Yuya groaned tiredly as he finally came around. At first he had no idea where he was or what was going on. His head was throbbing and his vision was blurred. When his mind finally began to clear, the first thing he heard was ear-splitting laughter.

"Wha-What the?"

He shook his head a few times till his vision cleared, and he was able to see where he was. He was shocked to find it was one of the corridors at school, and that he was sat on the floor against a row of lockers surrounded by a hoard of laughing students. He clambered to his feet, placing a hand on the side of his head as the pain returned.

"What's going on?" He asked the people around him, but they were all too busy laughing their heads off.

"What's so funny?" He asked, genuinely confused. A few people in the front row pointed at him, causing Yuya even more confusion. He looked down at himself and gasped. Now he knew why everyone was laughing. He was currently sporting a crop top with a pink heart on it, a pink tutu with matching tights and red high heels.

Once the shock wore off, the humiliation of the situation finally set in. His face burned an even darker red than his hair and he shrunk in on himself slightly, not even having the strength to defend himself right now. He was just about to make a run for it, when he noticed something that made the violent red colour drain out of his face. Just a few feet away, was Varsch and Zuzu, and both of them were pointing and laughing at him. Suddenly everyone else having a good laugh at his expense was drowned out, and all he could hear was the horrid laughter of his long time friend. They very person who'd stuck by him throughout everything he'd been through. One of the few people who stood by him when his father disappeared. The girl he'd fallen in love with, was now pointing and laughing as he was humiliated in front of the whole school. That was just too much for him. He took off down the hall, his tears trailing behind him and laughter ringing in his ears.

Earlier…

"Hi." Varsch said warmly, wrapping his arms round Zuzu's waist.

"Hey." She greeted, with a giggle.

"So I talked to Yuya yesterday."

"You did?" She interrupted. "Did you work things out?"

"I'm not sure, he said he felt awful and he was going to make up for what he did by doing something stupid and humiliating."

Zuzu sighed, that sounded like Yuya. He'd probably dress up like a clown and fool around like he use to.

"He asked that we laugh with everyone at him, as a sign that we've forgiven him."

"Oh, okay."

She wasn't a hundred percent sure about this. And was even less sure when they came across her long-time friend dressed up like a 7-year-old girl.

"What was he thinking?" Varsch asked, looking incredulous.

"Oh, Yuya." Zuzu groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead.

"Quick, lets just laugh so he can be satisfied and get changed." Varsch said. Zuzu nodded and the two of them started pointing and laughing. Zuzu was surprised yet again when Yuya looked her way, his expression was so… hurt. Hadn't he wanted this? Suddenly he took off down the hall, and Zuzu swore she could see tears trailing behind him.

Yuya didn't notice Zuzu's sudden confusion, he just kept running. All he could see was her cruel, laughing face. He couldn't believe one of his best friends would laugh at him like that, didn't she see how upset he was? He stopped dead as a thought struck him. That maybe what those five idiots had said last night was true. That Zuzu really didn't care about him, that she'd finally realised what a loser he is and had decided to join the crowd in teasing him.

"Huh?" He snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed he was once again surrounded by a bunch of laughing people. "Stop it!" He cried, but it only made them laugh harder. His blush deepened and he took off once again, this time to find somewhere he could hide.

In the meantime, Zuzu and Varsch had started looking for Yuya, Zuzu was beginning to worry about him, he'd really been acting weird lately. Varsch just didn't want to look suspicious. He'd reveal the truth to Zuzu at some point, but only once she trusted him enough that it completely broke her heart.

"Can you hear that?" Zuzu asked.

"Hmm?" Varsch looked up from his thoughts, and as a matter of fact, he could he something. A soft sniffling, and it was coming from the stairwell just a few feet from them. The two of them walked over and followed the sound to the small space underneath the stairs. It was there that they found Yuya. Still in the ridiculous pink get up, and sobbing into his knees.

"Yuya?" Zuzu said cautiously. Yuya looked up, and Zuzu was surprised to see he looked somewhat afraid.

"It's okay I know." Yuya said. "I won't bother you anymore,"

He got up to leave but Zuzu stopped him.

"Wait, what are you talking about, Yuya's what's been up with you lately?"

She looked so sincere, Yuya almost thought he'd been wrong, that everything was going to be alright. But then he caught sight of Varsch behind her and remembered the deal they'd made, he would have to push Zuzu away. For her own safety.

"You're the one who's acting different!" He yelled at her.

"What?"

"You always spend time with him now." Yuya cried, pointing an accusing finger at Varsch. "I guess our friendship doesn't mean as much as I thought it did."

"What are you talking about!" Zuzu said, sounding increasingly angry.

"I'm saying, until you start acting like a proper friend you can just leave me alone."

Yuya pushed past Zuzu, who just stood stock still, too shocked to move.

"Well done." Varsch whispered as Yuya walked past him. Yuya hated that he'd been backed into a corner like this, but would do anything to keep his friends out of it.