"What!?" Nio yelled, nearly spitting out her soda, "You and Isuke broke up?"

She stared at Haruki with wide eyes filled with surprise and confusion. This didn't come as a surprise to Haruki, as she'd been expecting her friend to react just like that.

"Yeah," she replied, trying to sound casual. If anything, she didn't want anyone to worry about her. That, and she didn't want to admit to herself that it was getting to her. She didn't want to be that weak. Not now. She had to be strong right now; for her family.

"No way!" exclaimed the blonde loudly, still having a hard time believing it."You two were such an awesome couple!"

"Sorry to tell you, but I think your amazing matchmaking skills failed you this time around," replied the other girl with a lighthearted laugh, one that felt forced and unnatural. She could only hope that Nio bought her cheap act and wouldn't ask questions.

"That's impossible. My matchmaking could never go wrong," she declared with a laugh, deciding to humor her for a little while. "I'm innocent."

Haruki chuckled at her, waving her arms dismissively.

"Fine, fine," she concurred, "Guess we were the ones who messed up, then."

"Well, of course," Nio answered cockily, as though she could never do anything wrong.

Haruki was glad that she was joking around a little. Her stupid comments and funny laugh always made her feel a little better, somehow.

"But what exactly happened between the two of you?" Nio asked, instantly becoming more serious.

She had been genuinely hoping that, for once in her life, Nio wouldn't pry and just leave things be, but her possibly infinite curiosity simply needed to be satisfied.

"It's… well, it's mom, you know," Haruki said, "She's not doing too good and the bills just keep piling up. Isuke-sama started asking question that I didn't want to answer, and I guess I was really stressed out, so I snapped at her."

Nio scratched her head as she paused to think for a while.

"And that's it? Doesn't seem like much to break up over," she stated.

Haruki would have agreed, had it just been that. But there had been so many secrets they'd kept from each other that it felt like a thick wall between them, hindering them from being themselves. With her working so much, they barely ever had time to be together. Eisuke pretty much hated her and wanted Isuke to be with some rich girl. And in the end, they'd had that fight.

There had just been so many problems with their relationship, and even then, Haruki had still found herself wanting to try and hold it together.

It wasn't before Isuke had kissed Sumireko that she'd let go of her last shred of hope.

"Well, there was something more, but I don't wanna talk about it."

"Oh," the short girl muttered, first now able to see how much this was affecting her, "I see; you don't have to tell me."

Hearing the worry in her voice, Haruki put on another smile and shrugged.

"It's ok, you don't have to look so guilty," she reassured her. For a few minutes, they both remained silent, unsure of what to talk about. Both of them knew it was best to move on from the former topic.

"Hey, Haruki," said Nio after a while. She didn't answer, but glanced over at her and raised her eyebrows, signalizing she was paying attention. "You know you can ask me if you need any money."

She didn't know exactly how the situation was, since she had decided to wait and see if Nio told her on her own initiative, instead of sticking her nose into something that didn't concern her. All she knew was that Nio had close connections to Myojo Academy and its leaders, and that thus, she had more than enough money.

"I could never ask you that, and you know it," she said seriously, "You've already done so much for me. You got me into Myojo and you're always around to listen to my stupid problems , and you even take care of the kids. And believe me, I know they can be a handful.

"They're cute," she waved her off, "Besides; you're my best friend. You can ask me anything. That's what friends are for, right?

For the first time since her and Isuke broke up, and probably a good while before that, Haruki felt a real smile making its way to her lips.

"Thanks," she uttered gratefully, happy that someone was there to support her.

"Um… uh…" Haruki heard a soft voice stutter from beside her. She turned to see Mahiru, who was looking down at the floor as she spoke. "Could you… Could you maybe help m-me clean the tables? I-I mean, if you're busy I'll just…"

Haruki smiled friendlily at her, trying to make her feel less nervous. Being so shy must be difficult in itself. Of course, she couldn't relate, always having been so outgoing and honest about her opinions.

"No, I'll help you out," she promised, getting up from her seat.

"What's up, Banba?" greeted Nio with a large grin, waving at her classmate.

"Oh, um, h-hello there, Hashiri-san," the waitress responded timidly to her informal greeting.

"Hey, I've been wondering," she smirked slyly, "What happened between you and Hanabusa?"

This took both of them by surprise. How could she know about that?

Well, when Haruki thought about it, it wasn't all that odd. Nio was friends with Isuke, so naturally she would find out about it. She found out about pretty much everything, after all.

"I… well, we, uh-"

Haruki wanted to tell her she didn't have to answer. She couldn't stand it when people were purposely making Mahiru uncomfortable.

The silver haired girl was so innocent and sweet she sometimes reminded Haruki of some of her younger siblings. She was just the type of person you couldn't help but feel the need to protect.

Then again, she had been wondering about her and Sumireko for a while. It didn't seem like Mahiru had anything against her, even if she had rejected her.

It was also sort of strange that she'd seen Sumireko with Isuke so recently after being rejected by Mahiru, but it could be that to her, Isuke was more of a rebound.

In that case they'd make a fine pair, both of them just using the other.

"It's because of h-her… What would Hanabusa-san think…," the girl babbled quietly, "W-would it be…"

The senseless ranting didn't make any sense to Haruki, and Mahiru looked very uncomfortable.

"We're opening in twenty minutes, so we should get to work," she interrupted the explanation, if it could even be considered that.

"Guess I'll head over to your place then," decided Nio, "Want me to bring them something extra to eat?"

"Just don't spend too much of your money on us," Haruki demanded, but she couldn't deny it completely, knowing her siblings needed to eat.

And that was why she had to keep working.

Mahiru stole a quick glance at Haruki as she walked by on her way to one of the tables with two slices of chocolate cake.

Haruki grabbed several empty plates and coffee cups and started walking towards the kitchen, struggling to keep all of the plates in balance as she zigzagged between tables and people.

The café was especially lively this morning, many customers having come to grab a coffee or some cake, which of course meant even more work for the two girls who had to work this busy shift.

She'd thought the golden eyed girl had been looking a little pale lately. The past few weeks she'd been skipping school a lot in order to work at the café.

She was there during Mahiru's afternoon shifts every day and she seemingly worked while she was at school as well. Sometimes she'd even stay behind after Mahiru left.

Haruki worked far too much, and she looked and acted tired. And it could just be her imagination, but she thought the already skinny girl had lost even more weight since she met her a couple of months ago.

It worried her a lot, but she didn't know what she should do. What could she do? It wasn't as though she could offer Haruki any money, as she was lacking it herself. She couldn't convince her to stop working so much, knowing she would never agree to that because of her situation.

She often shared her lunch with Haruki, though. Sometimes it would be difficult to get her to accept it, but most days she'd get her to take at least some of it. She also worked extra hard in order to make the job easier for her, but that was about it. There wasn't anything more she could do to help.

She went by a few tables and wrote down the customers' orders before heading to the back to get the stuff. Taking a quick look around, she noticed Haruki was absent. Where could she have gone off to?

She entered the storage room to get some coffee, but didn't even bother to switch the lights on. She'd been there so many times she knew where everything was already. Or so she thought.

Before she even knew what was happening she stumbled to the ground. It wasn't until afterwards that she realized she'd tripped over something on the floor.

Mahiru got back on her feet and brushed some dust off of her outfit before she reached out to flip the light switch.

What she saw when the lights turned on shocked her so much she had to bite her tongue to refrain from screaming.

Who she saw was none other than Haruki, inelegantly sprawled across the floor, several broken shards of glass scattered all around her.

It wasn't difficult to guess what had happened. With all the extra work hours she'd taken on lately…

She must have collapsed from overworking.

"Are you kidding?!" Isuke screamed into her phone. Hiroshi, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, looked at his daughter in utter confusion.

"No, she really collapsed," promised Nio in the other end, "I didn't know if you wanted to know or not, 'cause of how things are between you guys…"

"Of course I want to know!" Isuke snapped furiously, hearing her friend whimper silently at her frightening tone.

How could Nio ever, even for a second, have considered the possibility that she didn't want to know?

Yes, they had broken up, and yes, they hadn't talked for almost three weeks now, but it wasn't as though she didn't give a damn.

She had wanted to contact Haruki, more than anything in the world, but she hadn't known what to say and Haruki had told her to stay away.

"Where is she now? Is she alright?" she demanded to know, despite being unsure of whether she really wanted to hear the reply or not.

"I don't know," Nio explained, "She was transported to the hospital."

She didn't need to hear one more word. Just the thought of Haruki being hurt made her forget everything else.

She shot up from the couch and ran towards the hall, almost exiting without putting on shoes first. She struggled to put them on with one hand while holding the phone with the other, and then gave up. Holding the phone in place between her ear and her shoulder, she put her shoes on and opened the door.

"Isuke, where are you going?" Papa called out to her, sounding confused. He rushed after her out onto the staircase.

"Out," she answered shortly, not having a second to waste on explaining.

"But you're only wearing your pajamas," he argued weakly, only starting to realize something serious was going on, "At least get dressed first."

"Haruki is in the hospital," she simply stated.

Seeing the expression on her face, Hiroshi felt like he saw a previously unknown side to his daughter.

He didn't think she'd ever looked so serious about anything before. It was clear to him now that his daughter really cared about Sagae Haruki.

"I'll drive you there."

"Hey, Isuke, are you still there?" Nio asked through the phone. Isuke brought it to her ear and muttered a half-hearted reply as she got into the car. "Are you going to the hospital?"

"I am," confirmed Isuke bluntly.

"But I thought you two broke up?" she questioned, to which Isuke snorted.

"How is that fucking relevant right now?"

After her Papa had dropped her off at the hospital where Haruki had been sent, she'd spent over ten minutes arguing with a receptionist, trying to convince him he'd have to let her see Haruki. He had repeatedly told her that she was still being treated and couldn't have any visitors yet. Even though, deep down, she knew that was very true and reasonable, she was in too much of a shock to really listen to common sense.

Eventually she managed to calm down enough that he could convince her to go wait in the waiting room until they finished up, and she'd been sent up to the third floor, to a quiet and sparsely decorated room at the end of one of the building's many hallways.

Entering the room, she immediately spotted four familiar faces.

She recognized Haruki's pest of a little brother; Aki. There were two girls there, but she didn't remember any of their names at the moment. And the last one was Fuyuka.

Upon the sight of Isuke, a small smile appeared on Fuyuka's face, making Isuke feel a little more at ease.

"Hey," she greeted awkwardly, taking a seat next to Fuyuka. She wasn't sure how much the younger girl knew about what had happened between her and Haruki, so she wasn't sure of how to act around her.

"I'm grateful that you're here, you know," exclaimed the brunette, making Isuke give her a confused look. She laughed a little, feeling like yet again, the girl was being totally oblivious to Haruki's and her own feelings. "I don't know the details about what happened, but-"

"Isuke-nee-chan!" Aki cut her off rudely, climbing up on the couch next to them without caring that there wasn't really room for three people there.

She glared at the little pest, not in the mood for this right now, but Fuyuka gave her a look that told her she should just play along.

"Why haven't you come to visit us in so long? It's boring without you!" he whined, acting even more like a little brat than he had the first time she met him. She was often rather pissed off at the little boy, but there was something cute about him as well.

He was an annoying idiot, but she couldn't make herself genuinely dislike him. A cute idiot… Yes, he was definitely Haruki's little brother.

"Sorry, Isuke has had a lot to do," she apologized sweetly, assuming he didn't know anything about the breakup, "Maybe I will ask all of you over for dinner sometime."

Although the thought was tempting, she knew that would never happen. Haruki didn't want anything to do with her anymore, so as soon as she got better she'd probably tell her to leave her alone again.

"That would be awesome!" he cheered excitedly, obviously unaffected by the fact that his sister was in the hospital.

"Aki, why don't you guys go see if you can find some wheelchairs and have a race or something?" Fuyuka suggested.

"Really?" he asked, disbelief and childish joy showing in his eyes. Fuyuka nodded at him and he ran off.

"Aren't you worried?" Isuke asked the girl, once she thought the younger kids wouldn't hear it. Aki overheard it and stopped in the doorway, offering her a broad smile.

"'Course not. Haruki is tough," he said, "She's my sister, after all."

"If only we could be so carefree," the brunette sighed after her siblings had left, "I can't help but feel guilty, you know."

"Yeah, same here."

"You?" she asked in disbelief, "If anything you've saved her through all that's happened."

Isuke looked down, distracting herself by thinking about her outfit. She was wearing a simple tank top and a pair of shorts, which was actually less revealing than what she usually wore, when she thought about it. Yet it felt sort of stupid to sit here in her pajamas.

She had a hard time believing Fuyuka's words. She knew she'd caused many problems for Haruki during the short time they'd known each other. There was no way she could deny that she had hurt her.

"Look, I don't know everything, but I do know that you make my sister happy. She's happier with you than I've ever seen her… Even back when we were kids, when our mom wasn't sick and our dad was still around…"

She smiled to herself as she remembered those easy and happy days, where they could all smile and not have a care in the world. In a way she missed it, but she wouldn't trade what she had now for what she had then. She loved all of her siblings too much.

"She never had that look in her eyes, not before she met you, Isuke-san," she declared with a smile, comfortingly squeezing Isuke's hand.

"You think so?" she whispered. The younger girl chuckled at looked up at the ceiling for a second, before reverting her glance back to her.

"I know so," she reassured, "So I think you should make up already."

"I guess… I mean, it's just not the same without her," she muttered.

"Well, you weren't meant to be apart in the first place."

Wow, even more shit going down in this chapter, but hey, you did get at least one cute little moment xD Hoping to straighten out some of this in not too long.

Not much more to say, so I guess I'll leave it at that. Next update will be published the next time I have internet access. Bye!