The next day...

Ichimatsu kept his eyes focused on his feet and the floor as the two same nurses pushed him down the hallway, taking him to therapy. He was still determined to begin walking again, but he felt as if he could take his time now. His brothers knew everything, and he wasn't exactly hiding anymore.

"I guess I've been set free from the prison in my mind..." Ichimatsu thought as the nurses stopped and opened up the doors. "Akari was right..."

"Do you think you'll be able to walk a few steps today?" one of the nurses asked as they wheeled him over to the same two bars he had been practicing walking with.

"I don't know..." Ichimatsu mumbled, and, as usual, the two nurses exchanged worried glances with each other.

"Well, you've got to try!" one said encouragingly. "It might take a long time, but I know you can do it!"

Ichimatsu smiled a little as the two nurses helped him up and situated him between the two bars.

"You can do it..." Ichimatsu thought to himself as he reached out his foot and set it on the ground. This time, he didn't collapse immediately. He collapsed a few seconds later.

"Oh, darn!" one nurse chuckled a little as she helped him back up. "Try again!"

Ichimatsu sighed frustratedly as he gripped even more tightly to the bars and reached one door foreword.

"Do it...do it...do it..." he thought to himself as he noticed out of the corner of his eye, another pair of nurses bring a patient in.

"Now, this might be a bit hard, young lady," one of the other patient's nurses said loudly with a thick accent. "But if you don't start walking soon, I'll be fired! I don't need to lose my job!"

The girl just laughed as she staggered out of her wheelchair and grabbed onto the bars, taking several steps forward. She made it look so easy, yet her face showed how much pain she was really in.

"Ichimatsu," his nurse said softly, tapping him on the shoulder. "Focus on your task."

"I'm trying to!" Ichimatsu thought, but he couldn't help but watch the other girl. She looked familiar, but not too familiar. "She makes it look so easy...yet you can just see how much she wants to start crying! It's all in her eyes..."

"Ichimatsu!" the other nurse called, grabbing his attention. "Should we try again later today?"

"No..." Ichimatsu mumbled, wanting to copy what the girl was doing. "I'm fine..."

"Well then at least try," she said back at him.

"Tch.." Ichimatsu spat throwing himself forward, his feet not collapsing beneath him for the first time.

Aggressively, he stepped forward again and again, but right before he reached the very end, he fell down.

"That was great, Ichimatsu!" both nurse exclaimed in unison. "We're so proud of you!"

Both nurses quickly picked Ichimatsu up and put him back in his wheelchair.

"You can rest for a minute," one said. "We don't want you to hurt yourself."

At that moment, the exact same thing happened to the girl from across the room.

Ichimatsu watched in awe as she slapped away the nurses, turning around to struggle to her wheelchair herself.

"She doesn't like help, does she..." Ichimatsu thought, almost laughing. "Maybe I should go say hi to her...she doesn't look very happy despite how determined she might be..."