"Eh?!" Syrup shouted, falling off the table in shock. "Ow…" he murmured when he hit the pavement. He then looked back up at Mrs. Otaka. "An accident?" he echoed as the chairwoman helped him up.

"I'm afraid so," Mrs. Otaka confirmed.

"Oh my God…" Syrup said in a mixture of shock and horror. He then did his best to compose himself as he tried to ask Mrs. Otaka for more information. "W-where? Who? Was anyone hurt too bad?"

Before Mrs. Otaka could answer, another voice decided now was the perfect time to chime in.

"There you are!" the voice shouted. Both the Chairwoman and Palmier's messenger looked up and saw a familiar purple-haired girl heading their way. "What the Hell is taking you so long?" Kurumi demanded.

Syrup looked peeved. "Um, we were trying to have an important conversation." He gestured to himself and Mrs. Otaka.

"Mai~" Mailpo chimed in from his shoulder, also peeved.

Kurumi sighed. "I'm sure it must be," she said, acknowledging Mrs. Otaka's professional appearance. "But it will have to wait." She then looked towards the chairwoman. "Mrs. Otaka, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it's-"

"An emergency," the chairwoman finished. "I know. I was the one who alerted your brother of the situation." She sighed sadly. "Shiroh, our conversation can wait."

"But-"

"No buts. Believe me, it would be better if you heard everything from your brothers anyways."

"Wait, Kouji knows about the accident too?"

"Accident?" Kurumi echoed.

"You don't know?"

"Natts won't tell me anything, and neither will Kouji or Mrs. Natsuki."

"Mrs. Natsuki?" Syrup blinked in surprise. "Rin got called out of class?"

"We both did, idiot," the Blue Rose said flatly. "How do you think I'm here?"

"Don't call me an idiot," Syrup said in an equally flat tone.

"Don't tell me what to do, idiot," she snarled.

"I said don't call me that!" he growled.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot!" she said in a singsong voice.

"Quit it!"

"Make me!"

"Both of you stop, now!" Mrs. Otaka shouted over them, making the adopted siblings remember her presence. "Look, the matter at hand is not something either of you should be hearing from me. Mimino-san, where are your brothers?"

"At the car."

"Okay then, why don't you go sign out, if you haven't already? And Shiroh, you go meet Kouji and Natts."

"But-" the siblings protested.

"Go," the chairwoman said. "Both of you, now. Or I'll have you both put in detention for the rest of the semester."

The teens' eyes widened in fear. "Yes, Otaka-sama!" they said quickly, bowing in both respect and fear before leaving.

Once she was alone, Mrs. Otaka sighed again before sitting down at the table. Tears coming to her eyes. "Lord, please give these children the help and love that they will need in a situation like this," she prayed. She then broke down in tears.

"What time is it?" Komachi asked as she filled out the sign-out sheet.

Karen looked at the clock. "1:30."

The emerald-haired girl thanked her as she wrote down the time and handed the form to the woman at the desk, who then told the girls that she'd be right back before heading to check with the principal to make sure that they had clearance to leave.

Once the cost was clear, the Cures of Tranquility and Intelligence let out sighs they didn't realize they were holding in and sat down next to Madoka.

"Sorry to drag you girls away from study hall," the older girl said.

"It's fine," Komachi assured her sister. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of needed a break from the quiet anyways." Her sister and Karen looked at her like she had just said she was joining a heavy metal band. "I know, it sounds crazy, but…" she sighed. "It's just hard for me to concentrate today."

Karen's look of shock turned into one of understanding. "Me too," she said honestly. She then turned to Madoka. "Nozomi-san's been on a trip with her family all weekend," she explained. "She said she'd be back by lunchtime today, but never showed. I hope everything's okay."

Madoka bit her lip. The fact that Karen said that just made her news a whole lot harder to share.

"Hey!" someone said suddenly. All three looked up to find a familiar redhead in the room. "You both got taken out of class for the day, too?" Komachi and Karen nodded at her question.

"Did you get a reason?" Rin asked as she went to sign herself out. "I asked my mom and she just dodged the question and said she'd meet at the car with my dad and the twins. I swear, it's so weird. No one will tell us anything."

"Us?" Karen echoed.

Before Rin could answer, the group's purple-haired friend walked into the room and gasped. "Karen!" she squealed in delight, all but tackling her girlfriend in an arm cling. "Did you come to see me off? You're so sweet!" she cooed.

Karen smiled at the younger girl's antics. "Actually, Komachi and I were called out of class as well," she explained, making Kurumi look up at her curiously.

"Really?"

Karen nodded.

"And no one will tell them why either," Rin chimed in from her spot at the desk.

"There's been an accident," Kurumi said suddenly, making everyone look at her.

"What?" her friends and girlfriend said in unison.

"Shiroh told me when I went to the café to get him," she explained. "But that's all I know, I swear." She threw her hands up as if to say she was innocent.

"Oh my God…" the other three Cures said in shocked unison. Madoka meanwhile just bit her lip harder, scared to say anything. Komachi took this as a sign something was definitely wrong. She then remembered what she and Karen were discussing before Madoka arrived.

"Sis," she said, grabbing Madoka's hands and looking her in the eyes. "Is this about Nozomi?"

The older Akimoto smiled solemnly, letting out a sad laugh. "Nothing gets past you, Komachi," she said before sighing, her smile turning into a frown as she faced the other two girls as well. "Well, you figured out this much, might as well tell you the rest." She sighed again. "I don't know very much other than this but..." She took a deep breath before continuing. "Nozomi and her folks were in a bad accident. The reason you're all being taken out of school for the day is so us adults can take you to see her in the hospital."

It was then that the office secretary finally came back, seemingly oblivious of the news that was just shared. "Sorry for taking so long, ladies," she said before noticing the office had two more visitors. "Ah, Mimino-san, Natsuki-san, you're both here. Good. I just talked with the principal, you both have clearance to leave, no need to sign out if you haven't already."

"Thank you for telling us, ma'am," the Cures of Passion and Secrets said in respectful unison as they bowed politely. They then turned to the others.

"Let's get going," said Rin. "We shouldn't keep Nozomi waiting longer than we already have."

The group nodded and left the office, each one with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy, let go!" Urara complained as they made their way to the parking lot, her trying to get out of her father's grip. He had been holding her hand ever since they left the hall of her classroom, which became much to her embarrassment when some classmates started calling her a daddy's girl. After a few minutes more, the younger blonde had finally managed to free herself and ran in front of her father, making sure to gain his full attention. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Why do I need to leave school?"

Michel sighed and looked at his daughter with a sad smile. "I have some news about your friend, Yumehara-san," he told her slowly.

"Nozomi-san?" Urara questioned. "What is it? Is she okay?"

Her father went silent, not looking her in the eye. At this, Urara's mind suddenly flashed back to ten years ago. She remembered sitting with her grandfather in the living room, waiting for her dad to come back from visiting her mom in the hospital. She remembered her grandfather getting off the phone with her father, saying something she couldn't hear. And finally, she remembered her father coming back home an hour later, talking to her in the same sincerity and giving her the same sad smile as he was now, all while he told her that her mother wasn't coming home.

"Daddy," she said as she came back to the present. "Please." She grasped his hands, making him look her in the eyes. "What happened?"

Michel sighed. "Yumehara-san and her parents were in a bad car crash," he confessed. "The reason I'm picking you up early is because you and your friends are listed as her emergency contacts. I'm taking you to the hospital to see her," he explained.

"Oh my God…" Urara whispered. "I-is she…" she feared the end of her sentence.

"She's alive," he told her. "But…" he sighed. "From what I was told, she could be doing better."

The teen idol's eyes widened. "Oh my God…" she repeated, unsure if she could say anything else at the moment. Then, it hit her. Nozomi, one of her greatest friends in the world, her first real friend, could be dying.

At this, she clutched her father's arm. "Oh my God…" she said again, this time in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…" she repeated over and over like a broken record. After this, her vision became both blurry and spotty, and she soon felt a tingling feeling in her fingers. All signs that she was about to faint.

Her father took note of this when her grip on his arm slipped away, and quickly went to help her stay upright. "Easy," he told her gently. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

Urara barely heard him over the sound of her own heavy breathing mixed with the beeping noise she heard in her ears. Her father tried to grab her other hand to help her more but she instead pulled away, deciding to tuck herself away into a protective embrace of her own.

"Sweetheart, look at me," her father tried. "Please?"

"Excuse me, sir? Can I try something?" a new voice. "I think I may have an idea."

"Hm? Oh, um… of course, son."

A few moments later, Urara felt someone pull her into a comforting embrace. "Easy," their voice said. "It's okay."

"Mai~" another, more tiny voice agreed quietly, only loud enough for her to hear.

It was the second voice that made her realize who had helped her, and she pulled away to look into a familiar pair of hazel eyes that were just a shade darker than her own. "S-Shiroh-kun…" she mumbled, suddenly realizing that her face was red. She prayed that it was merely from stress and not because her crush was holding her.

"Hey," he said to her, giving her a smile. "You okay?"

The blonde nodded, still blushing.

During this time, Michel just stood there, dumbfounded that a simple boy was able to stop his daughter's panic attack when he couldn't. "Sacré bleu…" he whispered in French, not knowing what else to do except watch the scene before him.

"Ahem," someone said suddenly, making both Michel and the two teens jump. Everyone looked over to a few feet ahead of them to find a man around twenty-two with blond hair, brown eyes, and a deep tan. "Nice to know this is what was keeping you," he said flatly, fixing his gray trench coat.

"Shut it," Syrup replied with an equally flat tone, still blushing like mad as he moved a few inches away from Urara, who was also blushing (curse his emotions and their making him have a crush on this girl). He then realized that someone was missing. "Where's Kouji?"

"Car. Where's Kurumi?"

"Natts-ue!/Natsu-san!" a group of voices said in surprise.

At this, everyone turned towards the other side of the lot to find the Cures and Madoka heading their way.

"Question asked and answered," Natts said.

"I thought you were in the car?" Kurumi asked once they got closer.

"I was, but a certain someone was taking too long. Now I know why." He smirked as Syrup growled at him. His smirk then turned into a frown as he remembered the situation at hand. "Let's get going," he said. "We've kept Nozomi waiting longer than enough."

Everyone nodded.

(Hôpital des Cinq Lumières)

Nozomi sighed sadly as she flicked through the channels on the TV.

It had been three hours since she had awoken and the hospital staff had since moved her out of the ER and into her own private suite. An action for which she was thankful, as she really wanted to be alone for as long as she could before her friends got there.

It wasn't that she didn't want to see them. Quite the opposite actually. It was merely that at the moment, she needed to spend some time with herself, as only she could understand the pain she was going through.

At the thought, her eyes teared up for what had to be the sixth-hundredth time since she was told the news, and just like the other times, she didn't try to stop said tears as they rolled down her cheeks.

"Mom, Dad…" she whispered. "I'm so sorry…" She broke down sobbing after that. Not caring that the door was open, not caring that everyone in the hall could probably hear her clearly. Right now, she only cared about one thing. The fact that she wanted her folks to hold her, to comfort her and to tell her everything would be okay, just like they always do when she's upset.

But they couldn't. And they wouldn't. Ever again.