The audio from last chapter is actually real, and it's from this video /watch?v=nhkgXOUDetc

It's actually pretty interesting.


Maru opened her eyes and blinked a few times while her blurry vision gave way to a clear image of a high school girl dressing up. She covered her eyes and in an instant turned her whole body to the other side to avoid being rude. It's not as if she'd seen her underwear or anything, the girl was fully dressed except for her socks and shoes, but it was embarrassing nonetheless. Good thing she was not looking this way.

She uncovered her eyes and now a sleeping redhead appeared in her field of vision. "She's so cute", she thought, and actually said out loud.

"Oh, you're awake Hanamaru-san? Breakfast is going to be ready soon."

Maru turned again, facing Dia now without problem. The girl didn't seem to mind being seen while she put her knee socks on, so why should Maru?

"Thanks. Umm..."

"Yes?" Dia turned her head to Maru, still bent over, expecting the question.

"Umm... Why am I at your room?"

"Huh?" The older girl stood up, incredulous.

"Ehh..."

"Wait, you actually don't remember? You came here at night crying because your cellphone was bothering you. Ruby calmed you down and you slept without a sound. After that you…"

"Alright, alright, I remember now."

"By the way, how are you feeling?" Dia continued dressing up.

"I'm feeling way too good. Slept like a baby except for an... incident, if you will. I actually had nightmares but then a cute angel covered me in her arms and protected me from all evil."

Dia just coughed and turned her head away. She must've thought it was extremely corny. Maru didn't blame her.

"T-That aside, how are you feeling? That cough better not be because you're stressing so much."

"Thanks for your concern, but no. There is no way this Kurosawa is falling to sickness."

Dia was very confident in her strength and beamed a cocky smile at the younger girl, but Maru noticed she was a bit red in her face. Knowing how stubborn Dia is, she dropped the subject. Maru might have to use Ruby later in order to check on Dia.

"I'm going to eat. Wake Ruby up when you're ready."

"Okay."

Maru waited until she was sure Dia had left the room. She crawled with her blanket still on top, through a futon and a half and stared down at Ruby's closed eyes. She ran a hand through her hair, and caressed her forehead before planting a kiss into it. After that, she spun 180 degrees, covering her face in embarrassment. 'Maru, control yourself' she repeated a few times. She finally did, and faced Ruby once more, this time just calling her name a few times. "Ruby-chan, wake up. Hey. Ruby-channnnn"
Ruby's face twisted into a confused look, then into a sleepy smile.

"Good morning" she said, and Maru's morning became good.

Maru also made sure to not touch her phone, even after being told what happened and having the file deleted, so it remained at Ruby's place.


The rest of the day was pretty uneventful if you ignore the bump on Yoshiko's head at the first period and Maru's eventual apology minutes later.

The interesting bits, once again, came at night.

Maru was walking from the convenience store to her home. She carried cartons of milk and juice inside a yellow plastic bag. This was all she was carrying.

Everything was going normal until she decided she'd take a shortcut, it was done on a whim. She usually takes the normal route since the time she saves is not much considering she has to go through a dirt road with lots of weeds. At the end, she figured if she'd walk a bit faster than usual, the time saved would be much greater. She decided for the shortcut when she noticed how late it was getting, deeming it the best choice.

Maru got into it, trotting down the path. After ten minutes, she stopped and drank from a pot of water she had on her backpack. It was normal procedure.

Five minutes down the road and she noticed the sun going up. Five more minutes and she arrived at the destined place. She radioed her teammates to let them know she was in proximity. And started going without waiting for their reply. After three minutes of careful walk, making sure she didn't make noise, she found a clearing within the forest. She walked to the other side, avoiding the center and walking in a semi-circle, until she heard some faint crying close by. This was weird, so she traced back and went into the position she was before, still not able to pinpoint the location. It seemed to originate from all places at once, since no matter how much she moved, it was still at the same volume. That happened for a while, until the crying increased in intensity, but as usual, didn't seem to originate from anywhere. It was getting harder to breathe, the crying was making her feel guilty. Maru went into the middle of the clearing, and looked everywhere, spinning and turning until she, almost out of breath, noticed what was wrong. She found the source of the cry. It had been hers all along.

Maru woke up from her nightmare, she was sweaty and had a rough breathing but she was not crying.
She stared at the nothingness of night, not really thinking about the nightmare anymore, as it was already forgotten. Maru knew that she had a nightmare again, but not what happened within. She tried her best to calm herself down, trying to ignore she was alone and in the dark. Her mind wondered over to Ruby, and her breathing changed her pace from quick regular breaths to irregular ones, as she finally began to cry. It was a faint little cry, but intensified by the night's silence. She lamented Ruby's absence, then wondered where would she be had she not met her. Lastly, with her eyes still watery, smiled remembering old times.

This was the second nightmare-ridden night. Maru would confirm if she was stronger than Yoshiko if she slept peacefully the next one.


Hanamaru is cheating though. I'm pretty sure poor Yoshiko didn't have anybody to sleep with the first night :(