It feels like the sky is gray and will never be blue again. She dragged her feet along the pavement as she walked home. She sighed and thought to herself. What was all that throbbing in her chest all along? To be honest Nanaki had felt minor pain in her chest but she ignored it. But that was the most painful out of all, she even couldn't take any more and fainted. Soon then her thoughts altered back to her friend's behavior towards her. She bit her lip slowly and narrowed her eyes. "What am I supposed to do?"

"What are you supposed to do?" Out of the blue someone responded to her. She didn't expect an answer for she thought she was walking down the road alone. She almost jumped when she heard a reply. Carefully and slowly she twisted her hips around to see who was walking behind her.

"Hanagata-san?!" Surely it wasn't someone she expected to see. But however she was at ease when it was him, not a stranger with evil intentions.

The tall lad who was sitting in his senior year smiled, an ear-to-ear one. He pushed his spectacles up his nose and then walked beside his junior. "What are you supposed to do on what?" Again, he repeated the question that was meant to be unanswered.

Nanaki shook her head. In times like these she shouldn't be talking to him. All of her friends disliked her for it. They thought it was sucking up. But to her she had no intentions of doing so. All of these were just plainly coincidental. But now who will listen to her? They had her back turned against her. "Oh it was nothing important," she lifted her chin and smiled at him, "really!"

"Well at least it's troubling your mind... It sure must've been more than nothing." He shrugged and placed a hand in his leather team jacket's pocket.

Now she couldn't possibly talk about the trouble between her and her friends. Therefore she decided to just lie about it. "Well... seriously it's nothing. My science teacher found out that I copied someone's homework and now he's angry at me..."

"Ah I see... Well if that's the case just don't copy next time and work your hardest... I'm sure he will change his mind about you if you got good grades... Kenji's been through that too."

"Ah..." Nanaki clamped her hands. "Speaking of Fujima-kun... umm... Where is he now? I thought you guys... you know... always hang around?" She blushed a little.

It was a disappointment. Well, of course, Fujima is her idol he couldn't blame. But can't they just spend time together without the thought of him hanging around? Hanagata sighed. "He had to spend some extra time giving additional lessons to the freshmen..."

Slowly she nodded in comprehension. Her brown strands of hair float around as the wind blew. Some got caught to her lips. With her fingers she brushed it aside. Nothing more was said between them. They just walked side by side in silence. "Ano, Nanaki-san..."

"Yes?" As the silence between them were finally broke, she looked up and smiled.

"I gotta go... I gotta take a train..." He simply announced.

Wow. So soon. They both were just walking for only no more than a few minutes and now he left. Well seems like it is better since if anybody spotted her walking home with him she wouldn't have the slightest idea of what bad things that her friends might do the morning after. "Oh... I see..." She smiled wider. "Well then, jya na, Hanagata-san!!" Her hands were waved in the air.

Hanagata smiled back and waved back a little. "Take care, Nanaki-san... Jya." They then went separate ways.

As usual the smell of mom's cooking filled the air as Nanaki entered the room. She carefully took off her shoes and placed them aside the carpet. "Tadaima," she said in a husky voice.

"Nanaki?" Her mother then greeted, or more likely called her, across the room. She said nothing but approached her to the kitchen. Her mom was wearing a baby blue apron with fringes on the rims. Seems like she was getting dinner prepared. Yes, the gyoza and all that bentos look nice but Nanaki was not in the mood to eat. "I received a phone call today from school. I heard you fainted? What's wrong Nanaki?"

Ah she is really not in the state of talking about this. All she wanted to do now is just climb up the stairs and throw herself to the bed. "Um... yeah... It was nothing, I guess... I was punished by the PE teacher and I was supposed to do a 100 push ups but I cant..."

Mom nodded and stirred the soup with her chopsticks. "Well... Umm... Did you feel any particular pain? In the chest for instance?"

How did she know? Nanaki never told anyone even the nurse in the clinic or Daidoshi-san about the ache in her chest. "...Uh... I guess... It's not that bad, though."

Mom heaved a deep sigh. "I hope so... But you have to go to a doctor tomorrow to clear things out, okay? I don't want any bad things happening, Nanaki..."

Nanaki frowned and her eyebrows were scrunched up. "What bad things are you exactly talking about?"

For a while she gave no reply. But then she switched off the gas and held Nanaki's hand. "Sit down, honey..." She instructed. Nanaki then walked to the living room and sat on the couch. Her mother followed her and sat on the vacant space beside her. Still holding her hand, she looked deeply in her daughter's eyes. "I... I have to tell you this..."

Now what is the bad news that could possibly make her bad day worse? She waited patiently for Mom's explanation but as she kept waiting her heartbeat sped up. "What?"

"When you were born," she paused to take a deep breath. "I... The doctor... told me that you have a weak heart... And then... he said that... Umm... there will be complications when you reached your teenage years."

'I have a weak heart...?' Nanaki questioned herself. Bah. This couldn't be true. What her mom's saying might just be an overreaction to minor disease such as asthma or something. Right?

"That's why," she continued, "you couldn't participate much in sports... Now I don't know about its current situation now... Therefore I guess you must take a day off tomorrow to go and check it with a doctor... I don't know, Nanaki... Things might get worse or better. But we'll confirm tomorrow..."

Nanaki winced in pain. Pain in the heart? It was completely out of her mind. She never thought she suffered it. All these times she just thought that she had a weak stamina. That's why she couldn't do much of any sport. But now a vulnerable and fragile heart? What else is to come? Death? Nanaki slumped back to the couch and sighed. "You never told me..."

"I just thought you shouldn't know... I don't want you to feel inferior in any way... Therefore..." she stopped as she saw Nanaki was crying. Seems now she could feel the pain that Nanaki was carrying all along. Carefully she pulled her daughter's head to her shoulders and patted her hair. "Don't worry, honey... We will sort things out... Okay? We'll just reassure things tomorrow."

Great. Now her friends hate her. And then she just revealed a truth that something is wrong with her heart. How she wished that she could bury her own grave and sleep in it this times. She couldn't think clearly now. All alone in her room she grabbed a pillow and squeezed it tight.

It was true. Her heart's condition was getting worse... And now what's left to do is to undergo an operation. Her heart walls are thin and now there has been damage to the walls. There was a small rip and the blood is leaking out. Therefore the operation must be done soon, no more than 5 months. And for a whole month Nanaki must spend days in the hospital to get intensive care before she went through the surgery. And if she happen to make it, which was somehow only guaranteed 60% of a chance, she will have to spend a few extra weeks there.

The thought of having to face a surgery is a menace to her. The worst part of it is that there is nobody on her back. Nobody except her parents and her little sister is giving her support. How will she be able to go through this fine? It was such a disaster, yet now she has to face death. If she was able, she will cheat death. Maybe it's better to die? She doesn't know.

She couldn't think straight during any lessons. On lunchtime, instead of going to the library or the canteen she rushed to the back of the gymnasium. It was a warehouse, full of dusts and abandoned things that the school decided to put aside. As she had expected, nobody was there. She curled herself on a dark corner and wept. Her mind is breaking down and there's nobody to back her up. Sometimes she just wished to refuse to go through the surgery and just walks on the brink of death. She doesn't care if there should be ache on her chest everyday for the pain that her friends gave to her soul is much more unbearable.

Just as she quiet down there were footsteps coming her way. She rested her chin on her knees and watched them come silently. With her school cardigans she wiped the tears from her face. She could hear them talking and laughing. Just who could it be? Nanaki could make a run but her knees felt weak and she was unable to stand up. And then a few guys with shorts and tees appeared in sight. They stopped their chattering and nailed their eyes at Nanaki who was sitting within the shadows. They stared at her for a moment with puzzlement. "Aaa...a..." One of them broke the awkward silence. "Ba...ba...b-ba...bake...bakemonoo!!!!!!" And with that they all ran. But not long after that they come back with more people on they're back. It seems like they were just curious about the thing called a crying ghost in the middle of the day, huh? The previous guys were shivering. But apart from the entire crowd, one stands out most. The tall guy made his way through the group and then walked slowly towards Nanaki.

"It's no ghost, you wussies..." One of them said. The others echoed in agreement and they finally emptied the place. Some left, though, and that includes Hanagata himself. Fujima Kenji was standing behind him. He then turned back to the guys who were still watching the scene.

"Come on guys... get back to the gym and do your lay ups. Go go go!" He instructed. It leaves just the three of them.

"Nanaki-san?" Hanagata knelt down before her. Nanaki refused to look him in the eye. Oh how she looked dreadful with all those baggy eyes. "Daijoubu ka?" Fujima bowed down and watched her in silence. Not him. Not right now. Both of them were the ones least expected now. Nanaki kept still. Tears were streaming down her face and she was panting between her sobs. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm alright..." She stood up abruptly and then rushed away from their sight.

"Nanaki-san!!" Hanagata cried out. She ignored him and kept running.