Adam walked briskly ahead of Eiri, pulling her hand as he went along. He didn't even bother to look back at her until she placed her other hand over his.

"You're hurting my hand." Eiri said to him quietly.

Adam stopped and looked back at her. He released her hand and looked down at his own blood-covered one. When he looked back up, Eiri was licking the blood from her hand in a catlike fashion, revealing deep fingernail-shaped cuts in the flesh. She stopped licking at looked up at him, her face covered in her own blood. Suddenly, she smiled almost sadistically, but her eyes still glistened with unshed tears. Adam grabbed and pulled her to him. Her arms stayed perfectly by her sides, never grabbing him.

"Eiri... are you sure that you are prepared to go through with this?" he said softly into her ear.

There was silence. He pulled his fingers through her tangled hair. After a few minutes without dialogue, he brought his left hand up and pushed her head up by pressing her chin.

Her light-coloured lips were slightly parted. A bit of colour had returned to her cheeks. Tears had washed away the blood from around her mouth. Hair was in dull strands in front of her face, the dullness making her hair seem more brown than auburn. The tears had also removed any imperfections from her eyes, as they were perfectly clear. Slowly, she raised her arms up to cling lightly above the elbows of his bent arms. A breathy voice escaped her lips.

"Yes."

He smiled and lowered his head to meet hers. With his middle and index finger curled under her chin, he raised her chin farther to meet his lips. It was a short, unemotional kiss, but enough to close the mental gap formed between them. They parted, and she looked up at him.

"Let's go home... I need to change and contact someone."

They walked out and got in the car, then headed home. Once there, Eiri walked to her room and changed into an outfit consisting of a long, straight black skirt and an oversized gray cashmere sweater. She put on a black Badtz Maru backpack and then slipped on her school shoes. Before walking out the door, she slipped on leather gloves and a black hat. Grabbing her NAVI, she quickly sent a message to Kojirou.

_____

Meet me at the Observation Restaurant in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building on Chuo Dori Avenue in Shinjuku. I need to talk to you.... With a friendly ~chu~

-Eiri

_____

She walked into the garage and slipped on a helmet before getting on the Vespa and speeding out onto the road. Adam watched her from the window as she sped away towards Shinjuku.

Eiri parked the Vespa in the parking garage adjoining the building then walked through the cold to the warmth of the building.

Kojirou had all kinds of thoughts about the message he received. Unfortunately, none was good. Well, there was one far-fetched thought that Eiri wanted to be his girlfriend, but that was too unlikely. As he changed into one of his less flashy outfits, he decided not to assume anything.

/Hmmm... well, I guess this can be fun, after all... I was going to keep from it, but she knows me enough.../ Kojirou thought as he got Kei in gear. After a long kiss between Kei and her sister, she walked hurriedly to the subway.

Eiri stood at the elevator, near the entrance from the subway, waiting intently for the elevator. She removed her gloves and put them in her bag.

The building Eiri had mentioned was quite nice, and warm as opposed to the cold Japanese winter. Of course Kei wasn't one to care, but still. Getting in the elevator, she spotted Eiri, but kept silent about it.

Kei proceeded to follow the girl, which got Eiri confused. When she chose a table, Kei politely asked to sit with her.

"I'm sorry, but I'm waiting for someone." said Eiri to the girl as she put her purse by her seat.

"Oh, I won't disturb your date. I'll leave when he arrives, you can just tell him I was keeping you company." Kei answered with a sweet smile.

"Oh... I'm just meeting a friend..." Eiri said, smiling. "I need to tell him something important."

Kei's eyes shone in response. "Ara, ara... you're gonna ask him to be your boyfriend? This is SO COOL!" she said, bouncing. "Can I stay here and watch?"

Eiri looked the girl in the eyes. "Have we met before?"

"I'm sure we did, but since you don't remember, I'm Kei. Nice to meet you." she said, bowing.

"I'm Eiri," she said, then reached her nail-cut hand out to shake hands with the girl.

"I don't remember those cuts..." she said, fondling Eiri's hand while trying to resist the temptation to lick it. Kei's eyes now had a glint in them that Eiri quickly recognized.

Eiri looked around the restaurant then spoke in a harsh whisper. "Kojirou! Why the hell are you dressed like that?"

Kojirou giggled louder than Eiri would like him to. "What do you think, dear?"

"You sick little bastard..." She winked at him then laughed a bit.

"Tee-hee! Got that right... do I look cute?"

"Yes, very." Eiri said, then grabbed her purse from the floor.

"Thanks! I still have to work on the voice, though. But a friend of mine is helping me with it."

"Um... Kojirou... I need to tell you something... and you have to keep it absolutely secret from everyone else..."

"Just tell me."

She leaned slightly against the table and lowered a hand to brush her stomach. A look of slight confusion came over her face. "God, I don't know how to say it..."

"Hm... do you have to? I mean, if you don't feel comfortable saying, maybe you shouldn't."

Eiri had never heard Kojirou sound that serious before. She paused for a moment and then leaned over the table to get closer to Kojirou.

He stood up as well, millions of thoughts raging through his mind, stealing a kiss from Eiri on the lead.

"I'm..." Eiri's lips parted sensuously, as they always did when she paused after speaking. "I'm...."

A jolt of electricity took over Kojirou's body as he gave in to temptation. He locked his lips against Eiri's, their tongues fighting inside her mouth. Eiri's eyes grew wide, but she didn't break the kiss.

Kojirou just regretted neither of them was bleeding. On the other hand, he rejoiced that he was dressed up as Kei, which surely was causing the few people inside the restaurant to frown considerably. He didn't want to, but he decided to break the kiss before he started petting Eiri, which could get them thrown out of the place.

As their kiss parted, Eiri grew serious again. "Like I was saying..." she murmured. "I'm..." She put her hand on her stomach, looked down at her hand, then looked up at him again.

"You?" Kojirou already had an idea what she wanted to say, but he didn't want to assume.

She bit her lip and nodded slowly. "Pregnant..." she whispered, almost inaudibly.

Kojirou sighed softly. For a while, he was out of what to say. "... ... ... oh... I take it your guest is the father?" Kojirou said in a low voice.

She nodded again.

"Do you feel ready to deal with that?" he asked as his mind shifted back to its normal pace.

"Yes, I think that I will be fine." she lied.

Kojirou shook his head. "You wouldn't have hesitated in telling me, sweetie... come on, how do you really feel?"

"I don't know..." she said, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Now that's better... I don't want you lying to me or yourself." Kojirou shifted so the table wouldn't be in the way, then he wrapped his arms around Eiri, fondling her hair as she buried her face on his shoulder. Her sobs made her body shudder.

"It's going to be too hard..." she mumbled.

Any sexual tension faded. Kojirou had a friend in trouble, and when it came to that, everything else had no importance. "How does Adam feel about it?"

"I don't know!" she wailed. "He acts like he's okay with it, but he was talking to a psychologist at the hospital about putting the blame on someone else."

"He was talking to Dr. Iwakura like he's known him for a long time..." Eiri sighed and looked at Kojirou in the eyes.

"Doctor Iwakura Nakita? That has to be fate... he's onee-chan's lover. Well, I don't know Adam at all, but maybe he's just doing that so he can stay with you. I mean, how will your sister react when she knows about it? She'll probably want him away from you."

"Just the thought that he wanted to not admit that he was the father... it depresses me so..."

"I'm sure it does... but have you talked about that with him?"

"No... I haven't been able to really look at him the same since then..." Eiri leaned back in her seat and moaned.

"Well, I think you should do it, and soon." Kojirou said as he scratched his face. "Do you want me to go with you for support?"

She thought it over for a second. "Sure... I stole Adam's Vespa... it's in the parking garage. I don't have an extra helmet though... do you mind not having a helmet?"

"Sure not. I'm trusting you not to kill me." he answered with a wink.

Eiri pulled her gloves out of the bag and slipped them on, then put the back on her back. "Then... let's go."