/ \ / \

No one even noticed when they entered the room again, considering they were so quiet, but it was then that Yolei spotted them out of the corner of her eye. She turned to them and grinned.

"Cody!" Now the rest of the team turned and smiled at the two boys, though not nearly as much came from the Takashi-Ishida family. The boys smiled back, and made their way to the sixteen-year-old who was frowning hard at the twelve-year-old in the hospital gown, his brow furrowed in deep anxiety.

"Joe, I…" He started, and the boy looked at him, a small smile on his face. T.K. looked at the floor, embarrassed and guilty at the same time. "I'm sorry…for the way I yelled at you. You have to know that I never meant a single thing. I just couldn't control myself anymore and lost it; I wanted to get out of this place so badly that I could stand it. I'm just really scared and upset about Kari right now, and I let my emotions get the best of me. I'm so sorry for everything; you didn't deserve any bit of it, and yet I blamed you for her getting so much worse. You would probably want this back, as long as we're giving things that rightfully belong to others," He pulled the statistics paper the high schooler had recorded from his pocket and handed it to him, smiling slightly as he took it.

"I'd been wondering where this went. Thanks, T.K.," Joe smiled whole-heartedly at the young man before him, and decided to give him an answer to the issue he was pressing. "I understand what you were feeling, so it's perfectly all right. You were worried about the girl you love, and I respect that completely. If anything happened to…well, someone of the same status in my heart, I think I would react identical to you. Don't worry, I forgive you," Somehow, T.K. didn't exactly feel convinced. That is, until the elder by four years set his hand on top of his hair where his hat was missing. "I mean it. You don't have to worry about it anymore. All I want you to worry about is-" He was stopped, however, when Kari began clutching her blanket as she coughed and struggled to get air into her lungs, much weaker now than she had been.

"T-," She halted herself as she struggled to breathe. "T….K…." The boy was at her side in an instant; he gripped her hand firmly, yet gently, and he asked,

"Y-Yeah, Kari?" She took in a deep breath and whimpered as her face contorted and she lifted herself toward the ceiling. When she let herself fall back on the bed again, she breathed heavily and everyone could see that there were tears in her eyes; the poor girl was in excruciating pain, and it killed T.K. to see her like that.

"I…I'm…sorry…for put…-ting you…through…this. I…n-never…meant for…you to…get invol…-ved. I'm…so…sorry." The boy shook his head as tears filled his eyes, and he squeezed her hand tenderly.

"No, no, please don't say that. I told you that you weren't being selfish at all, so don't worry. We just want you to get better is all. It's all right." He was trying to be strong for her, but he knew his voice was giving his true feelings away. He couldn't hide it, no matter how hard he tried; he was crying, and he knew in his heart that Kari knew as well. "I-I'm sorry I'm crying…I know I shouldn't be." She squeezed his hand this time, and closed her eyes as she smiled and spoke quietly.

"Don't…worry…about it…too much. You…know I…won't…hold it…against…you. Ha, ha." She laughed weakly and said, "I'll…be…okay…" The rest of her breath left her in a hurry, and a machine next to her beeped again, louder this time, and Clairice and Joe jumped to inspect her. She bit her lip to hold in a scream of pain, and grasped T.K.'s hand tighter while he stared at her hard.

"Ahh!" She cried, and she gripped her brother's hand on the other side of the bed as well; he'd run over as soon as the beeping had begun, to help T.K. soothe her the best way he knew how. "Mmmmm! Help!!" She yelled, but there was nothing anyone could do but watch as she endured so much pain; T.K.'s eyes began to water as he listened to her heart-breaking screams, and he turned his head away so she wouldn't see the droplets of water fall from his eye. They fell on her flannel baby-blue bedcovers, and he winced as she tightened her grip on both the boys' hands. "Make…it…stop!! Please…!!" She pleaded in utter agony breathlessly, and she began to hyperventilate from her panic and fear. Clairice gave her an oxygen mask and held it to her face, insistent that she calm down.

"Kari, please, calm yourself! You'll only make the pain worse if you don't! Please listen and do as I instruct!" The farmer girl was in near tears as she watched the girl scream and only make it all the more easy for the Angel of Death to come upon her. The agonized child forced herself to calm down and try to breathe normally, despite the river of tears that was cascading down her face; Clairice finally hung the oxygen mask back up as she took deep breaths to get over what she had just seen, wondering if her sister had gone through the same thing, wondering why couldn't have heard it all the way to town back then. The way this preteen was hollering, it made it seem like she could be heard around the world and back again. Joe stared at her with imploring eyes, and she turned to him, giving him a fake 'I'm fine' look.

"No, you're not fine. You're worried about her and you're also thinking about your sister."

"How do you do that?" He smiled very slightly, but could not bring himself to do so any more in their present situation.

"I have an older brother who always knew what I was thinking when I was younger, and still does, so I guess I learned his tricks after awhile." He chuckled, and Clairice smiled, cheered up a ways.

"Well, as you can probably tell, you're right. I was just thinking about, since I wasn't there when Mika…passed on, if she had to go through the same pain, and…I wonder why I wouldn't have been able to hear her. When Kari screams, it seems like it would have been impossible not to hear. It just feels like Mika is calling out through this girl, and it's…I have to admit that it's scaring me a little." She smiled up at him sheepishly, and a hint of a blush graced her cheeks.

"You can go get something from the cafeteria to get yourself calm again, if you to. I'm capable of staying here and looking after her." He gave her a worried look, but she shook her head.

"No, no, I…have to stay here. I'll…I'll be all right; I just need a minute to get my head straight again, that's all. I'll be fine, Joe." He continued to frown at her, but sighed and grinned faintly.

"Okay, I trust you. But you have to know that your sister would only want you to be happy, and if she is calling out to you through Kari, then I'm sure she's saying that she forgives you. For now, just to be on the safe side, be sure to tell me the moment you feel like you won't be able to handle this anymore, all right? I'll be right here if you need me, so just call." She grinned wider now, and replied enthusiastically,

"I will. I promise." He smiled in relief, knowing in his heart that he'd helped the girl greatly, thus making her feel more protected, more sure of herself in the way that these new friends truly did care about her.

Kari breathed deeply, and lucky for Tai and T.K., her death grip had loosened immensely; she wished she could look into their eyes and tell them things she'd always needed to say right before she left this world, but she didn't feel she could after that last pain surge. She didn't have much strength left as it was, and that attack had made her devastatingly weaker. She didn't even have the strength to open her eyes now. More tears escaped her as she thought about how she couldn't even say goodbye to them, couldn't tell her parents and brother how much she loved them, tell them not to cry and be happy for her, tell them…to… She stopped thinking as her vision went black.