A/N: Midterms…they're the worst. I'm sorry for the long wait, especially since this chapter is a huge downer! Like seriously, why so much angst? This chapter might be confusing just because of the switch in tenses, so pay attention to the verbs! They'll guide you. And thanks so much for the kind messages! Anyways, I hope you all keep reading, enjoying, and reviewing!

She doesn't ask what's wrong when she runs to my side after school ends. She just smiles, and it's not forced nor is it exactly genuine. It's a smile that I've seen before, but it's only when we are halfway to her work that I figure it out. Her smile is not to show her joy; it's to show comfort. She doesn't even know what's wrong, yet she's trying to comfort me, and I know what she's doing when she carries the conversation despite my lack of responses. Just like her smile, she's trying to keep my mind away from whatever is bothering me by her ramblings.

She's done this before. This style of distraction and silent support. After the defeat of Aizen, when I lost my powers, she would give me that smile and fill the air with her words. She gave me space and time while I tried to deal with my loss, and maybe she had hoped that I would confide in her, but I couldn't. Not to anyone and especially not to her because she lost something too. I didn't know what, I still don't know, but she didn't…she didn't quite shine as brightly as she did before. Didn't laugh with the same carefree manner. Didn't imagine with the same creativity and naivety. That place took something from her.

She's more like herself prior to Hueco Mundo than she was then. Tatsuki had helped Inoue gain, maybe not all but most, of what she lost, but at the time, she was different. And I couldn't open up to her because I was apprehensive that if I did, if I found comfort and solace in it, I wouldn't be able to provide it for her. That I would just make everything worse for her, so we did what we are doing now: she talks, I listen, and we both suffer quietly to ourselves.

It'll be different this time, though. It must be because Tatsuki won't be there to piece back Inoue's smile to the brilliancy that it is now. Chad will crack Inoue even further, and when Tatsuki finally departs, Inoue will lose another piece of herself. Will Inoue be unrecognizable with how broken she becomes?

But this, this reluctance to share our pain with each other, this pattern of keeping our turmoil inner and close to our chest, it will end because I won't fail her again. I failed her then. I relied on Tatsuki, Chad, Ishida, and our other friends to fix her while I tried to nurse my own wounds to no avail. Now, I couldn't trust or rely on anybody. The ones who fought for her, protected her, made her smile, are the same ones who will be causing her so much pain, and I refuse to fall under the same category. I refuse to betray her in that way.

So I'll find a way to comfort her. I won't allow her to keep whatever she is feeling to herself. She'll need someone to listen to her, and I know I'll never take Tatsuki's place nor will I be as good as her, but I'll just be there for her. I'll be like a crutch for Inoue: I'll take Tatsuki's spot until she returns, I'll be there to hold Inoue up when she feels like falling, and I'll try to lessen the pain. I couldn't protect her from it, the pain, but I'll try my damnedest to keep Inoue's lips up in a smile.

We arrive at her work. she invites me in, and I follow her inside. I sit at a table, and I'm pleased to see that she turns the television on. Even more so when she kneels on the ground rather than bending over to retrieve something for a customer. But it's when I see the disappointed looks and hear the frustrated groans that escape each pervert that a smirk spreads across my face. I successfully thwarted each perverse scheme they had.

She comes over to me and asks if I want anything, and I tell her that I can't stay. Ikumi-san leniency is sure to end, and I shouldn't test my luck. She nods in understanding while I grab my bag.

She sees me out of the store, but before I go, with my newly formed resolve, I turn towards her. I want to say something, but I can't find the right words. I can't tell her about my recent conviction without revealing that Chad would be leaving. That is something Chad would tell her personally, and it's not my place to share his news nor do I want it to be; I don't want to be the one who causes her to cry, and Chad's words would surely do just that.

She stares up at me as I try to just say something, and I finally decide to settle on the truth. A version of truth that may be vague and confusing at the moment but will hopefully offer her perspective and reassurance later.

"You can count on me."

My declaration does confuse her. Why wouldn't it? It's out of place with no context for her to rely on, and I can see her trying to think of what I mean. Her eyebrows creases in concertation until they smooth down as she smiles at me.

"I know," she says quietly. "And you can count on me."

I get a little embarrassed by her ferocious expression as she says this, and although I've always known that she had my back, hearing it aloud with her looking so intently at me has my cheeks burning.

"Well, duh," I lamely respond. My mind can't seem to work right when our gazes are locked in the way that they are.

She giggles at my intelligent remark, and I guess it's worth being embarrassed if it means that she would smile.

She's called back to work by one of her coworkers, and she seems reluctant to part from me, and I feel it too. But it must be because the air around us feels lighter. Like we both let go of something we've been clinging to, but she needs to go and so do I. I tell her I'll be back after our shifts are done, and we part.

I sigh as I head to work. I'm not in the mood to really do anything. If I'm honest with myself, I would rather go home, sink onto my bed, and glare at my ceiling, but that would give me ample time to think about Chad, which would only both anger and hurt me. Maybe working would keep my mind from thinking because I don't want to deal with my emotions. I would on Thursday when I could no longer avoid it. I just have to make it to Thursday.

And I do. I manage to keep my mind away from Chad due to the amount of odd jobs we have, and when I pick up Inoue from work, that pompous ass Kansuke distracts me with his insistent teasing of Inoue. And the walk to her apartment takes up all my attention as I recount to her about this weird task I had to do today.

I find myself doing a great job at avoiding the inevitable. I even actively choose to visit Urahara's shop at lunch on Wednesday just so that I wouldn't face Chad. It's not until Thursday that I'm forced to see him again, and when he finally joins us on the rooftop, those feelings of hurt, the ones that I've been hiding from, hits me again.

I can't look him the eye.

Instead, I look at Inoue and her carefree smile. She's trying to feed something to Tatsuki who is gently yet forcefully trying to push away Inoue's chopsticks away from her mouth. Keigo jumps up from his spot and offers to try some of Inoue's food, and he opens his own mouth, probably waiting for Inoue to feed it to him. Mizuiro shifts, and while his eyes are still glued to his phone, strikes a leg out, pushing Keigo forward. The idiot falls onto his face, and he complains that Mizuiro is so cold towards him, and she laughs alongside Tatsuki. And the atmosphere is so peaceful, so pleasant that I think maybe Chad changed his mind about telling everyone. That maybe he changed his mind about leaving. Maybe I've imagined the whole conversation in the first place because he looks normal. He doesn't make an attempt to say anything, and I am speedily lulled into a false sense of security.

Of course, all good things come to an end.

It's when we are all packing up our things when Chad clears his throat. Everyone stares at him, but my eyes stray towards her. She's standing up, and she has a small smile as she looks at him. Even from here, I can see that gleam in her eyes that she has when she's happy, and suddenly, it's too much. Just the thought that her happiness will be snuffed out has my lips parting to instruct Chad to stop. To just keep his words for later. But I'm too late.

I think I'm the only one who sees it. Sees her smile twitch as she tries to keep it in place. Sees when she fails at it and her smile quivers frantically until it crumbles. Sees how her eyes lose that gleam of happiness. Sees her eyes fill up with tears that threaten to escape. Sees her curling into herself as she struggles to keep herself from falling apart.

And I might be the only one who sees it happening, but we all hear it. Even though the school bell fills our ears, we can all hear her heart break.