Authors Note: These chapters are just getting longer and longer aren't they?That's not a problem, just means more to read.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Sayaka didn't know why she always felt nervous when she walked into the building. She'd been in here countless times for countless hours. The receptionists at this point knew why she was here whenever she came in and would give her a wave and smile in greeting, which Sayaka would return.

She knew the path by heart. Walk down a wide hallway, avoid anyone else in there and don't knock anything over. Stop for a moment or two to say hi to someone. Take a right turn into the elevator and go to the third floor.

The elevator ride was slow, and it felt even longer than it really was with everything on her mind weighing her down.

Then it was just another walk down the hall. She counted the room numbers in her head. Her bag started to feel heavy at this point, even though there was only a few things she carried in it. She reached the familiar door, left it open and stepped inside.

Kyosuke was lying in his bed, staring silently out the open window. He didn't even react as Sayaka pulled up a chair beside his bed and sat down.

"Hey," she began, smiling, "how're you feeling today?"

There was a pause before he turned to look at her and smiled. "I'm doing better, thanks," Kyosuke said and went back to staring out the window. At least he was in a better mood than he had been last time she visited: he wasn't yelling or in a depressive slump today.

Curious as to what he was staring at, Sayaka frowned and looked over to the window, before finding he was staring at a plump bird sitting on the windowsill.

"I've been thinking," Kyosuke said as he watched the animal preening at its wings, "I want to be like a bird."

Sayaka looked at him and cracked a smile. "You want to be able to use your mouth to clean yourself?" she teased, knowing it wasn't what he had meant, but it got its desired reaction of a laugh and smile from her friend.

"Not that much like a bird," he assured her, shaking his head. "Birds can go wherever they want. They even sneak into stores because they want to. I want to have that freedom, to be able to just leave this hospital." An air of melancholy seemed to surround him and Sayaka felt her heart ache at the sight of him so broken.

The topic of the bird was soon forgotten as they began chatting about different things. Kyosuke showed some appreciation towards the CD's that Sayaka had brought him, and the two listened to a song or two from one of them.

Sayaka didn't mention Madoka's current avoidance of her, just saying "She's doing fine" when Kyosuke asked about her. She did however talk to him about Homura for a little bit, getting a nod from him.

"I think I remember her," Kyosuke mused, thinking the name over. "I heard some of the doctors mention one of the patients going to our school. I never saw her though, glad to hear she made it out of here."

"You and me both," Sayaka said with a nod and a smile, "she's a nice person. Timid, but nice."

"Maybe you should introduce us one of these days then, though if she's all that you say she is, I might just take her from you," Kyosuke chuckled. He was joking, she knew that, but the idea of that happening didn't sit right with Sayaka.

The two wouldn't work out anyways, Sayaka thought with a mental shrug, no need to worry over it.

"So," she began, changing the subject and glancing at the clock, she'd have to leave soon it seemed, "have you been getting any visitors?"

She was responded with a nod as Kyosuke began counting on his fingers, "Mom and Dad have both come often, my violin instructor a few times, no one's been able to top you in amount of times you're here, Shizuki-san was here yesterday, Nakazawa a few times," he curled his good hand back into a fist and stuck out his thumb again, "and Ms. Saotome has come too," he listed, lowering his hand when he finished.

"Sounds like you're quite the popular boy," Sayaka said with a laugh, though she was surprised to hear him say Hitomi had visited him. Her friend never mentioned visiting Kyosuke in the hospital before, why was that?

She must have forgotten to tell Sayaka, that was it.

"What do you mean you're going to the hospital after school?" Sayaka demanded with alarm, both hands slammed onto Hitomi's desk as she stared wide-eyed at her friend. "What happened? Did something happen? Are you okay?"

Hitomi just offered her a smile and shook her head. "It's nothing, really. I just woke up in a warehouse along with some others. Don't know how I go there; authorities think it was a case of mass sleepwalking, and they want to make sure that everything is okay. But really, it's nothing."

That was not a case of "nothing," but Sayaka refrained from saying so. Still, she responded with a sigh, resting her head on her hand. "Hitomi, what am I going to do about you?" she asked tiredly, looking back up at her. Though Kyosuke's words came back about how Hitomi had been coming to see him, but Sayaka chose not to bring it up.

It was lunch break now, and most of the class had left to find their friends and to eat. Only a small handful of students were still in the classroom, eating and chatting. Sayaka and Hitomi were two of them, taking bites out of their packed lunches while they talked.

Madoka wasn't with them for lunch today. She had not only chosen to go a longer and out of the way route to walk to school with her new friend instead of with them, but had decided to ditch them to have lunch with her too. Who was this new friend that had all of Madoka's time?

Why, Tomoe Mami, of course! Who else would she have left them for but for that blonde "angel" she was always clinging to?

With gritted teeth, Sayaka shook her head to get rid of the rather unfriendly thoughts about that older girl. She needed to not get jealous, not get angry at her. But it was so hard when they made it so easy to hate her. Sayaka needed to remind herself that Madoka wasn't leaving them out of spite.

Madoka wasn't leaving them period, just spending time with a new friend and she'd be back with them before too long.

But Homura wasn't with them yet either despite assuring them that she'd join them for lunch. She had to run to the gym after realizing she'd left her cell phone in there after class. Of course she apologized for leaving and promised to come back quickly, acting as though her leaving was the ultimate offense to the two. But Sayaka noted looking at the clock on the wall, she had been gone the majority of the lunch period. It shouldn't have taken that long to find her phone and come back, right? Her lunch remained untouched on her desk and there was only ten minutes left.

"Anyways," Hitomi began, changing the subject from herself, smiling pleasantly, "how was Kamijo-kun doing?"

Sayaka didn't even hear her question as she stood up. "Hey, I'm going to go find Akemi, alright?" she told her friend, not letting her get a chance to respond as she ran out the door. Sayaka didn't know why, but she had an awful feeling in her gut. It was so unlike Homura to risk being rude and leave them waiting. She felt as though something bad had happened, or was going to happen.

Racing down the hall, Sayaka was able to narrowly avoid multiple collisions with other students without slowing down. She got several odd looks from people who must have been wondering, "Hey, where's she off to in such a hurry?" But she paid no mind to them as she neared the gym.

Skidding to a halt, she took a few steps into the large room. It was empty, not a soul in sight. The equipment her class had used last period was mostly gone, but a few of the baseball items were leaning against the storage room door between the locker rooms.

Pursing her lips slightly, Sayaka began to explore, checking under the bleachers and even the gym's storage closet for Homura. She didn't know why she might be in either of those places but Sayaka looked nonetheless. Some of the gym's equipment that had been stacked up in the gym got knocked over in her hurry, and Sayaka made a note to clean it up when she found Homura before she got in trouble.

She was just walking past the doors to the girls' locker room when she heard a loud bout of laughter from within, stopping her in her tracks.

"You're blind as a bat without these glasses aren't you? Yikes, your eyesight is fucking terrible."

Frowning at hearing that, a terrible feeling started to build up within her and Sayaka reached over to grab one the bats that had rolled across the floor. Quiet as she could be, she entered the locker room and began following the voices through the lockers. She could feel her blood boiling, growing hotter and hotter each time they made some remark. Ever since she was little, she hated bullies with a burning passion. Passing by Homura's locker, Sayaka only gave it one glance, seeing it was left open with its items still inside and Homura's phone atop the clothes, confirming her worst suspicion.

Continuing on, she located them in the far back of the room, tucked away in a littler corner. There were four of them, two boys and two girls, all from a grade above them. The boys had Homura pinned to the lockers while one girl was trying to keep from laughing too loud while she recorded their fun on her phone. The other was twirling a pair of red glasses between her fingers.

"G-Give them back, please!"

"I don't think so," the girl in the lead said, tossing it behind her. It bounced a bit before coming to a stop at Sayaka's feet.

That was the last straw for Sayaka. Bullies were something that Sayaka didn't stand for, and when they picked on someone she cared about, that instantly set her off.

Sayaka didn't think after that, instead she raced forward, smashing the bat against the lockers right by Girl No. 2's head, resulting in a cry of fear from the upperclassman and a dent in the steel. The cry of fear grew worse when Sayaka snatched her fancy phone from her hands and threw it back over the lockers. It probably broke, or cracked at the very least from the force of the throw.

"What gives?" she demanded, angry but nowhere as angry as Sayaka was.

Grabbing her by the collar of her shirt with her free hand, Sayaka shoved her into the other girl, watching as both tumbled onto the ground in a tangled mess. "Let her go now," Sayaka growled, stepping closer and pointing the bat at the boys who were still holding Sayaka's friend back. They were bigger than her by quite a bit, most likely quite stronger too, but she would still fight them if she had too. Sayaka had a bat and she wasn't afraid to smash their faces with it.

The girls behind her had managed to get back up and hastily retreated from the room so it just left the boys now.

There was silence as the three glared at each other, waiting for the other to back down. The guys weren't as cowardly in the face of a fight as the girls were and wouldn't run away crying because of a little push. But hopefully they were more intelligent than the other two.

It felt like an eternity as they stood, and finally the boys relaxed and shook their heads.

"You know, it ain't worth it," one of them muttered, letting Homura go with a rough shove, the other shrugged, releasing his grip on her as Homura fell to her knees. Not even looking at either underclassmen, the two boys made their way out with their pride still intact, bumping their shoulders against Sayaka in their departure.

"Akemi, you okay? Did they hurt you?" Sayaka asked once the boys had turned the corner, tossing the bat aside and kneeling down beside the other in worry. She was only given labored breathing and groans in response. "Homura?"

On her knees, Homura's breathing had become deep and heavy, hisses escaping between clenched teeth. She had one hand at her chest, fingers digging into her sternum. Before Sayaka could do anything a loud and pain-filled gasp was let out as she nearly fell over.

"Akemi!" Sayaka called out, quickly reaching towards her and holding her steady as Homura continued to whimper in pain. "What's wrong?"

Cracking an eye open, Homura just gave a groan, fingers drumming against her sternum. A light bulb went off in Sayaka's head and her eyes widened. Her heart, the condition. Shit.

"I'll call an ambulance, or get the nurse!" She really didn't know what she should do, she didn't even know if this was serious, or just a mild thing, but she knew she had to do something. The girl was in a panic right now as she began trying to find her phone. No, she'd left it in the classroom, hadn't she?

However, after another moment or two, Homura had managed to find her voice, shaking her head and letting out a few pants for air. "I-It's okay," she said, coughing a little, still struggling to steady her breathing. "The pain's...g-going away, it was j-just...it was just s-some stress."

Sayaka wasn't convinced that it was okay. "At least let me take you to the nurse." Before Homura could argue, the blue-haired girl hoisted her up in her arms and hurried out of the room.

It was rather easy to carry Homura, not to say that Sayaka was inhumanly strong or anything. But Homura was rather light for her age, and Sayaka was already physically fit from her athletic nature. As they walked down the empty halls, Sayaka realized that the bell must have rung. Lucky for them; she knew that Homura wouldn't be comfortable having so many kids watch her be carried.

"Think this'll let us get out of being in trouble for class?" Sayaka asked with a slight smile as she walked.

Homura, who was looking anywhere but at Sayaka and had a bright red face from being carried in her arms, gave a small shrug, rubbing at her eyes. They were probably starting to ache a little, and Sayaka decided she'd go back for the glasses after leaving Homura at the nurse.

"You know, if you were wearing a dress, I could say we just got married," she teased, adjusting her hold on Homura to a more bridal style. This resulted in making the shy girl's face even more red, and Sayaka gave a light laugh before feigning a hurt expression. "What's wrong? You don't want to be my wife?"

Homura quickly shook her head, waving her hands about in front of her. "I-It's not that! I...I just..." She looked as though she was going to combust with how hot her face was getting. Sayaka figured that she'd already had too much teasing for one day, and for her heart's sake, she ought to ease up for now.

"Sayaka-chan? Homura-chan?"

She stopped to look at a startled Madoka standing before them, having just exited the girls' restroom. She blinked and tilted her head.

"What are you doing? You two weren't in class," she said taking a step forward, face alight with worry. "Homura-chan, are you okay? Did something happen?"

Homura just looked down at her lap, and Sayaka tightened her grip on her as the frustration she had felt towards Madoka earlier resurfaced. "Akemi wasn't feeling well, I'm taking her to the nurse," Sayaka answered sharply. For a moment, she thought that maybe she didn't need the added attitude when she saw Madoka flinch. Homura shot her a look, likely wondering why Sayaka didn't mention the chest pains.

But the pinkette recovered quickly and stepped closer. "Should I go with you?" she asked, always concerned for the others' sake, and looked directly at Homura. She then took notice of Homura's bare face. "Homura-chan? Your glasses are missing; you said you can't get around without them."

"I-I must have f-forgot them," she lied, shaking her head, "and it's okay, I'll m-manage until I go get them."

Sayaka just stepped away from Madoka, holding Homura closer to herself. "No, it's fine," she said, pushing down the annoyance and reminding herself that Madoka was her best friend, her tone turning chipper, though it wasn't genuine. "Can you let Saotome-sensei know where we're going, though?" she asked her.

"Oh? Yeah, I can do that!" A nod came from Madoka, and then she asked one last time if they were sure they wouldn't like her to go with them and if they needed anything else before she headed off back to the class.

When they turned the corner, Homura pressed a hand on Sayaka's arm. "Are you okay, Miki-san?"

"I'm fine, Akemi," Sayaka said, her grip loosening up when she realized how painful it must have been for Homura. "Let's just get you to the nurse."

Authors Note: And you will be seeing those kids again in the future, this wasn't a one time appearance for them. Writing the bullying scene was a bit awkward for me, since I don't exactly know how to write one. I hope this was decent enough.