AN: I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. If you don't celebrate Christmas then I wish you a happy holiday season!

This chapter was finished, uploaded and edited by Christmas Eve but due to its contents I did not want to post it early. In regards to this chapter's contents: I am changing the story's rating from T to M to be safe. This story was published initially with the T rating to make it easier to find, but I expect anyone checking for stories in this series will be checking the M category as well.

I normally wouldn't put a content warning but, with the nature of what this chapter includes... I felt I should even though I kept it as vague and "light" as I could:

****Warning: this chapter depicts sexual assault.****

If you wish to skip this chapter as a result I completely understand, I personally did not enjoy writing or proof reading the section that includes this. Alternatively you can skip ahead to the second to last scene change roughly 3/4 of the way through: "Early morning of May 6th". Unlike my normal scene change headers it will be in bold and underlined to make it easier to spot.

I'm Going Home

The sounds of the party – was it a party? - grew distant as Natsuo allowed himself to be lead away so he could rest. With how dark it was he couldn't tell where he was or where he was walking, he could only trust whoever was helping him. As he stumbled slightly and his helper caught him he thought to himself, "Who's helping me? I can't remember... I think it was a woman... right?"

"We're almost there, try to stay on your feet just a little longer," Nene said with a sickly sweet voice, her grin not having faded at all. As she guided Natsuo over a fallen log she thought, "I still can't believe how well this worked, should have just done this from the start."

They were silent for a moment or two before Natsuo wearily asked, "Where are we going...?"

"You don't remember?" Nene responded with convincing concern, "We're going somewhere quiet where you can lay down. Somewhere you can have privacy and nobody will disturb you."

"Right... I remember... you told me that before... right?" Natsuo wondered, no longer sure of his own recollection. In all honesty he was having trouble even remembering where he had been. He shook his head before stating, "Anyway... thank you."

"Oh, no need to thank me; I'm sure you'll return my kindness somehow," Nene replied, the hungry undertone in her voiced missed by Natsuo. She then continued, "It's probably best if you try not to talk, just focus on walking for now." Natsuo simply nodded silently in response as he continued walking forward at her direction.

A few more minutes passed before they arrived at a small clearing, little more than a gap between some trees that was obscured by some bushes, where Nene had placed a dim camping light that wouldn't be visible from a distance so she could find it again. In this spot she'd also laid out a thick blanket on the ground along with a pillow she'd taken from the women's bunk room. "Alright, we're here," she said simply as she helped him first into a sitting position and then laying down with his head resting on the pillow.

Natsuo grumbled as he shifted, trying to get more comfortable, "Ugh... hard floor..."

Grinning to herself Nene whispered, "That's not the only thing that's going to be hard..."

"Hmm? What did say?" Natsuo asked, able to tell she'd said something but couldn't make it out.

"Sorry, I wasn't able to find a futon for you, only the blanket and pillow. It'll do for now though," Nene replied in a clearer tone as she devoured him with her eyes before she ran her fingers through his hair, eliciting a small sound of contentment. Not wanting him to fall asleep though she moved her hands to the hem of his shirt and said while tugging it up, "Oh! I didn't notice it before but it looks like you spilled some food on your shirt. Don't want to sleep in that do you?"

"Huh? Oh... I guess not..." Natsuo mumbled as he sat up briefly so his shirt could be more easily removed. Once it was off he laid back down, shivering slightly at the chill air of the night. Before his mind could sink into unconsciousness though, he was pulled back a sudden feeling of pressure near his groin that seemed to shift slightly before applying more pressure, causing a feeling of blood rushing and an involuntary gasp.

Nene looked down from above, straddling Natsuo as she pressed herself against him, a feeling of excitement welling up as she felt his body react to her. She then ran her hands up and down his torso softly, causing more subtle reactions from him before she leaned down to pepper his chest with small kisses and nips with her front teeth.

When she paused for a moment Natsuo's hands reached up to grip her hips as he moved against her and mumbled, eyes half open, "Don't stop Rui... I've missed you."

Nene's eyes widened briefly before her grin widened again and she thought, "So he thinks I'm Rui? Even better, that means he won't hold back at all." She then wordlessly continued her enthusiastic foreplay, wanting to push him to his limit before she finally took what she wanted.

Meanwhile...

"How did you manage to help Fuji-san improve so much?" someone from the crowd around Miyabi asked.

She and Ibuki had managed to distract everyone so Natsuo could escape and get some food, but the constant questions were starting to take their toll. She chuckled as she answered, "Oh you know. Trial and error until we found a technique that worked for him."

Another voice called out, "But when did you have the time? You were both so busy with helping everyone else."

"We made time outside of our normal duties. I'm more than happy to do the same for any of you if needed and our schedules allow for it," Miyabi replied with a smile before declaring, "But that being said I am pretty hungry so if you all don't mind...?"

The crowd realized they'd been hounding her nonstop, many apologized and the crowd dispersed so she could finally get her own food and some desperately needed water. She opted for water first before she got into a growing line at one of the food stations they'd set up. As she was taking a sip, noting that she was almost to the front, someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned to see who it was and asked, "Mizusawa-san?" when she saw it was Ibuki.

"Sorry to bug you when you're waiting for food but... have you seen Fuji?" Ibuki asked, mild concern in his voice.

Miyabi thought for a second before answering, "When I was still in the big crowd I saw him go to the takoyaki stand... after that I didn't see him. Why?"

"I was looking for him, wanted to congratulate him again and go over some stuff for tomorrow morning, but I couldn't find him. I even went inside to check the bunk room and restrooms but nothing," Ibuki explained as he continued to look around.

Miyabi frowned at this, she couldn't think of where he might have gone and pondered, "Maybe he just went off to get some quiet and decompress? You should have seen how nervous he was before the performance."

Ibuki nodded as he replied, "See that's what I thought too. But then I tried calling him right before I found you: it rang twice and then went to voicemail. I tried again and it just goes straight to voicemail now."

Miyabi's eyes narrowed, they both knew what two rings and going to voicemail meant: the call had been rejected and then the phone was either turned off or put into "do not disturb" mode. "Natsuo-kun wouldn't have done that..." Miyabi muttered as she looked around the area in concern before her eyes widened, looking around more frantically.

Noting this drastic change Ibuki asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Miyabi settled her gaze on him, the fear clear on her face as she simply asked, "Have you seen Nene-san?"

Ibuki whipped his head around as he scanned the area, not seeing her either before he exclaimed, "Shit! Serizawa: go check the women's bunk room, the restroom... everywhere you can inside. I'm going to look around out here and ask if anyone has seen either of them."

"Right!" Miyabi responded without hesitation as she bolted out of line and towards the building. As she entered and ran full speed she thought, "What's going on?! What could she be doing?! Dammit Nene!"

Less than five minutes had gone by and she had searched the bunk room, the restroom and was in the process of checking in other various rooms when her phone suddenly rang. When she saw it was Ibuki calling he hastily accepted the call and blurted, "Did you find them?!"

"Not yet but I found something. Get back out here and meet me at the takoyaki stand," Ibuki replied succinctly before he disconnected.

Sprinting yet again, Miyabi made her way back outside and quickly found Ibuki who motioned for her to follow him. As they made their way to the edge of the area that had been set up with tables Ibuki explained, "The guy working the takoyaki stand said Fuji went this way after getting his food. If he was trying to avoid the crowd for a bit it makes sense, the lighting over here isn't great. When I came over I found this."

As they came to a stop Miyabi took out her phone to shine it's light on the objects on the ground: a dropped plate that a few takoyaki had fallen off, a dropped cup, whatever contents it had still held spilled out. As she examined this sight she asked, "What happened?"

Ibuki shook his head as he answered, "I don't know but I don't like it. It's hard to tell but it looks like two sets of footprints in the dirt, and they don't go towards the building."

Miyabi began walking along the tree line, the same direction the footprints went, keeping her light on them as she simply said, "Let's go."

Wordlessly following behind her, Ibuki thought to himself, "I don't like this... this is starting to look like Fuji was kidnapped, but how would she have managed that?"

In the woods...

Nene sighed as she tossed Natsuo's phone to the side; when the phone had started ringing she'd fished it out of his pocket, not missing the opportunity to tease him, and managed to reject the call and shut it off quickly. "The last thing I need now is for someone to hear that and come looking," she thought to herself, slightly annoyed she hadn't thought of it ahead of time.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Natsuo's hands came up and fumbled with her sweater and he mumbled, "Not fair..."

"You're right, you deserve a good feel too. Fair is fair," Nene whispered as she quickly removed her hoodie, revealing that she'd not worn anything underneath it, before adding, "All yours." Without missing a beat Natsuo blindly reached up to her bare breasts, causing her to moan which in turn encouraged him to continue before he sat up and returned the favor for her earlier actions by planting several small kisses and bites along her skin.

She let him continue this for several moments before she pushed him back down, whispering hungrily in his ear, "I'm going to take my time with you," before her mouth latched onto his neck as she grinded herself against his groin again, feeling immense satisfaction at how aroused he clearly was and he grabbed her by the hips, pulling her against him in rhythm with her own movements. Confident that she had left her mark on his neck she moved her face up to his to coyly whisper, "So eager now aren't you?" before she kissed him, practically shoving her tongue down his throat before she started to ravenously kiss her way down his face and to his torso.

In his hazy, semi-conscious state Natsuo was letting his body and instincts do the work for him. In their time together it had been rare for Rui to initiate before he was fully awake, but it had happened. Though he didn't remember her ever being this aggressive... then somewhere in his clouded mind a rational thought forced its way through, "How was Rui here? Did she make another surprise visit home?"

As Nene reached the top of his pants she stopped her kissing to whisper, "Now you just stay still and let me take care of this..." she stroked him through his pants, eliciting an instinctual groan before she began to undo the button and zipper of his jeans, grinning in anticipation.

As he felt his pants being undone Natsuo's mind tried to sort through what had been happening, the things Rui had been saying. "What did she mean 'So eager now aren't you?'? Why wouldn't I be eager?" he thought to himself. As his pants were pulled down and her hand closed around him and sliding up and down, his thoughts turned to the sensations he'd felt, "Did she... change what soap she uses? She smells different...and when she kissed me... no... something isn't right..."

Natsuo forced his eyes open, and in a moment of lucidity saw who was actually with him. He managed a load groan in anger before shakily exclaiming, "Get away... from me... Kuzuoka...!"

In retaliation Nene shoved one hand over his mouth and pushed him back down while the other gripped her prize tightly, and to his shock he no longer had the strength to force himself back up. She then whispered, in that same hungry tone, "I really would have preferred if you'd kept thinking I was her. Now I suggest you stay quiet... who knows what might happen if you distract me, I have pretty sharp teeth you know... and it would be such a waste if I... bit down."

Natsuo felt sick to his stomach at the realization of what had been happening, but with his mind still in a haze and his body betraying him he could only weakly struggle as he felt her mouth envelop him.

Meanwhile...

Ibuki and Miyabi had walked maybe two or three minutes before they lost track of the faint footprints they had been following, the ground changing from loose dirt to more compact with grass covering it. Miyabi looked around frantically before cursing under her breath, "Dammit! With the grass here I can't tell which way they went..."

"I think the road is straight ahead if we keep going this way... do you think they went into the woods?" Ibuki asked hesitantly, glancing at the tree line to their side and the seemingly impenetrable darkness beyond it.

Miyabi turned to face the woods herself and thought for only a moment before she replied, "They might have... if she's behind this she'd go somewhere they wouldn't easily be found. What I'm more concerned about is how she got Natsuo-kun to follow her at all..."

"We can figure that out after we find them... I just hope we're wrong and he's not... you know..." Ibuki trailed off, letting the implication hang.

"There's no way he would willingly go off with her. He would never betray Rui-san like that," Miyabi declared confidently as she made her way to the trees, Ibuki quickly following while turning his own phone light on. It was slow going; a densely wooded area is tricky to navigate without getting turned around, let alone in the dark. The phone lights allowed them to see, but it also caused the shadows to play tricks with their eyes. As they searched, Miyabi thought to herself, "Natsuo-kun... please let me be right about you. I know there's no way you would do what Nene-san wants, there just isn't."

Ibuki suddenly stopped and quietly hissed to Miyabi, "Stop! Did you hear that?"

"No..." Miyabi replied before she stilled herself and strained her ears to listen. At first there was nothing, much to her dismay. Just as she was about to give up though she heard the faint sound of what could have been a male voice speaking. Turning her head in the direction she thought the sound had come from, she thought she saw a faint flicker of light in the distance. She immediately bolted towards it while ordering, "Hurry! This way!"

Ibuki, having not heard the second sound or seen this light, took a few seconds to process what had happened before he took off after Miyabi. The two ran as quickly as they dared I order to avoid tripping over a root or rock, and soon it became clear that they were in fact running towards a dim light. Not wanting to risk speaking Ibuki thought, "A light out here?! That has to be them!"

Having had a decent head start, Miyabi was the first to see what was ahead: as she rounded a tree that was between her and the light she found a clearing where a nude Natsuo was somehow immobilized by Nene. She was half naked: still wearing her shorts but nothing else, one hand covering Natsuo's mouth while her head bobbed up and down at his groin with slurping sounds. Miyabi may not have had any first hand experience but she knew what was happening; she let out a scream of disgust and anger as she barreled down on the scene.

Pausing her actions in surprise, Nene looked up, her mouth releasing Natsuo in the process, and only managed to make out, "Wha-?" before Miyabi tackled her off of Natsuo. The two collided with the ground a few feet away and began struggling with each other.

"Ibuki! Get him out of here! Call for help!" Miyabi managed to shout as Nene clawed at her face.

Ibuki, who ran into the clearing after hearing Miyabi's order, was dumbstruck by the scene in front of him. Natsuo was clearly incapacitated somehow, laying half conscious and stripped on the ground, while Miyabi was attempting to restrain a half naked Nene who was fighting back fiercely. Less than a second passed before he shook his head, quickly throwing Natsuo's clothes over him and grabbing the thick blanket he was on to drag him away.

Getting Natsuo a short distance away he wrapped the blanket around his friend, for both their sake, before he started shouting, "HEY! IF YOU ALL CAN HEAR ME COME QUICK! THERE'S BEEN AN ASSAULT!" he didn't know if anyone could hear him from this distance and over the commotion of the gathering. He repeated this a few times while the sounds of the two women still struggling could be heard. After another attempt Ibuki wanted to kick himself: he had his phone. He quickly sent a mass text to the members of Forester before calling the police, "Yes hello? My name is Mizusawa Ibuki. I need to report a sexual assault... hurry!"

Back in the clearing, Nene had managed to separate herself from Miyabi, who was now sporting several scratches on her face as well as her left eye swelling from where Nene had headbutted her, the two stood only feet apart. Nene glared at her before scoffing, "So what's this? You think playing the hero will win him over now?"

"Stop it! This has nothing to do with how I felt about him! This is wrong and you know it!" Miyabi yelled in response. She couldn't tell what she was feeling more of right now: rage or disgust.

"This again? There's nothing wrong with me taking what I want Miyabi. I know you got a good eyeful: did he look unwilling to you? Because his body certainly wasn't saying 'no'," Nene countered, her trademark grin on her face.

Gritting her teeth, and clenching her fists, Miyabi responded, "He looked like he was only half awake. What did you do to him?"

"Well since he was so stubborn... I slipped him some... well let's just say 'encouragement' I brought as a last resort. If he'd just given me what I wanted, and what his own body clearly wanted, things wouldn't have gotten so messy," Nene explained, her tone flat.

"Slipped him... some 'encouragement'? What do you - " Miyabi stopped as she remembered what she'd seen just before she and Ibuki had come here, "Natsuo-kun dropped his food and drink on the ground... like he'd fallen down... his drink!"

Nene narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to decipher the look on Miyabi's face before asking, "What is it now? Something else to say?"

Miyabi's eyes locked onto her in shock as she quietly asked, "Are... are you saying you drugged him?'

Letting out a groan of displeasure Nene answered, "When you use that phrase it sounds so much worse. I prefer to say I helped him let loose."

Nene did not see Miyabi move. She did not feel the pain initially. All Nene was aware of was that she was on the ground again, her head slamming into the ground and her vision blacking out. She then became aware of the searing pain over the area of her left eye, and as her vision faded back in she saw Miyabi massaging a clenched fist, blood oozing from her knuckles. She slowly found her voice and mumbled with genuine surprise, "You... I didn't think you had it in you Miyabi."

"You're a monster," Miyabi stated bluntly, "I thought maybe you'd see it was pointless and give up... I thought maybe you could get help... but I was wrong. You just don't care about how what you do affects people, you don't care what consequences might come your way as long as you can get what you want."

As she attempted to stand back up, Nene spat back, "So what? Why should I care? If everyone was like me the world would be so much simpler. And if you think you're going to - "

Miyabi looked down somberly at Nene: she'd cut her off with another punch to the face, not wanting to hear any more of her delusional rationalizations. This time however she'd managed to knock her out and thought, "I guess it's a good thing she never expected me actually throw a punch... she wasn't cautious even after the first time..." Snapping out of her thoughts she looked around and spotted Nene's hoodie; when she picked it up a small baggie fell out of the pocket with small white tablets in it. Making sure not to touch the bag, Miyabi went back to her, forced the hoodie onto her, got her arms in the sleeves before tying the sleeves behind her back as a makeshift restraint.

Hearing footsteps approaching, she looked behind her and saw Ibuki entering the clearing. She stood up, took a deep breath and asked, "How is he?"

"He's out cold... probably for the best for now. The police on are on their way, I've let everyone know the basics... she out too?" Ibuki explained, then asked while noting the blood dripping from Miyabi's knuckles.

"Yeah... she admitted that she drugged him... next thing I knew I'd punched her and she was on the ground. Second punch knocked her out... so I tied her up, but I'm not moving until the police get here," Miyabi replied tiredly as she sat down to keep an eye on Nene.

A silence passed between them, both not really knowing what to say at this point. A few moments later the sound of distant but approaching voices snapped Ibuki out of it as he said, "I'm going to go back to the edge of the woods so I can lead the cops here. Fuji should be fine where he is until then, just keep an ear out for him moving."

"Got it," Miyabi mumbled numbly.

He turned and started to walk back, but paused at the edge of the clearing and called back over his shoulder, "You stopped the worst of it... don't forget that. If you hadn't been so quick to act... well it didn't happen, so try not to dwell on it too much."

"Thank you Mizusawa-san..." Miyabi replied, grateful, but lacking the energy to do more than say those few words.

Ibuki frowned slightly, but knew there was nothing else he could say in this situation to make the shock and disgust he knew they were both feeling any better. Turning away again he started the trek back out of the woods, sparing Natsuo a quick glance to make sure he indeed was still there.

Early morning of May 6th – nearby hospital...

The sun was beginning to crest the horizon, the first few rays of light on a new day shining in through the window to the side of where Miyabi was sitting. She turned to view what the source of light was, not having realized what time it was until then; she'd not bothered to keep track after she took up her vigil beside the hospital bed Natsuo was resting in, still icing her eye and knuckles with ice packs provided by the hospital.

After Ibuki had called the authorities, multiple police officers and an ambulance had arrived within twenty minutes: Natsuo was taken to the local hospital for observation until whatever he had been drugged with worked its way out of his system and Nene had been taken into police custody. Ibuki and Miyabi had initially gone with the police to each give their statements regarding what had happened; afterwards Ibuki had returned to the anxious Forester members while Miyabi was brought to the hospital at her own request to keep on eye on Natsuo. She hadn't been able to unlock his phone in order to contact his family or Rui, but it was on again and on the table beside both the bed and the chair she'd claimed.

A little before the sun had started coming up a doctor had come in and informed her, "We got the preliminary drug test results, it looks like his drink was spiked with Rohypnol. It's one of the most common drugs that people use for this... he should be fine once his system clears it out. We're still testing to see if there was anything else in it, so we're probably going to keep him here until tomorrow just to be safe."

"She really did it... she actually resorted to drugging him in order to... well to rape him..." Miyabi thought to herself, shaking her head slightly in order to fight off the exhaustion she was feeling, "We completely underestimated her..."

Miyabi was snapped out of her thoughts by sudden movement and sound coming from the hospital bed as Natsuo slowly opened his eyes and groggily asked, "Where... what happened...?"

"Easy there Natsuo-kun," she said as she helped him sit up, propping pillows up behind him, "You're in the hospital, don't try to move too much too quickly."

"Miyabi...?" he asked, his eyes still not fully focused. He attempted to speak but the dryness of his throat prevented him from anything other than gasping, "Water..."

Miyabi quickly filled a paper cup with the supplied pitcher of water and offered it to him. As he greedily drank the soothing water she asked, "Natsuo-kun... do you... remember what happened last night? After the performance?"

Natsuo was silent for a moment as he finished his drink and then tried to recall what had happened. He then slowly recounted, "I went and got something to eat and drink... then Kuzuoka-san came up and told me she was giving up... we talked for a few minutes before she left. After a bit I started to feel off and then - " he cut off as flashes of what happened in his drugged state started to come back to him. His eyes widened and he started shaking before he grabbed a bowl that was on the adjacent stand and heaved, the contents of his stomach, mostly water and stomach acid, violently splashing into it. As he coughed and wiped his face he desperately asked, "Please tell me I didn't... that I didn't..."

Miyabi put her hand on his should reassuringly as she answered, "You didn't. Mizusawa-san and I got there and stopped her before things got that far." Unable to form words to respond, Natsuo simply folded in on himself, still shaking in disgust at the memories.

Before either could say anything there was a knock at the open door, followed by a male voice, "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm glad to see you're awake Fuji-san."

Turning to see the source of the voice, Miyabi recognized the man from last night and responded, "You're the detective we talked to..." he voice trailing off, not remembering the man's name.

"Detective Dojima, have you gotten any rest Serizawa-san?" Dojima asked, concern plain on his face.

Shaking her head, Miyabi answered, "Not yet. I wanted to make sure Natsuo-kun wasn't by himself when he woke up."

"I see, you're a kind girl," Dojima commented with a small smile before he addressed Natsuo, "Fuji-san... I know the last thing you probably want to do is talk about what happened... but I need to get your side of the story while it's still fresh in your mind. We took Kuzuoka Nene into custody last night and took statements from both Serizawa-san and Mizusawa-san last night."

Natsuo was silent for another moment before he replied, "I understand. I'll do my best to tell you what happened... but most of it is hazy... it's just fragments."

"I understand, anything you can tell me will be helpful," Dojima replied as he pulled one of the chairs in the room closer to bed and took out his notebook and pen.

Just as Miyabi was about to excuse herself, Natsuo's phone began to ring. The specific ringtone caused Natsuo to look physically ill again before he turned to her and asked, "That's Rui... can you please answer it and tell her... I need to sort my head out before I can talk to her... please."

"Of course," Miyabi replied without hesitation as she took the phone and quickly left the room to answer it. After she was in the hall and had closed the door behind her she took a deep breath, pressed the "accept call" button and greeted, "Hello... Rui-san?"

There was a brief, but very tense moment of silence before Rui responded, "Miyabi-san. Explain why you're answering Natsuo's phone this early in the morning."

"He's in the hospital, I cou - " Miyabi began to answer.

"WHAT?! Why is he in the hospital?! Is he okay?!" Rui screamed in panic, causing Miyabi to pull the phone away from her ear.

Returning the phone to the side of her head Miyabi replied as calmly as she could, "He'll be okay. I would have contacted you and your family sooner but he was unconscious until just a few minutes ago and I don't know the password to his phone. When you called he asked me to let you know what was going on while he talks to the detective that came to speak with him."

"A detective? Miyabi-san please tell me everything," Rui pleaded, fear creeping into her voice.

Miyabi took another deep breath before she started, "Of course. I assume he told you about that girl, Kuzuoka?"

"Yes, the one who's been trying to seduce him and left her underwear at his apartment the night you were all there," Rui answered quickly, the edge in her voice clear as day.

"That's her... well over the weekend she made another pass at him, but he not only shot her down again but when we told the club president what had been happening he kicked her from Forester and said he'd be reporting her to the University. We thought that was the end of it... but..." Miyabi trailed off, dreading what kind of reaction Rui would have.

Sensing the hesitation, Rui prodded, "But what? What happened, please tell me."

"She drugged him after the performance last night... and took him out into the woods to... take what she wanted," Miyabi answered quickly, getting all the words out in one rapid breath.

There was a shattering sound from Rui's end accompanied by another female voice speaking English, sounding very concerned and alarmed, before she quietly asked, "You mean... but... I mean did she..."

Hearing that Rui was holding back a sob Miyabi cut in, "It didn't get that far Rui-san. The club president - Mizusawa-san, and I noticed they were missing and found them before she could do that... but she had already... are you sure you want to know this part?"

"No, I don't want to know what she did to him... But I need to know what happened," Rui replied simply, a coldness to her voice that Miyabi had only heard once before: that day in January when Rui had tried to surprise Natsuo, only to find Miyabi there.

"Okay," Miyabi said simply before finished the explanation, "She had him stripped down, she was topless but still had her shorts on. She had one hand over his mouth to hold him down and muffle him while she... while she performed oral sex on him. That's what we found... I ran in and got her off of him while Mizusawa-san dragged him away and called for help. She's in police custody right now, we gave our statements and then I came here to wait for him to wake up."

Rui was silent again for a moment, seemingly still ignoring the English speaking woman in the background, before she finally spoke, no longer able to hold back her tears, "Thank you. Thank you for being there, thank you for stopping her..."

Smiling sadly Miyabi added, "I gave her a good black eye for you too..."

Rui couldn't help the small chuckle that managed to escape her at that, but it was drowned by the tears of combined shock, disgust and relief all mixed together. After several minutes Rui managed to compose herself and say, "Okay... Miyabi-san please do me a favor and contact Natsuo's father while you have his phone and let him know what hospital he's at... and text it to me too. I'll contact my mother and let her know what's going on."

"No problem Rui-san, I'll – oh, but his password... I answered the call from the lock screen..." Miyabi trailed off.

"I doubt he's changed it, it should still be my birthday: 0905," Rui supplied, still sniffling slightly. She took a deep breath before adding, "Thank you again. Please ask him to call me as soon as he can, I'm sure he'll be busy with the police and hospital but I really need to hear his voice."

Miyabi couldn't help the smile that formed on her face as she heard this and replied, "I'll tell him, word for word."

After Rui ended the call Miyabi went about her assigned task, she quickly sent Rui the requested info on the hospital before calling Natsuo's father and informing him of the basics of the situation. He assured her that he would be there as soon as he could before that call too ended. Once that task was completed Miyabi sat on a bench in the hallway near Natsuo's room to wait, feeling the exhaustion creeping on her once more.

Evening of May 5th – NYC

Daniella finished sweeping up the shattered pieces of the plate Rui had dropped while on the phone with Miyabi. She'd finally gotten her to explain what was going on before she contacted her mother, and was still in shock over what she'd been told as she heard Rui end the call with her mother.

Seeing that Rui was still sitting on the couch where she'd been since Daniella forced her to sit down, she walked over and carefully asked, "Stupid question but... how are you?"

Rui looked up at her, her eyes still red and puffy from the multiple instances of tears, and answered, "I feel like hell. I'm glad he's okay but I feel sick knowing what happened... what almost happened."

"Can't blame you for that, it's a terrifying thing to happen to someone... That friend of his is still there with him?" Daniella asked carefully.

Nodding slightly, Rui replied, "Mhm. Miyabi-san is going to stay there for now, I had her contact Natsuo's dad, my mom is heading out there as soon as she can. Mom and I both messaged my sister but who knows if she'll even see it."

Daniella sat down beside her on the couch, a silence falling over them. She wanted to help, but she didn't have the faintest idea what she could do to help Rui in this situation, just a glance and she could tell that she was ready to jump up and run: her foot constantly tapping, her hands fidgeting, her brow furrowed in thought. It was then that she had what she'd later call her "light bulb moment" and spoke, "Rui... it really seems like Natsuo is a trouble magnet. You know?"

Rui chuckled darkly at this before replying, "That's putting it lightly."

"I think you should go home," Daniella stated simply.

Turning her head in confusion, not knowing if she'd heard correctly, Rui asked, "What did you say?"

"You heard me. As much as I love having you here and would miss you... it's plain as day you want and need to be there with him. So go, stop fighting it," Daniella urged with a genuine smile and a pat on the shoulder.

Rui was stunned for a moment before hesitantly arguing, "But the training program... dad put a lot of faith in me by giving me this opportunity, I can't just..."

"Oh no you don't," Daniella countered with a flick to her forehead, "Don't try talking yourself down like that. Do you really think your dad would rather you sit here and worry than go back home and be with Natsuo? The Mr. Tachibana I know would shove you onto the first flight to Tokyo if he caught wind of what's going on. Besides... you've already improved by leaps and bounds since you got here, that's not going to disappear. So no arguing: go."

Rui stared at her friend for a moment before new tears formed as she nodded and said, "Thank you Daniella... for everything."

Daniella pulled her into a quick hug as she replied, "No need to thank me. Talking sense into you is what friends are for. Now get moving – you've got preparations to make, and quickly."

Nodding again, Rui stood up from the couch as she pulled her phone out again and called her father. It rang several times before he wearily answered, "Rui...? What's going on?"

"Dad I need your help, I'm sorry to call you so early but it's important... I'm going home," Rui stated with determination. Now that Daniella had set her straight she wasn't going to let anything stop her from getting where she needed to be.

AN: And so ends my replacement for canon chapter 236 and the end of the "Forester Training Mini-arc". The next few weeks will be very busy as it is my actual job's busiest time of the year, so I will likely only be able to get one chapter out during January. The time that would normally be used to write the first monthly chapter will be used re-reading through the remaining canon chapters to pick out "key events" and decide whether to plan around them, exclude them, or change them. I know where this story will end, its just filling in the gaps at this point.

Until the next chapter I wish you all well, have a Happy New Year's and take care. If you feel so inclined please leave a review to let me know your thoughts and/or criticisms!