Author's Note: This chapter is reaaaaalllllly short. Sorry! The next one will be longer, I promise.

Kahoko held it together until she got home. Regardless of whether or not she actually ended up talking with him in the car, she didn't feel like crying her eyes out in front of Yunoki's driver. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing steady the entire ride back to her house. She imagined herself playing her violin, going over the music she had practiced the day before.

When the car came to a stop outside her home, Kahoko opened her eyes. She thanked the driver as he opened her door. She walked up to her house, let herself in, took off her shoes, went upstairs, entered her room, closed her door, and sat down on the floor before she let the tears come.

She didn't even know why she was crying, to be honest. Perhaps that was part of it. Complete confusion. She waited for the tears to slow (she didn't trust them to stop completely) before picking up her phone and shakily dialing Ryotaro's number.

He picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey." Her voice cracked. Kahoko cleared her throat and tried again. "Sorry."

"No worries. Are you okay?"

"Why do you ask?"

There was a pause, and Kahoko imagined Ryotaro shrugging his shoulders in response. "Because it's kind of late. And you sound like you have a cold or something."

"Oh . . ." She glanced at her alarm clock and winced. "I didn't realize what time it was. Sorry."

"It's fine. What's up?"

"I . . ." Kahoko hesitated. It's best just to get it over with, she told herself. She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. "I can't see you anymore."

There was silence on the other end. This time Kahoko didn't visualize Ryotaro shrugging or even smiling. She saw him slowly sinking down onto the nearest chair. "Is there something I did to upset you, Kaho?" His voice was quiet.

"No, it's nothing that you did."

"Because I know I got a little carried away earlier. I'm sorry about that. I promise that I'll do better in the future—"

Kahoko fought the urge to laugh. If anyone had gotten "carried away" earlier, it certainly wasn't Ryotaro. "No, it's nothing you did. I promise. I've just been doing some thinking, and I think we should end things."

"Shouldn't we talk about this? There must be something—"

Kahoko shook her head. She knew this wasn't going to go anywhere. She was quickly losing her resolve, and she felt her eyes welling up with tears. "I'm sorry," she said, cutting off his pleas. "Goodbye, Ryotaro." She hung up the phone and set it down beside her. After a moment, she picked it up, turned it off completely, and slipped it back into her bag. She didn't feel like talking to anyone for a while.

Mechanically, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, undressed, turned off the light, and crawled into bed. Her thoughts followed the same well-worn path of worry and frustration. She felt bad for hurting Ryotaro, but knew it was for the best. She didn't want to drag him into the mess that her life was right now. She wished that she could have given him some sort of reasoning, some closure, but didn't even know where to begin. Besides, if she couldn't explain her actions to herself, how could she possibly do that for someone else?

Exhaustion after the day's events tugged at her eyelids and Kahoko complied, drifting off to sleep.