The next morning, Shu opened the door to Ryo's room, expecting to wake him as normal. When only undisturbed blankets and no progression into entropy greeted him, he was confused, but stumbled towards the kitchen anyway. Maybe Ryo was already there. Shin looked up, surprised to see only Shu haphazardly making his way down the stairs.

"No Ryo?"

"Not in his room."

Shu sat down heavily at the table, and Shin dished out food to the Bottomless Pit, thinking. When Seiji came down, Shin asked,

"Who's turn is it to wake up Toma?"

"Ryo's," Seiji said as he helped himself to breakfast.

Shin tapped his fingers on the counter, sighed, then disappeared upstairs. Seiji and Shu watched him go, intrigued. There were a few moments of silence, a muffled yelp, and then a half-dressed Toma fell down the stairs, Shin following serenly after him. He joined Hardrock, Halo, and Strata at the table, and smiled at the astonished looks on Seiji's and Shu's faces.

"You're right, Shu. Ryo isn't in his room and it looks like he never was last night."

"Weird, ain't it?"

"Wonder what happened to him," Seiji murmured.

A groggy, disgruntled Toma shrugged as he thrust his fork into his food. "He'll turn up. He always does."

Ryo was in school when they arrived, apparently asleep on his desk. Shin walked over and lightly poked Ryo. A muffled "Wha?" Eminated from beneath the arms of the semi-concious Ryo.

"Ryo? Are you okay?"

Ryo looked up slowly, his blue eyes weary. "Just feelin' a little sick…"

"I can tell. Why didn't you come home?"

Shadows enetered his eyes as he thought, "Could barely walk…hot…queasy…think Yuu helped…"

"That was kind."

"Glad it was him…and not someone else…" Ryo managed to whisper before falling asleep again. Shin looked around for Yuu, but before he could go and speak to him, the rest of the class came in, and his opportunity was lost.

Over the course of the day, Ryo slowly began to look like his normal self, and by the end of school, he was behaving normally. Well, normally for Ryo. All the Ronins ganged up on him, and convinced him that practice after being so ill was not a good idea, and that it would be best that he rest. After a few weak arguments, Ryo submitted.

"You sure you're okay?"

"YES. Stop worrying!"

Seiji tactfully turned the conversation away from Ryo's health and onto other topics.

Shu grumbled about the pop quiz in math and Seiji agreed that it was unfair. Toma was puzzled by their dismay, and Shin was content to listen and step in if any…disagreements insued. While this was occurring, Ryo was trying to recall what exactly had occurred the night before, but the more he tried, the more elusive the memories became. After giving himself a headache, he gave up. After receiving strict orders from Naste, Ryo retreated to his room early, rather than face the constant attention and worrying of Shin and Naste. Since the quiet conversation in the living room was about Ryo's health anyway, Shin told the rest of the group about what he managed to get from Ryo in a way of an explination. The guys listened, and thought over this.

"Ryo's right. I'd rather it be him than anyone else," Naste said.

"Some of it doesn't feel right, though," Toma murmured.

Shu shrugged. "Yuu's coming over to tutor me at 7. You can ask him then."