That night...

"Nii-san!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed as he ran into his brother's hospital room, followed be his other brothers. "I'm back!"

Ichimatsu smiled a little and nodded his head.

"Welcome back.." he mumbled.

Choromatsu pulled out five chairs from the corner of the room and lined them up around their brother's hospital bed.

"So tell us," Osomatsu said, rubbing under his nose. "what exactly did you experience while you were gone?"

"My brother, take your time explaining. We have all night to listen to your tragic tale," Karamatsu said, crossing his legs as he flipped on his black shades.

"We've been really curious to hear what you saw, Ichimatsu," Choromatsu said.

"Will you please tell us?" Todomatsu asked cutely, making a heart with his hands.

Ichimatsu felt like gagging at Todomatsu, but it felt so good to be around his brothers. It always did.

"Come on, nii-san!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed.

"Could you tell me first..." Ichimatsu mumbled. "how did I fall into a coma? I need to know where to start."

Karamatsu let out a painful, "Hmph," then replied, "Oh, my brother, Jyushimatsu and I were on our way home from pachinko one night and we heard a cry of distress coming from the alleyway. And being the great people that we are, we decided to help this person in pain. But when we arrived there, there was blood everywhere, and you were just lying on the ground, completely unconscious and bleeding to death. We carried your body home and called the ambulance. When they called us back the next day, we were told that you were going to recover, but you had fallen into a coma."

Ichimatsu didnt remember that happening at all. He only had a vague memory of going for a walk late at night since he couldn't sleep.

"I don't really remember that..." Ichimatsu mumbled. "Because when it all started...we were all sitting inside, and it was storming. Jyushimatsu wasn't anywhere to be found though. He had gone out earlier that day. And we were all growing worried..."

"Yeah, that never happened," Todomatsu said, and everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.

"That was definitely where it all started then," Choromatsu replied to Ichimatsu. "Because it was raining the next day when we found out you were in a coma. Jyushimatsu told you it was storming terribly, and you must have heard."

"I see..." Ichimatsu muttered.

"My brother!" Karamatsu exclaimed. "Please, do keep going!"

"All of you guys left the house to go look for Jyushimatsu.." Ichimatsu mumbled, his heart racing. "Should I say what I did next...I don't want to start the cycle of them judging me all over again!" he thought.

"Nii-san, why didn't you go too?" Jyushimatsu asked.

Ichimatsu sighed. "I didn't feel well...but that's not the point."

"What happened when you were all alone?" Osomatsu asked, scooting a bit closer.

"I-I..." Ichimatsu mumbled.

"Nii-san why won't you say?" Jyushimatsu asked. "You can remember, right?"

Ichimatsu nodded his head, trembling. "I can remember...I just don't want to tell them. But if I don't tell them, the entire story won't make sense, now will it?"

Ichimatsu took a deep breath then replied, "When you were all out, I felt so sick I began to do violent things to myself...and then I began to bleed so hard that I grew unconscious. And that's when Jyushimatsu returned home, just as happy as he could be..."

"Why did I say that?!" Ichimatsu thought in anguish as he watched fear and worry fill his brother's eyes. "They'll never trust me..."

"Keep going..." Choromatsu pressed.

"Jyushimatsu really wasn't happy though..." Ichimatsu said, his body growing ice cold with fear. "His girlfriend Homura-chan had just killed herself by jumping off the cliff at the beach..."

Jyushimatsu abruptly stood up from his chair and ran out of the room as fast as possible.

"Jyushimatsu!" Osomatsu exclaimed, standing up from his chair, but Karamatsu pulled him back down, shaking his head.

"I hurt him just now, didn't I..." Ichimatsu thought, self hatred beginning to build up in his heart. "I don't want to hurt Jyushimatsu when all he's ever done is heal me..."

But only seconds later did Jyushimatsu run back into the hospital room, laughing loudly as he pulled a girl with light brown hair in with him. The girl was laughing so hard that she was crying.

"Ichimatsu nii-san!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, walking more slowly as he dragged the girl by her wrist up to Ichimatsu's bed. "This is Homura-chan!"