Naoki was about to return to school after two weeks of recovery, he had planned to let just one week go however he fell ill which caused him to let another week go, Naoki did not know about Ayato's accident as he had no contact with anyone from the school, he noticed the lack of phone calls to him as Ayato himself did not feel like calling him.

Nevertheless, Naoki was not interested in what was happening to him.

During his absence, he also realized that it was possible that Misaki really had died of leukemia, and indeed falsely assumed that she had been poisoned based on what she had once confessed to him.
Not knowing what he had done he decided that he would confess to Mei, that there was an option that she had helped him kill Kenshin for nothing.

He didn't care about the consequences, and was going to tell her the next day.
Ayato, after leaving the hospital, had a leg injury, and was also returning to school, the accident was not fatal however, he bruised his leg - making him unable to walk normally, he also felt mentally better, although Kouichi knew that the subject of Misaki Fujioka was sensitive to him, as if he was hiding something.

Ayato avoided contact with Kouichi and Mei on the first day, and avoided Mei even more, as if he was afraid of her, but nevertheless he felt better.

After lessons, he went straight to visit Naoki, he was anxious and stressed.

He knocked on the door and waited, Naoki was lying in his bed looking at the ceiling, Naoki didn't want to open the door, he thought it was Kaito's friend and was going to ignore it.

Ayato walked up to his window and called out timidly.

- Naoki... are you there?

Naoki hearing this came out of his room and walked to the door opening it.

- Ayato, I'm here.

Ayato shyly approached Naoki, Ayato seeing him noticed that he was very shy.

- Something wrong?

- Naoki, I... I would like to confess something to you?

Naoki looked at him with surprise, and the atmosphere between them became tense, the silence lasted longer making Naoki lose patience.

- I'm after an illness, I can't wait that long.

Ayato gathered his courage and began to speak.

-Naoki... I... I... I know how it sounds but... but I love you.

Naoki opened his eyes wider, he felt as if he had overheard.

- Can you repeat that?

Ayato took a deep breath and almost shouted.

- I love you!

Naoki was surprised, he heard those words for real.

- As a friend?

- No!, just as you loved Fujioka-san

Naoki got a little nervous as he heard Misaki's name.

- So, do you want to know my answer?

- I have always loved you Naoki... even though it was through Misaki that we became friends... this... it's me and so...

Because of the stress, Ayato lost the ability to speak clearly, while Naoki, on the other hand, was increasingly nervous about mentioning Misaki.

- Don't bring her up!

- I- I'm sorry... I didn't mean to...

Naoki sighed and calmly explained to Ayato what he thought of his confession.

- Ayato, I am not interested in guys, however, you are my dear frie….
Naoki didn't have time to finish when Ayato started running away.

- Hey! Ayato come back here!

Naokie ran after him, however, he tipped over on the icy street, when he got up Ayato was already quite far away, not wanting to chase him he decided to go home and talk about it tomorrow.

Ayato, on the other hand, was struggling, he recalled Misaki, which only made him feel worse, his paranoia did not allow him to go home so he wandered around Yomiyama, around 9 pm, he sat down on a park bench, he was almost alone and his condition had improved, he felt like going home already, when he came across a middle-aged man, elegantly dressed.

- It's been a long time since we've seen each other Ayato Anju-san.

Ayato associated that voice, which sent shivers down his spine.

- W-what do you want... K-Kobayashi-san...

- Me? Nothing special, although considering my profession I think I should ask you to confess the truth about what happened last April.

Ayato was on the verge of a renewed nervous breakdown as his memories began to resurface, while at the same time he felt a bit of strength within himself.

- But it was you yourself who suggested to me to do it!
Akira nodded and smiled.

- Not my fingerprints are on the bottle of water in which you put cyanide in
Ayato became upset, he thought Kobayashi was lying.

- That bottle had long since been recycled into something else!
Akira pulled out a plastic bag with a bottle of water inside.

- Is this the bottle you are referring to?

Ayato was devastated, couldn't believe it, knelt down and murmured in a shocked, quiet, emotionless voice

- Were you following me?

Ayato couldn't explain it to himself any other way, no one would carry such a thing with them on a daily basis, so the conclusion was one.

- For some time now.

Ayato couldn't believe Kobayashi's cruelty - this had been planned since March when Akira first contacted Ayato.