I open my eyes and see myself at my uncle's house. I look down and see I'm in a flowy white dress. I knock on the door, but it opens. I walk inside and look at the familiar scene before me. The kitchen, where my uncle used to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut vertically. The living room, where he had video games and barbie dolls for me. I walk to the bedroom I used to stay at and see a figure on the bed. When the door creaks, he turns around. 

"Uncle?" I say feeling tears come to my eyes. 

He smiles. "Hey baby."

I run to him and hug him tight. "How is this possible? You're dead? Is this a dream?" I pull away. 

He wipes away my tears, which is useless since more come down. He shakes his head. "You're at a crossroad Hana."

"What do you mean?" I ask confused. 

Suddenly the scene changes and I'm on the ground, bleeding out in my Tokyo Manji uniform. I remember. 

"I'm dead aren't I?" I ask looking up at him. 

He crouches down next to me. "Not quite yet."

"Then how can I see you?" I ask. 

"You have a choice. You can come with me, you don't have to worry about any of this nonsense anymore. No more fighting. No more parents. No more Kiyomasa. You'll be in peace. Or," he moves a strand of my hair away, "you can go back. You can go back to Tanaka. Go back to Baji. To Mikey. To Draken. To Mitsuya. To Akkun. To Hina. Your friends."

I feel more tears fall down and a pain in my heart. "But you won't be there."

He smiles at me sadly. "I won't. But now is not your time to die baby. You have a whole life ahead of you. You need to graduate. You need to watch Tanaka graduate. You need to fall in love, get married, have children. You need to fight for what you believe in. Remember what I always told you, no matter who you're fighting, big or small, you fight with your will to have a peaceful world."

I gulp. "I love you Uncle."

"I love you, too. So what's your choice? Just know that none of them are the wrong choice," he says. 

I take a deep breath and close my eyes. 

"Her breath is stabilized! She's okay," I hear a distant voice say. 

I let the darkness take me to sleep.

(A week later)

I wake up gasping for air. My eyes adjust to the scene around me. I'm in a hospital room. There are IVs attached to me. I rip them off. I try to get up, but there's a pain in my left side. I see a nurse walk in and she drops her papers. 

"She's awake!" She yells running up to me to put me down. 

"Let me go! I want to go home! Where's Baji? Where's Mikey?" I ask. 

"Calm down Miss, everyone's okay. We just need to do a check up on you before you see anyone, you haven't woken up in a week," the doctor says. 

A week? I have been asleep for a week? It seems like just a few minutes ago I was making a choice to come back or not. I feel a tear fall down my face. Oh Uncle. I know you would be proud of me for making that choice if you were here. I let the doctor do his check up. Finally, he tells me I'm okay to sit up. The doctor walks out. I hear the door open and I look over to see Mikey and Draken both there. 

"Hana! Oh we were so worried, how are you feeling?" Mikey asks running up to me. 

"I'm okay," my voice croaks. "When can I go home? How's Tanaka? Oh God I haven't been able to take care of him. Is he alone? Is he okay?" I start to get worried. 

Draken places a hand on my lap. "He's okay. Baji has been taking care of him. In fact, he's bringing Tanaka here right now."

My heart warms. "Baji is taking care of him?" 

Mikey nods. "He was the closest to Tanaka out of all of us and he volunteered. He was scared shitless, I'd never seen Baji like that," he shudders. 

"What happened?" I ask. 

Draken sighs. "Well the fight got broken up by the cops. When Baji figured out the leader stabbed you, he went after him. I had to knock him out or else he would've killed the guy. Let's just say, the leader is in no shape to walk anymore."

I look away from them. "I'm sorry. I was too weak to beat him."

"No, you weren't. He just decided to play unfair and you were caught in the cross fire. He knew you were going to win, so he had to take care of you by stabbing you. That son of a bitch," Mikey utters the last part. 

After a few minutes of talking and them helping me catch up on the last week, we hear a knock on the door. The door opens and Tanaka runs through. He has tears in his eyes. 

"Oh, Tanaka," I say as he runs up to me hugging me tightly. 

It hurts slightly, but I don't object. I missed him. He cries into my shoulder. "I thought you died Hana. You- you were going to leave me with mom and dad."

I put his face between my hands and wipe his tears away. I put a smile on my face. "I would never leave you Tanaka. You and me are going to be together forever okay?" I hold my pinky out. 

He hooks it with his own. I look past him and see Baji leaning against the wall. 

"Hey, Tanaka kun is it okay if I talk to Baji real quick? You can go hang out with Mikey and Draken yeah?" He nods and follows them out. 

Baji doesn't move from where he is. His hair is covering his face. 

"Thank you," I say. 

"You don't need to thank me," he says making his way to a seat in front of me. 

I shake my head. "I do. You ran me to the hospital and took care of Tanaka for a whole week. I'm sorry- I'm sorry I was too weak," I curl my fist in anger. 

He scoffs so I look up at him. "What?"

"You really think you're weak? I wouldn't waste my time with someone who was weak. Trust me Hana, you're not weak," he says staring into my eyes. 

I'm stunned in silence. 

"Do you remember when I was running you to the hospital?" he asks and I nod. 

"I was scared. Genuinely scared. I've never felt that feeling before. Usually I worry about myself, I don't care that much about things. But when you were in my arms bleeding out, the only thing I felt was fear. Fear that you wouldn't be able to make us breakfast. Fear that I wouldn't see you anymore. I was scared that I was never able to make you smile once," his voice cracks. 

He looks away and sniffles. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm- glad you're okay."

I nod. I can feel a real smile rise to my lips. His lips part at my gesture. 

"I'm glad I'm okay, too," I say.