A/N: Please forgive me for updating so late!

"So, Kuo, about our next boys-only trip, let's invite Len and Luki too! How's that sound?"

Mikuo couldn't catch what Akaito was saying. "Uh... What did you say?"

"I said, let's invite Len and Luki to our next boys-only trip." Akaito looked at Mikuo, a little worried. It's not like Mikuo to ask someone to repeat.

"Oh... sure..." Mikuo rubbed his forehead. His head hurt.

"Kuo, you okay? You look so pale..." Akaito worriedly touched Mikuo's hand. It was cold. "Kuo?"

"Yeah?" Mikuo could hardly keep his eyelids from shutting.

"Are you alright? Hey, Kuo...!"

Mikuo didn't manage to make out what Akaito said as the whole world blacked out in front of him.

"Hey, Kuo!" Alarms went off inside Akaito's head as he shook Mikuo's body furiously without getting any response. "Kuo!"

Holding back tears of fright, Akaito ran out to get anyone who could help. As he looked around frantically, he ran into Luki.

"Akaito...? What's the rush?" Luki asked, startled by Akaito's desperate expression.

"It's Kuo! He... I dunno what happened but he just went down like that!" Akaito screamed.

"Where is he?" Panic started welling up inside Luki.

"My room! In my room!" Akaito couldn't help raising his voice.

"Alright. Now you go get Meito and I'll go look after him," Luki instructed before running in the direction of Akaito's room. It piqued his interest, though. What were they doing in Akaito's room? He decided to save that for later.

Akaito went on to search for Meito. He didn't need to look for long. Meito was in the office, looking through papers as usual.

"Meito!" Akaito shouted, barging into the neat office. "Kuo fainted!"

Meito put down the papers and stood up immediately. "Take me to him. Quick!" He tried to hide his shaky voice. It wouldn't help to cause more uneasiness.

As Akaito led the way, he could feel the tense atmosphere around Meito, but he could also sense the latter's efforts to stay calm.

No wonder Meito's the big brother.

When they reached the room, Luki had already called for the ambulance.

Meito had confidence that Luki, the doctor of the house, knew what's wrong. "What happened, Luki?"

"... Poison," Luki said, a puzzled expression clear on his face. "Mikuo's poisoned."

Meito frowned deeply. As he was about to ask on the details, the wail of an ambulance siren interrupted him.

Right. Mikuo's safety first. Other matters later.

After getting Mikuo to the hospital and making sure he receives treatment as soon as possible, the three of them finally had the time and heart to talk.

"You sure it's poison?" Meito asked Luki first thing.

Luki brushed his pink bangs away from his face. "Pretty sure. But how come...?" His voice trailed off.

Akaito didn't say anything as he sat on a chair. He couldn't even register anything the other two said in his state of shock.

"Is someone after him?" Meito wondered out loud. "Or did he poison himself?" Knowing Mikuo's past, it wouldn't surprise Meito if Mikuo really did poison himself.

"I can't answer that, Meito." Luki gestured at Akaito. "Maybe Akaito might know something."

Meito glanced at the redhead. "He needs to pull himself together for now..."

Luki sighed in disappointment. "No clues then."

Akaito's lips moved and a weak voice came out from his throat. "Is he gonna... die?"

The two men didn't know how to answer that. Silence reigned until Luki said, "I don't know."

Meito sighed. "I'll go call up Miku and the others." He turned and headed outside.

"Luki... what should I do if he dies?" Akaito's fingers played with his scarf.

"I don't know." Luki's sapphire eyes stared at the ceiling.

"Isn't there anything you know?" Akaito asked mournfully.

"I don't know."

Akaito sniffled as tears brimmed in his eyes. "I love him very much."

"We all love the kid." Luki nodded. "He's so cute..."

"He's really good to me... He even let me read his diary..."

"Yeah..."

"He didn't scold me when I lost it..."

"Oh..."

"He was nice to Muri-chan despite being jealous of her..."

Luki sat down in a chair next to Akaito. "Now that I think of it, why were you two in your room?"

Akaito blinked. "I got tired of talking to him in his room so I asked him over. I can hug Beanie while talking to Kuo, too."

"..."

Akaito sniffled. "I wanna know more about him and talk to him more often..."

"I know... I wanna do that too."

"What if I couldn't get the chance to do that anymore?"

Meito came back. "Miku's on the way here. The others will be coming later."

The two nodded.

Not long after...

Miku ran straight up to Meito who was waiting at the front door of the hospital. "How's my Mikuo?" she immediately asked.

"He's alive." Meito answered. Mikuo had been successfully rescued and sent to rest in a ward.

"Of course he is! He's my little brother! How is he right now?" Miku asked impatiently.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Meito said, leading the way.

Inside the white room, Akaito sat beside Mikuo's bed, admiring the boy's long eyelashes. He never actually noticed before how... pretty Mikuo was.

Just then, Mikuo cracked open one eye. "... Akaito?"

"Kuo!" Akaito hugged his friend. "They said you're poisoned and I'm so worried that you'd die!"

"Poison?"

"But everything's okay now because they saved you!"

Mikuo gently pushed his friend away. "Poison, huh..."

"Mikuo!" Miku burst into the room. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Mikuo smiled at his sister.

"How come you're poisoned? Do you have any idea?" Miku asked worriedly.

"I used poison the last time I attempted suicide..." Mikuo lowered his head.

"You're so stupid!" Akaito was the one who responded instead. "What's so nice about suicide anyway! Everyone's panicking when you fainted, you know! What will we do if you died?!"

"But the last suicide attempt was before he met everyone," Meito reminded him.

Mikuo shook his head. "I was in depression for a while when Akaito got his girlfriend and left me alone."

"Mmh, anyway, what's important is that Mikuo's alright," Luki said, happy that he could finally get a word in.

"Yeah!" Akaito grinned.

Mikuo smiled. "Thank you all. I'm really glad to have friends like you."

"We're glad to have such a cute friend too." Meito chuckled.

"I'm glad to have you as my brother!" Miku said and gave Mikuo a hug.

Mikuo had on his most brilliant smile yet.

The crowd of Vocaloids that came in afterwards almost forced Mikuo into unconsciousness again, but he didn't mind. Not at all.

A/N: It's such a joyful feeling to know that you're loved, right? :D

This is the longest chapter I've written yet. O_O