~Oliver's POV~

I glanced to my right, with Len sitting beside me. "What?" I asked, fighting back the urge to smile at his silly question.

Len only shook his head. "Why do you think we exist?" He pressed, pulling one knee up. "It's like...there's no point, right? But we just keep living anyway. Moving slowly towards death—the thing everyone hates." He rested the side of his head on his shoulder, letting out a sigh. "It's unavoidable, so why do we continue to live? What sadist put us here, only to let us die anyway...?"

I furrowed my brow, and there was slight irritation in my gut. "You really shouldn't speak like that. Even if you aren't caught, name-calling is against protocol."

---

Gasping, I opened my eyes.

W...what?

I was sitting...at the dining table like before. Nothing seemed to have changed, but Kuro gave me a strange look.

"Everything alright?" She asked, gnawing at her lip like she usually did when she was trying to figure something out.

I only laughed nervously, waving her off. "I-I'm fine! Thanks for the pancakes, Kuro. I think I'm gonna just grab my stuff and head over to Piko's house.... Tell me if you get any weird calls."

Standing up, I swiftly headed upstairs to grab my phone. Piko, of course, had already replied since he was such a worrywart. I laughed at him a bit before reading what he said.

"Oliver, I know you're just awake and all, but you said you're not tired or anything right? We need your help."

There was nothing else.

I tilted my head slightly and read the text a few times over.

We? Was Ryuuto there too? Ah, whatever it is, I better head over soon.

I jammed the phone into my pocket, grabbed my bag, and left. There was a moment to say goodbye again to Kuro, but that was all before I ran down the road towards Piko's house.

It wasn't too far; a few blocks away was nothing for me. I had never done horrible in gym class, anyway.

Funny enough, I barely had any time to knock on Piko's front door before it shot open.

"Huh?!" The boy in front of me looked irritated; he wasn't invited to Piko's house. Ever. I knew immediately that something was going on, but backed up since I couldn't take him alone.

"F-Fukase? What were you doing here...?" I asked, trying to sound as friendly as I could. It probably would've worked if the stutter hadn't given away my fear.

"Ohh, your that big nerds friend, huh?" Fukase grinned and ran a thumb across his neck—a signal towards me—before shoving me down and out of his way.

I yelped in the pain of slamming back full-force onto the sidewalk, but...it honestly could've been worse. He seemed to be going easy on me.

"You're lucky I came without anyone! And that you showed up late," he spat, running a hand through the hair that was red like blood.

He walked away without another word, and I sat up slowly, wincing from the clear bruises that had painted my back. Hopefully nothing was bleeding; I couldn't tell at all since the pain was overwhelming.

I staggered a bit, but successfully stood up and achingly walked into the house, shutting the door behind me. The click of the lock seemed to signal Piko, as he ran downstairs.

"Oli—oh my god!" He noticed the blood that was on my elbows and forearms from the impact of the fall, it seems. "Was it Fukase?! I bet it was! That big jerk!" He fumed, gently pulling me into the kitchen.

I didn't say a word; it won't do much to protest when Piko was like this anyway.

"Hey, what's with the patch over your eyebrow?" I asked, studying it while he cleaned my arm, wincing a few times when the antibacterial spray did its job.

Piko refused to speak for a good minute or two while he cleaned my arm, but then gave up when the silence got to him. "The same as you," he muttered simply. There was not another word.

Once he finished up, we both headed downstairs; we would usually sleep over there since it was pretty much one giant bedroom, but not today.

Ryuuto was there—he was shaking and had more patches than Piko and I did combined. There was a dent in the wall behind him too.

"Ryuuto...." I approached him slowly; he didn't seem to be in the shape to where he would appreciate it if you jumped out in front of him at random. "Hey...are you alright? Fukase's gone now...." I touched his shoulder as gently as possible, but he still flinched and shut his eyes tightly.

I glanced back at Piko, who shook his head. "It's best to leave him for a while when this happens.... It's the only way he'll cope...."

I wanted to help—to hold the small boy and tell him everything would be okay, but...if that wasn't going to help him, then I had to back off.

"Piko, I wanna talk. I want Ryuuto to hear it too, whether he's like this or not...." I sat down on the floor next to Ryuuto, though a bit farther away so he wouldn't be intimidated or scared in any way.

Piko tilted his head. "Yeah...?"

I paused, inhaling a great deal just to prepare myself. It might've been a bit dramatic.

"You know how I hit my head and fainted, right? Or...more like a coma; it was two days, and all...." I looked away slightly. "Well...I know this is gonna sound weird, but I heard some voice.... Like a boy our age. He was asking if I remembered him, but...none of it makes sense."

Piko blinked. "H-huh? You're telepathic now?" He furrowed his brow. "Wait, that would be the other way around...."

"Uh, Piko—"

"Anyway, I'm sure it was just part of your weird dream! Though it would be totally cool if that were real."

Upon Ryuuto's stirring and his visible pain at Piko's raised voice, the latter quickly shut his mouth.

Somehow I knew I would get that response....