We were supposed to get to bed early so we can meet up at the train station around 9am. Of course I had other plans. It's not like my life is busy in any way or that I have countless other engagements to factor into my day. It's just the simple fact of me being unable to fall asleep.

Many things were swirling around in my head, like an annoying carousel full of screaming children. One such source of concern was Haruhi's unusual behaviour. Even after hearing everyone's spiel about how happy she is on the inside I still had to endure a lengthy tongue lashing that threatened to consign me to deafness at my young age.

There are so many questions revolving around that alone that it pretty much sold out the tickets to the carousel.

The other thing on my mind was Mio. To get a fever so close to the competition is highly suspicious but I know Haruhi well enough to deduce that if she really were involved she would have done a lot worse than give her a fever. For all I know she would have made her have a stroke or something and forget how to play bass, or paralyse her hands or something much more sinister.

The very process of imagining everything worse she could have done only concerned me more. If Mio really did just get a fever from overworking herself, which I sure as hell hope she did regardless of how bad that may sound, then that just brings me back to the question of why is she allegedly calmer now than the night before?

The endless circle of questions lead nowhere and each new train of thought quickly derails upon reaching the point where the tracks just stop completely, ramming into all the other trains that crashed there. And yet even with the mass grave of trains lumped up in the back of my head nothing made any more sense that it did before.

That is why I couldn't sleep.

And because I couldn't sleep I decided to go for a walk completely disregarding the plainly obvious fact that it was well into the night. Wandering around in aimless circles did little to ease my mind but at least made for a better way to kill time rather than counting the spots of mould on the ceiling in my bedroom.

But somewhere between going to the convenience store and returning home my phone rang.

It scared the crap out of me. And fair enough, when do you ever expect a call after midnight? Exactly! But I'm wandering off again so let's just forget about that. You see the only possible caller I could think of at such a ridiculous time was Haruhi, most likely to give me a stern lecture on how to better apply myself before the competition.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the caller-id was unknown. A string of numbers with no meaning which disproved my theory and calmed my beating-slightly-faster-than-usual heart.

"Hello?"

"Oh...Um...Forgive me for calling so late, I hope I didn't wake you!" a tiny voice replied in a frenzy. Her stop and start speech was made all the more difficult to understand as she tried to fit whole sentences into the span of a single second.

Here we go...

"No, it's fine."

"Good! Forgive my rudeness for interrupting you."

Interrupting nothing doesn't really count as rudeness. Rather I should thank you for giving me something to do.

"I'm sorry!"

"Alright enough with the apologies. Who are you and why are you calling me?"

My abrupt interrogation frightened the young girl on the other end and forced a string of strange gasps and yelps as she struggled to remember whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Sorry...It's just...I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"You just did, but go right ahead."

"Yes! You see, it's about Mio-sempai."

She stopped talking for a moment, most likely expecting a response but there wasn't really much to say when she hadn't told me anything yet.

"Uh...So you're one of Mio's friends then? How did you get my number?"

"I'm sorry. Ritsu-sempai gave me your number and I really didn't want to use it because I knew it would just cause trouble but I couldn't help myself and so I had to ring you now to-"

"It's alright I get it. Thanks for not prank calling me, but how about you tell me what you wanted before?"

"Ah! Of course!" she shouted, so blatantly nervous.

"What I wanted to ask you was...What do you think of Mio?"

This again? How many people are gonna ask me this damn question? And furthermore, how many times am I going to be asked until I can actually think up an answer?

"She's a good friend, even though I've only really known her for a week. But why do you want to know anyway? Has she been rambling about me again?"

"Well..." the girl fumbled around for the answer. After a while she sighed and asked, "Where are you right now?"

The question hit me by surprise and was swallowed down with a bitter after-taste of dread. Nothing good ever comes out of people asking to meet up in private, Hell I almost died the last time I was asked to meet a girl alone after school.

Reasonably, I was hesitant to respond, but given the fact the person at the other end was probably more frightened than me it seemed safe to answer.

"Not very close, why?"

"Um...Mio's sick."

"I know."

"Yeah, you would but...It's gotten worse! I'm calling from the hospital."

I ran back home to gather my things.

It was a pure stroke of luck that the last train from the station was running late. By all rights I should have missed it fifteen minutes ago however I was fortunate enough to find the train arrive on the platform when I arrived around 12:30, panting and sweating like an overworked hound.

No-one got on at my stop, but a large group got off there, most likely the cause of the train running late. It must have been another show or concert or something. Whatever it was, it proved a lucky break.

I hauled my suit case and the gig bag onto the near abandoned train and collapsed into the nearest free seat. The gig bag was brand new, so was the bass guitar inside it. Tsuruya had kindly offered to give us free instruments to borrow for the concert considering they were just going to collect dust in the storage room if we didn't. That rehearsal session at Tsuruya's place was the first time I'd played a right handed bass and sure enough adjusting to what I should have been playing from the very beginning took some time, but after the long hours of gruelling practice I had pretty much mastered it.

Mastered in the sense that I could play it normally, not that I'm a virtuoso or something...

Even with the train empty it still took a while to reach Toyosato and when it did I threw myself off the train and made for an awkward lumbering speed walk through the city at night, asking whichever stray passers-by I could find for directions to the hospital.

I arrived pretty late, long after visiting hours, I'm sure. But I don't care.

The receptionist looked half-asleep when I knocked on the counter to wake her up. She opened her eyes with a start and let out a tiny wail before setting her gaze on me and offering a nervous smile.

"Sorry about that. How may I help you?"

"I'm here to visit Mio Akiyama."

"Miss Akiyama...She's currently resting and I'm afraid visiting hours are over sir."

I scowled at her and backed away for a second while rethinking my strategy. "Look, this is really important. I have to see her!"

"You can come visit her in the morning-"

"It's already morning!" I barked.

"Yes, but I mean when the sun comes up. Visiting hours begin around 7:00am. You can stop by then and see your friend."

"I need to see her now!"

"She's fine, there's nothing to worry about. According to what the doctors said she's just over-exerted herself and fainted. She's only being kept overnight as a precaution."

Her face was set in stone. There was no swaying this woman. I should have just snuck right past while she was spaced out...

"Excuse me; I'm here to visit Miss Akiyama."

"Ah, of course!"

"Hey!"

I spun on my heels and almost head-butted the girl standing behind me who had effortlessly gained permission to visit Mio. I was so angry I very well could have hit her, but then I recognised her kind smile and impeccably beautiful blonde hair and choked back the rage.

"Mugi?"

"Hello." She waved with one hand while the other held her purse. She seemed not the least bit surprised to meet in a hospital waiting room several cities away in the dead of night, but I was definitely stunned to see her. I assumed she would already be here. I told her so and she let out a soft giggle.

"I had to catch a train here as well." she explained.

The woman at the counter coughed to get our attention and directed us to Mio's room. Outside the door stood a silent vigil of tired and anxious looking high school girls.

Yui noticed me first and seemed to power up because of it. The lifeless look in her eyes faded out in the midst of her excitement. She skipped up alongside me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it so hard it was hurting.

"Thank god you're here!" she cried, "Only you can save her!"

My eyes widened in shock.

"Yui-sempai don't scare him like that!" scolded the tiniest girl in the group.

Wait a minute...Did I just...Oh great I fell for a trap laid by Yui! That's almost as bad as getting into a car accident in a parking lot. It shouldn't even be possible! But at least the littlest of the group talked some sense into her. Recognising her voice from earlier and the fact she addressed Yui as her sempai as well, I guess she was the one who called me.

"I'm sorry."

And she apologised for no reason. Yep, it's definitely her.

I waved aside her concerns and stared at the door behind them. It was Mio's room. It was only then that memories flooded back of my time in hospital after apparently falling down some stairs. I woke up alone and confused, only to find our trusty SOS Brigade had been camping around me in my comatose state. I'm sure Mio would feel that same flood of relief to find her band mates rallying around her while she's feeling ill.

But that won't work as well when everyone is standing outside...

I leaned towards the youngest of them and asked her, "Why are you standing outside? Is she asleep?"

The girl shook her head, her near floor length pig-tails swaying with the momentum. "No, Ritsu-sempai asked to be alone with Mio-sempai, so we decided to give her some space."

I frowned.

"She's not up to anything bad is she?"

The girl laughed nervously. "I hope not..."

Her lack of conviction frightened me, but I guess it can't be helped. I'll just take a ticket and wait my turn. But in the mean-time...

"By the way, I'm-"

"You're Kyon-sempai aren't you?" the tiny girl interrupted. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Azusa Nakano, pleased to meet you." She bowed, throwing her pig-tails forward like oddly extravagant tassels.

"Yeah..." I forced myself to bow, but honestly the gesture was a bit much. I don't know why this Azusa girl has to be so formal and polite; it's too much to deal with. Usually I'm around a girl who doesn't even know the meaning of the word polite so to find myself faced with the other extreme so suddenly is quite disconcerting.

To be entirely truthful being around the rest of the girls from Mio's band had me a little on edge. Our past meetings had not been on the best terms. Mugi had plenty of reason to hate me for the rest of her life, but out of some miracle she absolved me of sin and Yui's last sight of me was when I was taken away by police for some unknown reason. Azusa would have heard of me being arrested as well, or perhaps she was left out of the loop with good reason. Either way she wouldn't trust me just yet. Regardless of whatever hype Mio seems to have spread about me I'm pretty sure I've garnered a bad reputation around Sakuragaoka high school.

Even if everything that had happened was an accident I couldn't shake the feeling that I was some sort of villain and my very presence around these girls felt wrong.

"Are you feeling ok?" Yui asked quietly, an act surprising in itself. "You look a little...I know! You're hungry aren't you?"

I didn't know people got hunger pains at 2 in the morning...As usual, I got the impression there was something wrong with Yui. I gently waved aside her concerns and leaned heavily against the wall.

It was then that the door clicked and opened with a loud groan. Ritsu seemed truly disheartened as she left the room and upon seeing me I swear there was a hint of defeat in her expression. She stared right through me and stumbled past, not out of drowsiness or exhaustion, but something else I couldn't quite figure out.

It could wait though. There were more important matters at hand.

I caught the door as it swung inwards and made my way into the tiny sterile white room. Amidst the blinding white was a black smudge, a draping curtain of long black hair. Mio looked worn out, with black rings under her eyes and a bright red face. She certainly had a fever. Dazedly she tried to sit up, but fell back down in her bed, staring at the roof as she was too weak to turn her head towards me.

"Mio..."

"Kyon? Is that you?"

Before I knew it I had sat down and grabbed her hand. "Yeah it's me. What on earth happened?"

Mio's head rolled to the side and she offered a frail smile. "I disobeyed doctors' orders...And practised too hard...I'm sorry."

"Are you crazy?!" I roared, taken aback at my own outburst. Mio's eyes widened like a lost little lamb but the words died in her throat. No doubt she was going to apologise, but realised it would have been pointless.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard! Saturday is the big day, your chance to reach out and grab a hold of your dream! You can't waste your chance when you're finally so close!"

Mio fell silent and averted her gaze. Her expression, once filled with joy upon seeing me had now crumbled into a frown. I don't know why I was getting so angry, especially when everything I said went against the task at hand. I should be glad that Mio is too sick to play, that I don't have to sabotage their performance to give our crappy Brigade a chance at victory. This is the best possible outcome isn't it? Win-win.

So why am I pissed off all of a sudden?

I bowed my head and let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled. It's not your fault."

She smiled weakly, "Its ok...I understand. You were really excited to see me play on Saturday. I was too. I wanted to show what we can really do...It would have been fun..."

No, that's not it.

That's not it at all.

Hell, I don't even know!

I don't know what came over me exactly, but it was around that time that I shot up out of the seat, snatched up Mio's hands and stared her down like a drill sergeant about to talk down to a private. Mio's cheeks reddened visibly from the proximity of my face from hers, as did mine. And so, having effectively invaded her personal space, breathing hard against her rosy cheeks in the manner of some horror movie monster, I said my piece.

"Mio, I promised you I would see you play on Saturday. I'm holding up my end of the bargain so you better play your part too! You're going to rest up and get better by tomorrow! Then you're going to stand up on that stage and not only blow me away, but rock the socks off of every single person in the crowd!"

…

Mio wasn't the only one totally surprised.

The out of body experience ended there and so I calmly and nonchalantly returned to the seat beside her bed and pretended I had never yelled in the face of someone recovering in hospital.

Mio hadn't uttered a word after that, apparently contemplating my words or otherwise planning her escape. After a painful silence she began to chuckle, soon evolving into boisterous laughter. Caught up in the heat of the moment I quickly joined her, the commotion prompting the girls outside to rush in and check up on us.

The subdued young beauty smiled at the gathering of close friends and shared a genuine smile that was almost blinding.

"Thank you, everyone. I made promises with all of you...And the least I can do is stay true to my word. I will get better and then we can take the world by storm!" She wrestled her arm out from under the blanket and thrust her fist up in the air with a gleaming grin on her face.

"Budokan or bust!"

I wish I could share their enthusiasm, but after contemplating everything I'd just said and done I realised the grave mistake I had made. No matter how much of a relief it was to see Mio's smiling face again, it only served as another painful reminder of the terrible fate to be impinged upon her.

I should have just let her lie there, stay sick and have her friends forfeit the contest. But no, I had to go and be a protagonist and do something stupid like cheer her up and spur her on. Why on Earth am I doing all of this anyway? I didn't even know Mio before last week and yet I'm putting everything in the balance to protect her.

Perhaps I need to check into the hospital myself...