Half an hour had passed after the boys had returned to their transparent, glass classroom. The returning three were greeted by their teacher Sei and he told them to quietly go back to their seats. After his class had ended, the students were having their usual ten-minute break between lessons and the four boys had now gathered around Hideki's table at the back of the class. Takuya had just returned, coincidently, after Teacher Sei's math class had just finished.

But at the front of the room, they could hear their classmates gossiping about the incident this morning. News about them always spread fast like a wildfire, be it anything minor or major. Homura's accident was no different and it was now a rumor circulating around the school at an alarming rate because of how severe it was. The classmates didn't bother to lower their voices to whispers, as if they wanted the boys to hear them.

"Did you hear? Friend of mine told me they sent someone to the nurse's office."

"I think we should keep our distance from then. Like, even more than now."

"Another accident with the Freelancers and this time they got someone hurt. Wow. You think they're doing this on purpose or are they that stupid?"

Hideki was going to stand up and head over there to give them a piece of his mind, but Tateyama anchored him to his chair by grabbing his shoulder and gestured to ignore them. Hideki sat back down, frustrated, as Takuya patted him on the back. What made Hideki mad wasn't even because of the gossiping - that was the usual for them and it always happened - it was the lack of sympathy for Homura that really pissed him off.

They talked about it like it was something to used bring up a joking conversation and only saw her as a topic for rumors. No one really looked like they cared that a girl that was about to transfer to this school got hurt. If it was none of their business, they didn't care. It was always like that. No one really gave a damn unless it happened to them.

Mamoru drummed his fingers on the table to gain the boy's attention and leaned forward in his seat, "Now, for my question," Mamoru started, making sure that his friends ignored the gossiping students at the front. Clearing his throat, he tented his hands and looked at the blue-haired boy in front of him, "Hideki, why did you suddenly suggest we take care of Akemi?"

"Eh...? 'Why'?" Hideki looked up with confusion and saw a probing look on Mamoru's face as the green-haired boy tapped on the table with his fingers. His eyes were scanning Hideki's expression for any doubt, but nothing except confusion was expressed by Hideki as the question he had been asked was brought almost out of nowhere, "Mamoru, what are you talking about?"

"Even from you, it was a very sudden request."

Takuya nodded in agreement to that observation, but Tateyama stepped in and said otherwise, "Was there anything else we could do?"

Hideki was silent as he pondered, looking down on the table and avoiding Mamoru's gaze. His hands were clenched tightly on his lap and his foot shook underneath the table. His friends all waited for his answer as the hands of clock on the class' wall emitted a 'tick-tock' noise. In his head, Hideki searched for an answer, as admittedly, the offer to take care of Homura was something that he had came up with during their wait in the nurse's office. Now that he was asked why he really did it, he felt his throat dry up and the only way felt that he could answer the question with, was with a question of his own.

Hideki felt uncomfortable speaking his next words, "Don't you guys remember what's it like to lose a parent?" Hideki's answer made all the boys visible stiffen from his reply, as if something that tugged at their chests. Mamoru had told the rest of them about Homura's life after he had read the file Minami gave him, so they all knew full well about what Hideki was trying to imply.

Loosening his collar, Mamoru was the only one to reply to his poignant question and reminder of the things they had all gone through before, "Of course, we all do. How could we forget?" his voice was low and Mamoru closed his eyes just for a moment. Tateyama lifted a hand from his side and ran through the part of his face that was covered with his hair as Takuya uncomfortably scratched the back of his neck.

"It said in her file that she lost both of her parents, right?" Hideki said and he looked up at them, "Remember how she acted when we first saw her? She was almost... emotionless. That look in her eyes, when I got a good look at them, I felt like I saw something. I felt like... She had been through so much lost. So much pain. She reminded me of myself when my mother-"

"True," Mamoru agreed, cutting him off so that he wouldn't have to bring him bad memories. Tateyama and Takuya agreed with his observation as well, "Is there more to your reasoning, Hideki?"

"Yeah. I mean, from a point of view, isn't she just something like us? We all made a promise with a loved one before they... they left us," Hideki's tone trembled slightly, "Akemi was alone for so long, and we all know how that felt. The pain of feeling like you're better off just... just giving up on life because it feels like nothing is going to get better," suddenly, Hideki rose up from his chair and slammed a fist on the table, the noise echoing through the room, "Dammit, I stepped forward because I wanted to help! I wanted to show those assholes in our school we can do something good! Akemi just now... She looked so damn scared. So helpless. For months we've been picked on by those assholes as and I want to show them that we're no-!"

"Hideki!" Tateyama scolded him and the blue-haired boy froze in his sudden outburst.

Hideki was left in a panting demeanor from his breath-taking rant as he practically used up all of his energy to shout out his words. He looked around class and saw all the students that were staring at them. Some were startled by his outburst and a few turned away in fear when he looked at them. Shaking his head, Hideki back sat back down again and slumped over on his table, "Sorry... I just..."

Takuya ran a gentle hand on the back and Tateyama sent a sharp glared at the students staring at them to scare them off. They all went on with their business and seemed to have even stopped talking about the accident this morning. Hideki was now quiet, and s usual, Mamoru excused his outburst. Fixing his collar, Mamoru cleared his throat before continuing, "Well, now that's settled, here is what I have to say," a small smile appeared on the club leader's face, his voice nonchalant and easy-going, "I had no problem with your request, Hideki."

Hideki's eyes widened and he looked back up to see Mamoru chuckling in front of him, "W-What...? Then what was... Just now you-?"

"I was merely checking to see if you did it out of your usual recklessness, Hideki, or if you did it for any other wrong reason that would have only made the situation worse. I wanted to see if you chose to do for the reasons you yourself have stated just now," Mamoru took out his water bottle from his bag at his feet and took a thirsty sip from it. He closed the bottle cap and wiped his sleeve with a handkerchief in his pocket, "I sympathize for Akemi as well, but I don't want this group to fall apart because of one girl. Besides, if I was against it in the first place, I wouldn't have done what I did earlier, would I?"

Mamoru's usual smug smile came to view and it brought a complicated feeling to Hideki's chest. He felt like he wanted to sock him for making him shout out all that just now and another part of him wants to thank him for helping him let out what he wanted to say. The boys always had their ways on getting each other to let out anything bothering them and this was no different. Hideki looked at Takuya and Tateyama and they also visibly supported him.

The last time they had a talk like this was when they all first came together, and he remembered that day fondly.

"T-Thanks, guys," he stammered, Hideki's face turning red, "I-"

Suddenly, the three turned their gaze to the glass walls of the classroom and Hideki noticed that some of their classmates had done the same. Turning around, Hideki froze when saw Homura wandering passed the class barefooted, looking lost and confused from all the staring she was receiving. The boys saw her moving through the groups of bantering students outside as she was still wearing her patient's clothing with Hideki's jacket over her, her blood-stained compression wraps still around her head, arm and body.

Hideki immediately bolted out of the class, shuffling through his classmates and the students outside that only gave a few glances at Homura before looking away and dismissing her as the Nurse's or somebody else's business. Tateyama and Takuya were going to help, but Mamoru advised them to stay put so that they avoid scaring her off. Mamoru also wanted to leave this to Hideki alone as well.

"Akemi!" Hideki called out to her and Homura looked back at him with a confused look instead of a scared one. Homura must have recognized him, but as he shuffled pass students to get to her, Homura looked like she was going to run away. Hideki skid to a halt to give her some distance. She must have sneaked out of the Nurse's office when Narita had gone off to attend some business, "What are you doing outside the office? You should be in bed-"

When he tried getting closer to place a hand on her shoulder, Homura moved back and he missed his grip. She held the side of her head that was covered by the compression wrap and looked around, stammering, "I-I.." feeling uncomfortable from the gazes that were being sent at them from the other on-looking students, her voice was barely inaudible, even in the silence that had grew around them, "I-I was... looking f-for..."

Hideki ignored the students that he could hear talking and whispering behind his back. Right now, he was thinking of what to do that wouldn't scare her of Homura and only Homura. He had to bring her back to the office safely and not frighten her at the same time. The Homura in front of him now was as fragile as glass and saw everything except Narita as a stranger, "Damn it, do I try to bring her back...?" he thought, "Miss Narita must've been called away..."

Taking a deep breath, he tried a gentle and more friendlier approach to Homura. The best way to confront a frightened person was to make sure that they do not alarm them and give an impression that they're there to help, "H-How about I bring you back?" he extended an open hand and attempted a smile, "I-I mean, Miss Narita must be busy right now. I know the way back to the office as well, and m-maybe I can cook that soup she gave you earlier."

Suddenly, a spit-ball flew through the air and shot Hideki directly in the eye. He clenched his face and the pain prompted a small growl of anger from him. He turned around and look with his unharmed eye to see a few of the Gym club members in the distance. They turned around and pretended that they were innocent while laughing among themselves.

Hideki could feel his anger rising again. His blood boiled and he wanted to go over there and beat them senseless even if he was greatly outnumbered. But when Hideki looked back at Homura, he could see that his anger was slowly beginning to scare her. She was trembling, shaking with mortal fear and thinking that he was about to hurt her. The terror in her eyes made his anger simmer, "No. I can't. Not in front of her..."

He shook his head and tried to shrug off the pain in his eye. A hand clenching one side of his face, Hideki extended a hand and attempted to smile with a bit of sincerity. It seemed to have lowered her fear of him as she lifted a hand from her side to take his, "S-So, want me to bring you to the office? I'm here... to help." he felt his hand shaking from his words. He had never really done this sort of thing before.

"You seem hurt. Are you al-"

"I'm fine," he said reassuringly and took her hand, "I've been through worst."

Like the beating she gave him earlier.

Hesitantly, Homura nodded and followed Hideki as he lead her back to the office. A hint of a blush appeared on her cheeks as she looked down and fully accepted his offer, "O-Okay... Thank you."

Mamoru, Takuya, and Tateyama walked out of the class to check on the two and saw them leaving for the Nurse's office with Hideki leading the way. Hideki had a look on his face that they never had seen before and Homura didn't seem to mind his presence at all. The two went pass the staring students and the situation was handled perfectly.

"Well then," Mamoru chuckled with a devious grin. He looked at the gym club members from neighbouring class that had tried interfering with Hideki's attempt to call Homura just now and said, "Now that they're gone, I say we have some fun with the fire sprinklers again, shall we? Those boys over there certainly look like they need a nice, cool shower."

Back in the nurse's office, Narita sighed loudly in relief when Hideki had brought back Homura and thanked the boy graciously. Narita had been worried non-stop when she saw Homura's bed empty and the girl herself missing. Now, she was carefully taking off the compression wraps that were wrapped tightly around Homura's head, arms and torso as the girl quietly stayed still on the bed. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, so it seemed to be safe. If they didn't, then they would still have to replace the current wraps with new ones.

Hideki leaned on the wall beside them, watching Narita do her job with his hands in his pockets. Homura glanced over curiously to look to him and he gave her a small wave of a hand with a smile. She smiled back and seeing her do that made Hideki fluster for a moment. Homura looked a lot better whenever she is smiling.

Almost done, Narita was quietly telling Homura what she needed to do after school later, "Now, Homura, I want you to listen to me: After school, you'll be staying in my house for a few days. I'll be taking care of you. Tomorrow, in school, four boys will be watching over you while I do my work; act nice, don't panic and try to make some friends, okay? We're here to help you. We promise."

Homura shyly nodded, "O-Okay."

"Good girl," the nurse chuckled. Unraveling the last wrap, Narita took of the compression wrap completely and her eyes widened in amazement.

"What's wrong?" Hideki came to see what was up and had a similar reaction, "Wha-?"

The injuries on Homura's head, arms and torso had already healed. No trace of any wound or bruise was left, not even a single scar nor a scratch. Homura looked just as fine as she did this morning, with the exception of a small scar that ran along the side of her head. The scar was the only thing there, but no other trace of the accident was present at all. Narita and Hideki shared a stunned look.

"W-What's wrong?" Homura asked, worried about their reactions.

"I-It's... nothing. Really nothing. You've just, well, you've healed up already. You're completely fine," Narita gently stroke the girl's cheek, amazed by her amazingly quick recovery. Hideki was surprised as well; recovering from a blow like that would've taken a long time to heal from. Narita was going to let Homura rest for the remainder of school-time, when suddenly, Narita felt something cold and sticky touch her hand as she stroke Homura's cheek.

Narita quickly retracted her hand and looked at her fingers. There she saw some sort of sticky, black ooze between her fingers. And what scared her was not its presence. No. But because it was moving. It was like a small blob that stuck to her fingers as she felt pain from it touching her. Wincing, she quickly placed her hand under the sunlight for them to get a better look at what it was and Hideki went to get something to remove the strange substance.

Only for the black ooze to suddenly evaporate under the sun and turn into a dark vapor with a hiss, leaving a red mark on Narita's fingers. The black ooze had crumbled into ashes and vapor the moment sunlight had touched it and both of Narita and Hideki were confused from what they just seen. Narita rubbed the mark the ooze had left on her fingers and thought, "What was that? A parasite?" she turned to Homura and examined the sides of her head again for any more of that black ooze.

Nothing. That seemed to be the only one.

Narita sighed in relief and patted Homura on the shoulder. Whatever it was, it was now gone. But, Narita was going to keep an eye on Homura in case any more of those things appear. Turning to Hideki, she tried to ease the thick atmosphere of the room, "Alright, Hideki, get back to class. Whatever that was, I'll keep an eye on Homura in case there's anymore. Leave it to me."

The boy nodded, looking hesitant to leave the room, "Alright. Sure. Later, Miss Narita, Akemi," he gave a small, two-finger salute to them as he left and exited the nurse's office.

Looking back to her marked finger, Narita stared at it for a moment before continuing her check-up on Homura.