"Ow…" Shujinkou groaned.

He didn't expect Monika wrapping bandages around his head would hurt as much as it did, but the pain doesn't lie. Then again, he didn't expect blood to trickle down the back of his head either.

If Sayori hadn't noticed his injury, he may have suddenly collapsed from blood loss y the time they reached the clubroom.

He found it strange that, besides a throbbing pain near the back of his head, he didn't notice it himself.

Then again, I was probably too wrap up in my thoughts like always…

"Almost done," Monika continued to gently wrap the bandages around Shujinkou's head, making sure it couldn't fall off at anytime. "I still think you should go to the hospital to get yourself checked out, Shujinkou."

"Is this really a hospital-worthy visit though?" he asked.

Without taking her eyes off her work, Monika answered with a succinct, "Bleeding from your head isn't something you want to mess around with, Shujinkou. Especially when it's the result of falling directly on it."

Shujinkou knew that Monika was right. It wasn't that he minded going to the hospital, but he knew the reality of having to go would other someone else more than it ever would him.

Shujinkou snuck a quick peek at Sayori. She was softly laughing as she nervously rubbed her index fingers together.

"Come on, Sayori, it's not your fault," Shujinkou instinctively assured her.

Sayori looked away for a moment, then looked back wearing an uneasy expression on her face.

"…I dropped you on your head, Shiko," she flatly stated. "I don't think you can 'this is not my fault' this time."

"But-"

"I dropped you on your head!" she cried. "I didn't even think about lowering you down! I just let you fall and now you have to go to the hospital!"

"I don't think he's hurt enough for you to freak out this much, Sayori…" Monika said, trying to calm her friend down.

"But you yourself said he should go to the hospital and I dropped him on his head after he's been hanging upside down for who-knows-how-long!" Sayori argued. "He was probably bleeding so much because all the blood rushed there and I dropped like he was a water balloon."

A gruesome image of his head exploding like said objet crossed Shujinkou's mind, causing him to shiver.

It is almost Halloween though… he conceded.

He then wondered what he could say to calm Sayori down, but Yuri chimed in instead.

"To be fair, you did find him and released him from the trap. If not for you, he most likely would have remained there for much longer," Yuri pointed out.

Sayori looked at Yuri then back to Shujinkou. The guilt on her face wouldn't budge in inch.

"Uu… Still probably would've been better if someone else found him…" she said in an almost inaudible tone.

Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. It was becoming clear to him that Sayori would not forgive herself until the situation passed.

"Done," Monika announced, stepping back to examine her work. "Should be good until you get to the hospital."

"Alright," Shujinkou looked up and smiled. "Thanks, Monika."

Contrary to his relatively cheery face, Monika's displayed nothing but worry.

"What's wrong?" he queried.

"I should be asking that," her finger floated just above his right cheek.

Shujinkou gently brushed his right cheek and felt something hot fall on his hand. To his surprise, he was crying.

Without saying a word, he started to wipe away the tears from his eyes. What could he say, he had no idea what made him cry in the first place. All he knew was that it had to have been the moment he made eye contact with Monika.

But why-? Then again, looking at Monika lately had made me feel… weird lately. Not in a bad way, just… weird. But, for some reason, now I feel really sad. Mali's right, I do have a perpetually sad face.

Once he finished drying his eyes, Shujinkou quickly looked away.

"I have no idea where that came from," he said, scratching his right cheek.

"You sure? You know you can talk to us about anything," Monika reminded him.

"I know. It's just that a lot of the times, I have no idea what I'm feeling…" Shujinkou moaned. "It's really irritating sometimes. Kinda makes me want to grab my beam katana and go crazy."

"Wow, you're really getting into your Halloween costume spirit," Sayori noted.

"Hm? Oh right. That's got to be it…"

Shujinkou continued to scratch his right cheek as his eyes trailed down towards Yuri's legs. They were as long and slender as always. Just looking at them brought up emotions he-

Shujinkou immediately slapped himself, keeping his thoughts from going any further.

What the heck am I thinking!? That fall to my head must have done more than give me a bloody head.

"Shiko… Why did you slap yourself?" Sayori worriedly asked.

"To get my sense back…"

Shujinkou looked up at Sayori. The moment their eyes met, he felt the pace of his heart beats hasten. His lips quivered as he felt entranced.

"I-I don't think it worked."

"Whether it would have worked or not, I don't think slapping yourself is good for your head injury right now," Monika pointed out.

"I guess…" Shujinkou conceded.

He turned towards Monika. To his horror, his eyes were instantly drawn to Monika's chest. They looked very-

"May be deserved though!"

Without saying another word, Shujinkou jumped up and dashed towards the exit.

"Shiko, where are you going?" Sayori exclaimed.

"To the hospital to get my head checked! I really think I need it now!"

Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Shujinkou rushed out of the room.

His friends can only look on in confusion as they just witnessed the peak of Shujinkou's sudden erratic behavior.

"Do you know why Shujinkou's acting a little… off, Sayori?" Monika queried.

"Well, Shiko did talk to Mali and he always seems a bit off after their talks. Plus, he also talked to Natsuki and…"

Sayori stared at the exit as she contemplated her friend's actions.

"He's probably just acting like he always does after awkward stuff. Me dropping him on his head probably's the reason he's acting so weird," she concluded.

"He seemed more than just 'off' in regards to his usual behavior…" Yuri disputed.

She gently played with her hair as she looked down at her legs, her face growing red with embarrassment. It was truly surprising that Shujinkou took a moment to gaze at a part of her body and she wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"Perhaps the drop on his head did do something to him…" she conceded.

"R-Right… That has to be it…" It took everything Monika had to resist to cover her chest. She could relate to the confusion Yuri displayed. "Anyway, Sayori, you said that Shujinkou talked to Natsuki."

Sayori nodded her head and relayed what she had been told not too long ago.

"So, all this time, Natsuki just wanted space… I could see her reacting in such a way if she was embarrassed by a parent," Yuri opined.

"Was that all she said to Shujinkou?" Monika asked.

"Well, she did lie to Shiko about me chasing her around the school," Sayori added.

"Really? Why?

"Why?"

"I mean, do you know the context to why she would lie about that," Monika clarified.

"Um…"

That singular question rendered Sayori speechless. Just finding out that Natsuki lied about something led her mind to jump to assumptions she rather not imagine. But Monika's question made her realize that she had no idea what Natsuki was trying to cover.

"No clue… Should we try to catch up to Shiko and ask him?" Sayori suggested.

An unsure look crossed Monika's face. "…I think Shujinkou could use some space himself right now."

"So what should we do?"

"Well… I think for now we should give Natsuki her space."

"We should?" Sayori questioned, perplexed.

"Honestly, while what her father did wasn't okay, we may be jumping to extreme conclusions here. Natsuki says she was grounded because she 'lied' about things, which I think really means she never got around to telling her father that she was close friends with a boy.

It may have not been that bad if she didn't go away on a summer trip with said boy to a place that you could effectively say was his territory by relation," Monika pointed out.

"But what about him pinning Shiko against the wall and yelling at Natsuki? Are we're just supposed to ignore what happened?"

"No. I'm not trying to present excuses for one side's actions; I'm just stating we need to be careful for Natsuki's sake. On the off chance we're just jumping to conclusions we don't want to actually be true, then we may get Natsuki in even more trouble and make it impossible to maintain our friendship with her."

"In either scenario, things seem bleak…" Yuri lamented. "Everything seems bleak lately, to be honest…"

"Hmm… Probably not," Sayori beamed. "Going from personal experience, things don't seem so bleak after all."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that I may have been getting a little dark there for a second. I know situations like this can turn out for the best. We just have to keep a positive attitude."

Later that evening…

Sayori took the final bite of her sea-salt ice cream, pouting over the realization that it was all gone.

"Shiko's been making a lot of these lately… I wonder if he's becoming obsessed with them."

She raised the ice cream stick over her head.

"Then again, I'm not one to talk," she admitted.

Sayori stuck the stick into her mouth and dug around her pocket for the key to her home.

"Hm?"

The moment she reached the front door, she was surprised to find it opened just a bit.

"Not again…" she weakly chuckled. "Shiko wouldn't let me hear the end of this if he saw this."

She wasted no time scaling the stairs and walked into her room.

"You must be pretty gutsy," a voice mockingly complimented her the instant she stepped inside.

Sitting on her bed was a strange scruffy looking man.

"Then again, you probably thought you left the door open," he continued. "That's how we found it."

Before she could make a move, Sayori was suddenly struck from behind, sending her spiraling towards the ground. Paralyzed by the surprise attack, Sayori could only look on as the stranger approached her.

He bent down on one knee, bringing his face closer to hers. "Don't look so confused, it'll all make sense soon, 'Childhood friend'."

Even while teetering along the line between consciousness and unconsciousness, Sayori understood the implications surrounding the designation she was given.

"No…"

"Pretty clever, aren't you? I like that." The man stood up and looked to her left. "All yours."

That was the last thing Sayori heard before everything went black.