It had taken Chika a while to fall asleep last night, but after tossing and turning for almost an hour, she was too tired to even think about anything at all and ended up falling asleep. The sun coming in from the window had woke her up, to which she responded to by yawning as she blinked several times, trying not to fall asleep again. She reached over to her phone which she had left on the nightstand the previous night, turning it on to check the time.

It was 10:30 AM

Normally, Chika would've kept sleeping until noon (unless a certain someone showed to wake her up), but today she was going out to grab lunch with You and Kana, so she decided it was better to get outta bed and start getting ready. Hesitantly, Chika stood up and took some clean clothes with her to the bathroom.

After almost falling asleep while sitting on the toilet (twice), Chika had finally gotten her act together and took a shower. It only took her about half an hour to get ready, which was great, considering You would probably be early to walk her to the restaurant. She was wearing a short, white skirt, along with a flannel like blue and white shirt that left her shoulders show a bit. Chika was pretty pleased with her outfit.

And just as she was about to chill for a bit, she heard it. Someone humming.

There it was, that voice again.

"Honestly, why now? Out of all the times you could've chosen to show up.." Chika murmured.

"You don't see to be happy about my presence." Said Riko, showing no emotion whatsoever in her voice.

Chika refused to turn around. She knew that if she turned around, Riko would be there. And she didn't want to be in a bad mood now, at least not when she was trying to have a good time with people that made her feel happy. But still, she couldn't bring herself to ignore Riko, she just had to answer. "I-it's not that.. I'm just going out with some friends, that's all.."

"Oh, yes, those friends." Said the redheaded girl, almost getting Chika to turn around. "I'm glad you're making new friends. But.."

"But?" Now she had turned around, and it wasn't a very wise choice, to say the least.

"Listen, you care about those friends, right? And you also cared about me a lot, isn't the right?" Chika nodded, feeling nervous about what Riko could say next. "Well, even if you did care for me, you didn't exactly do a very good job at demonstrating it."

"If you had truly cared about me, you wouldn't had let me die like this. You would've spared me and my family suffering, but you're just such a great friend that you did none of that. All you did was create a huge mess. If you couldn't take care of me, how could you possibly take care of your other friends?"

"Just shut up.." She said under her breath, her voice almost cracking.

"Oh, and that girl.. what was her name again? Ah, yes, You. You seem to have grown quite fond of her, isn't that right? Could you imagine if something happened to her? It would all just be your fault. Because you're not good enough to take care of the people that are important to you, BECAUSE YOU'RE A TERRIBLE PERSON!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Chika barked, shoving her fist into a picture she had of her and Riko. Tears were falling down her face and blood was falling from her hand. Shards of broken glass scattered all around the floor, along with the frame and the picture that had fallen down near Chika's bed.

For a moment, Chika sat down on her bed and cover her face with her hands, getting blood on her face. She didn't even notice the cuts on her hands, and if she did, she hadn't shown a sign that she cared.

Her breathing started to shake, and finally, she lost it. She started shoving things around the room and drowning screams in her throat.

Soon enough, You found herself walking to Chika's place. She was greeted by another woman, who appeared to be Chika's relative, but You wasn't completely sure.

"Hi, I'm You Watanabe, a friend of Chika's. I was supposed to get her so we could pick up lunch together today." You said as she introduced herself.

"Ah, alright. I think she's upstairs in her room. My name is Shima, by the way. I'm Chika's sister." Shima greeted You with a smile.

You gave a small bow and headed upstairs to what she thought was Chika's room. She knocked the door and opened it even before getting an answer, peeking her head inside.

"Hi Mikan lover~!" She said in her usual cheerful tone. That is, until she actually took a look inside the room. It was a huge mess. Her eyes scanned the entire room, only to find Chika sitting in a corner with blood on her face and once of her hands. Even her shirt had been stained.

"Jesus Christ! Chika, are you alright? What the heck happened?!" You said, running over to Chika and crouching down. She was crying hysterically. You grabbed her hand gently and examined it, seeing the cuts on it. "Calm down, alright? Stop crying and tell me what happened." She asked, genuinely concerned.

"I-I.. I'm sorry.. Once I start crying, I can't stop.."

You didn't know what to do, but one thing did pop up in her head. Maybe she would regret it later, but if it stopped Chika from crying.. it was worth the risk. And she had to acknowledge that she had been wanting to do it anyways.

And so she did.

You leaned it and kissed Chika. It was a soft, shy kiss. She could feel the metallic taste of blood on her friend's lips, and her tears had stopped running down her cheeks. The kiss did not last longer than maybe 10 seconds, but You wished it had lasted more than that.

She backed away slowly, still feeling Chika's lips on hers. Chika had her eyes wide open and her cheeks had turned redder than they were when she was crying. She did not sat anything, nor did she do anything, but You wasn't complaining. It could've been worse.

"C'mon," she finally said, breaking the silence, "we gotta get you cleaned up, specially that." You pointed at Chika's hand. The girl sitting on the floor only nodded, getting up slowly.

You grabbed her by the non-damaged hand and sat her on the bed and then walking to the bathroom and coming back with two wet hand towels. She crouched down and used one of the towels to wipe away the dry blood on her friend's face, later on moving to her hand. Neither of them spoke a word, not until Chika flinched from the sharp pain on her hand.

"Sorry, did I press to hard?" You asked, carefully dabbing the towel on Chika's wounds.

"Don't worry, it's fine. It was my fault anyways, so I can't complain about the pain.." She whispered back.

"What happened? You don't have to tell me now if you're not comfortable with it but.. why were you crying?"

"I.. you won't understand it. It's nothing." Chika smiled reassuring as she said this, but her eyes were not smiling, they were.. lacking life. As if her body was there, but her soul wasn't.

And You knew she was lying. She just wanted to kiss her again and tell her it was alright, that she would make her happy. But she couldn't, at least she had an excuse to do it the first time. There was no prospect of anything of the sort happening again. Whatever had brought Chika into that hapless state was not something she was willing to share with You, so she pushed no further.

"Should we just cancel our plans for today?"

"It's fine, it's nothing but a flesh wound. And food makes everything better." Chika said in a jocular manner, trying to lighten up the mood.

"It sure does. Also, if you think about it, this is the first time I've seen your room! I expect a little more, to be honest. It's a complete mess. I'm far more organized than you, and that says a lot, considering how messy I am." Said the silver haired girl with a sanctimonious air, getting Chika to smile.

There it is, the smile that instantly makes me happy as well.

"It's your fault for coming over without warning! If I knew the time when you coming I would've cleaned up at least a little."

"Does that mean I can come over again?"

"No."

"Ouch, no need to be so cold. I just saved you from bleeding out!"

"Okay, to be fair, I wasn't bleeding that much, it was only a cut on my hand."

"Whatever you say, princess. Just get changed or people are gonna think you murdered someone when we go out."

And so she did. Chika grabbed the first decent looking shirt she could find and got changed, heading out with You.