Homura sighed, swinging her school bag over her shoulder, walking in a hunched over position, not wanting to be noticed on her way home.

Her soft, brown hair was now hanging all in her face, causing her to grow very hot. Homura panted just a little, staring at her brown school shoes as she walked along the sidewalks of Japan.

In the distance, she could still hear kids yelling and cheering, glad to be going home after another rough day of schooling. But for Homura, going home only meant practice, and taking care of her ill mother since her father had to work to bring food to the table.

"Right..." Homura sighed, stopping just a little, looking up, even though she knew she was in front of the small convenience store that was on her way home. "I should probably buy something to make dinner with. I should call Mother to see what she's like..."

"Come back! Dafubo!" a woman screeched loudly, followed by the sound of a frightened cat and an angry dog. "Dafubo!"

Homura quickly turned around, only to find that a massive dog twice the size of her was running directly towards her.

Instinct taking over, Homura threw her school bag to the ground and took of rubbing, fear blinding her so she had absolutely no idea where she was even going. She had always had an irrational fear of dogs, and this one made that pointless fear even worse.

The cat was long gone, probably licking its paws in an alleyway in relief. Homura was now the dog's main target.

Screaming, Homura began to run even faster, adrenaline beginning to kick in. She was absolutely terrified, so terrified that she forgot to breathe.

Face red with sweat, Homura turned a corner, making the biggest mistake she had in a long time; she had entered a small alleyway with a quick dead end just a few feet away.

Backing into a wall, Homura closed her eyes, trembling as she tried to hide behind one of the huge trashcans there.

The dog, being the vicious hunter that it was, quickly turned into the alleyway, growling and sniffing as its loose, chain collar hung from his neck, his leash dragging the dusty, dirt ground.

"PLEASE HELP ME!" Homura screamed as loudly as she could, her heart pounding at such an incredible rate, she knew these just had to be her last moments before she passed out and went on to meet her sister.

At that moment, a great coincidence occurred; everything happened in slow motion.

"Doggy! Doggy! Doggy!" Jyushimatsu yelled out rambunctiously, stopping in front of the alleyway, his mouth in an open grin as he clutched his baseball bat. "Come here!"

He didn't see Homura, but the dog still did. Not only did the frightening dog see Homura, he also wanted to kill Homura like the beast he was.

"Dofubo?" Osomatsu called out, stopping in front of the alleyway with Jyushimatsu, followed by the four other freaking lookalike brothers that Homura didn't know. "What's wrong, boy?"

Dofubo, the dog, didn't move, his entire body stiff as he continued to snarl ferociously at Homura, who was cowering behind a trashcan.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes as she attempted to calm herself down. She knew, in situations like these, any animal would be able to smell how fearful she was, causing her to be an incredibly easy target.

"Help me..." Homura whimpered, but Dofubo's growls blocked out her voice. "Don't let me die here...Jyushimatsu, Osomatsu...please..."

A single tear escaped from Homura's eyes, racing down her cheek like a small river.

"Dooooofuuuuuubooooo!" Jyushimatsu laughed, bravely walking into the alleyway, grabbing that dog's leash off of the ground, giving it a sharp, yet gentle tug, making sure the chain collar wouldn't hurt the animal. "Your mommy wants you, Dofubo!"

The dog stopped growling and turned around, it's thick, white tail beginning to wag one hundred miles per hour.

It's tongue lolled out of his mouth, as he sat down in front of Jyushimatsu, proceeding to thump his tail on the ground.

"There, there," Jyushimatsu laughed, petting the dog on his head. "You're such a good boy, Dofubo!"

At that moment, the dog's irresponsible, weak owner arrived, struggling to catch her breath as she bent over a little.

"Thank you!" she gasped simply as she took the leash from Jyushimatsu. "I'll make sure to bring you guys some pears tomorrow."

All the brothers began to cheer happily, waving goodbye to the woman as she and her dog strolled down the street as if nothing had happened at all.

But for Homura, more than enough damage had just been done to her mentally.

Knees knocking together, she stood up, stumbling out from behind the trashcan.

"Hey, isn't that..." one of the brothers said, pointing to Homura.

Jyushimatsu, who had been watching the lady walk away with her dog, turned around, still smiling. Though, when he saw who it was, his smile faded away instantly.

"Are you alright?!" he asked frantically, running up to Homura, still not knowing her name.

Homura leaned against the alleyway's brick wall, her face and lips just as pale as they could be.

She shook her head no, her heart still racing.

"I don't feel s-so well..." Homura said weakly before she collapsed right into Jyushimatsu's arms, passing out for the second time that day.

"Hey, what just happened?" one of the brothers called out worriedly. "And where is that girl's school bag?"

"Choromatsu, shut up," another one of the brother's mumbled, walking up to Jyushimatsu, slumped over.

Jyushimatsu's eyes were wide with fear, not knowing what to do.

Carefully, he sat down on top of his legs on the ground, so that Homura's head rested on his legs like they were a pillow.

Homura, though she was obviously still breathing, felt very far away, nearly unconscious.

"Should we call for the ambulance?" Osomatsu asked, rubbing under his nose.

"No, my brother," another one of the brother's said. "We should get water to revive her soul!"

"Tch! Your ideas are so dumb, Karamatsu!" the slumped over brother said as he sat down beside Jyushimatsu on the ground.

"We could at least get her something from the vending machine to drink, Ichimatsu," the final brother offered, pulling some change out of his pockets. "I have three hundred yen left."

"Good for you, Todomatsu," Ichimatsu spat. "Go make yourself useful then. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here..."

"Y-You mean someone might think we're sexually h-harassing her?!" Choromatsu gasped, turning extremely red. "W-We'd never do that!"

"Well, you wouldn't," Osomatsu laughed, going into the alleyway too, sitting down next to Ichimatsu, forming a semicircle around Homura.

"Dang she's hot..." Osomatsu muttered under his breath.

A few minutes later, Todomatsu came back with a soda in one hand, and a bottle of ice cold water in the other.

"Splash it on her face," Karamatsu suggested. "That'll bring her back! It'll be just like in the movies..."

"What if her makeup smears then!" Todomatsu almost yelled, sounding defensive. "That would be so rude! No girl wants mascara in her eyeball! That hurts!"

"And..." Ichimatsu mumbled, turning around, smirking darkly at Todomatsu. "you know this how?"

"I just do!" Todomatsu hissed.

"Calm down," Osomatsu sighed, taking the water bottle from Todomatsu, proceeding to hand it to Jyushimatsu.

Jyushimatsu hadn't said a word, frightened that this beautiful, simple girl was dead even though her chest was still rising and falling. Yes, he had been staring at her chest the entire time.

Unscrewing the cap to the bottle, Jyushimatsu poured some of the water into the girl's mouth carefully, praying to himself that she would come back.

Several seconds later, Homura did in fact come back, though she was coughing gently and choking just a little as she sat up.

She was frightened again, only this time, she hadn't expect to meet the six brothers again. Everything seemed too coincidental.

"I-I'm sorry!" Homura apologized as soon as she could speak, backing back into the wall by accident as she bowed down, still not on her feet though. "I had no intentions of worrying you all!"

"Dofubo can be pretty scary though, and you're clearly scared of dogs," Osomatsu laughed a little.

Jyushimatsu smiled, overjoyed inside to see the girl back "awake". He'd never tell anyone how scared he had been during those few moments she was "gone". He really liked this girl, even though he didn't even know her name.

"W-What happened to my school bag?!" Homura quickly asked, a sudden feeling of hopelessness forming in her stomach.

"Is this yours?" Choromatsu asked, suddenly walking into the alleyway. Nobody had even noticed he had left to go searching for it. "I saw it on the ground when we went after that dog."

"I must have dropped it..." Homura sighed, smiling just a little. "Thank you, uh..."

"It's Choromatsu," the boy said confidently.

"Thank you guys," Homura said instead, bowing as she stood up. Her face quickly went pale again when she noticed the sky.

The sky was stained orange and pink, clearly sunset. The sun, at the other end of the sky was already waving goodbye.

"O-Oh no!" Homura nearly screamed, taking off down the street, wanting to scold herself until she sobbed. "I hope Mother is alright...and dinner tonight...oh no oh no oh no....!"

"Is she..." Ichimatsu mumbled as the brothers all watched the girl run back towards the convenience store. "the same girl we ran into this morning...?"

All the brothers looked at each other, then just at Jyushimatsu.

"We never even got her name," Karamatsu sighed, leaning against the alleyway wall.

"Failures..." Todomatsu sighed, shaking his head.

"But we saved her!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, laughing happily. Silently, he added to himself, "but I hope she doesn't get scolded when she gets home! She's such a nice girl! I want her to smile more!"