When the brothers all arrived back home, nobody had said a single word. They were all in complete shock at what the doctor told them.

"Ichimatsu won't make it...?" Jyushimatsu thought, trudging up the stairs that led to the roof of the house. "Why? I thought he wasn't weak! Can't he make it? He can, can't he? He never liked losing. Like the time we were all playing mahjong. He flipped the table because of how mad he was at losing,"

Jyushimatsu sat down on the roof, letting the warm sun warm his freezing cold skin. Even though he had just walked home from the hospital out in the summer heat, he was freezing cold. Not literally cold, but cold on the inside. Like someone had removed his warm heart that was filled with love and replaced it with one that was emotionless.

"Nii-san," Jyushimatsu whimpered, reaching his hands up towards the sky. "Don't join Homura-chan yet. Please don't. Please stay with us just awhile longer. Miracles exist, you know! Did you ever believe in them? I know I did."

"Hello, my brother," Karamatsu said, sitting down beside Jyushimatsu with his guitar. "Are you okay?"

Jyushimatsu nodded his head.

"Of course, nii-san. I'm fine," Jyushimatsu replied, looking at his brother with his huge smile.

Karamatsu began to strum on his guitar in D minor. He looked like he was about to start singing, but he didn't.

"You know, Jyushimatsu," Karamatsu said, butting his guitar down for a moment. "you seem to be even closer to Ichimatsu now that he's gone. Is it going to stay that way, or will you move on one day? You know he doesn't have much time left."

Jyushimatsu buried his face in his arms. He wasn't going to cry, but he hated to hear those words.

"I'm never going to let Ichimatsu go when he's back," Jyushimatsu said, his voice quiet and muffled.

"Jyushimatsu," Karamatsu said sympathetically, strumming on his guitar again. "You can't keep this up you know. You'll end up like Ichimatsu. You'll get depressed, try to kill yourself multiple times, and eventually, succeed.

"I'm only smiling because I have to," Jyushimatsu said. "Because that's what Homura-chan loved to see. Her and Ichimatsu were the only people who were my best friends...now they're both gone."

"So you're not happy?" Karamatsu asked, somewhat shocked. "I should have known."

"Have I been doing a good job?" Jyushimatsu asked, lifting his head up to look at Kara.

"Of what?" Karamatsu asked.

"Of faking?" Jyushimatsu said, his eyes about to start leaking salty tears of misery.

"I hate to say it, but yes. You've been doing a very good job of pretending to be what you're not. I think you should keep it that way. One day, you'll look back, and you'll be proud of yourself for always smiling at times like these." Karamatsu said, looking up at the sky.

Jyushimatsu let out a small defeated sigh and looked up at the sky with Karamatsu.

"I want Ichimatsu back, Kara. That's all I want," Jyushimatsu said as the same five birds flew in the sky above them both.

"He won't be coming back, Jyushimatsu," Karamatsu said glumly. "There is a one percent chance that he will. For something like that to happen would be uncommon. Ichimatsu never had good luck, and I doubt it will change now."

"He will come back!" Jyushimatsu wheezed. "I know he will! He came back in my dream last night! He will be back!"

"Oh, my little Jyushimatsu..." Karamatsu sighed, standing up, walking back towards the entrance to the stairs. "Dreams are figments of our imaginations. You've been thinking, no, lying to yourself that Ichimatsu will be back. You've lied about it so much, that now you're dreaming he is alive. Have you seen Homura-chan in your dreams? Probably not. That's because you've accepted that she's dead. Now you just have to do the same with Ichimatsu. He's literally dead, Jyushimatsu. As soon as he comes out of his coma, he'll just die."

Jyushimatsu didn't say anything, and Karamatsu just walked down the stairs into the house.

"He doesn't understand, Ichimatsu..." he whimpered. "Nobody will ever understand how much it hurts to lose the people you've held close to your heart for so long..."

The five birds landed on the roof a little ways down from Jyushimatsu.

"I hate you, birds!" he yelled at them, thinking it would scare them away, but of course, they stayed put. "You're supposed to save Ichimatsu! How come you're not doing anything?! Save him! I can't do anything to save him on my own!"

"I wonder what Ichimatsu is doing right now in his coma. Isn't it like a never ending nightmare? I hope he's not suffering so much there. Maybe he's really happy. That's all I want. If Ichimatsu is happy...if he is able to come back soon...I won't complain about anything. We'll come back here and sit on the roof, just like we used to. We won't be crying or depressed either. We won't worry every single time one of us isn't at home. We'll trust each other that we know what we're doing. We'll always love each other. We won't hate or fight. We'll show each other how much we appreciate life...treat every day like it's our last...because life is so fragile, isn't it? One second everything is fine, the next, you're wondering if you'll ever see your brother alive again." Jyushimatsu thought as he watched the birds get up and fly away casually.