If Sayuri found out that Hayate and Mio were skipping school, she would be furious. Although the woman had always returned late from work (or from doing God knows what), the two kids were in the clear. In fact, they didn't spend very much time at home. They had learned to hate that house with a passion. It didn't feel like home at all, and neither did school - so it was almost as if these two kids had no place to call home at all.

Jin skipped school, too. While his mother was more understanding, he didn't tell her the truth. She most likely would give up and spill to Sayuri what the kids were doing. Hyuna was a more mature and caring woman, but her best friend was a witch, and she refused to admit that. Maybe that made Hyuna as bad as Sayuri. With no father to look towards for help or guidance, Hayate, Jin, and Mio were all on their own. They only had each other - and Matsuda, who the three were so grateful for.

Matsuda wanted to skip classes as well, but his parents would definitely find out, and he'd be in big trouble. Sure he didn't mind getting yelled at a little, but Hayate promised that everything was fine, and they would meet after school, so they all had nothing to worry about. Besides, Matsuda was the sacrifice to bring all the homework and notes from class to Jin and Hayate.

For Hayate, skipping was no problem. He had no trouble at all understanding the material and getting his work done. He also did a wonderful job at teaching his little sister Mio - probably a better job than the actual teachers in the school were doing.

For Jin. . . Skipping was a bad idea. He'd probably get so used to it, and never want to go back to school. Hayate kept him in check though. The three kids would study together at a quiet spot in the park.

But it didn't matter how quiet it was. Mio was still hearing those voices. She was staring into space, not responding, and silently tearing up.

This was the first that Jin had heard of what was happening to her. He batted his ears, but couldn't hear anything that she could. Jin was completely oblivious and confused, but Hayate was starting to understand a little.

No matter how much he didn't want to, Hayate knew he had to take Mio to the doctor.

The walk-in clinic was the only place they could go, especially since they had no adult or guardian to go with them. Jin and Hayate took Mio together, and they didn't wait very long before they were called into the clinic room.

The doctor paused for a second. He didn't bother asking if they were here on their own, every child had different circumstances. They shouldn't be denied help. He was a somewhat old man, possibly in his forties, but his hair was already starting to go grey.

'Being a doctor must be hard work' Jin thought.

"How can I help you three today?" The doctor - Dr. Chibiki - asked.

"Go on. Tell him what's wrong." Jin gently spoke to Mio. She looked up at him with glassy eyes, and she shook her head. The poor girl was terrified.

"She's been hearing voices." Hayate intervened. ". . . Voices that my brother and I can't hear."

"Voices?" The doctor scribbled something down on his notes. "What kind of voices? Voices of someone you know, or are they someone you don't know?" He carefully eyed the little girl.

"Um," Mio sniffled quietly. "B-both." She responded quietly, almost inaudible.

"The voices that are familiar to you. Who are they?" The doctor felt bad for interrogating her like this, but he needed this information to understand what was going on.

Again, Mio didn't reply. She looked up at Hayate this time, but he didn't know the full answer.

"From what she's told me so far, it's been only our mother's voice. Maybe the kids from her class, too. . . I don't know." Hayate muttered.

"Their mom is a bitch." Jin stated flatly. ". . . Sorry, Mio." He instantly felt bad for cursing in front of her.

"Oh? What makes you say that about her?" Dr. Chibiki asked.

"She's an alcoholic and sleeps with different men all over the place. She screams at us and physically abused Mio back when she was too young to be in school." Jin spat as if he was dying to say this the entire time.

"That's very serious," Dr. Chibiki's expression went somber. "I can get your mother into serious trouble because of this-"

"No!" Suddenly, Mio burst out, catching everyone off guard. "Please don't do that!" She was on the verge of sobbing again, so Hayate placed a hand on her shoulder and gently rubbed it.

". . ." Dr. Chibiki paused before speaking again. "You can live in a place where you won't be abused by her ever again."

"The only other family they have is my mom," Jin frowned to himself. "And if we get their mom in trouble, mine would never forgive them. They'd have no place else to live asides from an orphanage or something."

"I don't want to be separated from my sister." Hayate's voice was cold. "Just tell us what those voices in her head mean."

"Well. . ." The doctor heaved a small sigh. "I don't have enough information to diagnose her, but I believe this could be early symptoms of schizophrenia."

"What's that?" Jin could feel the change in the atmosphere because of Hayate, who had stopped breathing for a moment. Mio reached out and held his hand.

"Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness. Some symptoms are hearing voices in your head - like your sister is experiencing, and detachment from reality. I believe this was all caused by her childhood trauma. Or perhaps she had it for much longer and certain events have triggered it and made it worse. Has she had any episodes recently?" Dr. Chibiki tilted his head down a little, but his gaze was still fixated on Mio.

"At school. Last week." Jin mumbled. "But she said it was the kids that wouldn't leave her alone, so I don't know if that counts. . ."

The doctor hummed. "Alright. . . To confirm her diagnosis, I would have to refer her to a psychologist or psychiatrist. But to that, I would need permission from a guardian. . . I understand that this is not something you can so easily get."

"I'll think about it." Hayate suddenly stood up, his hand still holding Mio's. "Thank you. We'll be leaving now." He didn't want to hear another word from that doctor, for a reason he didn't know. At that, he coaxed Mio out of the room, and she obliged.

"Uhhh- yeah, thanks." Jin scrambled out of his seat and followed after his siblings. Not only until they were out of the hospital did he speak up again.

"What are you gonna do, man?" The raven had worry written all over his face.

"There's nothing I can do." Hayate shot back, his tone was unintentionally bitter. "What if they send her to a fucking psychiatric ward? Sorry, Mio." He quickly apologized.

"It's okay." The girl muttered.

"You'll be okay with us, right?" Jin looked down at the girl. She raised her head and stared at him, before weakly smiling and nodding.

"I don't care if Eomma hits me again. I want to stay with my brothers." Mio gave Hayate's hand a gentle squeeze, her eyes glued to the ground.

"Hey, Mio?" Jin suddenly had an idea. "Why don't we do something fun today? Let's go to the park!" He grinned.

At first, Mio was a little skeptical. After what the doctor said, she didn't really know what to feel. She didn't understand, and she was too afraid to ask anything. After a moment, she managed a smile and nodded.

"Push me on the swing!" Mio raced over to the empty swing set. There were two of them, so she sat in one, and Jin sat in the other. Hayate was happy enough to push his sister. The week they had skipped wasn't so bad, actually, Mio was probably glad she didn't have to be in school. Jin? For sure he was glad to not be at school, but he missed going to soccer practice with Hayate and Matsuda. Just a little, but he would never admit that.

Hayate was too scared to push his sister any higher, but she seemed to be having fun anyway. Jin, on the other hand, was such a showoff. He went as high as he could, and then jumped off the swing. He didn't have a perfect landing though, he sort of fell in the sand, and didn't move.

"Jin! Are you okay!?" Mio was genuinely concerned. She stuck her foot out and stopped the swing, before getting off and running over to him.

"Ughhh," Jin groaned as Mio rubbed his shoulder.

"It's okay Mio, I got this." Hayate went over and gave her a nod. She just watched him quietly as he nudged Jin over onto his back. With both of his hands, he started pressing on Jin's chest. Hard. Some sort of scuffed CPR.

"Okay! Okay! Stop, stop, stop!" Jin burst out laughing, "I'm fine!" He sat up.

"Oh, really?" Hayate smirked while Mio was giggling to herself.

"Let me try!" Mio reached her hands out.

For a while longer, they played at the park together. On the swing, hide and seek, going down the slide, and climbing the monkey bars. It was until school was over, and all the other kids came out to play - that Hayate, Mio, and Jin decided to leave.

It was the first time in a while that Mio wasn't hearing anything in her head.