I'm supposed to be resting. Instead, I'm lying on my bed clutching my mobile phone, mocked by the clock numbers on the display. Time itself seems to have stopped.

What has happened to Kyoko? What could possibly have upset her so?

Mom, carrying a tray of food, elbows my bedroom door open. "Are you awake?"

I want to scream, Of course! How could I possibly sleep not knowing what's going on, but all I say is, "Yes."

"I brought you some lunch." She sets it next to my bed. It's rice pudding.

"Okayu? I got beat up. I'm not sick."

"I know." She raises a spoon to my mouth as if she's going to feed me. "Still, I thought it would make you feel better."

I turn my head away. "I can feed myself."

With a questioning—almost pleading—look, she slowly lowers the spoon. "Be sure to eat. It will help you recover more quickly."

"I'm feeling much better already." I sit up but a stab of pain from my cracked ribs accuses me of lying. It feels as if Ito just kicked me in the side again. I barely suppress a groan but my mother's anxious look tells me that I'm not fooling her. I take a long slow shallow breath, swallow the pain, and let it out with a sigh. "In fact, I'm thinking of going to school tomorrow."

"That's impossible."

"I'm sure I'm much better now."

The doctor said you need to rest."

I snap back irritably. "I can't rest. I'm going crazy stuck in this room."

This time my mother pauses, takes a deep breath, and sighs. "I know. We're all worried."

She doesn't have to spell it out. I know we're thinking the same thing.

"Have you heard anything?"

Mom shakes her head. "She went to school today, but she won't speak about what has upset her. Not even with her mother."

All the fiery determination to see Kyoko bleeds out. The air itself presses down as if seeking to crush me. We sit together in thoughtful silence for a long moment, then mom offers me a wistful smile. "Try and get some rest. There's nothing you can do, anyway. She'll explain her feelings when she is ready."

I nod and lie down. She leaves and I attempt to sleep, but the moment the last class period ends, my mobile is in my hand. I'm pressing redial every five minutes, desperate to hear her voice, but she doesn't answer. She hasn't responded to any of the half-dozen emails I've sent either. Her phone doesn't even seem to be on.

* * *

Wednesday, I get up and dress in my school uniform. Though every move hurts and I can barely walk, I leave early for school. Mom has given up fighting me. I think she is also hoping I can work things out with Kyoko.

Though Atarachi is not far, I take the bus. A few other Atarachi students give me strange looks but no one says anything. I limp from the bus stop to the school's front stairs where Kurosawa is hanging out with Yamazuki and a few friends. Hanashita, the girl who had always annoyed him, laughs loudly with her friend Ikeda at something he says.

Why isn't he chasing her off? And where is Shizuku? He had faithfully walked her to class every day until now.

I struggle up the stairs, wincing with every step from the pain in my side. Their eyes follow and they take turns muttering barely audible commentary at my expense.

"That's pretty quick of you," Yamazuki says.

I smile and nod, assuming he's talking about my recovery, though his tone sounds accusing.

"It's almost as if you knew they were breaking up."

I pause in the doorway and look back. Kurosawa glares at me. Hanashita stands at his side, flashing a vindictive smile.

I don't think I want to know what he's talking about. Instead, I stagger down the hallway to my homeroom. All I can think about is Kyoko. I have to see her. I have to talk to her. I have to know what is going on with her.

People stop in the hallway with curious or accusing stares as I pass by. My classmates turn surprised expressions to me when I enter the room—except for Kyoko. She sits at her desk, head bowed, Himura, Shimura and several other girls are gathered around her.

I approach them, gasping from regular twinges as I shuffle awkwardly between the desks. I notice in passing that Shizuku's desk is empty. "Ohaiyou."

Except for Kyoko's friend Yamada, no one looks up. Yamada glances at me briefly then leans her short curly-haired head toward Kyoko and whispers, "Be strong."

Himura rises, stepping between me and Kyoko as if protecting her. She towers over me, her expression hard and fierce. "She doesn't want to talk to you right now."

I straighten, indignant and angry. I nearly blurt out, "She is my girlfriend," but Kyoko isn't stopping her. Does Kyoko think she needs protecting from me? Fear and shock smother my anger. "Why?"

"You know what you did," Himura says. "In the basement," she adds in response to my stunned silence.

"You mean, getting beat up?"

"But why did they beat you?"

"Because—"

Yamada's short curls whirl toward me. "Because you were doing perverted things with her."

"Who says!"

"Everyone!"

I open my mouth, but no words come out. Where did all this come from? I've never seen the sweet little Yamada so fierce before. The others scowl at me as if I were some sort of sexual predator.

Himura, who had been studying my reaction, gives me a look that borders on pity. "Even if she lured you down there, even if it is mostly her fault, you are still responsible for your own actions."

One percent guilty is half guilty, as the saying goes. When I find my reply I nearly shout, "Who is saying all this?"

The class goes quiet, each waiting for someone else to answer. Without looking up, Kyoko quietly asks. "Why did you run out of the yearbook room?"

"I was looking out the window and saw Shizuku-san..."

The atmosphere tenses with an audible hiss from several girls.

"I saw those delinquents grab her and push her inside."

"That's not what they said."

"Who?"

"Ito-senpai and the others."

"That bleach-headed delinquent? Why would anyone believe him?"

Kyoko doesn't reply so Yamada steps in. "Several students saw you drag Shi—" she stops herself, glancing at Kyoko before continuing. "Take her into the storeroom and started doing perverted things with her. When you were seen, you attacked them."

"What?" I laugh. "That is absurd. I never did that! Why don't you ask Shizuku-san?"

"Her side of the story would be helpful," Shimura gives Himura and the others a warning look. "Unfortunately, she hasn't been back to school since then. She disappeared at the hospital and no one has seen her since."

Shizuku disappeared? Does that mean she's given up on our agreement or not? Has she decided to take Kyoko's life despite promising me a year? A feeling of dark certainty comes over me. Whatever this means, it can only be bad.

Yamada folds her arms accusingly and indicates Kyoko with a tilt of her head. "Some people see that as an admission of guilt. Of course she wouldn't dare show her face around here after that."

Head bowed and her long hair covering her face, hugging her stomach as if hurt, Kyoko shrinks into herself.

When a shinigami decides to take the soul of someone who still lives, how do they do it? Does that person simply drop dead? Do they kill themselves? Is that why this whole stupid scenario has happened? To make Kyoko kill herself?

Himura clears her throat. "Kurosawa-san says that he told you he was thinking of breaking up with...her."

"Did he also say that I told him not to?"

Himura hesitates. "No. But he thinks that, after he told you, you decided to dump Kyoko-chan and go out with her."

"Dump Kyoko! That's just stupid!"

"He said you told him you thought she was very beautiful," Yamada-san shouts back.

"He's the one that said that. I was just trying to support him." The wall of hard expressions tells me their minds are made up. I bend down, trying to look Kyoko directly in the eye. "Kyoko-chan, you know me! Do you really think I'm the type of person to do this?"

While everyone silently watches, her head creeps up towards me. Her lids swollen and bruised from crying, she looks at me with one red eye. "I hadn't thought so."

"Because I'm not that type of person. You know that! You've watched me for years."

"Then why did you—?"

Takasagi-sensei barges into the room. "Quiet down!" Everyone but me scurries back to their desks. Sensei eyes me as he steps onto the low riser at the head of the class. "Everyone in your seats."

I slouch back to my desk. The class president stands and calls us to rise and bow. I don't hear the morning announcements or much else for the rest of the day. The idea that Kyoko could think that I would do something like that horrifies me. I feel nauseous. I have to find some way to convince her it's not true. There must be some way.

I approach her again during the lunch break. Yamada tries to warn me away with a severe look.

"Ametsuchi..." Her voice is a threatening growl.

I ignore her and step around in front when Kyoko tries to look away. "Kyoko-chan, you know it's not true."

"Ametsuchi-san..." My last name strikes like a slap in the face. To speak to me like I were a stranger...she might as well stand up and shout to the whole class that she's dumping me. How can this be happening?

She averts her gaze again. "I can't talk with you right now."

My classmates' cold eyes surround me, trapping me. Kyoko is my only hope, but I'm losing her. I have to fight back, but I don't know what to say.

"They're wrong and you know it." I mutter at the top of her head. If only I could make her see. "Don't listen to them. You can't let them tell you what to think..." My words fail me and my voice trails off weakly. I lean down, again trying to catch her eyes, but she turns away. If I was unsure before, I'm certain now.

It's over.