"Where am I? What's happening?" Haruko looked around her surrounding but found it futile. It's too dark. The only thing illuminated was her. It was like she was in outer space, in the twilight zone. She could feel cold sweat running in her skin. Her breath was getting ragged. She could hear her blood pounding in her ear. She also noticed that she was shaking a little. "Hello! Is anybody here?"

Suddenly a bright flash of light sprung out of nowhere. She closed her eyes instinctively so as not to be blinded by it. Then slowly, deliberately, she opened her eyes and saw that she was suddenly in a grassy field that looked awful lot like…

"The cemetery. Why am I in the cemetery?"

Haruko, with a wistful gaze in her eyes, walked around the cemetery. She felt that her feet took a life of its own. It's leading her somewhere. A place she knew very well though she never visited it again after the burial. After some time, she arrived at Sakuragi's burial ground.

Tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes at the sight of the deceased redhead's grave marker. It was under a Sakura tree – Sakuragi's favorite flower (they were very surprised when Yohei told them that). Sakura petals were scattered on the grave and a soft wind was rustling the tree's petals causing a handful of Sakura's to rain down gently on Haruko. It was magical as dozens of petals fell, as if dancing in the rhythm of a silent ballad. It could have been beautiful to look at if only she wasn't in this place. Fresh tears welled up again in Haruko's eyes as she bent down to touch the freshly dug soil.

Freshly dug, moist soil… as if someone had intentionally tried to desecrate this sacred place. As if someone had get out. Someone that shouldn't had gotten out.

"Haruko…"

The girl looked up, unmasked horror seen in her eyes. Haruko had gone livid when she saw towering in front of her was none other than Sakuragi Hanamichi. Dirty, rotting and bloody in his burial clothes, Sakuragi Hanamichi was looking at her with great sadness. Haruko, in spite of her terror, couldn't understand the look in his eyes. She wanted to ask what was going on but found that she couldn't produce a coherent sound. With slow, deliberate movement, Sakuragi bent down beside her and took hold of her hand. For a guy that was supposed to be dead, Haruko noticed that his hand was relatively warm. A little ironic twist in this madness. Then with her hand guided by Sakuragi, they dug up the soil once again. Deeper and deeper until finally it was deep enough.

Haruko was still terrified by the sight of Sakuragi and his actions. His hands never let go of hers. Haruko looked up at Sakuragi's face and found again that sadness marring his face. She felt that he let go of her hand but still his gaze never left hers. Haruko wanted to turn away but to her great dismay, she just couldn't. She didn't know how long they stared at each other, transfixed. Until suddenly, Sakuragi turned away his gaze from her then looked at the grave. He jumped instantly and lay down at the cold earth. He set his eyes again at Haruko.

Haruko, as if acted upon by some force, began to put soil over Sakuragi's body. Again, she was horrified at this little display her body was making. She wanted to stop herself because even if she was terrified to see him, she couldn't bear to be away from him again. But she had no control over her body. Her hand was still dumping soil on Sakuragi. And as she dumped more soil, the sadness in Sakuragi's eyes became so intolerable that she wanted to turn away her head. But she just couldn't do it also. Her head was fixed in Sakuragi's direction.

That's how it went for what seemed like eternity. He was looking at her sorrowfully while she sat there transfix, enduring that painful looked as she continuously dumped soil on him until nothing could be seen of Sakuragi Hanamichi.

********

Haruko didn't know how long was she awaked, staring at the ceiling, recounting her dream over and over again. It was disturbing to say the least. Especially to see him in all his decomposing glory. She wanted to make something out of that dream but she couldn't understand it. Why? Why that dream? Why that look? And she just couldn't go back to sleep because of that look. The moment she closed her eyes, she could see Sakuragi looking at him sorrowfully, almost reproachfully. And Haruko couldn't stand the pain that look brought upon her.

********

"Bye oniichan!"

Akagi Takenori watched the cheerful form of her sister as she went out of the house. It has been a week since Sakuragi died and almost all those who knew him were in  somber mood. But everything was normalizing again. Or rather, everyone was trying to be normal out of this strange situation in which the loud mouthed boy was out of their life.

"I'm glad that your sister is back to her normal self again" Mrs. Takenori said as she cleaned the dishes.

"That's what I'm afraid of…she's just too normal," Akagi reminded himself as he absentmindedly tore the edges of the newspaper.

Meanwhile, Haruko was still bothered by her dream. It was senseless but it was frightening. To see herself re-burying Sakuragi though she was unwilling, it was enough to keep her awake through out the dawn. She tried to brush away the images of her dream and continued on her way to school. She'll pretend nothing horrible had happened and she will put up a smile. Yes, a smile so that no one will ask how much pain she was into. "I hate you Sakuragi Hanamichi…" she said morosely under her breath.

********

Yohei was walking toward Shohoku high with the three other gundan. It was unusual to see the typically boisterous group in a somber mood. A veil of sadness still lingers within the clique and it was etched on their faces. Yohei knew all along that it was really Sakuragi who kept this group together. He was the glue in their tiny circle of friends. Now that he's gone, the crack in their group was becoming bigger. No one really mentioned it directly but Yohei could feel that they were drifting apart. Even he himself couldn't bear to be with his group for a long while. They just reminded him of Sakuragi and his antics. This walk to the school every morning had become a ritual to them. It was so sad when Yohei dwelled on this matter. Years of friendship going down the drain. Yeah, it was really sad.

"Well…here we are," Ohkusu said as the gundan reach the Shohoku high school gate.

"So…see you this afternoon then? How about a little round of Pachinko?" Yohei nonchalantly said, hoping that all three would agree.

Takamiya hung his head dejectedly to avoid Yohei's glance. "Uhm, I can't. I promise my grandmother that I would help her in the grocery store today."

"Oh, ok. How about you Noma? I can feel lady luck will be smiling upon us?" Yohei looked hopefully at Noma with a strained smile on his lips.

But just like Takamiya, Noma averted his gaze and focus it on an uninteresting tuff of grass on the ground. "I can't, Yohei. I need to…uhm, study. My old man is getting angry that I'm getting low grades in school."

Yohei painfully nodded and turned his gaze at Ohkusu. "Well, I guess it's you and me then Ohkusu, ne?"

"I can't , too. Sorry. I'll be working down at the beach."

"It's winter." Yohei blurted as a matter of fact.

"Well, you never know," Ohkusu laughed uneasily. "There might be some crazy bums out there wanting to surf."

Yohei nodded resignedly and forced himself to smile. "That's ok you, guys! But you won't get a single cent from me when I won that jackpot." But Yohei was only met by an uncomfortable silence. "Well, I think we have to go." He said to the others. Takamiya and Noma just looked at him almost apologetically before going to their respective classes. Ohkusu started to walk away also but stopped and looked back at Yohei.

"It's not you Yohei. It just that…we're all going through tough times."

"I know." And Yohei just stood outside the gate, watching his friends carry on with their life or what remained of it. Will their friendship survived this test of Fate? Will they crumble and die also in the face of this great challenge, without the fiery red head by their side. The truth is, Yohei was too scared to know the answer. He didn't want to admit it, but he thought this was the end of the once proud and mighty Sakuragi gundan.