(Warning Chapter contains depressed and mentions of Self-Harm. Proceed with caution if you are sensitive to this)

(Later that Day)

The four teens and their parents were in a restaurant talking while enjoying some good food.

"So Himari you go on business trips around the world?" Sakura and Botan's mother asked.

"Why yes I do. It's quite interesting to see other places, and my job pays me well so I love it. Although I wish I could be home more often, that way Aika isn't so lonely." Himari said.

"Well hey she's gonna be that lonely for long, as she has me, my brother Botan, and Haru!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me. Hey, why don't you all come to Aika's birthday tomorrow!" Himari suggested.

"Really? Thanks Himari, how old is she going to be?" Haru's mother asked.

"She'll be turning 15." Himari said.

"Oh wow well then we'll be there indeed. Should we bring a gift?" Haru's mother asked.

"If you want to, just be sure, but if you can't then don't. Just don't give me something pink or with a unicorn on it or fairies." Aika said.

"Okay then, I will do so." Botan said with confidence.

"Hey Himari, can I ask you something?" Botan and Sakura's father asked.

"Hmm Oh why yes you can Mr. Benjior." Himari said with a smile on her face.

"Well I was wondering when your husband is going to show up?" Benjior asked.

"Um... My husband is no longer with us." Himari said before changing the conversation, so as to not make Aika upset.

(Later After Dinner)

"Well that was a wonderful dinner!" Himari said delightedly.

"Yes it was and I can't wait for the party tomorrow! And don't worry about buying a cake, I'll be making the cake and other kinds of pastries!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

"Oh really?" Aika asked.

"Of course I love baking and I want other people aside from my family to try my pastries." Sakura explained happily.

"Well thanks Sakura and just so you know my favorite cake is chocolate." Aika explained.

"Okay! Chocolate cake! I'll see you tomorrow Aika! And Um where is your party going to be?" Sakura asked.

"It'll be at my house in the backyard." Aika explained.

"Alright see you then Aika!" Sakura said happily and left with her brother and parents.

"Well Aika I'll see you again tomorrow." Haru said.

"I'll see you tomorrow as well." Aika said before getting in her mom's car and waving goodbye.

Haru smiled as he waved goodbye to Aika and Himari as they left before leaving with his parents and sister as well.

(Later at Aika and Himari's house)

"Aika I want to tell you something." Himari said while she took off her shoes.

"What's that mom?" Aika said while looking at her mother.

"Well I wanted to let you know I'm so proud of you for making such good friends, and that you finally have a boyfriend. *sniff* Oh soon you're going to get married and I'm going to be a grandma before I even know it." Himari said almost about to cry from joy as her little girl wasn't so little anymore.

"Wow Mom slow down, me and Haru aren't even that old yet and who ever said we'd marry let alone Sakura and Botan being my friends that fast? I barely even know them as we've barely hung out." Aika explained.

"*sigh* Aika I know you don't want to admit that they're your friends, but you can't let what happened to you and Amaya hold you back forever, not everyone is like her." Himari said while trying to reassure her daughter.

"*sigh* You always say that mom, but everyone at school just sees me as some gothic freak!" Aika explained angrily.

"But if they saw you like that do you think they would want to hang out with you?" Himari asked.

"... Okay so they might be my friends, but I'm not getting attached to them... not after so many others so called "friends" let me down." Aika said then went back up to her room.

"I know they do care about you dear I can see it in their eyes, all you need to do is let go of the past and focus on the future!" Himari called out before she went to her room as well.

When Aika got to her room she closed and locked the door before laying down on her bed.

"*Sigh* can I really allow them in my heart after all the pain I went through?" Aika asked herself.

She sighed again before sitting up and slowly taking her socks off so she could get ready for bed. However when she took her socks off her hand brushed over a scratch on her leg. She sighed as she took it off fully and saw all the scars and cuts on her leg.

She never told her mom this, but about a year ago she started self harming, as Amaya and the cheerleaders had started bullying her outside of school. All the bullying resulted in Aika developing depression as she was still recovering from her fathers verbal and physical abuse along with Amaya betraying her.

Her scar's weren't visible, let alone big enough to be noticed unless someone looked closely. Aika made sure of that as she didn't want anyone to notice them and began asking her questions.

"*sigh* Should I tell mom... No she's already dealing with enough she doesn't need a depressed daughter it'll only put more stress on her. I've survived this long and I can get through the rest of high school with it as well." Aika said to herself.

She then took her dress and undergarments off and threw them to the side. She then went into her wardrobe and got out another pair of stockings, underwear, and pajamas. Aika then changed into them and went to bed knowing she was going to need to get as much sleep as possible for her birthday tomorrow.

(The next day)

Sakura was baking more cookies for the party at Aika's house, excited as others could taste her pastries. She bounced herself up and down as she mixed up some cookie batter.

Botan then came down stairs as he smelled chocolate, butterscotch, caramel, and other sweets. When he came into the kitchen he saw cupcakes, cookies, brownies, and cake's sitting on the counter.

"Wow sis how long have you been up for?" Botan asked, surprised by how many pastries were made.

"I've been up since six in the morning." Sakura explained.

"Wow sis you work fast. I think you're going to be a great pastry chef when you get older." Botan said impresses with how fast his sister worked.

"Thanks bro! and hey some good coffee helped me out with this!" Sakura exclaimed as she took some more coffee and drank it.

"Huh, that's strange?" Sakura and Botan heard their mom say confused.

"Hey Mom, is everything alright?" Sakura asked, poking her head into her mothers office.

"Oh yes It's just that two million yen was transferred into our bank account all of a sudden.'' Honoka explained.

"What, How, When, Why?!" Botan asked, surprised and confused while also poking his head right above his sister.

"Yeah it's quite surprising, but hey this will allow us to pay for your college intuition." Honoka said happily that she won't have to worry about her kids going into college debt.

"Um yeah mom. *whispers to Sakura* sis lets go talk more in the kitchen." Botan whispered before taking his sister by the arm and taking her back into the kitchen, and almost making her drop the batter.

"Bro what the heck?!" Sakura angrily asked Botan as he almost made her droop the batter.

"Sis when I woke up I got a call from someone who told me that we got a prize for our victory yesterday. I tried asking who they were and how they got my number, but they didn't answer and just hung up." Botan explained in a panic.

"Wait what?!" Sakura asked, surprised by her brother's words.

"I think it might've been the game's operator." Botan explained.

"Hmm well it could be, but how does he have our parents bank account, and our phone number?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know." Botan said worried.

Sakura noticed the look of fear in her older brother's eyes so she gave him one of the cookies she baked.

"Here bro I think you need this, and I need a taste tester anyway." Sakura explained before putting the bowl down and opening the oven to pull out the brownies she made.

"*munch, munch* mmh this is good sis and thanks I needed this." Botan said as he ate the cookie.

"Thanks bro, man I think I'm gonna be a great pastry chef one day!" Sakura said as she set the brownies down to cool.

"You are indeed sis you always come on with such creative and delicious recipes." Botan said before finishing the cookie and going to get ready for Aika's birthday party.

(At Haru's house)

Haru was combing out his hair and getting changed for Aika's birthday party. After a few more minutes Haru came out of the bathroom and saw his father looking at his laptop with a confused look on his face.

"Hey Dad is everything alright?" Haru asked.

"Yeah it's just that one million yen was transferred into our bank account last night." Akio said, confused.

"What really? How?" Haru asked, confused.

"I don't know, but hey at least now we have enough money for your and your sister's college tuition." Akio said, trying to look on the bright side of things.

"Okay... well I'm gonna go get my phone and Aika's present." Haru said then went up to his room.

When he got there he saw his little sister holding the photo of Aika that he was hiding under his bed.

"Ahh! Sis w-what are you doing?!" Haru asked, embarrassed as he took the photo out of Aimi's hands.

"Big brother, why do you have a photo of Aika?" Aimi asked.

"Um, I needed to take a photo of a girl for a project in my photography class, so I asked Aika if she could be the model I needed and she agreed." Haru explained.

"But why do you still have it?" Aimi asked.

"Well I couldn't get rid of it so I kept it." Haru explained.

"Oh okay big brother." Aimi said before leaving Haru's room.

Haru sighed before putting the photo on his desk as he didn't feel like he needed to hide it from his family anymore. Haru then picked up his notebook and flipped through the pages till he stopped at one of the pages. It was the creature he used to kill Hinote and his friends, and he covered his face in shame and embarrassment as he did that in a fit of anger and rage.

'Ugh Haru you idiot why did you do that, yes Hinote was an ass to you, but why did you do that.' Haru asked himself in shame.

The day after Hinote was killed Haru felt nothing but shame as he realized that what he did was a mistake and uncalled for. However it was already done and he couldn't undo his mistake.

All he can do is try and live with it and try to move on. While he knows that it won't be easy he'll try his best to move on and continue living his life as best as he can.

Haru then closed his notebook and grabbed Aika's present and left his room to meet up with his family.

However before he left his phone started ringing and when he picked up he heard an adult male voice say "I hope you enjoy your prize."

"w-what the who are you?!" Haru asked, confused and scared.

However the person on the other end just hung up making Haru even more confused. He had a feeling that it was the person responsible for him and his friends being stuck in this death game.

"Whoever this person is, I'm going to give them an earful for putting us into this." Haru said angrily before leaving his room.

(At Aika's house)

Aika just came out of the bathroom, as she just finished getting ready for her birthday party. She then went down stairs and saw her mom on her work computer and she looked confused.

"Everything alright Mom?" Aika asked.

"Yeah it is, but someone transferred one million yen into our bank account last night." Himari explained.

"Huh?!" Aika exclaimed with a confused look on her face.

"Yes it's quite strange... I think I'll contact our bank and try to find out who did this, so I can thank them." Himari said with a smile on her face.

"Um... thank them?!" Aika said, confused by her mother's words.

"Yeah that was very generous of them after all. Now we won't have to worry about money that much anymore." Himari said warmly.

'Yeah, but I have a feeling that the freaks who tricked me and the other's into this game.' Aika thought to herself as she turned away from her mom with a look of disgust on her face towards the people who put her in a death game.

"Hey Aika you alright?" Himari asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah I am mom." Aika said dismissing her mother.

"Okay, well just know that whenever you need something just tell me alright?" Himari asked.

"Yeah Mom I will..." Aika said before going into the back yard.

Himari followed her daughter into the yard and looked at her hard work. The backyard was decorated with black, purple, and white balloons, streamers, and ribbons. Himari then looked at her watch and saw that it was ten till twelve which meant that the guests were going to show up any minute now.

"Oh Aika, your friends will be showing up here any minute now!" Himari called out to Aika who was over at the flower garden.

"Okay mom let me know when they're here, so I can greet them." Aika said.

"Okay dear I will." Himari said before heading to the front door to greet their guests.

(Ten minutes later)

Himari heard cars coming up to the house and when she looked she saw that the guest had arrived, along with what looked to be some additional guests. First ones to come out of the car were Sakura, Botan, Mis. Ichika, and Mr. Benjior . They then popped the trunk of their car and started bringing out all kinds of pastries.

"Oh my! How many pastries and sweets did you all make!?" Himari asked, surprised.

"Oh actually it was Sakura who made all of this." Benjior explained.

"Oh really? All of this by herself *sniff, sniff* and it smells wonderful." Himari said, delighted by the wonderful aroma.

"Hehe yes I did. I was making thies really early in the morning till there was only an hour left before we had to leave." Sakura said with a bright smile on her face.

"Well then I must say I'm impressed you were able to do this all by yourself." Himari complimented happily.

"Thanks, drawing isn't my only talent, cooking is another talent I have. After all, I want to be a pastry chef. Also I really hope that you all like it, as I've only had my family taste my cooking." Sakura explained excitedly to see what everyone thinks of her cooking.

"Well they smell wonderful, so I'm sure that they'll taste even better!" Himari said cheerfully excited to try what Sakura made.

"Oh and I let some of my friends know about your daughter's birthday and asked them to come along as I thought it'll be good for your daughter to meet with other kids her age." Hiroto explained.

"Oh well I think it's what she needs as well, so thank you." Himari said grateful.

Just then a woman in a uniform came out of the car along with a man who had round gray glasses, a short trimmed bob, and some average looking clothes.

"Oh why hello there and who are you two?" Himari asked while walking up to the two.

"Oh hello there, my name is Mio and this is my brother Asahi and my son Hinata is in the back seat." Mio explained.

"Well it's nice to meet you all and I hope you all have a wonderful time here." Himari said happily.

"U-Um yes and I um brought you this mam." Asahi then handed a box to Himari.

She looked at it for a bit before opening it and seeing a new tea set inside along with green tea.

"Oh why thank you this is lovely, where did you buy it?" Himari asked while pulling one of the tea cups out and admiring the flowery pattern on it.

"Um w-well I made them myself as I own a pottery shop. I-It's nothing really that big, just a small little shop in Tokyo city." Asahi explained nervously.

"Well I think they're beautiful and both me and my daughter love green tea so this makes a wonderful gift." Himari explained with a smile still on her face.

"Oh um t-thanks mam!" Asahi said nervously.

Himari giggled again at his nervousness and went to greet the other guests.

"Hey Hinata, come on out please!" Mio called out.

The car door then opened and a tall emo teen stepped out, he had a black emo cut hair style, a black t-shirt, black paints, a nose ring, black eye shadow, and chains hanging off his belt. Hinata then leaned on the car and began playing on his phone with an expressionless look on his face.

"Hinata can you please help my friends with unloading their car? It looks like Miss Sakura went big with the desserts again." Mio asked.

"Whatever mom, dad isn't around to help us out any more." Hinata said flatly.

"*sigh* Dear listen, I know you're still upset about what happened with your father, but he'd want us to try and be happy." Mio tried reassuring her son.

"I know, but I just wanna keep missing him." Hinata said then put his phone away before helping out.

(Later)

Aika was standing in shock right in front of the dessert table, which was covered in cakes, cupcakes, cookies, donuts, brownies, and other pastries.

"Hehe I think I might've gone overboard with the desserts." Sakura said.

"Um A little I only asked for a chocolate cake, not a whole god damn bakery Sakura!" Aika exclaimed.

"Yeah sorry I just love baking so much that when I made your cake I just couldn't stop baking." Sakura explained.

"*sigh* well at least we hav plenty of desserts." Aika said before taking some cookies and sitting down at one of the benches.

She then got out her notebook and started drawing in it, Sakura, Botan, and Haru all joined her as they felt like they'll need more creations for the future. As they were drawing Sakura noticed something with the good guy counter.

"Guys look at the good guy counter." Sakura whispered to them in order to prevent everyone else from hearing her.

They looked and felt their hearts drop as the good guy counter said that only six good guys remain and now the bad guys were in the lead.

"What the fucking hell! How'd this happen?!" Aika asked.

"I don't know, but it means we've gotta step up our game if we want to survive and win this." Botan explained.

"How can you be so calm about this Botan? The other day the good guys were in the lead and now it's the bad guys!" Haru asked in a bit of a panic.

"Because if we freak out now and do that when we meet up with another bad guy we'll surely be killed." Botan explained.

"What are you all talking about?" The group heard someone ask and when they looked they saw Hinata sitting at the end of the table.

"Um a little strategy we're coming up with for a game we're all playing." Botan explained with only half of the truth.

"Hmm okay and hey are you all artists?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah we are." Aika answered.

"Can I see some of them?" Hinata asked.

"Sure." Aika answered and showed Hinata some of her drawings.

"Hmm you know it needs something, can you give me a pencil?" Hinata asked.

"Sure here you go." Aika said then handed him a pencil.

Hinata then started drawing and after about a minute gave the notebook and pencil back to Aika. When she saw the drawing it now looked more 3 dimensional and looked more realistic.

"Wow this is really good, you've got some talent." Aika said impressed.

"Thanks my dad was an artist so he taught me a lot of things about art." Hinata explained.

"Oh cool... hey I need more color pencils, Aika do you have any?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah they're in my room, and just don't dig around in any of my private things please." Aika requested.

"Don't worry I wont, I'm not like that." Sakura reassured before getting up and heading to Aika's room.

When she got there she was impressed by the paint Aika had in her room as it gave off a good creepy vibe (Like the one you'd get on Halloween). She looked around for a bit till she found the pencils, and a diary slid into view when Sakura opened the drawer.

This caused Sakura's curiosity to pique up and she looked around before taking the Diary out of the drawer and began to read it. Not wanting to invade all of Aika's privacy, Sakura skipped a few pages till she landed on an entry that caught her attention.

"May 20th.

It happened again. Amaya and the cheerleaders cornered me in the hallway and beated me up. While they were doing it as usual they threw insults at me. One of them even told me that I should kill myself as I'm not wanted in this world. Then after a few minutes they were done, but not before ripping apart my notebook and drawings." Sakura read outloud shocked by what she was reading.

She continued on to the next entry for the next day not being able to control her own curiosity.

"May 21.

I did it... I cut my leg, there wasn't any blood, just a bit of skin and pain, but I kept it up for about five minutes and after words I felt better in a strange way. I decided to take an online test for depression and It said I was depressed. Not believing it so foolishly I talked to a professional over video call and she confirmed I had depression. I can't tell my mom she's already got enough on her plate to deal with. I can't birdden her with another worry. So I'll tough it out till graduation till then I'll need to make sure that my mom doesnt find out about me self harming." Sakura felt like 100 pounds of solid concrete bricks fell onto her chest as she felt more tears flowing out of her eyes.

"Ugh I can't believe this *sniff* poor Aika she's been going through all this harsh bullying and now she's depressed and self-harming. Not only that, but she's also keeping it from her mother, the one person who has to know about this kind of thing with her kid." Sakura said sad about what she just learned about her friend.

"Hmm you know what even if Aika might hate me for it I'm gonna talk to her about this and let her know she has to tell her mom!" Sakura stated to herself firmly before leaving Aika's room with the diary in hand.

When she got outside she saw Aika at the main course table (where the non desserts foods were kept) getting some Ebi fry (fried shrimp), gyoza, and kushiage. Sakura then went up to Aika and tabbed her on the shoulder.

"Huh? Oh Hey Sakura, did you find the coloring pencils?" Aika asked.

"Um yes I also found this." Sakura then showed Aika the diary.

Aika's eyes widened before she put her plate down, took her diary and Sakura's arm, and went inside. When they were in the house Aika looked at Sakura with a look so mad that it could kill someone.

"Sakura, didn't I ask you to pacifically, NOT invade my privacy?" Aika asked angrily.

"You did and I didn't read all of it, just May 20th and 21, that's all!" Sakura quickly explained in an attempt to calm Aika down.

"You... you did?" Aika asked, knowing what was in those entry's.

"Yeah and I want to ask, why haven't you told your mom?" Sakura asked.

"... Because she doesn't need another burden, she already has enough with her job, bills, being single, and most of all ME!" Aika screamed the last part out.

"B-But why do you think you're a burden to your mom?" Sakura asked.

"Because she has to raise me all on her own. We have no relatives here and my mom doesn't have many friends who can help her, so yeah! I'm Another burden she has to take care of till I can leave the house!" Aika explained angrily before she looked down and started crying.

"I can't give my mom another burden by having to care for a depressed daughter *sniff* I-I just can't *sob*." Aika then put her head into Sakura's shoulder and cried into it.

Sakura didn't respond for a while and just hugged and comforted Aika while she sobbed. After a while Aika stopped crying and faced Sakura who whipped the tears off Aika's face. Once Aika's face was dry of tears Sakura started talking.

"Aika, listen to me, you're not a burden to your mother. In Fact the opposite, you're a blessing to her. I can see that she loves you very much and how do you think she'll feel when she finds out about this and how you feel?" Sakura asked.

"I-I don't know." Aika answered.

"She'll be sad to find out that you're depressed and feel this way. Aika you're not a burden to your mom if you're depressed or not, but you need to tell her about this as depression is a very serious issue along with your bullying problem." Sakura explained.

"Are you sure it'll do anything? Last time I told a teacher and she told me that I probably deserve it because of how ugly I am." Aika explained.

"Well that was the wrong adult, you need to tell a responsible adult and that's your mom." Sakura explained firmly.

Aika looked down and thought about what Sakura said and understood that she was right. She had to tell her mother everything, otherwise things would get worse for her, so she had to get an adult who would take this seriously.

"Okay Sakura I'll tell my mom, but not right now okay? I just want to enjoy my birthday party and not think about this." Aika explained.

"Okay, but please remember to tell your mother about this." Sakura said.

"I will... and I'm glad to have met you, strange that it took a death game for me to make some real friends." Aika said jokingly.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to ever recommend it as it's very dangerous." Sakura said.

"Same here I hope if I make more friends it won't be through a death game." Aika said before going to her room to put her diary.

After that she and Sakura went back to the party and had lots of fun. For the first time in a while Aika had an actual birthday with other people and not just herself and her mom. As now she had real true friends with her and she felt happier in comparison to what she's been feeling for the last two years.