What Noriko just did was incomprehensible . Still, no true malice, of that Kyoko was certain .

She held Noriko's hand and squeezed a little to show there were no hard feelings, despite her own heart falling apart . Noriko had been there, the last time Kuri broke down . She kept the rest of them away . Anyone turning against them all to protect her friend couldn't be a bad person .

But it was incomprehensible .

Over the gravel, steps with a broken rhythm announced Yukio's arrival . His foot never healed perfectly, more a fault of his than his a.s.saulter's . One more week properly on crutches, just as the doctor had said, and he wouldn't limp like this .

"See you, man . Six? I have it . Will tell Kyoko . "

Too many words . Too much willingness to please . Sometimes it was easy to forget how broken Urufu was, and how much Yukio tried to help his friend .

'Four of us in 3:1 . They're only two . '

"Yukio, over here," Kyoko called as if he could possibly have missed her where she stood with a crutch in one hand and Noriko in her other .

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'And there he goes . ' Kyoko followed Urufu's back with her eyes . They'd meet later . Six o'clock apparently . Their main customer probably, as neither Noriko nor Ryu was wanted . There was no end to how many sessions they bought .

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"Stay with me, please . "

Kyoko looked at Noriko and saw how much she hurt . 'Kuri, you and Urufu owe both Ryu and Noriko an apology . They're not adults like you . ' "I will . Care to join us?" Kyoko added and tilted her head in Yukio's direction .

"Where?"

'Where? Somewhere it didn't hurt . ' "The mall," Noriko suggested to her surprise .

Those were happier days . She could still relate to them, and somewhere inside her she cherished the memory of what hadn't happened . Walking home from cram school that day almost a year earlier and noticing two Himekaizen blazers hanging from a hook a floor upstairs in that café . One of them belonged to her Yukio .

He looked at her, and she could almost see the cogwheels turn inside his head . 'Yeah, I saw you, so what?' But she had nursed a mild crush on Urufu shortly after, not Yukio, and she hadn't even known Urufu was Urufu at the time . 'Well, I got the best guy of those in the end . '

"Remember Urufu's bike?", Noriko began .

'Yes!' Kyoko's impulse looked like it would pay off .

"He still rides to to school," Ryu said . "That overpriced racer of his . "

"Overpriced?" Kyoko hadn't thought of Urufu's stuff that way . He preferred high quality items, that much was certain, but overpriced?

Ryu took a few steps, turned and bowed like an old style westerner . With an invisible hat in his hand he returned upright . "May I, dear lady, present for you Urufu's, or moron-sama's' shopping habits?"

"By all means," Kyoko said . She had learned what a little helping Yukio with his part in the play 6:1 did for the cultural festival . She even curtsied a little on the pavement .

"A bike, a mere 300 000 yen, an offer you can't refuse . A backpack . It's a give-away, a fantastic deal in orange that would make its namesake proud . Almost free, just 15 000 yen!"

Kyoko bowed . If she was supposed to curtsey or bow she didn't know, but she wanted to continue the game . A few cars pa.s.sed and Ryu made a pause for some relative calm to return again .

"When it rains, why settle for an umbrella . No, I've found you a light weight rice boiler for a mere 60 000 yen, trousers included . If it's merely windy, why not have this orange atrocity for 10 000 yen . It doesn't even come with a hood . "

By her side Noriko had started laughing, and Kyoko could see how Yukio stood grinning wildly . Apparently he approved of Ryu's exaggerations .

"For more formal occasions, a business suit . A find at a mere quarter of a million yen . "

That was unfair . It had been a gift from Kuri .

"A watch, same price, but the phone, alas, is a mere hundred thousand . "

'Maybe you should stop now . ' Then it struck Kyoko it was exactly what Ryu shouldn't do . The list of excessive prices put Urufu's White Day gift to Kuri in a different light . Presented like this it was just a reflection on the only way Urufu knew to buy things . Expensive, always horribly expensive, because he lacked the knowledge needed to find find something good without paying in excess .

In front of her Ryu had gone silent, and Kyoko found herself standing still as well .

"He's a self-made man . Dad taught me about those . They're powerful people in their own right, but they never have contacts from birth . They always, always compensate for what they weren't born with . "

What Ryu just said went past her . Maybe it mirrored his upbringing, but Kyoko couldn't place herself in that kind of world . Noriko nodded her understanding, and her smile displayed something akin to respect for her own brother . Yukio just shrugged his shoulders like Urufu would have done .

'But I wonder what Kuri-chan would have done . Shrug, most likely . ' But there would have been that flash in her eyes that said she understood more than anyone else . 'I think I understand you a little better now . Didn't you say you never bought jewellery but always bought the jeweller?'

While the conversation had fallen flat there were smiles on their faces . When they rounded a corner and saw the old mall ahead of them Kyoko pointed at the stand where Urufu's bike used to be locked .

"Right one?" she asked Yukio .

"d.a.m.n girl even knows where he placed his c.r.a.p . But I got her in the end anyway!"

'He was never interested in me, but I love you all the more for making it sound like he was . ' "You got nothing . I reeled you in," Kyoko said . Loving what Yukio said wasn't the same as allowing him to grow too large a head .

"Upstairs?" Ryu asked .

"Yeah, let's celebrate the absence of Kuri and Urufu," Yukio said, and Kyoko watched how the two of them high fived each other out of nowhere .