Chapter 2

Nico glared at the vacant seat next to her. Maki usually sat there during their meetings, but now only eight out of nine chairs were occupied. The only thing they had heard from Maki's father was that she had woken up a week ago, and the small third year could hardly stand it.

She had just tuned in to the others' conversation as Honoka was saying, "…visit her today."

"What's going on?" Nico asked.

"Honoka was just saying that we should visit Maki-chan today," Nozomi reiterated kindly, knowing her friend was stressed from the first-year's absence. "We haven't heard anything from her, so we're kind of worried."

"Mmhmm," Hanayo agreed. "Normally, Maki-chan would have at least mailed me by now, just to let us know she's alright… It may not seem like it, but she really does care!" she added somewhat defensively, making the others chuckle.

"We know," Eli reassured her. "Maki may not be the most open person, but we understand her feelings even without her telling us."

"She's so obvious!" Honoka chimed in.

Nico nodded and stood up, grabbing her schoolbag. "Well then, I'd say a visit is long overdue. Let's go."

"Aren't you going to grab Toru?" Umi reminded her.

"Oh yeah," Nico walked over to one of the shelves and grabbed the first-year's leopard.

It had gotten caught up in the accident, and had unfortunately been torn and ripped. Nico would not allow it to lie there in the streets, so she and Rin made sure to grab the plush. Nico, Rin, and Honoka had been devastated at its destroyed state.

"I'll sew it," Nico had sworn. "I'll patch it up for her."

"She really was happy when you got him for her, nya…" Rin told her. "Maki-chan never smiles like that for no reason…"

"We'll help you, Nico-chan," Honoka

"Thanks."

Smiling at the memory, Nico quickly joined the others outside the clubroom. They made their way to the hospital, an anxious air settling around them.

The woman working at the reception desk seemed to recognize them as Maki's friends and told them she was in Room 233. Outside of the room were two men; Nico recognized one of them as Maki's father.

He turned upon their arrival and his stern expression changed to something almost pitying. None of them took this as a good sign.

"It's nice to see that you girls came to visit."

"Get to the point," Nico snapped.

Eli glanced at her apprehensively. "Nico…"

"No! We haven't heard anything for an entire week. I'm sick of waiting! Tell us what's wrong."

Maki's father gave her a pointed look before resigning. "There are a few things we are concerned about. One would be her vocal cords."

"Her… vocal cords?"

"Yes. You see, girls, an extreme physical trauma, such as this, can cause forms of paralysis in the vocal cords."

A chill swept over the gathered group.

"Y-you mean…" Hanayo dared to stutter, so softly they had to strain their ears to hear, "Maki-chan will never sing again?"

Nico felt the hair on her arms raise. No way.

"Well, for the time being, no. She won't be able to sing, or talk very much for that matter. At least, not for a while. However, with time and treatments, she'll recover soon enough. She can still speak; but please keep in mind she shouldn't overuse her voice for long periods of time. Her speech is very shallow and her breathing will be disrupted if she speaks too much at a time."

"Other than that," Nozomi gently chimed in, her features relaxed, obviously relieved, "how is her condition?"

At this, the man faltered. "Well… I'm not very sure how to break this to you gently…We have yet to run the proper scans and such, but we are quite positive that she is experiencing amnesia. Some form of memory loss, if not that."

"Memory… loss…?" The members of μ's shared a disbelieving look before turning back to him. "That stuff only happens in movies, doesn't it?" Honoka asked, genuinely confused. "I mean, there's no way she could just suddenly forget everything, right?"

"No. It's quite real." The look of pain that so violently rose in the wise face of Mr. Nishikino was enough to let them know. The man must have been grieving, his only child being put through such trials, likely not remembering or registering the man as her father. "All we can do is help with treatment. Though I'm sure you girls visiting will help tremendously with her memory," he added, allowing a genuine smile to show. Maki was very like her father in that their smiles were rare, but they were something to see. "Go on. You may visit her. Though, I do believe all eight of you at once would be somewhat difficult for her to handle. I advise to you enter in smaller groups."

With that, Mr. Nishikino joined a small group of passing by doctors, leaving them to stand outside of Maki's room.

They all decided to sit in the small, uninhabited, and somewhat unnervingly clean waiting lobby fixed directly across from it.

"What should we do?" Kotori asked calmly in attempt to break through the fragile, cloudy atmosphere. "I mean, who should go first, I guess."

Nico could hardly stand any of it. The lights were too bright. The walls were too white. God, everything was too white. The looming silence of the rest of the hospital felt like it could suffocate her. She was hardly able to register the quiet discussion occurring between her friends. It was all too much.

Before she knew what was going on, Nozomi and the first years got up to go to the room. They all looked wary and it was clear they didn't know what to expect. Despite her obvious discomfort and the fragility that played across her features, Nozomi still wore her usual gentle smile.

"Umi, Kotori, and I are going in next," Eli explained softly to her as she watched the other three girls go. "You and Honoka are going last. Nozomi would have gone with you two, since you three are closest to Maki, after Rin and Hanayo, but you were kind of spacing out there. That and Nozomi needed to be able to keep the other two in check. I'll do the same with Umi and Kotori; though I'm sure there's no need. I need you to make sure Honoka doesn't get too worked up, alright?"

"Heh, I think I'm going to have a hard enough time keeping myself in line, to be honest, Eli." Nico was surprised with her own sincerity. She was shaking. She could hardly handle being there, knowing Maki was hurting like that.

A few minutes passed by before Nozomi, Hanayo, and Rin left the room, all three of them looking solemn. "She really doesn't remember us, nya…"

Those words were enough to break Nico's heart. Not to mention the unshed tears in their eyes. They had worked so hard to get Maki to open up, and now Nico wasn't sure she'd ever even get to see the Scarlet Princess' smile again.

Eli, Umi, and Kotori stood up and made their way to the door. Eli shot Nico a reassuring smile over her shoulder, though Nico was sure the blonde was trying to reassure herself more than anything.

"How was it?" the raven-haired girl turned to her friend, challenging crimson meeting sage-like turquoise. "More importantly, how is she?"

"It was hard," came the cautious reply. "Rin could hardly keep herself together. Hanayo seemed deeply bothered as well. I can't say I'm much better off. However, none of that is important really. Maki, compared to us, is experiencing an entire other world of pain and confusion. We need to be here for her, even if she has no idea who we are or why we're here in the first place."

Nico wasn't even sure what kind of answer she had been expecting. "That bad, huh?"

A small nod.

"At least her physical condition is stable and non-critical, right?"

"Yes. Physically, save for her vocal cords, she'll be alright. She's still badly sprained and several of her bones are broken. Poor thing…"

Eli and the others came out of the room much differently than the other three had. They looked determined. "We think we should start showing her videos of our lives and showing her our songs and such," Eli explained briefly. "We can all discuss this at a later point, but we really want to try and help Maki's memories recover."

Before she knew it, Nico and Honoka were standing in front of the closed door of room 233, the room's inhabitant staring at them expectantly. Though, to Nico, it felt more as though she were scanning them.

"Hiya, Maki-chan!" Honoka had apparently decided to flounce her way through this, most likely pushing down any blue feelings about this as to not have Maki worry.

Lavender eyes stared back.

"You don't remember any of us, right?" Nico said calmly, taking a chair and sitting next to the redhead who shook her head no before slightly scrunching her brow in confusion.

"Everything okay?" Honoka asked hurriedly, afraid it was a medical problem.

Maki pointed at Honoka, a look of concentration plastered on her face.

"What?" Nico asked dryly. "Do you remember her or something?"

Nico felt a pang of jealousy as her head nodded up and down. She remembered Honoka and not her? Though, out of all of μ's, it made the most sense for her to remember their leader; she was the one who first met her and got her out of her shell, after all.

"Y-you do!?" Honoka's eyes brightened.

Another nod.

"W-what do you remember me from?"

"Honoka," Nico cut in sharply. "She can't speak much, remember? Just yes or no questions for now"

Maki smiled apologetically and nodded again. She then turned to Nico and raised an eyebrow to alert her she was ready for her to speak. "I… I'm Yazawa Nico…"

Nico felt her hands clasp Toru and remembered why she brought him. She stood and placed the plush in Maki's arms.

"Toru?" a very raspy, breathy voice managed.

"W-w-what?" Nico stuttered un-intelligently. Honoka's eyes widened behind her, not believing what was happening.

Maki raised her eyes, a startling amethyst, to meet Nico's eyes of ruby. Her eyes seemed to be saying, "I remember." She looked from Toru to Nico, showing the older girls she was making some sort of connection between the two. "This happened before the accident, right?" Her voice was so frail and quiet, Nico and Honoka had to strain their ears to comprehend her.

"Y-yes," Nico choked out, sobs wracking her body. Her eyes stung as she held back tears. "You were trying to win him and you couldn't so I did."

Maki offered an apologetic look. Nico could hardly believe the girl was hardly able to talk; her emotions were conveying more than they ever had before. "I've never really been good with those sort of things…" her eyes basically spoke for her. "Thank you. I remembered being very happy," she rasped warmly.

Nico couldn't stand it. She threw herself on Maki's bed and let loose all the emotion she'd pent up since Maki's accident. She didn't even register the sound of the door opening and closing, Honoka having left the two to their privacy.

A soft hand ran through Nico's hair, managing to soothe her pain. Long fingers traced over her scalp, lulling her into a calm quiet as the last of her sobs left her. "I'm sorry," a voice whispered softly.