Yuu was mildly confused, to say the least. All of his new-found friends were not acting like themselves. They all seemed…

'Depressed. That's what they are. Depressed.'

Yuu approached Ryo, and sat down on the edge of his desk, making Ryo look up.

"Hi."

"Hi. Ryo, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You look so haggard."

"I have had…bad dreams…"

"Is that why you're tired?"

"Yes and no."

"I'm guessing that's the best answer I'm going to get out of you."

Ryo gave a half-hearted smile.

"Yuu, do you ever feel, sometimes, like you're someone else?"

Yuu paused, thinking. "Sometimes, yes."

Ryo was exhaltant. Someone who felt the same way!

"Like what…?"

"Hm? Oh, how do I feel? Well, it's been like a…disease, since I can first remember. Sometimes there are streaches of time, whole days occasionally, when I can't remember a thing I've done. It's like I was put to sleep and someone was using my body. When I talked to people they told me all about the stuff I hadn't done. It was…is…disconcerting."

"Why? Have you had some recently?"

"Yeah, but only for a couple nights a week."

"You call that minor?"

"Yes. One time, I slept for nearly a month."

"Oh…"

Yuu smiled sadly. "Look, it's stupid to feel sorry for myself. Why? How do you feel?"

"It's nothing as bad as you."

"Very little is."

"Ha. It's not like it's outside of myself, it's something WITHIN me that's burning me. It's a fire that never goes out. It's torturing and tantalizing at the same time. I hate it, but I want to find out what it is, WHO it is."

"You think it's not yourself?"

"No, see, they scary part is that I feel like it is. Like it's a part of me…yet not."

"I see…"

Yuu ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, thinking.

"Is there anything you can suggest I do?"

"Accept it."

"What?"

"If it's that much a part of you, why fight it? You might need to learn something from it. You never know..."

Ryo thought over these words. Yuu watched him, and was alarmed by the decision he saw in Ryo's eyes.

"You're going to do something dangerous, aren't you?"

"Yuu...there have been many times I should have died. I don't think this is that dangerous compared to those few moments..."

Yuu was slightly startled, but a dark, almost gleeful darkness entered his eyes.

"Be careful, Ryo. You don't want to get burned."