"Todomatsu watch out!" Kinkai, Todomatsu's best friend screeched out as a soccer ball flew towards the fragile boy's face.

Luckily, his friend had warned him just in the nick of time. Todomatsu ducked down, the heavy soccer ball hitting some other kid instead.

Gasping for air, Todomatsu leaned over on his knees, his heart pounding out of his chest.

"Ah...Ah..." Todomatsu panted, almost collapsing on the grass as he attempted to make it to the sideline where his friend was.

"Matsuno!" Todomatsu's soccer coach yelled angrily, grabbing the boy by the collar of his sweat covered uniform. "You can't duck away from the ball! You have to keep it away from the goal, understand?!"

"Y-Yes, sir..." Todomatsu exhaled as the couch released him roughly.

As soon as the coach turned his back on Todomatsu, Kinkai darted up to her friend.

"Are you alright?" she gasped as she pulled back her shiny black hair into a ponytail. "You seemed really shocked for a second!"

"I'm fine," Todomatsu sighed, his lips turning pale. "There's just a lot on my mind right now..."

"Here," Kinkai replied simply, handing a water bottle over to the fragile boy, the outside of it covered in condensation. "You need to stay hydrated."

Kinkai then proceeded to wet a towel with her own water bottle, wrapping it around the back of Todomatsu's neck.

"It's really hot today, so it's good to stay cool," Kinkai smiled at her friend.

"Y-Yeah," Todomatsu exhaled slowly, his heart still pounding at an insane rate. "I don't think I can play anymore today though..."

"Is your heart getting that bad?" Kinkai asked, following Todomatsu over to a small bench for the soccer players.

"Kinda..." Todomatsu sighed. "If I want to keep playing soccer, or even live, I'll have to have the surgery. I know it will help me, but I'm just terrified..."

"Hey," Kinkai grabbed Todomatsu's hand and squeezed it. "You'll be fine. Trust me, doctors don't mess up that often. You have a ninety-nine point nine percent chance that everything will go fine!"

"Kinkai! Get over here!" the coach yelled out, blowing his whistle, motioning for the girl to come to the field.

"I better go," Kinkai sighed, pulling up her knee socks a bit as she ran out to the field. "I'll walk with you on the way home!"

"She's so strong compared to me," Todomatsu thought in dismay as she watched Kinkai kick the soccer ball into the goal with such ease as she swerved around the other players. Despite the fact that it was a practice game for their school's upcoming tournament, Kinski treated it just as seriously.

"Amazing..." Todomatsu thought as he continued to watch his best friend.

From behind Todomatsu, his other friend, Atsushi sat down beside him, a smug look on his face.

Roughly, Atsushi elbowed his friend, his sweat rubbing onto Todomatsu.

"Do you seriously like her? Come on, Todomatsu, she's out of your league! There's no way she would ever like you!" Atsushi chuckled.

"No! I don't like her that way!" Todomatsu vociferated. "She's just a really kind friend!"

Atsushi smirked devilishly as he uncapped his water bottle, pouring the cold liquid down his legs to cool off.

"Whatever you say, Totty," Atsushi laughed a little.

"Matsuno! Get back out here!" the coach suddenly yelled, causing Todomatsu's heart to skip a beat. By skipping a single beat, the boy began to feel lightheaded and weak all over.

"If I don't go out there..." Todomatsu stumbled nervously to his feet, running out to the field where Kinkai was waiting for him. The world began to fade in and out, squiggling all over the place.

Breathing heavily out of his mouth, Todomatsu stumbled around like a drunkard.

"I have to prove that I'm strong enough...my heart is...just fine..." Todomatsu reassured himself, shaking his head a little as the dizziness worsened.

"Here," Kinkai said, passing the soccer ball to Todomatsu. "let's try to score again! You can do it Todomatsu!"

She always tried her very best to be encouraging to her friend, even if he shut her down sometimes.

Todomatsu began to run, and run, picking up speed as he swerved around some of the other players. Kinkai began to have hope in her friend.

For a few moments, Todomatsu felt like a normal human being. His heart wasn't pounding anymore. His vision wasn't blurred. His head suddenly felt clear. Life was fine.

And just as he began to get comfortable with the feeling, making his way towards the goal, one of the other players crashed into Todomatsu with literally all the force possible.

Falling to the ground, Todomatsu's mouth opened in surprise, his heart literally beating out of his chest again. He was too shocked to breathe. Somehow, along the way, he had lost all awareness of his true surroundings.

A sharp pain ran through his left foot, causing him to scream out on pain.

He could feel tears in the corners of his eyes, but Todomatsu refused to cry. Not with Atsushi around. His so called "friend" would only spread word around school of the already "fragile" boy "crying".

Kinkai and the coach were immediately by Todomatsu's side.

The coach was cursing as loudly as possible, infuriated with the kid who had purposely hurt Todomatsu. Everyone knew how weak this boy was, heart and all.

Kinkai grabbed Todomatsu's sweaty palms and stared desperately into his soft, brown eyes.

"Are you okay? Todomatsu can you hear me?" Kinkai asked desperately.

But all Todomatsu could hear were faint voices screaming off in the distance. It was like he was in the ocean, drowning. He was sinking deeper and deeper...fading away from reality within the seconds.