Sunday had finally come. Josuke was unable to do much the day before because he had received a lot of work from his classes as well as his mother making him do the chores that he had laid off for several months. But today he was free, and Natsuki was coming over.

To prepare for the possibility of her being a Stand user, Josuke had put away anything in his house that he thought could be used as a possible weapon. She had called him to purchase the ingredients necessary to bake the cupcakes, which took him a while to get the money for from his mother.

But through all of this, he still thought about Sayori. He thought back to what Monika said to him, and he decided that whether or not it was true he should go over to see her. It would be a while before Natsuki would come over, and he had all this free time to kill. He first called her house and received no answer, but he did leave a message: "Hey, it's Josuke. I don't know if you're home or not, but I'm coming over."

Once he had reached Sayori's house, he knocked on the door. No answer. He assumed that it would be fine if he just entered her house just like he remembered. While Josuke knew the truth, he and Sayori were not childhood friends, the message that Rohan wrote using Heaven's Door was still there and made him still think that it could be true.

The house was quiet. Josuke went up to her bedroom and nervously knocked on the door before entering. "Sayori…?"

"Hi…" she answers, sitting on her bed. She is wearing a pink shirt with a yellow skirt.

Josuke sighs in relief as he sits down in the chair at her desk.

There's a minute of silence between the two of them before Sayori breaks the silence. "You haven't come over like this in a long time, have you?"

"Ah… I guess you're right…" Josuke nervously responded, looking around her room.

She giggled softly. "If you came over more often, it wouldn't be such a mess… How come you suddenly wanted to come over today? Aren't you supposed to see Natsuki today?"

"Yeah… How did you know that?"

"Monika told me. It's only natural for her to keep me informed about the festival preparations."

"Ah… Well, what about you? Aren't you going to help her today?"

"Of course! But we're going to do it over the phone. I have some ideas that I'll tell her while she organizes it. We didn't plan to meet up or anything."

"… So, it's just Natsuki and I…?"

"Yep…"

There was even more silence between them. However, Josuke decided to just get straight to the point.

"I just… I just wanted to see how you were. After you left on Friday, I knew something was wrong. Please don't try to hide it from me."

Sayori smiled and shook her head. "That's no good."

"Huh?"

"Why can't it just be like it's always been? This is all my fault. If I didn't get so weak and accidentally express my feelings… If I didn't make that stupid mistake… Then you wouldn't have come here. You wouldn't have been thinking about me right now. But this… is just my punishment, isn't it? I'm getting punished for being so selfi-"

"Sayori," Josuke spoke with a calm and confident tone, making her look at him. "Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what happened. I won't leave until you do."

She gasped silently and then gave an empty smile. "You really put me in a trap. But… you're wrong. Nothing happened to me. I've always been like this. You're just seeing it for the first time."

"Seeing what?"

"Heh… You're just going to make me say it, aren't you? I guess I have no choice. The thing is… I've had really bad depression my whole life. Did you know that?"

Her words hit Josuke like a truck. He was all too familiar with this topic. He had almost no friends until he met Koichi and Okuyasu. Those years of being alone, where no one was able to see his Stand and he didn't even have a clue who his father was, were the most difficult times of his life.

As Sayori described how she felt, Josuke knew that he had felt the same way before. With everything she said, he knew what she was going through. However, he had no idea how to respond. Everyone handles depression differently. In Josuke's case, he cared for people with the occasional aid of Crazy Diamond and beating up anyone who dissed his hair. Neither of those would work for Sayori.

Eventually, he spoke up, his voice wavering, "… Why? Why would you not tell me about this? We're friends. I'll support you and help you no matter what. Even though there might not be much that I could do…"

"You don't understand, Josuke. Why do you think I didn't tell you? Because if I told you, then you would have to waste effort caring about me instead of doing important things. I don't want to be cared about. It's bittersweet, when people try to care about me. It feels nice sometimes, but it also feels like a bat being swung against my head. That's why I wanted so badly for you to make friends with everyone else… Helping everyone be happy together is the best thing for me. But then, I discovered something else, too. Seeing you make friends and get closer with everyone in the club… It feels like a spear going through my heart."

Josuke covered his mouth with his hand.

What can I say?! What can I do?! How can I help her?

"So, that's why…" Sayori continued. "That's why I decided the world just wants to torture me. Every path leads to nothing but hurt."

Josuke took his hand away. "… You're right. I don't completely understand. I don't understand your reasoning or your feelings. I've been where you are, once. But please, tell me what I can do to help you. Anything!"

"No, Josuke. There's nothing. Nothing at all. The only thing that could have helped is if everything could be like it always was."

Josuke felt a pit open up in his stomach. He couldn't help but feel about this whole situation. If what Okuyasu and Koichi said about what Rohan did was true, then he knew that the only thing different in her life up to this point was Josuke.

Tears began to streak down Sayori's face. "Now you know what a horrible person I am. I made you join the literature club because I was selfish, and I was punished by my heart hurting in a way that I couldn't understand. And now I made you hurt, too. I'm just weak and selfish. That's a-"

She was cut off as Josuke came up to her and gave her a hug. His large frame made her feel safer in his arms. She began to sniffle while she buried her face into his chest, not returning the hug.

"Sayori," he started. "I don't care if you feel selfish. I'm glad that you made me join the club. And please don't underestimate how much I care about you."

"No… Please don't do this to me… Josuke… I…"

I know this is pretty inappropriate, but I wonder if Heaven's Door might be able to help her. She doesn't appear to be listening to anything I am saying.

As she tried to speak between her sobs, Josuke said, "If you wish to call yourself selfish, then I'm selfish too. I'll figure out how I can help you, no matter what. If you need me to do something, then you better tell me. Okay?"

Quietly sobbing, she responded, "I don't know. I don't know… I don't know." She finally put her arms around him. "I don't know anything. It's all really scary. I don't understand any of my feelings, Josuke… The only time I'm not feeling nothing is when I'm feeling pain. But… Your hugs are so warm… and that's really scary too…"

She lets go of him as he follows moments after. He glanced up at her clock to see that Natsuki would almost be at his house. He then looked at her. "Then let me help you fight away this pain… together."

They sat in silence for a minute until Josuke broke it once again. "The festival is tomorrow."

Sayori answered nervously, "Y-Yeah…"

"It'll be fun."

"Right…"

"How would you like to hang out with me then?"

"U-um… Ah-"

"I want to. Please."

"I… I think that would be nice then…"

They both wiped their eyes, Sayori because she had just opened up to him, and Josuke because he couldn't stand seeing a friend of his hurt in a way he couldn't fix.

He regretted saying yes to having someone come over today. He wished that he could stay with Sayori for the rest of the day. Her feelings were more important than finding out a potential Stand user that might not even be a threat.

"Perhaps I should cancel-"

"N-No! Please don't… If you did that… then I really wouldn't forgive you."

"Well… Would you at least like to come over and help out? It'd be fun."

She surprisingly shook her head. "I'm sorry. That probably wouldn't be very good for me today. You understand, right?"

Josuke looked disappointed, but nodded. "Right… Well, I'll see you later then…?"

"… Yeah. I look forward to it."

He said goodbye to Sayori as he left her house.

Josuke felt a bit uneasy as he walked home. He didn't even acknowledge the odd-looking stone as he passed it.

Hopefully Sayori is right, and we are going to have a great time tomorrow. But now- Wait a minute. I have to bake cupcakes! He clutched his head in frustration. I have no idea how to bake! I only chose Natsuki because I still need to know about her bruise. And now Yuri's all sad and…

These thoughts continued on in Josuke's head as he made his way home to find that Natsuki was already waiting outside.

"There you are! I was wondering why no one was answering." Natsuki shouted at him.

"Ah, sorry! I was just checking up on Sayori," he replied.

A look of concern crossed her face. "Oh. How is she?"

"… She's alright."

I probably shouldn't talk to her about it without Sayori's consent.

"Anyway, come on in!"

Josuke opened his door and led Natsuki inside. They took off their shoes and made their way to the kitchen. He then noticed that Natsuki was wearing a white shirt and a pink skirt. Her cute outfit completely contrasted to the school uniform that she normally wore.

"I'm guessing this is all baking supplies?" asked Josuke.

"Well, duh! I didn't want to come her to find out that your kitchen isn't well equipped for the job," she answered, smiling. "You bought everything I asked, right?"

"Y-Yeah. It took me a while to get the cash to do it."

"Well, whatever. At least I could count on you to do it."

"Right… Well, let's get started, shall we?"

The two of them started getting out the stuff that Natsuki had brought. Josuke commented on how heavy all of the stuff was and that he was impressed. She took it well, only insulting him once. And then she began telling him what to do.

In just half an hour, the whole kitchen is a mess with spoons, dirty bowls and ingredients strewn about every countertop. They had to use the mixer several times since it wasn't big enough to do it all at once. Natsuki was practically micro-managing Josuke's movements to make sure he doesn't mess it up.

"Hey, where's the food coloring?" she asked.

"I think it's still in the- Yep, it's in the bag next to the table. What for?" Josuke said.

"I'm going to color the batter! Each tray is going to be a different color. It's so people can pick their favorite color without picking a different flavor."

"Ooh, cool! Are we going to do something with the icing?"

"Do you want to?"

"What? You're asking me? Ah… I don't really have a preference, so…"

"Come on. You gotta put some heart into this! Can't you at least try to have fun?"

"I am having fun! I guess we shouldn't because that would just be more work for us and more chaos for the one choosing the cupcake."

Natsuki began to separate the batter into several separate bowls. She explained how you don't have to follow instructions to bake and that you get to have fun by changing up the presentation. All this time, Josuke was having to use a whisk and a bowl to mix the icing. She yelled at him that it was still lumpy so he sped things up a bit by using Crazy Diamond for a moment. However, that ended up with the icing spraying into his face. She laughed at him for being completely covered.

Josuke tastes some of the icing on his face. "Hey, this is pretty good!"

"Of course it's good," Natsuki began. "I have been helping you!"

He rolled his eyes as they both continued to work. Once the last tray of batter was in the oven, they both sighed in relief. It would be about another fifteen minutes before one of the trays would be ready to ice. Josuke looked over at Natsuki, and his face fell as he saw what looked like another bruise on her shoulder.

Remembering why he had invited her over in the first place, he said, "H-Hey… Natsuki…?"

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I… I just wanted to ask… Um… What's that?" He pointed at the bruise which was visible through her white shirt.

She stiffened up when she saw what he was pointing at. "O-Oh… Th-This? It's just a birthmark. That's all."

"Natsuki…"

"Why are you so persistent about that? I thought you were over it by now!"

"I was just wondering if you were okay."

"Well, of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Are you su-?"

"I'M FINE, JOSUKE! It's not like I did this myself, or I got it at home, or my father was drunk last night, or…" Natsuki began to trail off as tears began to run down her face.

Josuke looked at her, horrified at what he heard and assumed as he pieced it together.

The bruise wasn't from the Arrow… Could it have been…?

She was kneeling on the floor at this point with her hand covering her mouth. Josuke kneeled down and put his hand on her back, but it was quickly swatted away.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed. "If he… If he finds out I… I told you… J-Just don't tell anyone!"

Without saying a word, Josuke activated his Stand as it reached out and touched her, repairing any external and internal damage. Natsuki had no idea why, but the bruises that had bothered her for quite a while suddenly stopped hurting.

"Natsuki… I… I'm so sorry."

"Just shut up! Now I'm going to be in huge trouble. I probably won't even-"

"Hold it, hold it! I'm not going to say anything, okay?" Josuke told her. "… Why don't we sit down for a minute?"

Still sniffling a bit, she slowly stood up and nodded. He led her over to the couch in the room next to the kitchen. She buried her face in her hands while she tried to calm herself. Josuke tried to comfort her. He slowly put his hand on her back. Initially, she flinched, but then she didn't seem to mind as he began to gently rub her back.

If that's true… About her father… I don't want that sort of thing to happen to her. Natsuki is my friend… Maybe I can help her…

After a while, the timer for the oven went off. Natsuki had calmed down quite a bit and stood up to retrieve the cupcakes.

Josuke walked next to her as she went. "… You feeling better?"

She remained silent at first but then whispered, "Yeah… Thanks…"

The two of them silently decorated the cupcakes after Josuke had suggested that they use the icing to write a different word on each cupcake. The cupcakes looked and smelled amazing. It was taking a lot of energy out of Josuke for him to decorate the cupcakes and not eat any of them.

Some time passed and they were finally finished.

"They really turned out well, didn't they?" Natsuki said, a light smile on her face as they admired their work.

"Yeah, they did," Josuke replied. He then turned to look at her. "Hey, I'm sorry for earlier. I thought you were hurt by… someone else…"

She stared at the cupcakes for a moment before answering, "I-It's fine… You can bring the cupcakes to school tomorrow, right?"

"Sure. Of course."

"If you get Sayori to help you, you guys would be able to do it in one trip."

"… Y-Yeah, I can do that."

Natsuki then packed up her things and looked at him. "Please… Please don't tell anyone about that… or he'll… kill me…"

Over my dead body. You mess with my friend, you mess with me.

"I won't…"

The two of them walked out of Josuke's house. The day was almost over already.

Before heading off, Natsuki turned around and hugged Josuke. "Thank you…" she muttered. "I don't know what exactly you did… but that was you on Wednesday, wasn't it? I feel the same as I did then: no more pain. But… Thank you…"

He smiled lightly and gently hugged back. "O-Of course. And if you ever need somewhere safe to go… you could always come here…"

She broke the hug and took a step back. "I'd like that… Huh? Sayori?"

Josuke turned around to see Sayori standing there.

"Ah… H-Hi, Josuke," Sayori said nervously.

"Sayori-" he said.

"I-It's alright. I just stopped by to say hi."

"W-Well, I'm already on my way out so…" Natsuki trailed off.

"Aw, really? That's too bad."

"Yeah well, I'll see you at the festival tomorrow… Bye." And with that, Natsuki headed off, Josuke and Sayori waving goodbye.

He then turned around to face the girl he had spoken to earlier that day. "Sayori, I thought you didn't want to come over today."

She nervously giggled, "Well, I tried staying in my room, but my imagination was being really mean to me. So, I had to come and see it for myself."

Josuke gulped. "See what? What do you mean?"

"You know… How much fun you were having with Natsuki, and how close you got to her."

Oh no… She thinks… that we… Great.

"It makes me really happy that you've made such good friends. That's all that matters to me." Tears began to fall down Sayori's face. "That's all that matters to me! Why am I feeling this way, Josuke? I'm supposed to be happy for you. Why does it feel like my heart is splitting in half? It hurts so much… Everything hurts so much…"

At this point, Josuke was beginning to hurt from seeing his friend hurt this way. He felt powerless. He was always able to fix people, but with her it wouldn't be that easy.

"This would be so much better if I could just disappear!"

Josuke snapped. "Sayori! Don't you dare say that!"

"It's true, Josuke! If I wasn't here, then you wouldn't have to waste your sympathy on me! You wouldn't have to put up with me being selfish! Monika was right… I should just…"

"… Monika? What did she say? Right about what?!"

She didn't respond.

"Sayori… What I said before is true. I'll always be here to help you. And if something happened to you, then I-" He felt a lump form in his throat. "It… It just makes me happy to see you. I want to be by your side whenever you feel pain. I want to be there to help you through this."

She looked away as Josuke placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm scared, Josuke. I'm really scared…"

I'm scared too…

"What are you scared of?"

"I'm scared that… that I might like you more than you like me…"

Wait, what?

"Sayori…?"

"It's true, isn't it? I was weak and started to like you too much… I did this to myself. Josuke… I like you so much that I want to die!"

Holy shit…

"NO! Please, never say that again! I can't lose you! I can't lose another friend!"

Sayori looked up at him, slightly confused.

Josuke ran a hand through his hair, basically ruining it. "… Sayori, I care about you. You're my best friend. We've been that since we could remember. I just… I just can't imagine a life of happiness and joy without you. I just want you to live a happy life."

"I… I see…" She forced a smile through an incredibly pained expression. "Is this what it feels like… to get stabbed in the chest? I should write a poem about this…"

Tears were beginning to form in Josuke's eyes.

Did I say something wrong…?

"Sayori-"

"It's okay. This is just my… punishment… remember… for being so selfish… So please… Please don't worry about these stupid feelings. I knew this whole time there was no happiness down that path. That's why I came here. Just so I could get the answer I needed to hear…"

Her smile finally broke. She then turned around, fell to her knees and let out a heart wrenching scream. Josuke seemed to feel almost every emotion, but joy, in that moment. She then looked over her shoulder and flashed him one more weak smile before running off.

"Sayori!" he called out after her, but it was too late.

He felt awful. He was feeling even worse than when he had two poles sticking through his body. This wasn't something that could be fixed with a Stand ability. This wasn't something that could be stopped with a barrage of punches.

Eventually, Josuke turned around and went inside his house. He felt so exhausted that he decided to skip dinner. He slowly began to make his way to-

"DORA!"

The part of Josuke that was frustrated had summoned Crazy Diamond to punch through a wall. He repaired it before slowly continuing his trek to his bedroom.

I'll see Sayori tomorrow… We can talk some more then…

He entered his room and fell face-first on his bed.

Why did this happen?

It's the day of the festival. Josuke had gotten up early since his mother reminded him so. She had also reminded him that he was supposed to bring the cupcakes that he and Natsuki had made the day before. He carried the trays of cupcakes to school, handling them with care as he went through a cross walk and went up the stairs to go to the club's usual meeting place.

"Josuke!" Monika greeted him as he entered the room. "You're the first one here. Thanks for being early!"

"I am? Heh… I thought that at least Yuri would be here by now," Josuke commented.

Monika was placing the pamphlets she and Sayori had made at each desk in the classroom. "I'm surprised you didn't bring Sayori with you."

"Yeah… I guess she must have overslept or something."

Her and Okuyasu both.

Josuke had then remembered about what happened the day before. He remembered about how badly Sayori was feeling and that Natsuki got her bruise from…

Monika laughed lightly. "You should take a little responsibility for her, Josuke! I mean, especially after what happened yesterday… You kind of left her hanging this morning, you know?"

He paused. "Hold on, Monika, how do you know about that?"

"Well, I'm the club president after all."

"But-"

Did Sayori tell Monika what happened that quickly?

"Uh… I don't think you know the whole story…"

"Don't worry. I probably know a lot more than you think."

Josuke blinked and looked at her. Monika was being as friendly as normal, but for some reason he felt a chill down his spine just then.

"Hey, do you want to check out the pamphlets?" Monika asked as she held one out to Josuke.

"A-Alright, sure." He took it from her and began to look it over. "Yeah, this'll definitely make people want to join the club!"

"Yeah, I thought so too."

Josuke flipped through a few pages. He read everyone's poems, but his stomach sank when he saw that Sayori's poem mainly consisted of the phrase, 'Get out of my head' numerous times.

"Josuke, are you alright?" Monika asked.

"Uh… I've changed my mind! I'm going to get Sayori!" he exclaimed as he ran out of the classroom.

He heard Monika call out to him as he ran, "Don't strain yourself!"

What the hell, man?! Why would you just leave Sayori like that after what happened yesterday?!

Josuke ran all the way to Sayori's house and knocked on her door. He didn't expect her to answer, so he carefully entered her house like he did yesterday. "Sayori!"

Dang, is she a heavy sleeper…?

He approached the door to her room and knocked. "Sayori? It's the festival today. You said that we'll hang out together there…"

No response. Josuke didn't want to enter the room like that because it would be a breach of privacy. However, she left him no choice. He gently opened the door.

"Sayo-"

Josuke screamed at the sight before him. There was Sayori… hanging with a noose around her neck.

He immediately rushed into action. "CRAZY DIAMOND!"

"DORA!"

His Stand rushed forward and lifted up her body while using its ability. Josuke quickly began untying the rope around her neck. Once he was done, Crazy Diamond gently set her down on the bed and focused its ability on her neck.

"C-C'mon S-Sayori…! S-Stay with me!" Josuke panicked.

He inspected her body and found that it was completely healed. He checked her pulse…

... Nothing

His eyes began to water as he covered his mouth with his hand.

Too late. I was too late. Just like with Gramps, I was… too… late…

He sat down on the floor, trying to take this all in.

Not another. First Shigechi, now Sayori…

Josuke thought back to what happened.

It couldn't have just been me… But then who-? … Monika.

Monika.

He thought back to what Sayori said yesterday: 'Monika was right. I should just…' And then what Monika said today: 'You kind of left her hanging this morning…'

Monika. She must have…

He looked back at Sayori.

She must have told Sayori to kill herself.

Josuke gritted his teeth and curled his hand into fist.

That is NOT okay!

He then noticed something about Sayori. His heart sank and a tear rolled down his face when he saw what he saw.

Her fingertips are bloody… She must have tried to get out of it… She didn't want to die.

Josuke was angry, the angriest he had ever been. He immediately stood and went for the door before looking at Sayori's lifeless body one more time.

His vision became blurry. "I'm sorry… Sayori…"

He then bolted out the door and down the street. He was running even faster than he was on his was there. Nothing was able to stop him, not even the crosswalk or the crowds of people in his way. It began to rain, but it did not slow him down.

He was completely blinded by rage. The whole world could have said that his hair looked bad and it wouldn't even compare to what he was feeling now.

Stand user or not, she is going to pay!

His friend was dead, and it's Monika's fault.

THAT IS UNFORGIVABLE!

Josuke had finally made it to the school, pushing his way through to get to the classroom.

No one else was in there yet, it was just Monika. She then noticed he arrived and seemed surprised. "J-Josuke! You're back!"

He wasted no time. "CRAZY DIAMOND!"

"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"

-To Be Continued