As soon as Ichimatsu left the Cat Cafe the very next day, a familiar yellow hooded man ran up to him, his face filled with panic and dread.

"Ichimatsu nii-san!" Jyushimatsu yelled anxiously, trying to catch his breath.

"What's the matter..?" Ichimatsu mumbled. Something by the way Jyushimatsu 's voice sounded made him feel extremely sick.

"K-Kanola...!" Jyushimatsu panted. "She's sick! Really sick, nii-san! She was hospitalized!"

"And..?" Ichimatsu mumbled.

"We should go check on her!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, his eyes widening with fear. "She might be worse off than I was told!"

"Is this any of my concern? No," Ichimatsu spat, walking around Jyushimatsu. "Leave me alone. Kanola is just another human being that I could care less about. I don't see why you're so worried anyways. It's not like she's going to give you free cookies if you visit her."

"B-but Ichimatsu!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed. "She's really sick!"

"I don't care!" Ichimatsu yelled. "Leave me alone!"

"But Kanola wanted to tell you and me something! She said you had to visit!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, grabbing onto Ichimatsu's shoulders.

"What about her stupid daughter? Doesn't she want to so Makono?" Ichimatsu muttered.

"She already saw her today. That's why you were in the Cat Cafe first this morning!" Jyushimatsu said, forcing himself to laugh as he rocked Ichimatsu back and fourth.

Ichimatsu sighed loudly.

"Hospitalized...? As in, she's so sick that she needs medical attention? This can't be good..." Ichimatsu thought.

"Are we gonna go then?" Jyushimatsu asked.

Ichimatsu nodded his head.

"Yeah...let's go..." he sighed, and the two walked down the street, passing the alleyway on their way to the hospital.

"It's been a long time since I've gone here!" Jyushimatsu said, laughing. "I feel like I should have Harvey with me and a bag of cookies! I met lots of people at the hospital last year, Ichimatsu! I made friends! Even though some died, I really enjoyed every single day I visited! It's all thanks to you, nii-san. Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?" Ichimatsu spat as they both stopped in front of the hospital's sliding doors.

"Because if it weren't for you, I would have never met Akari, Homura-chan's sister!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, and they both walked inside.

As soon as they entered, a familiar scent overwhelmed Ichimatsu's nostrils.

It was a clean, yet sickly smell. If depression could have a smell, Ichimatsu was sure that the hospital smelled like it.

"Hello, Jyushimatsu!" a nurse exclaimed, waving and smiling at Ichimatsu's brother as they made their way towards the front desk. "And who is..." The nurse stopped talking, her eyes filling with tears for a slight second. She shook her head and let out a confused sigh. "My, I'm losing it today..." she murmured.

"We came here to see Kanola Mizuko!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, and the nurse smilies.

"She's on the second floor, room 214. She shouldn't be seeing any doctors at the moment, so you two please enjoy your visit with us!" the nurse smilies, waving as the two walked away.

"What was her deal..." Ichimatsu thought as he followed Jyushimatsu to the elevator. "She acted so strange when she glanced at me. Am I really that bad..? I guess so. Trash is trash after all."

"Isn't she nice?" Jyushimatsu asked, wiggling arums impatiently in the small elevator.

"She looked at me like I was a pile of garbage, so yes. So is..." Ichimatsu mumbled, and the elevator door slid open.

"Hello, Jyushimatsu!" a nurse called out to Ichimatsu's brother. "Is that..." The nurse paused then quickly turned around, walking the opposite direction.

"What's everyone's freaking deal?!" Ichimatsu thought angrily, following Jyushimatsu to the room. "The keep looking at me, then turning away!"

"Hello, Jyushimatsu," a doctor said, giving Jyushimatsu a polite nod of the head. "I see you brought one of your...brothers with you today.." the doctor said.

"Yes! I brought Ichimatsu with me!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, taking a few steps backwards to hug his brother.

"Are you feeling alright, Jyushimatsu? I know you still miss your brother very much, but you don't have to make your other brothers dress up as him." the doctor said.

"But this is Ichimatsu! He's right here!" Jyushimatsu laughed, stopping in front of Kanola's room.

"Another freak..." Ichimatsu thought, staring at the cold, tile hospital floor as Jyushimatsu opened up Kanola's door. "Is that how people in the hospital treat guests? Like garbage...?"

"I'm so glad you two could come!" Kanola exclaimed cheerily, but her voice was weak.

"Yeah!" Jyushimatsu laughed, sitting down in a metal fold out chair that faced Kanola's hospital bed. There was a second one by Jyushimatsu's, and Ichimatsu figured that she has asked someone to set two chairs out for them.

Sighing, Ichimatsu sat down beside Jyushimatsu, finally looking up at Kanola.

Her skin looked more wrinkled than normal, the complexion of her skin was even paler than it had been the last time he saw her, and her hair was even thinner than before.

"Are you going to be okay?" Jyushimatsu asked, scooting his chair closer to Kanola's bed.

Kanola let out a small laugh, then smiled with her eyes squinted shut.

"Oh, of course I will be! I'm only a little ill. And because of my age, the doctors wanted to keep an eye on me, that's all! Things like this have happened in the past, but I never thought I would be hospitalized again!" Kanola laughed, but Ichimatsu could tell that she was just trying to convince herself that everything was fine.

"What did you want to tell us then...?" Ichimatsu mumbled.

"I just wanted to ask you, Ichimatsu, if you might be able to take care of the cafe all day for a few days. Not just in the mornings now. I've asked Jyushimatsu to help, if that's okay with you, of course. Makono can't keep working there next week. She has to start back with her studies in school, if you know what I mean." Kanola said.

"That's all you wanted to say...?" Ichimatsu mumbled.

Kanola nodded her head.

"I wanna work with nii-san!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, waving his arms in the air.

"What would I even do all afternoon then..?" Ichimatsu asked, sighing slightly.

"You would be in charge of taking care of the customers while Jyushimatsu bakes. It's not hard to follow the recipes I have in the kitchen, so I'm sure he can do it!" Kanola said, then sighed, concern filling her eyes as she stared at Ichimatsu. "Please, just do your very best, Ichimatsu. I really want you to try your best. Just this once."

"Just this once..? As if I never tried in the first place. She's probably right though...but she seriously wants me to attempt to interact with human beings...what's with that? She knows I'm useless when it comes to...'socializing'..." Ichimatsu thought.

"Thank you, Kanola!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed, jumping out of his chair excitedly.