Keitaro turned to the direction of the 'thump' and realized that the person settling down next to him was… Kanako.

"Brother."

"Kanako," acknowledged Keitaro.

"Brother, what are you doing out here?"

"Thinking... Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About my life, now that there are six copies of me running around. Haha! Funny, isn't it? Having like, seven of me running around. Kind of makes me redundant, doesn't it?" jokes Keitaro, even though Kanako could hear the bitter undertone in his voice.

Meanwhile, she leaned back against the tree.

"I see now… that the fact that the girls are too occupied with their own shards to bother about you is… hurting you."

"Well, isn't that obvious?" Keitaro smiles at her, before looking up at the sky.

"Not really. You've managed to hide it pretty well so far, but I'm starting to see the cracks in your armor… I'm certain that eventually, you're going to crack if you don't face up to the problem soon." Kanako glanced at Keitaro for a moment, before looking back towards the ground.

"Well, Kanako. What am I supposed I do? If each of them have really found happiness in the shards of me, then who am I to disrupt their peace? Besides, what can I do? I can't possibly confront them! Motoko and Narusegawa will simply punt me somewhere far away… just because they are soft to my shards… does not mean that they will be kind to me too…"

Keitaro turned to stare at Kanako, his gaze drilling holes right into her consciousness.

"Tell me, what can I do now? Do I leave? I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb, as the only one without a partner, in a house full of happy couples. Not only would I probably find them at the most importunate moments, and get punted into orbit, I would also feel lonely all the time, since nobody even acknowledges my existence, and they are all way too preoccupied with each other to spare any time for me, not that they would want to in the first place…"

"Above all, it would kill me, just to see all the missed opportunities I had." Keitaro turned back to the sky, "I…I'm not stupid. I knew that the girls were all interested in me at some point or another before the accident. Now, however… I don't think I have to say it. It obvious. Maybe, Kanako, I should relinquish my title as the manager of this dormitory and find some place out in Tokyo to live… that way," Keitaro turned towards her again, "perhaps, memories of good times long past would not haunt me… as badly as they are doing now."

As Kanako listened to her brother, who was so very dear to her, speak she wondered just how dense her brother could be. Couldn't he see her feelings towards him? If he could see the feelings of the tenants for him long before this, then why couldn't he see her feelings towards him now? They had spent so much time together, so why just couldn't he see her love for him? Why? Why? WHY?

Kanako decided that she had had enough. If this was the way her brother decided to see things, then perhaps drastic action had to be taken.

And so, without any warning whatsoever, Kanako suddenly leapt at her brother, kissing him full on the lips.

Keitaro was surprised at the action, but given what he had just said… it wasn't really very unexpected. Keitaro knew… yes, he knew of the attraction of his sister towards him, but he had not brought up the issue, in case he gave his dear sister false hope, and he just couldn't bring himself to so cruelly hurt his little sister.

Still… he knew this wasn't right. He knew that unfortunately… in order to end this issue once and for all, he had to… hurt his dear sister.

Keitaro knew that he should break away now, and talk things through with Kanako once and for all. But for a moment before his consciousness steeled it's will he found himself kissing her back, resulting in a wet and rather sloppy kiss, for he was trying to kiss and yet not kiss her at the same time. It was confusing, to say the least. The feel of her soft, warm body against his own, the thoughts of how well she fitted into his side and the warmth she offered… did not make it easy. He thought, for a moment, perhaps… she could help remove the sadness he now felt at the lost of the girls…

…but as that thought came to him he jerked away from his sister. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and pushed her away, as tears flowed down both their cheeks and she stared at his face with shimmering eyes, plenty of tears still left unshed.

He would not, never ever, use his sister as a tool to help himself; he wouldn't take advantage of her… not when she was weak like this. No, he loved his sister way too much for that.

And anyway, he did love his sister dearly, but not in the way she felt about him. Lying not only to himself, but Kanako as well, and starting a relationship with her, would only end in disaster.

Somehow, he knew it.

And all he could do… as he held on to her shoulders was to say, in a sad voice, "Kanako. You know this should be. It is not right for us… to be together."

"But brother, what IS wrong with us being together? We aren't related by blood, and you know that I have loved you ever since we were kids!" cried Kanako.

"I'm sorry… but I'm afraid I don't see you as anything more than my dear little sister…"

Kanako wailed, and clutched onto him tighter, sobbing into his shoulder.

"And you knew that… didn't you, sister?"

Kanako had no reply.

Gently, Keitaro pried his sobbing sister off his body, and stood up, before turning and walking back to the dormitory. As he took the first step, he felt his sister grab hold of his leg.

"No, Keitaro! Don't leave me alone… please, don't leave me like this! Stay with me!" cried Kanako, almost pitifully.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this… I'm not strong enough…" was his reply, as tears dripped onto the ground before him. Steeling himself, he wrenched his leg away from her grip and walked away, even as her cries threatened to shatter his will.

Without a final glance back, Keitaro walked away.

Meanwhile, Kanako lay under the sakura tree…

…and wept.