As soon as Ichimatsu opened up his eyes, Akari didn't hesitate to shoot him for the final time. It wasn't that she was angry with him in any way, she just knew that whatever was about to happen couldn't be procrastinated.

After the sun went down, he could possibly be stuck permanently in the mini worlds of past reality she was sending him into, and Akari really didn't want to take the blame for doing such a thing.

~~~~~~

Ichimatsu opened up his eyes, immediately losing all of his own thoughts as they were replaced with other thoughts that were quite similar to his own. He was Jyushimatsu.

Jyushimatsu panted, trying to catch his breath as he ran in the rain, screaming as loudly as he could.

"Homura!" he cried out, looking frantically left and right as he entered the local park. "Where are you?! Homura-chan!"

Jyushimatsu's heart began to thud wildly in fear. He had no idea where Homura was, and when he had spoken to her over the phone earlier that day, she was sobbing.

He had a gut feeling that her life was in great danger. But the only danger to Homura's life was herself.

"Homura!" Jyushimatsu screamed again, his yellow hoodie growing heavy from how much water it had absorbed from the rain.

Frantically, he ran out of the park, making his way towards the beach.

"Please be safe..." Jyushimatsu thought, tears welling up in his eyes. He was almost glad it was raining. That way, if anyone saw him crying, they wouldn't be able to really tell that he was. "Please don't do anything drastic. Please be safe. Please...please don't hurt yourself. You've made me so very happy, Homura! You know that, don't you? Please don't...please don't..."

Jyushimatsu stumbled in the sand, falling face first into it once he had reached the beach.

Spitting out the few grains which had slipped into his mouth, Jyushimatsu pushed himself back up, looking left and right once again.

And right there before his eyes, was a beautiful girl standing at the edge of the cliff, her hands resting over her heart as she muttered to herself.

"HOMURA!" Jyushimatsu yelled, running towards the cliff. But his voice couldn't be heard over the wind, waves, and the pouring rain. "JUST DON'T DO IT!"

And despite not having heard his voice, at that moment, Homura turned around, staring weakly at her best friend.

Her stoic expression slowly turned into a weak smile, bidding Jyushimatsu farewell as she stepped closer to the edge of the cliff.

Anxiously, Jyushimatsu ran towards the cliff, and began to climb it. But by the time he had reached the top, Homura was long gone.

"No..." Jyushimatsu thought, his heart breaking as he felt nothing but emptiness at that moment. "She didn't just..."

"Homura?" Jyushimatsu called out, not wanting to believe what had just happened. "This isn't funny, you know! I know you like jokes too, but this isn't funny anymore! Please stop hiding!"

Jyushimatsu laughed a little, but his laughter quickly turned to sobs of regret.

"Homura...?" he whimpered, falling to his knees at the edge of the cliff. "Please...please don't leave me like this..."

Grabbing his head, Jyushimatsu began to tremble, sobbing and gagging loudly.

"Homura-chan...Homura...chan...." he thought, the name making him cry even harder.

Worry wrapped around Jyushimatsu's heart as another person whom he loved dearly came to his mind.

"Ichimatsu..." he thought, trying to forget Homura, even if it were only for a few moments. "I've been worried about you too, you know..."

Jyushimatsu arose to his feet, trembling as he staggered down the slippery cliff in the pouring rain.

And though his legs were now covered in scratches and bruises, sore as can be, Jyushimatsu ran through the storm all the way back home.

He didn't even care that he saw all of his brothers (except Ichimatsu) out in the park, calling his name. Ichimatsu was the next one to go, and he just knew it.

"I promise I'll never fail anyone else, Homura..." Jyushimatsu thought, wiping his eyes with his oversized hoodie's sleeves as he pulled open the front door to the Matsuno's home. "What do I say to him though...I can't act upset...they don't need to know anything is wrong..."

Jyushimatsu inhaled then said as happily as possible, "Hustle hustle! Muscle muscle! Ichimatsu nii-san, where are you?"

"He's not responding..." Jyushimatsu thought worriedly. "Is he..."

"Ichimatsu? I want to talk to you!" he called out again.

And at that moment, a cloud of darkness wrapped around Ichimatsu, dragging him out of Jyushimatsu's mind, pulling him back into reality.

~~~~~~~
Ichimatsu finally came back to reality, choking and gasping for air.

"Jyushimatsu..." Ichimatsu thought, shaking his head violently in pain. "That was..."

Memories of that night just poured through his mind, reminding Ichimatsu of what a failure he was in life.

Akari sighed and put down her gun, slipping it back under her soft pink blanket.

"I'm such a terrible brother..." Ichimatsu thought. "I seriously never even considered any of their feelings. What a burden I've been to them...they're worried about their own things, and I just added to their worries. I'm...trash."

"So," Akari began, her voice as smooth as can be, "how was it all?"

"I'll kill you..." Ichimatsu spat angrily, standing to his feet, lunging at Akari.

Quickly, Akari moved backwards in her wheelchair at just the right moment, dodging his attack.

"Here I am, a disabled angel," Akari laughed a little, "and you still can't beat me to shreds. Really a shame, isn't it?"

"Stop mocking me..." Ichimatsu hissed, throwing himself onto the park bench.

"I'm not mocking you," Akari sighed, shaking her head a little. "I just wish you could understand. Maybe you do a bit more now...."

"Understand what...?" Ichimatsu mumbled.

"How hard it is to bear burdens when you can't even carry your own," she replied.

"How can I be seen again..." Ichimatsu murmured. "I need...I need to tell my brothers something..."

"Tell them what? That you're sorry for being terrible?" Akari asked sweetly. "I'm pretty sure they knew you were sorry a long time ago. Now you're just living in the past, literally. You want to move on and to be accepted, not treated differently, but you don't know how to react."

Akari gripped her pink blanket, her hands trembling a little as she stared at the ground. "I understand that feeling..."

"But how can I be seen?" Ichimatsu asked desperately, his voice squeaking a bit as tears welled up in his eyes. "I have to fix the mess I've made!"

Akari didn't say a single word. All she did was turn her wheelchair around, pushing herself down the park sidewalk.

"I have to go home," Akari said. "Homura is upset still. She needs my comfort."

"You little..." Ichimatsu spat, but then he realized how late in the day it had gotten as he saw the moon, lighting up the night sky that was filled with twinkling stars.