-3-

Ken wouldn't stop crying; no matter what Akihiko tried, he'd continue to bawl his eyes out, muttering things like, "Why?" and "Keiko" through his tears.

The others had tried to stop crying as well, but seeing Ken like that only reminded them of their grief.

Koromaru sat by the child and placed his head on his lap to try and cheer him up, looking up at him with sad eyes.

Ken took a shaky gulp of hot milk that Yukari had prepared for him and breathed in, patting the loyal dog affectionately. The tears kept coming, but at least the sobbing and murmuring had stopped.

He wiped at his face with the oversized sleeve of his turtleneck jumper and tried to smile.

Akihiko looked on at him sadly.

"Poor kid. No one's first love should have to turn out like this" he sighed, shaking his head.

The others had noticed that he hadn't had the chance to grieve; in fact, he was being strangely calm about the whole situation. Even Mitsuru had broken down in tears the second Keiko left the building.

"Akihiko…Why don't you get some air…?" she asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? Why?" he muttered.

"You've been helping us all, senpai. You should take a break" Yukari sniffled.

"...Thank you…" was all he said, flinging his coat off the rack at the door and over his shoulder. "I'll be back soon. If anything happens…"

"Just go, man" Junpei tried to joke, but even he wasn't in the mood for it.

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Akihiko clenched his heart.

"Keiko…" he breathed. "First Miki, now you?"

He found himself wandering to Port Island Station, desperately searching for a place he could be alone.

He could go to that place, with its notorious reputation for death and grief. He walked nonchalantly over to the back alley, heart aching with every step he took.

"Shinji?" he spotted his friend sitting on a step.

"Tch. Found me again. It's really starting to shit me, Aki" he grunted.

Akihiko took a seat next to him.

"I…needed some air. I can't be around that place right now" Shinjiro sighed.

"…I can't believe something like this happened again… And to Keiko, as well?" the boxer shook his head. "She was always telling me not to overdo it. She was always…the perfect leader… The perfect…"

"Not you, too" Shinji murmured, violently placing a hand on his friend's head, attempting to comfort him.

"Gah…I'm not crying, damnit!"

"Pussy."

"Shut up."

They sat in silence for a few minutes longer; just sitting.

"That girl was a pain in the ass, you know" Shinjiro suddenly uttered, adjusting his beanie.

"Huh?" Akihiko sat up, brow furrowed.

"We only knew each other for a little bit, but in that time, she wouldn't stop bugging me" he chuckled nostalgically. "I mean, this one time, we went to that restaurant near Hagakure… Geez, what was it called? Anyway, she ate so much that she practically begged me to carry her back to the dorm. What kind of dumbass…" he trailed off. "But even when I warned her that things'd end up going to shit with me, she kept bugging me…"

Akihiko smiled gloomily. "…She always asked about you… 'Any news about Shinjiro-senpai?' or 'Are they allowing visitors yet?'… It started to get on my nerves a bit…"

Shinjiro chuckled.

"Tch. Look at us, speaking about the past like old men."

He turned to the other teenager briefly before standing.

"Shinji?"

"…I'm sick of living in the past. I'm going to live in the moment, like she did. I mean, look at all the shit that girl had to go through, and she still walked down those stairs every morning with a freaking smile on her face. Tch. Compared to her, we're pathetic. Fighting, fighting, and for what?"

Akihiko followed his lead and stood as well.

"What're you talking about! I'm fighting for Miki! I'm fighting to protect the people I care about!"

"Well, you did a pretty shit job of that, didn't you—Shit!"

The next thing he knew, Shinjiro was cupping his now-bleeding nose. Copping a punch from Akihiko had never hurt so much, and he'd been through some pretty painful punches from the champion boxer before.

"Grh…Ungh… Pretty good, Aki… Keiko…she'd be proud…"

"…Keiko… It's too bad she picked you, huh? But don't worry… I'm going to protect everyone… I'm not going to live in the past, like I promised her! So, Shinji?"

"Khh…Heh… You really shit me sometimes, Aki. Tch. Yeah, let's take care of everyone for her."

Wiping away some of the blood from his nose with his sleeve, Shinjiro offered his other hand.

Akihiko flexed his aching hand, then slapped it into his friends' for a handshake.

"Yeah. For Keiko!"