mikuo squinted down at his own salad, a mixture of chicken and cheese and carrots and a whole mess of other things. "Some anime and cookies. Gumi called her girlfriend three times and put her on speakerphone. She's cool."

Miku pouted. "Boring! And I felt bad about missing out."

"You could have come," Mikuo pointed out.

"Piko had something I wanted to go to," Miku replied. "Couldn't miss it."

"And this thing would be?" Mikuo asked.

Miku smiled secretively. "That's for us to know and for you to find out."

Mikuo groaned at the cliché and focused on his salad. After that, he focused on his rather small serving of spaghetti. His mind wasn't completely on dinner at the time. After all, he had the scene of Rin kissing Rei playing in his thoughts. It didn't make for delightful dinner entertainment.

Mikuo excused himself and left for his room, where he attempted a bit of homework and gave up in favor of first videogames then reading for a while. It didn't last long, though, and e ended up turning in earlier than he usually did on weekends.

He wasn't in for an easy night. Or an easy morning.

Miku woke Mikuo up the next morning in an uncharacteristic manner. For once, it didn't involve jumpy on the bed, sitting on him, ice, cold water, or smacking him between the eyes. Despite this, Mikuo wasn't all too happy about being woken up at six a.m. on the weekend. He hadn't slept well, either. He had been up too late thinking about SeeU and Mayu and Rin and Rei and-

Well. No need to continue the list.

Although Mikuo didn't really like being woken up, he didn't say anything when he saw the look on Miku's face. Usually, she smiled. If she wasn't smiling, she was grinning. And if she wasn't grinning, she was laughing. None of those things fit Miku's current expression. It was grim, and Mikuo swore her eyes were watering. Was she trying not to cry?

"What?" he asked. "Is something wrong?"

Miku struggled with the words for a second. What he didn't know was that she was doing her best to swallow down tears.

"Kaito's mother called," she finally told him. "It's…"

She couldn't say anything else. Mikuo had a feeling he really, really didn't want to know what this was about.

"Kaiko died," Miku managed. "She died yesterday."

And Mikuo's suspicions were confirmed.

Neither of the Hatsune parents spoke at all during breakfast. Their children followed this example. Mikuo himself couldn't eat very much. Miku barely managed a single pancake before she excused herself and went back upstairs.

It might seem weird to some people, but Mikuo had a real attachment to Kaiko. He had known Kaito so long, and Kaiko had always been a familiar presence in the Shion household. She was sweet and adorable and enjoyed seeing Kaito's friends, who visited her when her own (non-existent) friends could not.

And Kaiko was dead. That sentence was so very wrong. Kaiko couldn't be dead. Sure, she was sick, and she couldn't go to school, but that didn't mean she was sick enough to die. She was just a kid. She wasn't supposed to die.

Mikuo couldn't even imagine what Kaito must be going through. Sure, it hurt him, but he hadn't just lost a sister. Kaito had. It would be like losing Miku. And Mikuo didn't even want to imagine that.

Mikuo excused himself after one pancake, half a glass of milk, and a bite of banana bread. His stomach was queasy. The world just didn't feel right. Like he could feel Kaiko's lack of being in the order of things. Where she had been, she just wasn't anymore. How was he supposed to explain it? How could someone just be… gone?

Mikuo felt like throwing up. It was too early for this, yet he couldn't go back to bed. His head throbbed and there was a dull twist in his chest he couldn't name, but he just knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep.

The default option was to call Mayu.

She picked up on the third ring. It was a comfort to hear her familiar voice through the tiny speaker, even if the quality was terrible. Mikuo had never really enjoyed talking on the phone for the sole reason of sound. Anything that came through the phone's miniature speaker sounded sharp and clipped. Nevertheless, now was a time to call rather than text.

"Hello?" Mayu asked.

"Hey, Mayu," Mikuo replied. He knew his voice sounded rough and a bit worn.

Mayu instantly understood by the sound of his voice how horrible he felt. She didn't know what was wrong, but she knew that she had to help Mikuo feel better.

"What's wrong, Mikuo?" she asked softly.

Mikuo cleared his throat. "I… Can I come over?"

"Of course. When should I expect you?"

Mikuo thought for no more than two seconds. "In the next twenty minutes."

"Alright."

Mikuo found his way into the Yoshida household and was instantly enveloped in a gentle embrace. It was a familiar hug, one he had received before. But this one was far more comforting. It was almost safe.

"You look terrible," Mayu told him. "Which is fairly difficult for you." Because even Mayu had to admit the circles around Mikuo's eyes and the set look on his face were not attractive.

"Yeah," Mikuo agreed. "I hope I'm not bugging you."

Mayu smiled. "Not at all."

She led him to the couch, where he sat down heavily. Tei was in her own room, as the two could tell from the loud music blasting from above them. Their parents weren't home at the moment. Though Mikuo didn't know it, they were attending a rather important meeting for the company they both worked for.

"Are you cold?" Mayu asked, prepared to run off for a blanket.

"No," Mikuo replied, though his nose was still a bit red from the walk over.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Mayu continued. "You don't have to. But maybe it'll help."

Mikuo couldn't answer for a moment. "It's… hard to say."

"You're acting very serious, Mikuo," Mayu told him. "It's not really one of your typical characteristics."

Mikuo agreed internally.

"You're acting as though someone has died." It took Mayu only a few seconds to read Mikuo's face. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Oh, sweetie," she mumbled and leaned in to hug him. He accepted it in the best way he could, which took the form of not pushing her away, though he couldn't really bring himself to move his own arms.

Mikuo never wanted to move again.

Mayu was not used to comforting Mikuo. She knew every single part of him, every glimmer and spark and dull, rusted corner he kept hidden. She knew more about him than she could ever admit, which came from her few months of stalking before they ever got together. But for the life of her, she had no idea how to make him better now.

She hadn't known the girl who died. Mayu had heard her mentioned a few times, in bright, fond voices with the slightest trace of sadness. With pain interlaced in familiar words that held the message what if. What if this girl, who wasn't much younger than them, could go to school? What if she could get up and move around like the other girls? What if she had the same opportunity as everyone else?

Mayu had never been an optimist. Then again, she wasn't really a pessimist, either. But she knew a lost cause when she heard one. Was she really the only one surprised that the girl had died? She had been sick for so long. Obviously the parents knew something they weren't sharing. She didn't know it. Kaito certainly didn't know it. And she would never forgive them for not allowing Mikuo to know it. He was crushed. No one was allowed to crush him. No one was allowed to leave Mikuo with that frown and those deadened eyes. No one was allowed to take away her ability to make things okay again. They just.. weren't allowed.

And despite her better judgment, Mayu found herself cursing the girl as well, despite her intense ragejealousyfearannoyance that some little girl had grown so close to Mikuo. She just had to go and die. Suddenly, she had to be the most important thing in Mikuo's life. Mayu knew her thought processes were not something other people would find sane in the least, but she couldn't stop herself from thinking such things anyway. Why was everyone so selfish? Why could they just leave her and Mikuo alone?

Despite this, Mayu looked on the Brightside and did her best to comfort Mikuo. He would get anything he wanted from her. He would be happy again. And maybe she'd manage to become the "most important" again. Because she would most certainly deserve it after this mess.

And Mayu couldn't help smiling to herself, despite the pain in Mikuo's eyes and the hardness in his muscles. She'd make everything okay. And everything would be perfect this time around. She would make it so.

No matter how much I enjoy killing my characters off, I am incapable of writing the aftermath.

Sigh.

Review if that's your thing, reader! If not, see you next time!

(I actually really like saying that. Maybe that's the note I'll put at the end of chapters from now on?)