-2-
The next morning, she didn't wake up.
Yukari went into her room to wake her up, but to no avail. When she noticed that her friend wasn't breathing, she started to panic, screaming out for help.
"Call an ambulance! Someone please!" she cried, unsure of what else to do.
The others were quick to appear in the doorway.
"Takeba, what's wrong!" Mitsuru asked.
Shinjiro burst through the small crowd and pushed Yukari away.
"Goddamnit, Keiko" he muttered. He pulled up his sleeves and turned to the others, each with their own confused and worried look on their face.
"Call a damn ambulance, she ain't breathing!" he snarled.
"K-Keiko-chan!" It was easy to tell that Fuuka had already broken into tears.
Shinjiro leant over the girl, positioning his clasped hands over her chest. He began to perform CPR, with each failed attempt bringing him closer to breaking.
"Damnit! Wake the hell up!" he snapped. "Don't you dare think about dying on me!"
He breathed in a gasp of air, leaning down for mouth-to-mouth, but everything he tried was in vain.
"Shit…" he muttered.
They could hear the sirens of the ambulance Mitsuru had called minutes earlier in the distance.
"Shinji, do something!" Akihiko growled. "Don't just stand—"
"She's dead! Nothing's going to work!"
"D-dead…? No…" Yukari breathed.
"Keiko-san!" Aigis stepped forward, hoping that somehow he had gotten it wrong.
"Damnit!" Junpei growled, throwing his cap angrily at the ground.
"This can't be happening…"
"Everything we've been through! Why…?"
Shinjiro clenched his fists, shaking his head. "Tch. You're such a freaking hypocrite" he muttered.
"So I'm not allowed to die, but you are? What bullshit."
There was a loud banging at the door two floors below them.
"Must be the paramedics…" Akihiko breathed. "I'll get it…"
"Why did she have to…?" Mitsuru murmured.
After that, there was dead silence, save for the paramedics and, presumably, Akihiko rushing up the stairs.
They wheeled her out of the dorm on a gurney, a white sheet covering her young body.
When she left, all they could do was mourn her loss.
Yukari, Fuuka and Mitsuru comforted each other; Koromaru sat by Aigis gloomily as she silently lamented; Junpei sat on one of the couches, head in his hands, cursing to himself; Akihiko comforted a crying Ken, and Shinjiro was nowhere to be found.