A/N: Minna-san! Here's a new chapter. I know I just updated about 2 days ago, but i got too excited seeing all the reviews. Plus! It's Christmas vacation but I'll be back in class by January 5 so my updates might take a bit longer. Don't worry (I think)! I'll find time. Enjoy this chapter and it's absurdness.

~Shintori Khazumi

P.S: Before I forget, thanks everyone for reading… thanks for the follows favorites and reviews. I kinda have a habit of PMing people… I don't know why but I enjoy the privacy. K I'm getting off track just like the people in the story so…. once again, ENJOY!

"HONOKA-CHAN?!"

To say that Kotori was shocked, was an understatement. She was bewildered. She walked closer to the fallen figure lying on the ground. As she came closer, her suspicions were confirmed.

"Honoka-chan? Are you ok?" Kotori asked as she knelt down beside Honoka's body and placed her head on her lap, knowing that she could not carry Honoka by herself.

"Honoka-chan, answer me… " Honoka had her eyes closed, her face slightly flushed and her breathing was rough. "Honoka-chan, please wake up." Kotori said, lightly patting Honoka's right cheek. "Please be ok. I'll try calling for help." It was beginning to snow a lot harder than earlier and Kotori was wondering if a storm was headed there, worse case, it already was there.

"Minna! Umi-chan, Nico-chan! Eri-chan, Nozomi-chan, Maki-chan! Where are you guys? I found Honoka!" Kotori screamed, her voice echoing through the misty air.

"…RI!" She heard a voice shout back. "…tori-chan!" "Kotori-chan! Shout again!" the voice was now clearer indicating that the owner was nearby. And that owner just so happened to be Nozomi.

"Nozomi-chan!" Relief was evident in Kotori's voice. Although Nozomi was there, she was still wondering. "Where's everybody else?"

"Oh… I don't know, actually." Nozomi said in a calm and matter-of-factly voice. Kotori sighed, exasperated. How were they supposed to save Honoka now?

"Oh, we can just carry her, you and I." Nozomi said, as if she could read Kotori's thoughts and Kotori could do nothing, but stare at her dumbfounded.

"What?" Nozomi asked with all the innocence in the world.

"N-nevermind. Yeah, I guess we should try carrying Honoka, even if it's only the two of us." Kotori said, considering Nozomi's offer since it was the only way to "save" Honoka.

"Good. So can we hurry now? It's been snowing really hard on us and Honoka is too cold." Nozomi gestured toward Honoka, who was only wearing a long-sleeved, blue shirt with a matching pair of shorts. So, it was definitely too cold for her. Kotori began to panic, seeing Honoka so pale had knocked common sense back into her head. Also, she was starting to (actually) feel the cold that she had been ignoring before, due to her worrying over "more important things".

Now, Nozomi and Kotori were carrying Honoka with one of her arms wrapped around each of the girls' shoulder. Honoka was unconscious, so it was a little harder to carry her in this snow storm. Kotori made a mental note to always check the weather report for cases like this. Interestingly, all the members of µ's were thinking the same thing. (I'll never know the reason behind their irresponsibility directed toward this issue in my own story…)

After walking for about 5 minutes, Nozomi and Kotori began noticing the figures through the mist. Now Kotori had to know if this was a storm she hadn't heard of, maybe even a blizzard.

"Girls!" Eli yelled once she spotted them carrying (dragging) an unconscious Honoka, her voice drowned out by the harsh winds. "I think there is a blizzard right now."

"You just figured that out?!" Nico exclaimed, clearly baffled by everyone's ignorance toward the horrible weather. Everyone just ignored her.

"We should all go now, unless someone still has to do something." Umi suggested.

"Oh yeah, we still have to make snow angels in this fantastic storm!" Nico replied sarcastically, clearly wanting to warm herself by the fire, while watching A-rise's latest PV (and snuggling up to Maki). But no... They just had to wait here for Nozomi and Kotori to return because Eli was practically glued to the floor upon hearing that Nozomi and Kotori were still missing, especially Nozomi of course. But she'd never admit that, right? Oh, they still ignored Nico. Poor Nico…

"Ok everyone, let's go." Eli commanded, voice firm now that she was sure that everyone (Nozomi) was here.

It took a while, but everyone arrived home safely, although their parents were worried sick trying to think of where the girls have been and what they've been doing at a time like this. Nozomi and Kotori, along with Umi took Honoka to the hospital and called her parents informing them of Honoka's current situation. Basically, she was in a very bad condition. (Who wouldn't be, after staying out in the cold for who knows how long, while "other people" were deciding if they should make snowmen or take her to the hospital to be admitted.)

After making sure she was ok and waiting for the arrival of Honoka's family, they finally went home to rest their own tired bodies.

Once Kotori arrived in her house, she immediately went to her room, took a warm bath, changed her clothes, and just stayed in her room lying down on her bed thinking.

Was she really the cause of Honoka's problem? Or problems? If so, how could she fix it? Honoka was probably sick already, so is the only way to fix this… whatever this is… should I just stay away from her from now on?

Negative thoughts shrouded Kotori's mind. She could have just stayed like that if her ringtone didn't break the train of thoughts in her mind.

She looked at the caller ID and it turned out to be Nozomi.

"Hello? Nozomi-chan?" Kotori answered her phone, wondering why the spiritual mother of µ's was calling her at such a time.

"Avoiding her won't solve anything, you know. It might just make things worse." Nozomi advised and Kotori's breath hitched. She quickly recoverd, accepting the fact that Nozomi was almost always right. Not questioning how she found out about the things that were troubling her, Kotori replied "straight to the point as usual, huh Nozomi-chan."

"Of course. If I wasn't a straight-to-the-point type of person, I don't know how I would've handled accidentally confessing to Eli-chi." Nozomi shared with a playful voice, somehow she felt as if the topic was shifting away from why she had originally called Kotori. She decided not to push her advice any further.

"I still am in awe at how you just know these things. It may creep your precious Eli-chi out." Kotori responded with the same amount of playfulness.

"My Eli-chi? Oh , she won't mind it one bit." Kotori couldn't help but think that this statement had a double meaning, but decided not to look into it too much.

"Well, I just hope you're holding up ok, Kotori. Remember, bottle up your feelings too much…" Nozomi reminded.

"… And the bottle will explode. I know already, Nozomi-chan. Don't worry about me. I'll… figure something out." Kotori finished Nozomi's reminder and tried to reassure the third year.

"That's exactly why I worry about you. Goodnight Kotori-chan."

"Thanks. Goodnight Nozomi-chan." Kotori sighed, placing her phone beside her.

It was going to be a longer night than she had expected.

A/N: And that's it for today. I feel like this chapter is kind of… I don't know… missing something perhaps? I tried mixing weird things that might not make sense like how they all are very absent-minded, but I haven't mentioned the other characters much. Yeah, the little Kotori Nozomi moment just had to be there. I even wanted Kotori to go "goodnight onee-chan" or something but decided against it. It might be a little awkward, but it's hard… anyways… I'll be going somewhere tomorrow so… I'll have to do something about this. I gotta update the other one soon too… Well then… THANKS again for reading. Always trying to improve…

~Shintori Khazumi