Witch's thought's: have a new chapter! the manga ended and quite strangely, if you ask me, but it has a sequel! if you didn't know, go read it right now, because it's worth it!

I'd like to thank Absalon95 and yaoianimelover88 for their reviews! I hope now the chapters will appear more frequently :)

Also, this chapter may be a little sad, but I thunk that's the majority of angst that I planned for the story. So from now on, it should be all better... see for yourselves and don't forget to tell me what you think!

Enjoy~

Ryouta felt bad. Really sick, actually. His head was spinning, when he emerged from tiring, shallow sleep. He tried to open his eyes, but seeing colofrul dots in technicolour that made him even more nauseous, he closed them quickly. Moaning, he caught something nearby to support himself on, since some movement from behind him nearly made him fall from something he was half-sitting half-leaning on.

Through pink mist in his head, he heard indistinct voices.

"...can't belive it!"

"... well, not that it was suprising. But call them just in case something really happens and they..."

"... yeah, right. As if he couldn't get drunk another time!..."

"... hey, what are you so defensive about, onii-..."

"... quiet, it's connecting. Ma'am? Yes, I'm his friend and he's staying with me and my sister. Somethin came up and we have to plan..."

I'm kidnapped, thought Ryouta with wild happiness. He didn't know why, but he wanted to laugh out loud. Lately he was feeling so down, that right now he didn't care anymore. Everything was meaningless, his life was a total mess and what would it change if he was actually kidnapped for real? Nothing really, so why should he care.

Ryouta was resigned. And as a result, he dived head-first into oblivion, not understanding that it was only the beginning and how much more hurtful it would get this way.

/

When he woke up once again, the headache he experienced nearly split his head open. Leaving half-way his first objective to sit up and look around, Ryouta slid back down onto a pillow and grabbed his head into his hands, as if to prevent it from exploding from buzzing pain.

Some merciful soul covered him head-up with a blanket, blocking the lights that made Ryouta's eyes water from stinging. He sighed a little, feeling some relief, listening to muffled thudding in his head. Then, some cogs moved in his tortured brain and a sudden thought made him stiffen. He should be in his room, right? Alone? And if not, his parents wouldn't let him live through if they caught him drunk? Because he was drunk as a log, right? Well, now he was hungover, but it didn't make much of a difference for a furious parent. So if not in his own house, in his own room, where in the world was he...?

Ryouta felt his throat contract and become even more dry than it already have been. At the moment he was gathering up the courage to open his hurting eyes and peek from under the blanket, the lights went out and he heard somebody's whisper.

"What are you thinking? Light must be a pain for him. And here, some water. When he wakes up give it to him, he must be quite dehydrated."

"Okay."

"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

"Right."

Then, at least two people. Ryouta thought about it for a little, fighting an urge to cry every time his head throbbed. They seemed well informed about his condition and quite friendly. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to see...

"Oi, Kise. I know you're not asleep anymore."

Hearing this particular voice made Ryouta stiffen even more and lose his breath. Against his better judgement, he hauled himself upwards, already regretting that the moment he did, but this way facing his senpai directly. When he saw Kasamatsu-san's stormy-grey gaze, he shivered from head to toe.

"Feeling better already?" Kasamatsu-senpai asked, cocking his eyebrow. Ryouta whimpered and felt as if he was about to faint. Not able to withstand the other's stare, he lowered his eyes. And that was a mistake, because then he saw he was naked uder the covers. He yelped and drew the blanket over himself in an instant.

"Calm down, idiot. There is noone else here beside me. Mina is in the kitchen."

Ryouta didn't want to say that was exactly the problem, since he correctly assumed senpai would hit him for being stupid. He drew in a shaky breath and tried to calm down.

"Now, before I beat you up for being so bloody idiotic, tell me if you remember anything. Can't have a deja-vu here."

Feeling discouraged he was going to be punished one way or another, Ryouta forced his hurting head to work. Slowly at first, but with speeding conviction that he couldn't have been deceived into drinking like that, since he wasn't a lightweight, Ryouta found some memories that seemed to be from the evening before, but at the same time didn't make any sense. He looked at Kasamatsu-senpai with expression of a lost, hurt puppy and hoped for the best. It worked; senpai got mad, but at the same time sighed with resignation and didn't hit him.

"Okay, correct me, if you remember something..."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Earlier that day

After being dropped outside his house by Yoshizawa-san, Ryouta limped into his room and right away fell onto his bed with a heavy sigh. Not only he was feeling tired, but also sick and wanted to cry his eyes out. But at the same time, he felt that it was pointless to do so, because even if he cried until he didn't have any more tears, he wouldn't feel better at all. Being left alone, since he couldn't talk with anybody about that unrequired love of his, Ryouta felt worse and worse with every day passing and today seemed to be the lowest of them all. He wasn't up for the job he loved, he couldn't focus in school so his grades dropped and above all, he saw that his beloved person was kissing some other. To top it, it was a girl, which for Ryouta held double meaning – his senpai was straight as an arrow and "normal", which meant he would have ordinary, sucessful life, with a wife by his side. Not him, not Kise Ryouta, not the person who loved him more than he would imagine so himself. Not him, never not him.

Ryouta felt a hot tear running down his cheek and suddenly, his throat contracted painfully from a need to cry out. He stuffed that feeling deep inside himself. There would be no use to give in to that. He had enough trouble to hide his puffy, red eyes in the morning from not sleeping and lying in his bed, thinking. He didn't need to be swollen from crying too.

He walked over to his mirror that was hanging on the wall opposite to the bed. Looking at himself, thinner and paler than he remembered, Ryouta felt a twitch of guilt at how he neglected his own body, losing his undisputable charm. But soon after, the twitch was engulfed in pure, dark despair surging through his heart and dissappeared, instantly forgotten. The darkness stayed, making Ryouta feel strangely calm and quiet. Hollow. And cold, oh so very cold...

With mechanical movements, not really seeing what he was doing, Ryouta changed his clothes to more comfortable ones and went out, not even caring to key the door to his house.

/

Walking without sparing a thought for it made Ryouta wander into part of the town he rarely visited. However, when he jerked into reality from his thoughts, he found himself standing right in the center of colorfully decorated square, with several people staring at him, whispering enthusiastically. As a popular model Ryouta knew quite well what was going to happen and so, he tried to nonchalantly step away, but it only made everything worse. Five minutes later, he was running away at full speed, trying to lose a group of squealing girls, chasing after him with cell phones and cameras.

Sharply turning around the corner and blessing the hard practice that he received in manouvering at Kaijo, Ryouta slipped, bumped his arm painfully at some wall, got up from his knees and continued to run. He made his way through the crowd of people coming there to watch christmas decorations and lights, things he himself ignored until now, but then realized that the more the people on the street, the highest the chance to lose his pursuers. He turned right and jumped into first entrance he could see. That one had a curtain at the door, blocking the cold and at the same time giving him some time to hide from the girls that came running after him.

Ryouta sighed with relief that turned out to be premature, because only then he noticed that the bouncer of the pub was looking at him suspiciously from his corner. Feeling of cold sweat at his neck even though he was hot from running made Ryouta's head spin; he regretted coming out of his house to now be eyed up and down by this huge, muscled guy. He wanted to say he was just going away, no need to be alarmed sir, but the guy barked something about children getting in the place they shouldn't be and Ryouta felt anger stirring his cold heart. He wasn't a child!

Before he could erupt into heated argument he was definitely going to lose, Ryouta felt himself being strongly pulled by his collar. Again. He paled from fury, losing his footing and having his mind confused.

"I've got it, Haji. Don't trouble yourself."

Once more, Ryouta was hauled to his feet and then dragged into the pub, against his loudly shouted complaints. Because he was held by his collar, he had to walk backwards, yelling while not even seeing his abductor. When he was finally let go, he sprung to his feet.

"Now, I'll be damned! If it isn't Ryo-chan!"

Ryouta, who started to swear violently, stopped dead in his tracks, dumbfounded. The person who dragged him halfway across the place with great strenght was a woman! And not very tall or muscular at that! How come?! But, more importantly, how did she know his name? Did she recognize him as a model?!

The woman was very short, as he observed previously and above all, he was sure he hadn't seen her anywhere before. She was a blonde, with heavy, black make-up on her eyes and without lipstick. She looked terrible like that, her complexion seemingly whiter than it really was and overall, she could be taken as much older than she was. Not many women Ryouta encountered wanted such an outcome, so he deduced it was not intentional – the woman was just bad at make up.

She straightened her black clothes that got ruffled, when she was wrestling with Ryouta and beamed him a wide smile.

"So, Ryo-chan, what are you doing here? Got here by accident?"

Ryouta decided he had to be direct.

"Sorry, m'am, but do I know you?" he uttered, bewildered with himself that the words failed him. The woman blinked at him in surprise and then laughed.

"I guess you do, Ryo-chan. Have a look and you'll remember."

She parted her hair to form two ponytails on each side of her head, still smiling sunnily and in Ryouta's head finally something clicked.

"You're that..." he chocked on his words, encountering another problem. He didn't remember her name!

"Haven't been introduced to each other formally now, have we? Sawada Mirai. Nice to meet you Ryo-chan."

Taking advantage that Ryouta was a little bit ashamed of himself and confused, she took his hand and led him to corner of the bar, where the music was quieter and they could talk.

"So? What are you doing here?"

Ryouta looked at her carefully, for the first time since encountering her. She looked tired and much less enegetic than in the hairdresser's. Also, her clothing suggested she was a regular in this bar, since it was black, cheap and easy to wash. Ryouta wondered what she was doing here for a job. But before he managed to ask her or even think of asking in a polite, hidden way, a strange man appeared on the other side of the counter.

"The usual, Mi-chan? You look beat, something happened?"

Mirai smiled with only one side of her mouth.

"Nothing much, Maa-chan. This is my friend, Ryo-chan." she beckoned at Ryouta, who could swear that in the dim light of the club he was seeing that man in a lipstick. "Ryo-chan, this is Yonekura Masato, the bartender here."

Ryouta was full of suspicions right this moment. He wasn't looking around much before, stunned by unexpected encounter and getting free from the chasers, but now a feeling creeping up his spine told him it was a high time to do it.

When he did, he shuddered. Maa-chan really had lipstick on, being undisputably a man and around them, dancing, drinking and having fun were men. A lot of them, many together in... much intimate poses. There were few women and all of them were stuck to the others.

"Feeling endangered here?" asked Mirai, slowly, leisurely, sipping from a glass that Maa-chan left before her. Ryouta stiffened on his bar stool.

"Don't worry, Ryo-chan." Mirai wasn't looking at him anymore, focused on observing the bottom of her drink. "You're a minor, so I'll protect you."

Her proclamation didn't help much to ease Ryouta's uneasiness. He was with someone he barely knew in a place he would rather not be and he didn't know what he should do to sneak away safely. All those problems were giving him headache and he was sweating a lot.

"But how did you get here? Is Ryo-chan interested in this kind of thing?"

Ryouta told her about the girls chasing him, strongly denying any interest in such a place, now clearly seeing that it was a pub for gays. He gulped.

"Why are you so scared?" Mirai was still smiling at him with her strange, unfitting smile. "It's not like they are gonna jump you, you know."

They sat in silence for a while, music thumping loud in their ears. But since Mirai was not saying anything, staring at her glass, Ryouta just didn't know what to say. He felt so uncomfortable he thought he was going to puke, but at the same time his mind seemed like a pitch-black, empty place and he couldn't conjure a thought of what he should or could do.

The bartender appeared. He looked worried.

"Mi-chan, I know you are tired, but I think there is some trouble by the toilets. Could you please go and teach the boys how it is done here?"

Without a word, Mirai nodded and slipped from her stool into the crowd. Ryouta was amazed.

"Is it really safe for her to go?" he asked before he could stop himself. The man scowled.

"You don't know? I thought you're her friend? Mi-chan will be okay. Just look."

Following his finger pointing into right direction, Ryouta saw that the people moved a little and by the next wall, near dimly lit door, Mirai was just overpowering a guy two times her height, by kicking him in the back of his knees and twisting his elbow. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but the man seemed to be screaming from pain from his imprisoned arm. When two other guys moved to help their friend, Mirai just spun around and seconds later one of them was lying on the floor, unconscious and the other was subdued as well, being led to the exit, where Mirai left him in loving hands of Haji the bouncer.

"Wha.."

"See? Told ya. Mi-chan is the best."

When Mirai came back to her sitting place, Ryouta was still staring at her in awe.

"Close your mouth Ryo-chan." she said, unexpectedly sternly. "That's my job here. Surprised?"

"Not as much as from the fact that you are so good at martial arts!" Ryouta said honestly. In his eyes she was looking so delicate and harmless that he had still problems with believing in what he saw with his own eyes. Mirai shrugged.

"Mi-chan used to be the champion, Ryo-chan." the bartender took the girl's glass and refilled it. "She was the best out there before she..."

"Maa-chan." Mirai interrupted, visibly annoyed. "You have such a loud mouth."

Ryouta didn't know what made her so mad, but apparently they touched a sensitive subject. He tried to mediate, but instead of releasing the tension, it shot sky-high, because they both focused on him. Not wanting, but somehow forced to, he told both of them of his strange feelings today.

Mirai believed him, when he said he wasn't planning on coming here, because, well, he really wasn't. The point was that when he was leaving his house, all of this made sense. Now, he wasn't even sure about what it was that made him wander here. His headache just got stronger.

"So, you were troubled, Ryo-chan?" Mirai looked at him, mischevious grin on her face. Ryouta didn't like that look, because she caused him to feel so... cheap. "What kind of trouble is so hard for a kid like you? You guys don't know what trouble means."

Maybe if she said it with a sad expression or annoyance, Ryouta would not think much of it. But because she just stated it, like a fact, that something important for him, causing him a heartache from despair was just some idiotic child problems, he snapped. His vision turned red, his head started to buzz with his blood flowing loudly in his ears; it was the second time this evening he got angry so abruptly and quickly. He scared himself with such reactions, but those responsible thoughts drowned in a furious whirl of offended emotions. However, Ryouta didn't get to know what he was capable of in such a state, because Mirai was once again needed to 'take care of the boys', so she slipped away, just in time to avoid Ryouta's outstretched hands. Not having an enemy to focus on, his eyes turned to the glass Mirai left. Feeling brave and not thinking too much about it, he downed it in one gulp, not listening to objections of suddenly paled Maa-chan.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"And that's how you took a glass full of Shochu." Kasamatsu-senpai snorted, but his face was twisted in disgusted expression. During his tale Ryouta was gradually sliding down, so by the time he finished, Ryota was well under the blanket and thinking about digging through the globe to America. His face burned with blush so hot, he felt lightheaded again.

"I want to die." he mumbled through pillow, blanket and a set of sheets.

"Understandable." senpai stated calmly, his voice indicating that if some underage idiot drank so much alcohol at once and got away with it without any hangover, it would be too unfair. Ryouta didn't want to argue that it wasn't exactly his point, but he dismissed the issue. He didn't want to be hit, he felt bad enough already. Why was his life so miserable and he was making himself look more moronic that usual before the person he liked? Why, exactly?

"But don't worry, Mirai-san wasn't angry." Kasamatsu-senpai continued in monotone, everyday voice that somehow calmed Ryouta more than his words. "She called nee-san, because she knew we both go to Kaijo and asked us to pick you up, since she couldn't get away from work. And I called your mom, so don't worry about that either. Just now you have to get better, so I can kill you properly. Understand?"

"But, senpai..."

"Quiet, Kise. I don't know what happened to make you so trashed before the shochu, but Mirai-san was apparently worried about you. You have been strange for a while now. Something the matter? Do you have something to tell me?"

When Ryouta didn't answer, Kasamatsu-senpai patted a small hill of blankets that he hoped was Kise's head.

"You don't have to tell me, but you'd feel bettrer if you do. Or so Mina says. Now, rest. I'm going to take care of school and tell them you're sick."

After Kasamatsu-senpai's footsteps headed into direction of assumed kitchen, Ryouta relaxed a little. Being alone now was what he wanted and needed desperately. He hugged the pillow closer and buried his red face in it. Listening to a quiet talk going on behind closed doors, Ryouta thought of his senpai taking care of him, patting his head and worrying of him and wept, careful not to be heard.