"Hello..."

Kagura jumped as she heard Sakaki's voice at the end of the line. Typical of her to wait to answer it until the very last ring. "Sakaki, I just wanted to..."

"...Please leave a message at the tone. Thank you."

Kagura heard the beep, signaling for her to start speaking. She hung up and tossed the phone onto her bed, slamming her face down on the desk in frustration. That damn voicemail! She thought crankily, as she moved her head onto her arms. Shit, I didn't even leave a message. Oh well, she'll see that I at least tried to call. That'll get me some brownie points, right? But seriously, stupid voicemail...

She was so caught up in her fit that she hadn't heard her phone buzz to life. It took three rings for Kagura to even notice the sound, and if it hadn't been for the light glowing from her bed, she wouldn't have caught it at all. Trying to stay in her chair, she reached for the phone. Instead, she tipped over sideways towards the bed. Her face found the mattress as the chair toppled over. Grumbling, she heaved herself up, grabbed the phone, and answered.

"What?"

"That's no way to answer the phone. Especially when the person calling you has your wallet."

"Oh. Hey Tomo."

"See, that's a little better."

"Yeah yeah. What do you mean you have my wallet?"

"You left it at the arcade and I grabbed it for you."

"Why didn't you give it to me before I left?"

"Oh, I guess I could have done that, huh?"

Kagura sighed and shook her head. She was at least grateful that she had picked it up and not left it there. However, getting it back from her could prove to be a problem. "Alright. Can we meet up Monday so I can get it back?"

"Not so fast, my dear numbnut. I haven't forgotten how much you owe me."

"For what?!"

"Well, there was that time you gave me a black eye at the beach..."

"Which was an accident."

"And that time you threw my controller out the door and threw me off your bed..."

"Because you cheated."

"Let's not point fingers."

"Whatever. What do you want for it?"

"Now we're talking. Juice. Lots of it. And you're paying for it."

"Oh c'mon!"

"Now now." Even on the phone, Kagura could imagine the smug grin that Tomo would be wearing. "If you want to see your wallet again, you better bring a big ass bottle of juice."

"Look, fine. Whatever. I'll buy you a whole case of juice. Just bring the wallet, okay?"

"You've got yourself a deal!"

"Good. See you Monday."

"Later, numbnut."

"Right back at ya, moron." Kagura said as she clicked the phone shut, a goofy grin spread wide across her face. That kid... Kagura thought as she got ready for bed. She's a character, that's for sure.

While Kagura was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, her phone rang back in her room. The call soon went to voicemail. When Kagura returned, she swept her phone aside, not bothering to look at it before she crawled into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Meanwhile, Sakaki sat awake on the other end of the line. She heard the athlete's voice recording and the tone that signaled the beginning of the recording. She wondered if Kagura had pocket-dialed her on accident. She hadn't left a message, so whatever reason she had called for, it couldn't have been that urgent. The more she thought about it, the more likely that seemed. It had to have been a pocket dial. Knowing the girl's stubborn nature, she guessed that she was still upset about the phone call earlier. She was still appalled at how one little comment had gotten such a rise out of the athlete. What she said wasn't meant to take a dig at her at all. If anything, she was trying to get Kagura to keep her options open. She worried about the girl getting into college. Her grades, although improving, left much to be desired. She didn't even know what Kagura wanted to do as a career. All she ever thinks about is sports...she probably likes sports more than me. Sakaki, who had been drifting off to sleep, suddenly jolted awake at the thought. She began to think about how the times they spent together had began to grow few and far between. Ever since the beach house, Sakaki had been hitting the books hard. She had no idea what Kagura was doing. Probably swimming or something. They hadn't had a decent conversation in weeks. Sakaki felt guilty, realizing that she had turned Kagura down multiple times over the past couple of weeks. She could have made time for the athlete, taking a break here and there. Of course, it didn't help that she was still a little upset about what had happened at the beach house. Normally, Sakaki wasn't one to hold grudges. She wasn't angry. It was more of a feeling of disappointment than anything. She wanted Kagura to talk to her about it, and when the athlete made no such attempts to even bring it up, it made her more and more upset. All she wanted to do was to sit down with Kagura and talk about everything that was on her mind. She opened her phone quickly and typed out a message, sending it to Kagura's phone. There was a chance that she'd still be up and message her back, so Sakaki waited patiently for a reply. When ten minutes came and passed, she shut off her phone, realizing that there would be no response tonight. She went to bed, tired from the stressful end to her day.

The next morning, Kagura flipped over, trying to avoid the sun as much as possible. But it's rays weren't interested in letting the girl sleep. She groaned and stretched, accepting the fact that she wouldn't be falling back asleep. As she got up, she reached for her phone, which had fallen off of her bed. Unable to reach it, she tumbled out ungracefully, with a resounding *thud* as she hit the floor. Too tired to care, she picked up the phone, noting one missed call and a text message. She looked at the call log first. Looking at the name that popped up on the missed call list woke her up instantly. Knowing who the text would be from, she rushed to open her inbox. She opened Sakaki's message:

"Hey. Saw you called. Want to meet up tomorrow?"

Kagura looked at her clock, which read 10:30. Hmm...late enough for Sakaki to be up, but probably too early for her to be studying. I could call her now...She glanced at the clock again. Ehh...nah. I got an appointment in a half an hour. "Oh shit! I have to be at the hospital in thirty minutes!" She yelled, jumping up immediately. She grabbed her things and got out of the house as fast as she could, leaving her phone on her bed in her rush.

Kagura came back from her doctor's visit in a sour mood. The past two days of physical therapy were particularly demanding, and left her sore and limping. Needless to say, when the doctor saw her hobble her way into his office for her check up, he wasn't pleased. Kagura didn't listen to a word he said. She had caught on to bits about "taking it easy" and "allowing herself time for rest". But to Kagura, those translated into one thing: she was still hurt. She was especially upset when the doctor said that he wouldn't allow her to increase the range of motion setting on her brace. When she came home, she went straight up to her room and slammed the door shut. She turned on the Playstation, sat down at her desk, and wasted the rest of the afternoon playing video games. Not once did she notice her phone vibrating on her bed, signaling incoming calls and text messages. Dinner time came and passed without the girl leaving her room. Finally, late that evening, Kagura turned off the gaming counsel and got ready for bed. She flopped on the mattress and stared at the ceiling, sleep evading her. The day had not gone the way she had hoped. She hadn't heard what she wanted to hear at the doctor's office. He didn't mention running at all, much to her displeasure. And while what he didn't say made her upset, what he did say made her downright angry. Who does he think he is, anyways? It's not like he's an athlete. Hell, I bet he couldn't even make it around the track twice without needing a breather. Kagura thought, all of her frustrations from the day weaving their way into her thoughts. Whatever. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Like hell I'm going to listen to some old guy with nothing better to do than tell kids off for doing their physical therapy exercises. The nerve of that old geezer...

Kagura's angry monologue was cut short by her phone buzzing. She groaned, looking for the hidden phone. She discovered it lying under a heap of blankets at the foot of the bed. It wasn't an incoming call or a text message, but merely a reminder that she had had a few missed calls and messages. She decided to check the call log first.

"Mom...Mom...Dad...Sakaki...Sakaki...Sakaki..." Kagura listed the callers verbally as she read them. Only her dad had left a voicemail, which was just asking how the appointment had gone. She figured her mom had called for the same reason. However, the calls from Sakaki confused her. There were so many. Why did Sakaki call her so many times?

"Ahhhh...fuck." Kagura said as she realized her mistake. Sakaki had texted her the day before, and instead of replying, she had tossed her phone on the bed and chose to ignore it all afternoon and night. Now it was too late to try and call back. Like she'll wanna talk to me after this anyways. Kagura thought, losing confidence. I gotta try and fix things fast. Knowing that Sakaki would see it in the morning, she sent her a text message and went to bed, hoping that she hadn't screwed up too badly.

Sakaki sat wide awake in her room, her thoughts whirling. Kagura had not only ignored her calls, but she didn't even respond to her text message. The polite thing to do would have been at least letting her know that she was busy and wouldn't be able to hang out. Or maybe she just didn't want to... Sakaki thought. She looked at her bed where a new first person shooter video game lay, still wrapped up in plastic. Sakaki had felt bad about ignoring the athlete so much, and for what she had said the other day, so she wanted to make it up to her by getting her something that she would really enjoy. However, she hadn't gotten the chance, and the gift lay on the bed, a reminder of the rift that had grown between them. Sakaki rested her head on a hand and looked out the window, wondering what was next for them.