With the dance over, and most of the school empty of students, Yukio did a last round to their club room. It had to be a quick one as he'd left Kyoko waiting by the gates.

Karaoke bars all around Himekaizen were filling up with celebrating students, and both Ryu and Noriko promised to organise the club's outing this evening.

He and Kyoko had other plans though.

They failed to pressure Principal Nakagawa into disclosing which hospital Urufu had been sent to, but Rie-sempai was easier to convince, and she soon buckled under the verbal assault from Ryu and Noriko. Maybe he had helped a little himself when he gave her puppy eyes to the best of his ability. Good enough to have Kyoko frown at him at least.

Yukio opened the doors to their club room, went inside and retrieved the cell phone he'd left recharging there. With his phone in his pocket he quickly ran down the stairs, switched to loafers and sprinted across the gravel in the darkness, until he saw Kyoko's shadow under the lamplight by the gates.

“Hi,” Yukio said and waved to her.

She waved back, and with a step her dark silhouette broke loose from the gate post, and he could see her features when the street light gained access to her face.

She's beautiful, and she's all mine. Surprised at his own possessiveness, Yukio wiped off the thin smile that had begun to spread over his face.

“Shall we?” he asked.

“Uhum. Tell the guys in Haven?”

Yukio thought about it. “Why not. It's on the way anyway.” Urufu would growl at him if he learned Yukio hadn't dropped a last 'good work' and 'I love working with you guys' before the evening ended.

Thinking of Urufu washed away the last remnants of his smile from earlier.

“Good,” Kyoko said. “Do we tell them?”

Yukio didn't need her to specify what they would tell or not tell. Neither of them had any business dropping by the Haven café and continuing towards the station. That was in the opposite direction from their homes.

“We have to. Not all of it and not all of it the truth.” The thought of lying to the club members didn't sit too well with him.

“Call it an accident?”

He looked at Kyoko. Her suggestion sounded more callous than anything he had expected.

For a while he bit on his lower lip as he listened to the sounds of their footsteps and the occasional car passing.

“Yukio?” Kyoko said when he didn't answer.

He tugged his blazer tighter around himself and silently cursed his stupidity for not bringing a coat. “Yeah, accident sounds good,” he finally said. Accident was probably as good a lie as any other.

“Without Noriko we can't call it a mishap,” Kyoko added.

A mishap. Yeah, that would be Noriko. “Think he'll make it?” Yukio asked the night.

“He has to,” Kyoko answered. “Kuri-chan will break if he doesn't.” She fell silent but he could see her lips moving again. “As will you, and I don't want that,” she murmured.

Yukio suspected he wasn't meant to have heard that and refrained from commenting. “Yeah, he'll be fine,” he said instead. “It's Urufu we're talking about.”

“Yes?”

“He's indestructible. All that training just to avoid tripping over his own feet. Guy sure knows how to take a fall. Trust me on this one.” Yukio knew he was rambling, but spewing words was better than handling the silence.

“Our kiddie siblings,” Kyoko agreed and showed him two rows of grinning teeth.

Yukio silently thanked her for playing along. He kept up his rambling, but from how Kyoko answered his hand with her own fingers, he understood she knew the real questions that were tumbling around in his head.

All too soon they arrived at the Haven café, and Yukio opened the door to the tinkling of the bell. A few heads turned in his direction, and a couple of arms waved for him to enter.

“Soz, guys, we have to go,” Yukio shouted at no one in particular.

“Visiting Urufu?”

A, yeah, they know he's hurt. “Yeah, gotta see what happened to him,” Yukio said. He waved at James behind the counter.

“Happened to him?”

OK, not all of them know. “He had an accident. That's why he left during the afternoon. We're on our way to visit him.” And if you buy that you've got bean paste for brains.

“At this time in the...”

“Sure, give him my regards.” The last interrupting words came from Hiroyuki-kun, who didn't look fooled at all.

Yukio nodded a silent 'thank you' to him, shouted a few celebratory curses and left the café with Kyoko. Guess not many people go visiting hospitals late evenings. He'd thank Hiroyuki-kun properly later for covering up his mistake.

“Think anyone believed us?” Kyoko asked.

Yukio stared up at the lamplights ahead and nodded. “Half of them I guess. Doesn't matter. As long as they don't try to tag along it's fine.”

Kyoko nodded. He could see in her face how she imagined what would happen if a dozen of them suddenly showed up at the hospital at this hour.

The temperature continued dropping, and when they arrived at the station Yukio sighed in relief at coming indoors, even if only for a while.

They would have to change trains once, and after that it was a matter of either walking for twenty minutes or waiting for a bus. Given the hour Yukio suspected walking.

“You fine with this?” he asked Kyoko. They wouldn't be allowed to see Urufu, but Kuri sat waiting at the hospital as well, and Yukio didn't know in what shape she was.

“Yes, I'll be fine. If anything she needs me right now.”

I always forget she's as close to Kuri as I am to Urufu. “OK, let's do this then,” he said and led her to the platform.

Kyoko held onto his hand, and he could see her hair flying when they ran down the stairs. The next train would arrive in mere minutes.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

***

Silence.

Exhale.

Silence.

Inhale.

Apart from her breathing her world was silence.

She'd once seen those eyes in her earlier life. The eyes of doctors who hadn't given up but were too worried to answer straight.

He might not make it. Ulf, stay with me!

Tomorrow was school, and after school a photo shoot. She'd skip both. Normally the penalty for bunking could be quite harsh, but she doubted anyone would dare doing anything to her now.

Coming down on the girlfriend at hospital when you don't know if the boyfriend will survive. No one would do that. Christina shook her head. I did that. Crap what a disgusting person I was!

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Cause she had. When she was The Billion Dollar Empress, and he hadn't survived.

It didn't matter that the boyfriend in question had it coming with drug-dealing and burglaries on the territory of another gang. Not even Christina was out of the loop enough not to know that was suicidal in Paris.

It still didn't matter, because the teenage model was a wreck, and could have used some help instead of being slammed by the hammer of God Almighty from Chag.

Shit, I really did an awful thing. Is this my punishment?

Five hours. Five hours since they rushed Ulf inside the ICU.

She hated being this helpless, being this scared, being this lonely.

Inhale.

Silence.

Exhale.

Silence.

Five hours and two minutes.

Unable to contain her fears Christina finally slid from her chair and collapsed on the floor. She was alone in the waiting room, so at least she had her dignity intact for whatever that was worth.

Outside the hospital her bodyguard stood waiting. Maybe he should have been inside with her, but he was just as human as she, and for once he gave her some time alone. Did she want it? Did she need it? Christina didn't know, couldn't know, with her mind a jumble of fear, self-disgust and scattered memories.

Do I still deserve friends?

She threw a glance at the clock on the wall. Another minute.

Behind her glimmers from the Tokyo half night reflected in the windows, like stars never seen here where real darkness was shunned more than anywhere else in the world. Man-made constellations replaced those she knew from her childhood. Memories from another life and another world, memories somehow shared with the man she was slowly losing.

If he lived or not wouldn't change that. For every day they grew closer together, and for every day they grew closer to the moment when their bond would break. Waiting in the hospital only made that fear much more immediate.

With a shake of her head Christina forced that thought away. It wasn't entirely true. If Ulf died she'd lose it all, but if their love broke she still had a chance to repair their friendship enough to at least share memories of that love.

I don't want to live alone again. Was that too selfish a wish? Maybe, but she didn't care.

Christina put her hands to the floor and got up on her feet. A bit further down the corridor she saw a vending machine. Exchanging a few coins for something to drink should kill a few more minutes, and she was desperate to make time pass.

Funny that. These could be the last moments Ulf is with me, and I just want them to go away.

She put another copper coin into the machine and watched a range of buttons light up. Soda or tea? She made the adult choice and picked tea. Almost immediately she regretted it. Alone in the corridor she wanted to pretend to be a child again. That way she wouldn't be as involved, wouldn't carry as much responsibility for what had happened.

Christina, you never ran away from your fears before, she admonished herself. And that was a lie, she knew. During her modelling career she had done just that several times. After she created her Billion Dollar Empress persona, less so.

The cold tea tasted bitterer than she remembered. October in a hospital corridor wasn't really the place for a summer's drink. She grimaced and gulped down some more. She didn't need to quench her thirst, only to kill time. Every mouthful of tea left more seconds behind her, and seconds became minutes.

She blinked away tears of fear and brushed down her soiled clothes. Once or twice on her way here she must have tripped, but she couldn't remember when. Once or twice since she abandoned her promise to Ulf, that she'd make the impossible come true and deliver a festival they'd both be proud of.

Why is that important at all right now? It's just a stupid school event. And yet it was important, because it was a promise she had broken. Another promise she had broken.

A few more steps brought her back to the chair that had been her home since she came here. She sat down and buried her face in her hands.

Seconds passed, became minutes just as she wanted, while she fought to control her fears and waited. From time to time a nurse came by, gave her a worried look and vanished again. Christina waited until the five hours became six and a mechanical hiss announced that an elevator had arrived at her floor.

She looked in the direction from where running steps came closer. Two dark shapes revealed their school uniforms, and within seconds Ko-chan and Yukio stood by her side.

“How is he?” Ko-chan asked.

“I don't know,” Christina said. Her world blurred until Ko-chan and Yukio became dark shapes again. “I don't know!”

She felt Ko-chan sitting down beside her, and when her best friend enveloped her in a panicked embrace Christina finally broke down in hulking sobs.

“I don't know. I don't know. I don't know!”