A month or so ago, a normal day at Seiyo academy would've consisted of students milling about the halls, teachers gossiping about God-knows-what, and the Guardians discussing the current activity of the Easter corporation in the Royal Garden. Now was just a little bit different; students still chatted happily with their friends in the hallways while the teachers exchanged torture methods—or that's what the kids always said. But now, a normal day in the Royal Garden consisted of the Joker, Ace, Queen, and myself, the Jack, spacing out and only half-listening while the King, Tadase Hotori, rambled on about school activities and whatnot.

I wasn't sure if Tadase was aware that we were ignoring him or not, but he continued his spiel as if completely oblivious to the fact that he was pretty much talking to himself.

"Rima-chan, what happened?" A sudden question from Amu, directed at the little blonde sitting across from me, interrupted Tadase mid-sentence. He looked annoyed, but tried not to show it. Amu was looking at a small bruise on Rima's pale skin, about an inch under her right eye. I had noticed it myself, but hadn't dared ask about it—Rima and I weren't exactly what anyone would call "close."

The petite girl, the Queen chair of the Guardians, looked up at her bubblegum-haired friend. She looked thoughtful for a second, as if she didn't really know how to answer—I guessed that she hadn't expected to be called out on her mild injury. "I… It's nothing, really. I tripped yesterday." Her voice was quiet, as it usually was, but something about it made me think that, for some unknown reason, she was lying. It might've been my imagination, though, because no one else seemed to catch it.

"You've been kind of klutzy this week," Amu remarked, and vaguely I thought to myself that no one but her would be able to say something like that to Rima and not earn themselves a bruise of their own. But after contemplating what the Joker had said, I realized that she was right. A few days ago, Rima had shown up to school with a cut across her left cheek. She'd insisted that she'd only been scratched by a tree branch, but she'd had she same look in her eyes that she had now—the one that made me suspect that she'd been lying then, too. This suspicion was backed up by the fact that Rima was too short to be scratched by even the lowest-hanging of all tree branches.

Tadase resumed his boring speech, and we all went back to ignoring him. Letting my eyes wander around the room, I noticed that even Amu was tired of listening to the King's rambling, and I held back a laugh.

Then my gaze landed on Rima; the petite little girl had her chin resting heavily on the upturned palm of her hand, and it looked as if she were resisting the impossible urge to fall asleep—the Ace chair, Yaya, had already fallen into that temptation, and was snoozing peacefully with her head on the table.

After a few seconds of staring at Rima, which was not something I often did, I noticed something strange. Looking a little more closely, I was able to see that another bruise, a bit larger than the one on her face, marked the pale skin of her neck. I couldn't help but stare at the darkened area in shock and confusion—where was she getting these injuries?

"What are you staring at, Fujisaki?" Rima's voice was more irritated than usual, and I jumped, not expecting the harsh tone she'd used. I had been hoping that she wouldn't notice me staring in the first place.

"N-Nothing," I lied, and she glared daggers in my direction. Great, now she probably thinks I'm some kind of creeper... The thought was not appealing to me, as I didn't want to give the girl more of a reason to dislike me. I was unsure why she did in the first place, because—as far as I knew—I was a pretty easy guy to get along with.

Rima said nothing else, but as she shot a final, angry glare at me, I noticed her shift her sitting position so that her butterscotch curls fell over the bruise on her neck, obscuring it from view. Something wasn't quite right, and even though I knew it was none of my business, I couldn't help being curious.

Several moments later, Tadase said the one thing that caught everyone's attention; it was what they'd been wanting to hear for the past forty-five agonizing minutes: "Alright, keep all of that in mind during the next few days—" I didn't know how we would, as none of us had been paying attention from the beginning, "—and have a good afternoon. This Guardian meeting has officially come to a close."

Yaya, somehow hearing this even though she had been asleep, jumped up and squealed in the obnoxious manner that made everyone want to run from the room. "Yaya's so glad that the meeting is over!" she said happily. "Tadase was starting to get a little boring!"
"That's the understatement of the year..." Rima muttered, and I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Yaya grabbed her schoolbag and headed for the door. Before leaving, she turned back and waved, calling, "Buh-bye, guys! Yaya has some stuff to do today, so she can't stay and chat!" Then she was gone, leaving the rest of us grimacing from her loud screeching.

Amu stood up and gave us a tiny, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, guys," she said. "I have to watch Ami today while my parents are out, so I can't really stay either."

Tadase smiled at her in a reassuring way. "Don't worry about it, Amu-chan," he said. "There's not much work to do anyway." By work, I figured that he meant paperwork that had to be filled out for the school. Amu nodded gratefully and left the Royal Garden.

I had a bad feeling that I was going to be the one to get stuck helping Tadase with the paperwork, and I wondered if I should make up some kind of excuse and run away like the other two. Before I had the chance, Rima stood up, collected her belongings, and left without a word.

Tadase looked at me, and it was obvious by the look on his face that he wasn't going to let me get away. I sighed heavily as he handed me a stack of forms that needed filled out—there weren't that many, but there were enough that, even though we split the stack evenly between us, I could expect to be in the Royal Garden for at least the next hour.

Thankfully, the forms were simple, and there wasn't much to fill out on each one. Between the two of us, Tadase and I were able to clear the stack of paper rather quickly, and by the time we were finished, only about forty minutes had elapsed.

"Thanks for helping out, Fujisaki-kun," the King smiled, and I acknowledged him by nodding. "I'm sorry it took so long," he continued, "it would've gone quicker if the others had been able to stay."

Though I didn't voice my thoughts out loud, I knew that Yaya had left early only because she knew that there was paperwork. Filling out forms was not Yaya's strong suit, as she usually fell asleep before she'd completed the first three. I believed that Amu was telling the truth—she often had to babysit her younger sister Ami while her parents were busy. I held back a laugh at the thought that she'd probably show up to school exhausted the next morning; Ami had enough energy for five three-year-olds.

Rima, on the other hand, left simply because she knew that we wouldn't stop her. At times, I couldn't help but wonder if, to a certain extent, Tadase was afraid of the little girl. She did have a temper, and she could be rather frightening at times. But for people like me, it was difficult to be intimidated by someone the size of a seven-year-old.

I grabbed my schoolbag and said goodbye to Tadase, who'd insisted that I go ahead and leave. He'd said that he had other things to take care of at the school anyway, and that he'd be there a while.

Making my way toward the school's exit, I reflected on the day's events. The first thing to come to mind was Rima and her unexplained injuries. Even though the bruises were small and would heal quickly like the cut from a few days ago, I was still a little worried. Rima had never really been what anyone would call a clumsy person, and it bothered me that she was lying about the origin of the injuries, especially to Amu. Rima never hid anything from Amu.

Still contemplating this, I happened to pass by the restrooms on my way out. Suddenly I stopped walking, hearing something coming from one of them. Listening carefully, I was able to make out a distinct sound from the girls' bathroom, and it sent chills up my spine.

The sound of a girl crying.