"You're rather quiet," Eiri said, entering his living room, carrying his newspaper and a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Shuichi had not spoken a word since he had come back the night before. He had even slept on the couch, much to Eiri's astonishment.

"Is it because of your friend?"

Shuichi curled in a ball and nodded.

"Hmm."

Like Shuichi expected, Eiri took no interest in him and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, nose in the paper, which of course, was filled top to bottom, front to back with yesterday's events, even Tachi's speech on the tape recorder was written out word for word.

"It's so unfair," Shuichi whispered, looking at the front page from his angle.

"Of course it's unfair," Eiri muttered, reading the left first page. "What did you expect? But then again, that Aizawa guy has a good alibi and speech," he said, referring to the words from the taping. "Looks like he's in for life, but it might change because he's so honest," he concluded with a scoff. "Bullshit."

"I know!" Shuichi exclaimed, strikingly surprise Eiri's taking an interest on the subject.

"I wrote a short story on this once, about the matter. Something just like this. Safe to say, no one liked it much. The defendant won."

Shuichi shuddered at the amount of disgust in his voice.

"Yuki, why are you taking an interest in Hiro?"

Eiri glared at him from the corner of his eye. "Don't get your hopes up, moron. I just dislike the system."

Shuichi nodded and went back to his curled up position.

Hiro balled up in the corner of the concrete wall, trying to keep warm. He could tell it was light outside, for the cracks in the wall had let the sunrise seep in. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep that night. Either it was because there was constant yelling going on between cells, or people kept on trying to get his attention. He hadn't once forgotten about Suguru. He wished he could have told him how he felt. Who knew if he'd ever see him again.

"Okay Nakano, on your feet. Let's go," the guard said, unlocking the cell. Hiro had learned already not to speak out of turn from the pain that throbbed in his head, so he kept quiet until he was asked a question of some sort.

"Too bad you won't be doing any guitar playing for the next fifty years. Hopefully by then you'll still be able to hold a guitar with your hands after we get done with you," he said, smirking.

He slapped cuffs on Hiro's wrists and jerked him through the cells and up a set of stairs, leading to a much cleaner section of the station.

"It's not fun being here, is it?"

Hiro shook his head.

"What?"

"No sir," Hiro muttered.

"Makes you wonder why you would commit such a crime, huh? Did you think you would get away with it? Kids your age, you think you're invincible."

Hiro's mind tuned out the man's harsh words and went on thinking about anything but that. He was innocent! He could say this a million times and no one would believe him. He was thrilled to know his friends were on his side, especially Suguru.

He was taken to the same room he was in yesterday, only to come face to face with a man this time. The man introduced himself at Hiro's attorney. He was an older American man, slightly obese, missing bottom teeth, and wore a tight tan suit that showed every inch of his body. Hiro nearly threw up at the sight. This was the man who was supposed to be defending him? Doubtful.

The guard left, leaving them two alone. Hiro sat in front of the man. He grunted as he flopped down in his chair and rolled up his sleeves, complaining of how hot it was in a room with no windows, then went onto muttering something about how teenagers were nothing but jerks who needed to be put straight. Hiro sighed. This wasn't going to be good.

After he got done 'bitching', he looked to Hiro with a glare. "Listen here boy, I'm in charge, you do what I say, otherwise we lose the case. I have no problem with that. I get paid regardless if you win or not. The name is MISTER Williams," he said, emphasizing the word 'mister' for some reason. "I don't even know why I bother with you kids. You're all guilty anyway."

He shuffled through some papers. Hiro lowered his head.

"I'm not," he said quietly.

Mr. Williams looked up at him and grunted.

"I said I'm not guilty," Hiro repeated, looking up and straight into his eyes.

He merely laughed it off, the fat on his face bouncing right along with him. "Yeah sure, whatever. Now, I'm SUPPOSED to be getting your alibi, but I don't have to if I feel you're guilty, in which I do, because kids your age are."

"Quit stereotyping me!" Hiro screamed, stomping up to his feet. "I'm a member of a band for Christ sakes, I have a number of fans and friends to back me up! My music partner and best friend Shuichi Shindou will tell you just that, so will Suguru Fujisaki! I'm not like other trashy teenagers out there! I have a life; I have a job and my own place! Even my own method of transportation! Don't you DARE tell me otherwise!"

Hiro was glad his hands were cuffed, or else his fist would be paying a visit to the jell-o bowl. He had finally flipped. He was sick of being judged with the rest of the society. He was innocent and somehow everyone was going to see that.

Not right away anyway. A month had passed and there were no signs he was going to receive a fair trial or anything of the sort. He might as well just be dead. Suguru had visited him regularly on days he could. They still hadn't confessed their love for one another. Suguru had a gut feeling Hiro was going to win this case, regardless if he had hidden bloody knives dipped in Tohma's blood, or loaded weapons with no license around the apartment. Suguru believed in this. When Hiro got out, that was when he would shower him with delicious kisses and thank god he was in his arms again.

Suguru had told him all about Tohma's funeral. He had said they ended up cremating him and keeping his remains in an urn for Mika. Of course, Hiro couldn't go, but he heard a live report on the TV that was a little way away in the guard's office. They didn't fail to mention his name a few times, telling the world that Hiroshi Nakano was rotting away in a jail cell along with Tachi Aizawa for his murder.

After Suguru had left, Shuichi and Eiri came down to finish off the rest of Hiro's visiting time for the rest of the month. It was nice to know that they had finally sorted things out between them. Eiri let them be for a moment as Shuichi got to spend a few minutes alone with his friend.

"You know how I was supposed to go back for those results to see if I had the STD or not?"

Hiro nodded immediately, almost forgetting about that.

"Well...I got my test results back."

Hiro's eyes went wide. "And?"

A large smile plastered on Shuichi's face. "It turned out to be a fraud."

Hiro had a grin to match Shuichi's, finally feeling better than he had in the past month. "No way!"

Shuichi nodded at rapid speed. "I found out yesterday. Let's just say, Yuki and I celebrated like jack rabbits last night!"

Hiro rolled his eyes. His friend was getting lucky while he was stagnating in a jail cell. Eiri folded his arms and glared their way.

"Why don't you just tell every homosexual down here so they'll want to get a stab at me too," he quipped, then had to suffer through whistling and catcalls from the other languishing males that occupied the cells.

"I'm your number one fan!" one cried out, banging his fist into the bars before him.

Eiri got out of sight as quickly as he possibly could, entering where Hiro and Shuichi were.

"Looks like you're famous down here," Hiro said, trying to keep somewhat of a cheerful grin, although his appearance was falling apart.

Eiri tried his best to put on a smile, although it only came on half way.

"Not as much as you are," he countered.

Hiro sighed, running his fingers through his dirty, unwashed hair. His face was smudged with dirt and other of nature's creations. His body covered with grime, filth, and the clothes given to him were very thin and ripped in certain areas.

"I used to be, not anymore. They haven't let me bathe in days. They kept on saying I was "disobedient" so I had to wait another week or so to get at least a fifteen second hose down."

Shuichi swallowed and studied his best friend in the face, trying to see his innocence, just like Suguru had said he had. He couldn't see it, to be honest.

"What?" Hiro asked, noticing his friend's hard stare.

Shuichi edged closer to him a tad. "Hiro...as your friend, I have to know. I believe Suguru and all, the boy never stops crying for a second over this, and I know Tachi is a total asshole, but...did you do it? Did you accomplice him?" he breathed, praying those beautiful eyes that belonged to his best friend in the whole world would tell him the answer he was waiting to seek so eagerly.

Instead, Hiro's eyes nearly watered on the spot. He thought he had trust with his friend, but evidently he didn't.

"You've been wondering this the whole time?" Hiro asked in a nearly broken voice. "You think I murdered him?"

Shuichi lowered his head. "Okay, that was a bad question."

"Damn right it was!" Hiro said louder. "I've been rotting away in here for the last month a broken person, but I was thankful I still had friends out there that believed my words. You didn't believe me!"

"I do, Hiro. I don't know why I asked that question. I'm sorry."

Hiro folded his arms and looked away. "So much for trust in this friendship. Go. I do believe your visiting time is up. Don't come back here again."