The evening practice ended much earlier than before due to every regulars who are fidgeting and curious as to why their one missing tensai didn't come to school that day. Could he be sick? Or have something bad happened? Death, maybe? Questions filled their head causing them to lost concentration lots of times until Ryuuzaki-sensei couldn't take it anymore.

"That's it! The practice ends now. All of you regulars better go and check on Fuji as why didn't he came to practice and if he couldn't gave an appropriate reason, he would run 50 laps tomorrow, because he impractically cancelled today's practice! Now, leave!"

"Hai, Ryuuzaki-sensei,"


And when all 8 regulars, err…7 regulars with the manager arrive at Fuji's household, they were greeted by silent. After 5 times ringing the door bell, they stare looking at the big, 3-storeys house.

"Should somebody have called Fuji's cell phone right now?" Tezuka asks grumpily.

"Err, we called it few times already, Tezuka. We even called his house," Oishi replies.

"And no one answers. Mou, where did everyone go? Fuji is so not being funny anymore," Eiji pouts. He grabbed Tezuka's attention when he said the last part.

" 'not being funny anymore', Kikumaru?"

"Eh? Did I say that?" Eiji nervously trying to hide his slip.

"What's going on, Eiji. Are you hiding something from us, Eiji? Tell us, please. It might be important," Oishi asks the fidgeting boy.

"Yes, Kikumaru-san. Tell us, what do you mean by that? And perhaps save us the troubles on looking for Yuuta," a different yet oh-so familiar annoying voice joins in the conversation.

"Mizuki-san! What did you mean? Did Fuji's otouto missing too?" Eiji asks St. Rudolph's manager.

"Yuuta-san received a phone call this morning, urgent I assumed as he rushed to his room, pack his stuff, and left for the office. He didn't tell anyone what is the emergency but the office told us that he's on leave for a week. Guardian's permission,"

"A week? But Fuji-sempai is not in a week leave, he just didn't came to school today," Momo protests.

Suddenly, a shrill ringing ring tone of Seigaku's theme permitted the air. They all look closely to a glasses buchou as he answers his phone. One thing that everyone can see is how his stoic face turns pale during the phone call.

"Tezuka? Is everything alright?" Oishi asks once he finished. Tezuka nods and paused. He then shook his head.

"It's from Ryuuzaki-sensei. She said that the school's administration has given Fuji a week leave, impromptu, because of an important family business. Funny thing, Ryuuzaki-sensei said Fuji might quit school if he didn't return after the leave, and that comes from his sister. So she asked me, us, to check on why the suspicious leave," Tezuka explains.

The groups fell silent. As been planed and timed, they all turned towards Eiji.

"Huh?" he asked, retreating behind Oishi.

"Tell us what you knew, Kikumaru," Inui asks the acrobat.

"Fuji did call me last night," Eiji said quietly. "And?" taka-san enquires. "He asked me, when I first played with snow. And I laughed. I said, 'what kind of question is that?' and he asked me again the question. I answered that I don't remember, and he told me, when he first play with snow, he was in Germany. He said that he was 5, and it was the first time he saw something as white and pure like that, but it's cold. I laughed at him, telling that it is snow. Ice, of course it's cold. And I told him that, if he wants to tell me stories, he can tell me the next morning, which is this morning, because it was 3 in the morning, and I want to go to bed. And then he told me…" Eiji grew silent.

"He told you what?" Kaidoh asks. When Eiji remains silent, Oishi starts shaking his partner. "He told you what, Eiji?"

"He told me that…he told me that he died covered in snow. He died and he's not supposed to be here anymore. He supposed to be in that grave, down there, instead of up here, playing tennis. And he told me…," deep breath, "that he should return to be in his grave. I laughed. I laughed so hard I nearly cried. And then I replied that maybe he should, since it's his grave, and he told me, 'really? I know you understand, Eiji,' and then he told me that he loves me and hung up the phone. Ne, Oishi, he's not serious, right? He was being playful with me, which is why he kept saying all those weird stuff to me, right?"

"I guess so, Eiji. It's not possible that he's dead and still playing with us,"

"I know that…but his voice…he sounds so…empty. I'm worry, Eiji. What if something bad happened to Fuji? How is he?"

No one realizes that Taka-san's face turns pale after Eiji's story. They all decided to head home and wished for the Fuji's to be alright and return back to normal after their leave's end. Taka-san only nods and heads to his home.

When he arrives in his room, he grabs a photo frame from his study table and run a finger across the plastic surface. He sighs and looks out into the slowly falling snow outside his window. His expression is hard to pick but one can say that happy is far.