I'm sorry again for the late update again T.T Thanks for waiting, I will do my best!

This chapter is going to have lots of thought up things so don't try to find any logic in it, there is none! (I mean the gate and festival things, you will see) XD


A lie for a lie

Izayoi's P.O.V.

„Everyone! I've got wonderful news!" Out of blue, a kid with blue-green hair stormed into the peaceful room where I, the three girls and one cute fox (Lili, was it?) had been peacefully playing games in. Had been.

„Jin-bocchan? What is it?" Black rabbit ran towards him, curious about those 'news' he carried.

The boy took something out of his bag, a roll, and unwrapped it. There stood with big letters: "Festival of summer solstice"

Confused as for what was so important about summer solstice, I querried: "What does that mean?"

The runt who was supposed to be our leader (seriously, how?) gasped: "Ah, right, you three don't know about this yet." Then he put the scroll on a table and sat down. "You see, summer solstice is one of the most important events in the Little Garden. Every layer in here is fueled by the sun power and so the return of sun is considered the start of prosperity. It's the only day when every community is allowed to travel through the gates to any layer, except for the first one."

He was grinning from ear to ear when explaining it, making me wonder if the festival was such a fun. Then I realized what it really meant - to have the right to travel freely. He was saying we should make use of this opportunity and-

"We could get to the fifth gate with this!" Asuka's eyes widened, a big smile forming on her smile. "And find the company which produces those guns!"

Kasukabe on the other hand had quite a scary though happy expression: "And then we're going to teach them a lesson."

I inconspiciously glanced at Black rabbit to find her smiling as well, relief evident in her eyes and hands joined in great excitement: "Jin, it's in two days, right? Two days, we have only two days! We must prepare ourselves, children!"

And with that, she raised fist up as if cheering on someone, her voice determined. Everyone followed her example, only I was trying to sort some things out in my head.

She was a good person. Right?


The next day I felt somewhat sick. It started about half an hour after I woke up, feeling dizzy and sleepy, maybe even a bit nauseus. But what troubled me the most was my constant spacing out and far too slow reactions. To be honest, there was the anxiety of being overpowered while in this useless state crawling in my stomach. That's why I didn't let it show. Or at least tried to.

Takane-san (the doc) was the first one to spot my apathy and lack of conversation. She asked if there was something wrong but I shrugged it off with a carefree smile.

Black rabbit caught me desperately leaning on a table when I got lightheaded and she immediately got worried, rushing to me with frantic questions. Are you alright? Can you hear me? What's wrong? Are you feeling faint?

It was a bit harder to convince her but in the end, I blamed it on the concussion (which also wasn't pleasant).

I managed to withstand it for the day, not doing much as usual since I was injured, and in the evening, my mind cleared up a bit and I stopped having the feeling of being in a dream. I even dared to hope that it would go away in the morning but I was horribly wrong.

It got about twice as worse. I had troubles standing up and even thought about giving up and collapsing down into the bed. But we still had a lot to do.

"Izayoi-kun," Kasukabe called out, her voice somewhat strained. "Izayoi-kun, are you listening?"

Realising that I have spaced out again, I apologized: "Yeah, yeah, sorry. I should be careful and not go anywhere alone, is it?" I improvised, remembering shards of what they were talking about and then matching the pieces together. It was the day of summer solstice after all so they were going to Shiroyasha's place to teleport into the fifth gate. And they were giving me a lecture before that, of course. My brain wasn't that bad, huh?

Sighing, the girl with long hair said: "Don't be so happy-go-lucky. Unlike before, you remember nothing, are injured and can't use your Gift. Confidence is the last thing you should be having now."

The sight of her figure starting doubling so I winced a few times, hoping it would return to normal. It didn't.

"Asuka-san is right, Izayoi-kun. We can't let you get into any more danger." The rabbit girl added, gesturing. My vision however got so bad I could barely see the colours. This was bad. This was so bad.

"...alright?" was the only thing I heard then. I think it was Black rabbit again but the voices got so muffled I couldn't tell them apart. My head was spinning. No, the whole world was spinning.

For a second, there was dull buzzing in my ears and before I knew it, I fell on my knees with nothing but black dots invading my vision.

I knew I should have just stayed in the bed.


Takane's P.O.V.

Izayoi-kun collapsed in the conference room out of blue, worrying the, ehm, crap out of everyone. I rushed to his side right then and checked if anything was wrong.

Nothing. His eyes reacted more or less fine. His heartbeat regular, breathing as well, no fever. I thought that maybe he was too exhausted by there were no signs of that and he hadn't been doing much in the past week.

For once, I had no idea what the hell my patient came down with.

"Like this, we won't be able to go to the fifth gate," Jin-kun stated, his face grim. Although he said that, what mostly occupied his mind right now was the fact that his comrade was unconsciouss.

"Takane-san, do you know anything about the cause yet?" Black rabbit whispered, not letting go of the teenager's hand even for a while. Damn, her worried eyes were killing me.

Unfortunately, I had no way to reassure the girl: "No, I'm sorry."

Asuka-chan and Yo-chan were both frowning, either ready to kill or burst out in rage. I understood their feelings - just when we had the chance to find out what happened and why, Izayoi-kun ended up like this.

"I will call Shiroyasha and tell her that we won't be coming," Jin-kun announced, knowing that no one was going to leave the boy here alone. But right then, we were stopped by the sudden movement in the bed.

"No," the blond teenager objected, slowly sitting up despite me telling him to stay put.

"Don't move much yet, idiot!" I protested but did not prevent him from doing so. Because if this boy was determined about something, he would do anything in order to fullfil it. That's the kind of person who I was dealing with. Such a pain.

Back to what was happening, there was shock in everyone's faces when Izayoi-kun came to and immediately sat up. He wasn't pale at all, not looking sick or anything. He just collapsed. And no one understood why.

"I'm fine, sorry. I guess pulling an alnighter wasn't the best idea yet." He had an apologetic smile oh his lips and mischievous look in his eyes.

"An alnighter?" I asked, not really sure whether to believe him or not. While it would explain why I couldn't find any signs of illness or anything whatsoever, for him to actually pass out just because of not sleeping...

it wasn't impossible, considering his injuries and current state.

Scratching his head, he yawned, looking very relaxed: "Seriously, who knew I would end up like this?"

"Izayoi-kun, are you perhaps playing with us?" the long haired girl asked while clutching her hands. Indeed, ready to kill.

The boy stood up, stretched his arms and then sent her a grin: "Sorry, did I worry you much, Ojou-sama?"

At that nickname, Asuka-san's anger dissipated: "Wait, did you get your memories back?

Puzzled, the teen titled his head: "No? Why?"

How disappointing, really. And here I actually hoped his memory returned.

"Well, you called me Ojou-sama." The girl choked out as if really missing it. "You used to do that a lot before,"

It must have surprised the boy because he for a while didn't say anything, his face somewhat hurt. I didn't know what it was that came to his mind but I was pretty sure that for a bit, he must have felt regretful for not being able to understand or remember just how much he meant to them and they meant to him. Amnesia is a bitch.

"Anyway, Izayoi-kun, are you really alright?" Black rabbit suddenly interrupted the awkward and nostalgic atmosphere, walking towards the boy and taking his hands. Ah right, I would have forgotten he keeled over just a while ago. Damn, he was good at distracting people.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself again. Shouldn't you at least rest up a bit?" the worrywart asked, her voice gentle.

Maybe it was just my imagination but I had the feeling he flinched a bit. But soon his face had a reassuring smile on with sweet words: "No, I'm alright. Thanks for worrying. Now that I got some sleep, I'm fine. I just got tired and sleepy. I promise."

And about ten minutes later, he was laughing and mocking everyone again. I wondered what today was supposed to mean because seriously, just what happened?!


Izayoi's P.O.V.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself again. Shouldn't you at least rest up a bit?" the worrywart asked, her voice gentle.

"No, I'm alright. Thanks for worrying. Now that I got some sleep, I'm fine. I just got tired and sleepy. I promise."

An eye for an eye.

Or rather,

A lie for a lie.

Because both of us said everything except for the truth.