Friday came around the corner as Thursday was spent on running and hanging out. The exams were complete, but Lenny had been on edge. The day that Emi was talking about was coming up and it had placed stress on the both of them. Hopefully today was going to be the day to break the stress apart with something fun to do. Lilly had texted to everyone that she had the best idea for what they were going to do.

Lilly had called everyone into the library with some pretty exciting news from the entire group. Everyone in the social circle was there and she began to explain.

"Now that I have you all here, let me begin." Lilly began to speak. "There is a carnival happening later tonight and Akira has invited us with her. We don't get together to do these types of events, but Akira managed to get some free time today and is willing to invite us out." Lilly explained the situation. Everyone seemed to be excited by this. The prospect of having another fun night out as a group seemed to make everyone excited. Lenny was happy but not as excited as Hanako or Hisao.

"Well did we agree to meet up with Akira before we head out at the Shanghai so we can have some tea together. Once we have the tea, we will attend it which is kind of a mix of something fun and a bit of a street fair." Lilly did her best to explain what this type of event was going to be like. Emi was excited by this as she thought that this was going to be the best opportunity to learn more about Lenny.

"What time will we head out?" Emi asked, she could barely contain herself.

"Six, have tea and then we'll get there at seven." Lilly answered Emi's question that they were going to be heading on out that time. Emi nodded as she continued to bounce a bit.

"Well looks like we're going to have to get ourselves ready." Lenny nervously told the group. Lilly nodded.

"Get yourselves ready as we will be spending another long night." Lilly told them and they began to walk away.

Lenny got himself ready that night while he began to think. He had cleaned himself up and was doing his hair.

"Okay." He began talking to himself, "You get to spend another night with your friends, think of Emi." Lenny brushed his hair back. "You get to have some happy times with her so no need to panic." Lenny continued to finish brushing himself to see if his hair was good. Once he was satisfied with the results, he gathered his belongings and decided to make his way to the lobby where they agreed to meet up at. Emi was waiting there as Lenny was the last to arrive.

"We were waiting for you." Emi told Lenny that she was a little worried about him. "Kind of been getting thoughts again and I wanted to snuggle into you." Emi admitted before she hugged Lenny. He hugged her back.

"That's okay. As long as we're together we should be fine." Lenny told Emi that he was going to be there for her as well. "I apologize that I wasn't there for you."

"That's fine, so are we ready to head out?" Hisao asked the group that they were going to head out. Rin got up, a bit excited by this notion, Lilly and Hanako were standing hand and hand with each other.

"We're ready now that we got everyone." Lilly softly told the group. Rin began to speak next.

"Well, if we can look at the sun as it says goodbye to us for the day, then we will be able to meet the sun the next day." Rin told the group as she got up and led the group. The others followed behind while they were going to head to the Shanghai first before heading out to the said carnival.

The group had spent the last few minutes walking along the sidewalk trying to find the place. Lenny wasn't too familiar with heading outside of the school though he was a little eager to explore.

"Do you know where this place is?" Rin asked Lilly as they had spent some time trying to find it. Lilly began to think while she was leading the group with Hisao being her eyes.

"I think just around the corner Rin, no need to panic." Lilly answered Rin's question while they turned the corner. And there it was, the Shanghai. The group began to enter the tea shop as they were waiting for Akira. They decided they should get some tea for themselves. A familiar face began to walk up to them as she was going to take their orders.

"Hello this is Yuuko speaking, how can I help you?" Yuuko began while everyone began to sit down.

"Can we get some tea? We're waiting for someone." Lilly asked while they were settling down.

"Sure thing. What flavor do you want?" Yuuko asked the group. Everyone began to think while Emi was having trouble making up her mind. Lenny was trying to think of what tea there was to choose from, but he wasn't interested in tea as much as he wanted to know Yuuko a little bit more.

"Strawberry… no lemon!" Emi was having a hard time making up her mind. She decided to put the menu down before she began speaking again. "No, actually, I'll take both!" Emi called out as she didn't know what to take. Lenny submitted his order before he decided to speak to Yuuko.

"I didn't know you worked here. Is this what you do when you're not in the library?" Lenny asked, he seemed to take a bit of interest in Yuuko.

"Yeah, I work here part time when there is a weekend or Friday there and I could use the time. All the other days I'm either in the library or studying for my classes." Yuuko decided to answer Lenny's question about what she does during her week. She got out the seven teacups while Lilly paid for everyone's expense.

"Wow you seem to be busy; don't you make time to socialize like I do with Emi?" Lenny asked Yuuko. Yukko began to think while Lenny was stirring his tea up to get it to cool down faster.

"Well, there isn't something that feels more rewarding than waking up next to the person that you love the most. If you just sleep with some random stranger, then it doesn't feel like love as much as you just want to get that person out of your way. True love is when the two people can have something in common that they could meet on a spiritual level. There is also the fear that your partner could reject you and you can feel loss. Almost if you're watering the soil on your bed with tears. I know what your condition is Lenny and I hope that Emi doesn't reject you for who you are, or you will feel even more miserable than you already are." Yuuko tried to explain to Lenny what love meant and that meant finding something they were connected to, and they could make themselves feel welcome.

"What about Emi? How do I approach her when she is having a rough time? Seeing her hurt also hurts me." Lenny admitted to Yuuko that he feels pain the same way Emi does when she brings up her father.

"I don't know about that but based on your condition, you don't do well with sadness. Emi told me she was reluctant about bringing up her father around you as she senses that you get hurt and possibly black out because of it." Yuuko explained to Lenny that Emi didn't know how to express herself without making Lenny's heart race in a bad way. "You have a bomb inside of your body and Emi has to be careful in trying to cut the wires to make sure it doesn't explode and if it does explode, you're dead." Yuuko told Lenny that they needed to be careful without killing him in the process. Emi was listening to this while drinking her teas, but she didn't know what was going on.

"So how do I confront Emi when the day comes?" Lenny asked. He didn't know how he wanted to approach the topic of Emi's father without breaking down and having another heart attack.

"Take it slow, go the short distance first and then go a little further. Much like your morning runs. You seem to be getting better at running as a whole for the past couple of weeks." Yuuko explained to Lenny how he should approach the situation and how he should handle it.

"What if Emi gets mad and walks away on me?" Lenny asked Yuuko with worry, the pulse monitor he had begun flashing a little faster this time as he was getting anxious.

"Let her walk away, give her the space she needs to cool off. She will act worse if you follow her." Yuuko told Lenny that it would sometimes be nice to leave her be until she was ready to come back. Lenny nodded while he drank his tea. Emi had helped him a lot, but he was scared of something bad happening to the both of them.

"I understand." Lenny sighed when he finished his tea. Akira then walked in as everyone was finished drinking their tea.

"Who's ready for another night with me?" Akira asked with excitement in her voice. Everyone looked at her while they were drinking their last mouthfuls of tea down.

"I certainly am." Lilly replied with a sigh to her voice. Everyone had gotten themselves up as Akira looked at the group.

"Well follow me, I just parked the car and it's not too far from here." Akira told the group to follow her. Which they did. Lenny was the last to leave before he turned to Yuuko and bid her farewell.

"Thanks for the advice, take care." Lenny told Yuuko that he was thankful for her input and the conversation they had.

"You are too." Yuuko sweetly told Lenny, they left the Shanghai.

Akira had brought the group to the entrance where the carnival was going to be held. Akira walked up as she held out the money for the seven tickets.

"Since I make lots of money with the job I have, I tend to be the one buying for everyone." Akira explained that she had tons of money, so she was willing to cover for everyone in this case. She walked up to the booth and bought them the tickets and once they were done, they entered the area. "Welcome to the adventure of the night." Akira greeted them. The group were astounded by this. Even Hanako gave a smile with her excitement. They now began to wander on through to see what this was.

"Who gets to host all of this?" Lenny asked. This was another exciting day he was going to spend outside with his friends.

"Yamaku Academy does this and everyone is invited regardless of if you go to the school or not, all of this money goes into helping the disabled like the students of said academy to have comfortable lives. It's fundraisers like these that are making a positive impact on Japan. Yamaku academy is also funding medicine to make sure the people can have better lives without the need of losing their limbs." Akira explains to Lenny what the purpose of these events are for. Lenny began to think.

"Will they try to help me and Hisao out with our conditions?" Lenny asked Akira if this event was to help the both of them out.

"Possibly. But you seem to hopefully have your condition under control as Emi is there for you." Akira patted him on the back while Emi knew she wanted to have something before they were to go deeper into this weird land. She walked up to the stand, and she began to order something.

"Yes, but Emi seems to be different to say the least and I'm becoming different. Could something bad be happening and I don't know about it?" Lenny asked. He looked around while someone passed by him.

"I don't know exactly; I'm just here enjoying myself." Rin told Lenny that it didn't matter to what she was thinking about at the time. She would rather enjoy the carnival.

"I know you are but hopefully Emi can enjoy herself the same way I can." Lenny nervously told Rin as Emi came up to Lenny.

"I got you a cinnamon bun bowl that we can share between ourselves. I was thinking about you." Emi sweetly told Lenny that she got something for him. Lenny picked up a piece with his plastic fork and began to eat it. Emi began eating a piece of it herself. "How does it taste?" Emi asked Lenny while she was eating another piece.

"Tastes good, I've never really had anything like this in a long time." Lenny giggled. Emi just leaned over and kissed Lenny on the cheek. Now he felt like he had to pay her back.

"I'm glad I can tell you that. I will text Meiko to tell her that we're having a good time." Emi hugged Lenny with some sort of comfort before they got up and followed the crowd. It was getting dark out while they continued to explore the area. Stands where people were selling their stuff, small games to win a prize were also there, concerts and some entertainment options like the rides were there. They continued to explore while looking around to hear about what they were going to do next.

"What do you think we should do next? We got all night to hang out." Lilly asked. They continued to look around as Lenny was trying to figure out something that he could get for Emi as she shared something with him. He then spotted something before he looked at the pulse monitor, he had. He then began to walk up to the stand as Rin was heading there first.

"So you've finally decided to come?" Rin asked. "It's like you found something of interest."

"I'm just curious about it." Lenny answered Rin's question. The thing they were going to was a bracelet making stand. Lenny walked up as Rin was studying his pulse monitor. They got to the stand as there were several choices of making bracelets. Rin took her shoes and socks off as she grabbed one of the strings and inspected the beads. Lenny did the same thing and he picked up some of them. Some of the beads matched the logo of the pulse monitor; he had a red, white and blue shield logo with the company name written on the side. Lenny had an idea. He grabbed one of the bracelet rings and began filling it out with the logo first, then the name of who he was giving the gift to, then the logo again followed by a four digit number before adding the logo again. The first one was made for Emi. Rin looked over to see the number of 3358 as the number he had chosen. Lenny decided to make a second one for Hanako, the second person who helped him out. For Hanako, he did much the same layout as the first but he changed the name to Hanako and the number to 2944. Lenny was finished as Rin was still making a bracelet for herself. Lenny then paid for the bracelets and began to bring them over to Emi and Hanako.

"Made something for us?" Hanako asked. She was a bit curious about it but Lenny had plans.

"Close your eyes Hanako and Emi and extend your left arm." Lenny instructed. Hanako and Emi did so, and this gave Lenny some time to present the gift. He took the first bracelet and slipped it onto Emi's left wrist and he did the same for Hanako. "Open your eyes." Emi and Hanako opened their eyes to see the bracelets on their wrists.

"You made them?" Emi asked as she was excited. Lenny managed to give them something that they enjoyed.

"Yes I did." Lenny answered Emi's question. Rin walked over as she finished making hers and paying for it.

"That is such a sweet gift. It even says my name on it." Hanako smiled softly. She was fond of the gift that Lenny had given her. Emi hugged Lenny as she loved the idea.

"Thank you so much for the gift." Emi seemed to snuggle into Lenny, she was fond of him though Rin was wearing her bracelet more over on the ankle.

"The least you could do was help me get my socks and shoes on." Rin replied to Lenny in a deadpan manner.

"It's hard to light a candle, easy to curse the dark instead?" Hanako asked Rin as she wanted to see if she was right about that.

"Yeah… it is." Rin answered Hanako. They decided to continue down the carnival.

They continued down into the carnival while a race game was being held with seven people making the race at a time. It was a chance for everyone to participate.

"What kind of game is this?" Hisao asked. He was puzzled as it was mostly a hurdle type of game.

"It's hurdle jumping. I've seen this one before." Akira explained. "Objective is to bring a container of colored ice over depending on your color and you have to run over there, put the container down and run back, the container explodes first like a fountain is declared the winner." Akira laid out the instructions of how this race worked. Everyone looked at it as it was just the seven of them that were going to be doing it.

"What's the prize?" Rin asked.

"Probably some toy or something." Akira told them. They walked up and handed a ticket over to the man. Now they were going to be racing. Each of the contestants was handed a container of colored ice. Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. Lenny looked at his as he had Red, Emi had Pink and so on.

"Not my favorite color." Lenny told Emi.

"Yeah, not the color I wanted either. The seven of them tensed up for the race, the whistle blew, and the runners were off.

Emi was determined to start off strong, she jumped over the first hurdle and Lenny bounded after her. The others weren't too far behind with Rin carrying the container in her mouth. Lenny bounded over the second hurdle as Emi was getting ahead of her. Rin and Lilly were falling behind as the race went on. Lenny knew Emi was going to win out, she was the fastest thing on no legs. Everyone else was determined to beat her. They bounded over the next hurdle while everyone else was following suit. Emi looked to her right to see Lenny was on her toes.

"You seem to be very fast at this." Emi began while she ran with him.

"I guess all of those training sessions had actually done some good for me." Lenny sighed while he kept on running. Bounding over the next hurdle like it was nothing. Emi was keeping neck and neck with him, and they managed to get to the other side. Dropping their containers of colored ice in. They began to make their mad dash back. Hisao was next, followed by Akira, Hanako, Lilly and Rin came last. They all began making their dash back while Emi's prowess was already a few steps ahead from everyone else. They began to bound over the hurdles on their race back as everyone else was trying their best to catch up. Emi past the finish line as her container exploded, pink water rained down over the field as she managed to even beat Lenny by a hair. Everyone else walked over.

"Emi is the winner!" The man running the contests called out. Emi cheered as she received her prize. The others cheered on while they began to walk around some more.

It was getting dark out and the seven of them were sitting by the bench at the entrance, they were preparing to leave. Emi was holding the prize she had won, and they began chatting with each other.

"It seems to be that we've enjoyed ourselves that night?" Hisao asked. Emi and Lenny looked at him as she was looking at the bracelet that he had gifted her and Hanako with.

"Yeah, we did, it just goes to prove that friends are what you need." Hanako spoke next, she was happy to have spent the night with Hisao and his friends.

"That race had my heart racing, I was expecting Emi to win, I was worried about her tripping up and you guys catching up." Lenny admitted that he was kind of worried that Emi's prosthetic legs were getting caught on the hurdle and tripping her up. Emi buried her head into Lenny as if she was saying thank you.

"You're looking out for her, that's pretty sweet of you." Hisao replied. Then an explosion was heard in the sky as they all looked up, red fireworks exploding.

"Fireworks are going off." Akira told them. They all looked up to see they were filling the sky with their dazzle of colors. Lenny was keeping Emi close to him even though his pulse monitor was beginning to beat quickly.

"Are you experiencing happiness?" Hisao asked Lenny.

"Yeah I am. This is something we look forward to every year ever since I was just a small boy, me and my parents. My mother being by my side to give me nuts, my father telling me to look up to the sky to see the colors to make me excited. Now I feel like they're both absent from my life. Filling that void seems to be difficult as I try to run away from those problems. I felt happy being a runner though I need to learn to confront those problems. And… I think something bad will happen if I don't keep running and face the problems I have." Lenny explained what it was like. Emi felt pretty bad for him, and she began speaking to him next.

"At least you have me, right?" Emi asked Lenny. Lenny looked at Emi as he had his arm around him.

"Yes. And Hanako too, with Rin, Lilly, Hisao and Akira. You've given me a new look on life." Lenny told Emi that she had helped him through these last couple of weeks. Hanako went over when she heard her name get mentioned before she cuddled up to Lenny.

"I am more than thankful that you've mentioned my name. We've definitely given you a new outlook on life. Some things are hard for you to let go of." Hanako tried her best to add some warmth to the comfort. The others looked around to see the fireworks continuing to explode in the sky. Emi sighed while they kept looking.

"It'll be nice to see the day that we'll both be able to move on from this and live happy lives together?" Emi asked.

"It sure will be." Lenny sighed. Emi planted another kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for giving me and Hanako the bracelets. We have something to remember you by."

"You're very welcome." Lenny giggled for a second. The pulse monitor had calmed down, but this was the one moment he was allowing his heart to race.

They had concluded the carnival night after the fireworks ended and they decided to head back to Yamaku. Akira began speaking to Lilly and Hisao.

"We're heading to Scotland after we get the grades back. We'll miss you Hisao." Akira told Hisao that they were not going to see him for the summer. Hisao nodded while Lenny was going to be able to hopefully stay with Emi. Emi was the girl that mattered to him.

"I'll be able to hopefully stay with her." Lenny sighed. Emi was still close to him while they began to walk into their dorms. They felt happy though the next week was going to be the ultimate test for Lenny.

Someone was going to disappear from his life.

[A/N]: I had trouble coming up with ideas for this chapter, but I actually got it done. This marks the end of the second full week for Lenny and there is one more week afterward before the break will begin. Hopefully he can pull through this last week as there is someone who will be no longer with him.

We need some reviews. I wanted to see how this story is fairing out and what I can do to make it better. I want something to reflect on.