First off, thanks for all the reviews, guys! =D I'm glad this is being received so well. Btw, I noticed that Mitsuru is not a popular character in this game. I suppose she isn't the easiest person to relate to, but some folks just outright hate the girl. O.o I'll cry if I come across another story that has her as the random bitch girl to create drama. D8 Anywho. Junpei was significantly easier to write than Mitsuru was, but it turned out more complex than I originally thought it'd be. Junpei has hidden depths, I think. These one shots are beginning to coincide as well...although not entirely necessary, it'll probably help to remember what happened in Hamuko's chapter. Also, I listened to blink-182's self titled album to help me write this and I must say that most of their songs are the story of that kid's life.

So then why did I start this chapter with a Weezer song? .

Anyway. Without further adieu...

"In a perfect situation
I lead love down the drain.
There's the pitch, slow and straight.
All I have to do is swing and I'm a hero...
But I'm a zero."

-Perfect Situation, Weezer

Junpei had always thought they were exaggerating in cartoons when someone got hit on the head and there were suddenly little stars or birds flying around the poor recipient's head. He figured if anyone got hit that hard, they'd simply black out and fall over. They wouldn't take the time to sway and count the little birdies flying around their head.

But as he staggered down the street (shivering a bit because he had forgotten his jacket; he'd have to go back and get it, he supposed…eventually) he could still recall the bizarre heavy feeling in his head and the bright flashes of light he kept seeing as he fell forward to the ground. When he finally woke up, his house was dark and his father was nowhere to be seen. He didn't want to find out where the bastard went, so he just pushed himself up, ignored the headache and left the house.

He wasn't sure where he was going.

It didn't matter.

It was always funny in the cartoons when the poor recipient saw stars. Maybe if he walked long enough, this would be funny too.

He surveyed the new transfer students as they took their seats after Ms. Toriumi's awkward introduction. The guy already kind of pissed him off with the way he flipped his hair and shit, but Junpei supposed he couldn't be that bad a guy, especially not with a sister that cute. She noticed him looking her, and instead of being weirded out, she simply smiled at him before turning back to the front. He smiled back, but it was too late, obviously.

After school, he grinned to mask his nervousness as he made his way over to the two of them. The girl had her head leaned in close to the guy's, and had Ms. Toriumi not introduced them as twins he would have assumed they were a couple. It kinda grossed him out, but he cleared his throat anyway. They looked up. The girl smiled again.

"Hey! What's up?"

The guy blinked at him, probably wondering who he was and why he was talking to them. He shot a glance at the girl.

"Hi! What's your name?"

"Me?" Junpei asked, then kicked himself for asking such a dumb question. Who else could she mean? "I'm Junpei Iori. I know what it's like to be the new kid…I transferred here in 8th grade. So I wanted to be nice and say hey."

Now the boy finally gave him something close to a smile, while his sister grinned away. "That's nice of you. Well, this is my brother Minato, and my name is Hamuko. Nice to meet you!"

"If you guys aren't busy, maybe you wanna hang out? You know, if you don't have anything better to do." The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Although his invitation extended to the both of them, he found his eyes lingering on Hamuko.

"I think I'll pass," Minato said, his voice deeper than Junpei would have expected from such a pretty boy. "I'm still tired from the trip. But you can go ahead," he said to his sister.

"Are you sure?"

Minato nodded, then picked up his bag. "Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe next time."

"Okay, I'll see you at the dorm." Hamuko frowned after her brother, then she turned back to Junpei. The smile was back on her face, and for a second he wondered if he imagined the frown. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"I dunno, whatever you wanna do."

"Well, I don't know what I wanna do. I'm new here. Take me on a tour," she said.

At this, Junpei grinned and extended his arm to her. "Then follow my lead! You'll know Port Island and Iwatodai like the back of your hand by the time we're through."

Hamuko rolled her eyes, but she took his arm anyway.

She was always touching him.

It didn't even seem like she was aware of it most of the time and they ranged from something as simple as her hand brushing against his as they walked to her sitting on his lap even when chairs were readily available. It was no surprised that people were beginning to assume that they were a couple, but Hamuko didn't seem all too concerned about the rumors following them. If she even noticed. He wasn't sure if he should point it out or not. It wasn't that it made him uncomfortable—quite the opposite. Maybe he was afraid she'd stop.

"I want ramen. What about you?" she asked it out of the blue, as they were walking out of school one day.

Anything to prolong his going home. "You're paying."

"Well, that's no way to treat a lady." But she was smiling and his stomach felt funny. She picked up her pace and pulled him with her, keeping their hands locked together even as they walked.

He was afraid she'd stop touching him because when he looked down at his tan hand in her pale one he was able to forget.

Now that he was shivering on the bench at Naganaki Shrine, Junpei acknowledged that perhaps this hadn't been his best idea. He wasn't sure why he had chosen this place of all the other open spots in Iwatodai to be homeless in. It wasn't as if he had any memories of the place drawing him here. By the time he and his father arrived, he was too old to play in sandboxes or go down the slide with a carefree smile.

His eyes burned, but he wasn't sure if it was finally his resolve cracking or lack of sleep. He shut his eyes, but then the outside of one stung—he would probably have that black eye for a week. It was a miracle he could still see. He wondered what Hamuko would say if she could see him now, with his bruised eye, trembling body, and wrinkled clothes.

Guess he wasn't going to school today.

"Hey, wake up."

Junpei's eyes fluttered open at the unfamiliar voice above him. Truthfully, he was a bit annoyed; he had just gotten comfortable on the godforsaken bench. He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he opened his eyes, but Akihiko Sanada wasn't at the top of the list in any case. He was a legend at Gekkoukan, so of course Junpei knew who he was, and he sometimes saw him in passing when he walked Hamuko back to her dorm.

"I've seen you out here the past few mornings," Akihiko said, clad in a t-shirt and jogging shorts that Junpei himself would never be caught dead in, let alone be able to pull off. "Is everything okay? You shouldn't be sleeping out here, you know."

Junpei swallowed. "Um, yeah. I just…"

But Akihiko was giving him a suspicious look. "And what happened to your eye?"

"I…tripped."

"On what?"

"A…" It was too early in the morning for him to be coming up with excuses. Unable to come up with something plausible, he decided to focus his attention elsewhere. Like why the hell was Akihiko Sanada asking about his well-being? "What's it to you anyway?"

At this, Akihiko made a face. "You should go home, kid. If an officer sees you here, you'll get in trouble for loitering."

Junpei said nothing. Home. Yeah right. Getting arrested for loitering wouldn't be so bad; they would feed him in prison. And the cots in his cell were probably more comfortable than this damn bench. He was startled when Akihiko suddenly reached out and hauled him off the bench.

"I've seen you out here for a few mornings now. That bruise is new, though." He seemed to be debating with himself for a minute, then he finally let Junpei's arm go and sighed. "Just…come with me."

"Huh? Come with you where?"

"…back to my dorm. And stop asking me so many questions before I change my mind. What's your name anyway?"

"Junpei Iori."

The trip was short, and Junpei alternated between looking at Akihiko's shoulder blades and the sidewalk. If they were going where he thought they were going, then the jig was up. Hamuko lived in the same dorm as him. Before they went inside, Junpei almost said that it was okay, that it didn't want to go inside and he would go straight home, but Akihiko swung the door open too quickly. He heard her voice immediately.

"Minato, hurry up! You said you'd take the train with me!" She gave a frustrated grunt before she came into view, holding a bagel in one hand and her shoes in the other. "Oh, hey Senpai! Finished jog—Junpei?"

"Oh, so you know him. Good." Akihiko stepped aside. "Where's Mitsuru?"

"The kitchen," Hamuko said flatly, her brows furrowed. "Junpei, what happened?"

Akihiko nodded and went into the kitchen, leaving them alone. Junpei kept his eyes on the ground. He heard her coming towards him, but he made no effort to meet her halfway. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but her arms soon wrapped around him.

"I knew it," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "You should have told me, you idiot. This is why you weren't in school? And why you always seem tired? And why you never let me see your house?"

He didn't question how she able to put so much together. She was supposed to be a genius or something close to it, after all. "I didn't want to worry you. It was…no big deal." Junpei was shaking. His eyes were watering again, and this time he knew it wasn't from the lack of sleep.

She squeezed him tighter. "You're an idiot, Junpei."

He sniffed, just as Minato appeared in the staircase. Great. There went all his pride, right out of the window. Nonetheless, he knew that it would be okay now. At least a bit.

All he could think was if she could that he hadn't really kissed a girl before this.

Well, he had, but not like this. He'd never even really had a girlfriend before; not a serious one anyway. He was almost too overwhelmed to be turned on, which was saying something because people generally thought that he was never turned off. He was more concerned. Hamuko was allowing him to do whatever he wanted…touch her wherever he wanted…but why? Yeah, they were close, but was this really what the two of them wanted? Did they really have that kind of connection?

His hand was sliding up her thigh now. He kinda sighed into his mouth and he died a little on the inside. His head was spinning and he was sure if his eyes were open the world would be spinning right along with it. Her hands were on his back, then they were in his hair and then his hat was on the floor. He could take it anymore. He really couldn't do this, not with her, not like this.

Junpei pulled back. Hamuko blinked back up at him, her hair spread out around her head and her cheeks slightly tinged with red. She was beautiful, but it was wrong. For some reason, this was all wrong. "Did that feel as weird for you as it did for me?"

Hamuko nodded slowly, and Junpei pushed himself off of her and reached to pick up his hat. They sat in awkward silence for a minute, with her straightening her clothes and him reaching to pick up his COMPstation Portable that had fallen on the floor.

"Nevermind. Let's pretend that didn't happen," she finally said, the grin reappearing.

"Agreed," he said after slightly hesitation. She put her head back on his lap. He avoided her eye and instead concentrated on the game.

"Does this mean we're just best friends?"

The question caught him off guard. He looked at her briefly, then back at his game. "Must be. We just friend zoned each other."

She giggled, and he laughed too. He ran a hand through her hair and she closed her eyes. Hamuko was still smiling. He tried to smile back, but he couldn't. He was starting to understand that she didn't only smile when she was happy, and right now he knew she wasn't happy. He swallowed.

"I think you're really pretty, you know."

She opened her eyes again. They were such a strange color. Red. How many people had red eyes? "Are best friends allowed to say stuff like that?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, I don't think we fall under the conventional definition."

"…I don't think so either."

They didn't speak again for a while.

"Junpei. Can I ask you a question?" He looked up from his comic book and raised an eyebrow at Yukari. He hadn't felt like going downstairs to join the circus (it was rarely quiet anymore now that they added Aigis, Fuuka, AND Ken) so he parked it on the benches by the vending machines of the second floor. He had thought Yukari was downstairs with everyone, but…

"What's up, Yuka-tan?"

"What do you think of Minato-kun?" Yukari sat down on the bench across from him.

"What do you mean? He's a cool guy?" Junpei shrugged. They didn't hang out all that much, but when they did he liked him okay. Otherwise he was too busy being a chick magnet. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…he hasn't said anything to you…you know about…" Yukari trailed off.

"About…what?"

"You know, about me!" she finally spit out, scowling at him.

Junpei couldn't help his grin. "Does Yuka-tan have a crush? Awwwwwwww."

"Ugh! Why did I even bother with you?" Frustrated, Yukari stood up to leave, but Junpei caught her arm.

"I'm kidding. But no. Not to me. Why don't you ask Hamuko? Or Fuuka? I'm sure he told one of them. Or maybe even Aigis…" But as soon as Junpei said her name, Yukari visibly stiffened. What was it with girls anyway? Hamuko did the same thing but when she was around they were pretending that everything was all good and well. She seemed okay to him...you know, for a girl who was a bit awkward and couldn't remember her own name. And it was obvious that Minato liked her a lot—oh. That's what it was, huh?

"Maybe I'll try asking Fuuka," Yukari sighed.

Junpei grinned and crossed his arms. "Look, lemme give you a word of advice from Junpei's Book of Love. If you want the kid, you have to go get him. You can't just sit there and look cute and expect him to understand that you want him. Guys don't think like that. At least…I don't."

Yukari rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't." She sat back down and sighed. "But I suppose I don't have a choice. It's hard when you're competing with three other girls."

"Three?"

"You know I've got nothing against Hamuko-chan, but she's a bit…territorial isn't she?"

"…huh?"

Yukari sighed again. "Nevermind. I'll go now. Thanks for the advice, I guess."

But it was bothering him now. He dawned on him just then that his conversations with Hamuko never really crossed into deep territory. It was almost as if they had an understanding that there were some things that neither of them were ready to voice yet. It bugged him for an entire week, until he finally cornered her on the roof after school one day. Her back was to him, but he knew something was wrong, or at the very least, different.

"Hamuko-chan?"

Her shoulders heaved as she took a shaky breath, then she turned to face him. Although she was smiling, her face was wet with tears. "I knew you'd find me eventually."

For some reason, it broke his heart more that she still insisted on smiling rather than her tears. "What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure."

He moved to hug her. Hamuko buried her face in his shoulder. "You know those days where you hate everyone?" she asked.

"Yeah, kinda."

"I think this is one of those days."

"Should I leave you alone, then?"

"You don't count, dipshit."

"Okay."

This was the third time he stumbled across her sitting right there. Each time he passed by, he tried to see what she was drawing, but she always glared at him and held her sketchpad closer to her body. They hadn't really spoken to this point (except for when she told him to "Move!" when he was apparently standing in her sunlight) but he decided that today he was going to talk to her.

He saw her hair before her face. It was a really vibrant red, totally unlike Mitsuru's dark red that he had gotten used to. It also didn't help that she insisted on wearing white, in various frilly things that Junpei was sure he could never figure out how to work. (It was the gothic Lolita thing that he'd only ever seen in movies to this point. He'd asked Akihiko if he ever met someone who dressed like that and he told him to stop talking nonsense.) He swallowed before approaching her and standing in the exact spot that she had complained at him for the first time.

The girl glared up at him. Her eyes were half-lidded, like she couldn't be bothered to actually open them all the way, but the glare was fierce all the same. "You again. I told you to move."

Junpei swallowed again. "I wanted to know what you were drawing."

"I can't draw if you're in my light."

Figuring that brute force would be the only way to get anywhere with this girl, he sat on the bench next to her. She stiffened, but she didn't move away. Before she could move it, he stole a glance at her sketch pad.

"What's that?" Junpei could make out a few buildings and maybe people, but it was too abstract for him to figure it out.

"What does it matter to you? No one can understand my drawings anyway." She gave up trying to hide the book at this point.

"I'm trying to learn," Junpei said with a grin. "I've never really been an art person."

"I never would have guessed."

"So..." he shifted a bit. "What's your name?"

She ignored him and went back to drawing. He sighed and decided to give up for the day.

"Well…in any case…I'd like to see it when you're done. Okay?"

He didn't wait for her answer, not that he was expecting her to give one in the first place.

Gradually, he was able to coax her into standing his presence for more than ten minutes at a time. Every day over summer vacation, Junpei would come and visit her and talk to her, or sometimes just watch her draw. She finally relented and told him her name after a few days. Chidori. Junpei wasn't entirely sure what kept him coming back to her each day, but he decided that for now it was best not to question it lest she changed her mind.

"Still working on the same picture?" Junpei asked as he plopped himself next to her.

Chidori's brows were furrowed and she erased the page furiously. "I can't…I can't…"

"Huh?" He leaned closer and squinted. "What's the matter?"

She was still rubbing the eraser vigorously, staring at the offending page. "I can't…I can't…"

"You can't what?" Junpei made a face. "Chidori, the page is blank."

"No it's not, no it's not, no! It's! NOT! Don't you see it? Why can't you see it?"

Junpei saw the blood dripping before he realized what was going on. His eyes widened. "Chidori! You're bleeding!" He reached for her hand, to try to put pressure on it or something but she jerked away.

"Don't touch me! Just stop! Look at what you've done to me!"

"You have to put pressure on it, Chidori! The blood's getting everywhere!" Junpei tried again, but footsteps pounding towards them prevented him from trying to stop it himself. A man and a woman approached, looking like a cross between concerned and exasperated.

"Yoshino! Yoshino, calm down!" The woman reached out for her, but she jerked away. Now she was crying and Junpei's stomach twisted into knots. The man sighed.

"I thought she was getting better. What set her off now?"

"I don't know, but you know what that means," the woman sighed.

"Hey, wait! Who are you guys! What are you gonna do with her?" Junpei demanded, turning his attention to the two strangers. Chidori was shaking now, the blood all over her white dress.

"We're from the hospital," the man calmly explained as the woman again tried to reach out for Chidori. "Yoshino is a patient there. We were trying something with her, you know...letting her out to get some fresh air but apparently that was a bad idea."

"A patient? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing physical," the woman muttered. "Yoshino, if you do not calm down, we'll have no choice but to restrain you. Do you want that?"

"No!" she sobbed. "Not again, please not again."

"Perhaps letting her out for all this time was a bad idea. Imagine if we weren't here to keep an eye on her," the man was saying.

"Wait! Let me try!" Junpei approached her slowly, seeming to catch on that if he made any sudden movements she would flip out again. She kept her eyes on her bleeding cut, her body still shaking and the tears still pouring. "Chidori?"

"I didn't want you to know," she said quietly. "I didn't want you to know."

He kneeled in front of her and took the hand that wasn't covered in blood. "It's okay, Chidori. I promise I'll still come see you. Please let them help you."

"But they won't let me out," she sobbed. "They'll lock me in that room again and the monsters will come for me."

The knots in his stomach tightened. "Let them help you and I promise you I'll come visit you tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after that."

At this, the man and the woman move forward and helped her off the bench, the man pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and finally wrapping up her cut. Chidori turned and looked over her shoulder as they led her away. Junpei noticed that they left her sketchpad on the ground where it had fallen during her freak out, so he bent down to pick it up. Lying on the ground next to it was a razor blade tinged in red. Feeling heavy all of a sudden, Junpei ignored the blood on the page and closed the sketchpad, kicked the razor blade into a patch of grass and sat back down on the bench, trying to process everything that had just happened.

Shinjiro Aragaki was the dorm's weirdest addition yet.

Initially, Junpei didn't see much of him. Akihiko and Mitsuru remained tightlipped about what was actually wrong with him at first, but eventually they let slip that he was a drug addict of sorts. Junpei stayed out of his way for the most part, but he couldn't help but notice that Hamuko was beginning to spend more and more time with him. The guy had only been in the dorm for a total of two weeks yet Hamuko was giving him the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her. He wasn't sure if the contempt he felt for Shinjiro was actual jealousy or something else, though.

"Hey, Junpei."

He hadn't expected Hamuko to track him down on the rooftop. These days, they went their separate ways after school, with her skipping off to the dorm to be with Shinjiro and Junpei running to the hospital to see Chidori. "Oh, I didn't know you were still here."

Hamuko stood by him, putting her hands on the railing. The wind blew her hair out of her face and she smiled. For the first time in a while, Junpei couldn't tell what kind of smile it was. "Chidori," she said randomly. "I'd like to meet her soon."

He was taken by surprise. Hamuko hadn't expressed too much interest in his life since Shinjiro came along. "Okay. Whenever you want, just say the word. I'm sure she'd like to see the person I'm always talking about."

"Sounds good." She pushed away from the railing and began walking away. "And one day…I'd like you to talk to Shinjiro, too. I'm sure if you guys got to know each other, you'd get along great."

"…okay." Was that really all she wanted? "Hey, Hamuko…!"

But she was already gone.

"Hey, Stupei."

Junpei frowned and looked up from his COMPstation Portable. "Hey, what was that for?"

Yukari was glaring down at him, looking like she was fighting back either a slew of insults or a waterfall of tears. "You give shitty love advice."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

But she only stormed off upstairs. A few seconds later, Junpei heard her door slam.

He couldn't calm her down. No matter what he said or how tightly he held her, Hamuko wouldn't stop screaming. The graveyard was empty except for them, pallbearers hired by Mitsuru's family, and a priest (even though Junpei had the sneaking suspicion that Shinjiro was laughing wherever he was at the idea of some guy in a robe saying empty words over his dead body) so her screams seemed to echo much louder than they actually were.

Finally, Minato came and put a hand on his shoulder, signifying that he would take over from there. Junpei almost reluctantly let her go, and Minato wrapped his arms around her in his place, speaking to her gently and rubbing small circles into her back. It didn't take long for Hamuko to calm down…well, at least a bit, and then she just wailed into his shoulder.

Junpei was numb.

His head turned and looked at the mahogany casket halfway in the ground and he remembered that he never kept his promise to talk to Shinjiro.

Maybe they really would have gotten along great.

"Chidori, have you ever lost someone close to you?"

He had been sitting with her on her bed. Chidori lifted her head off of his shoulder and tilted her head. "No."

Junpei leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling. The light directly over the bed flickered constantly and he wondered how it didn't drive Chidori mad. Figuratively speaking, anyway. "Good, then."

"I've never had anyone close to me before," she said plainly. At first her bluntness used to startle him, but now he just accepted it as something authentically Chidori. "Before you."

He felt his cheeks burn. She put her head back on his shoulder. "Are you feeling guilty, Junpei? About your friend Shinjiro?"

"Yeah. I guess I am."

She was silent for a minute, then he felt her tiny hand reach for his under the blanket. "I'm not sure what you've done to me. I never would have dreamed of this before. Sometimes when I think of you my chest gets tight and I didn't know why. I thought you were hurting me."

Junpei looked down at her, but her eyes were downcast. "Chidori?"

"But I understand now. I want to show you something, Junpei." She sat up and reached into the drawer by her bed, then pulled out her sketchpad. She smiled when she placed it in his lap. "Go on. Look."

His breath caught when he opened the newest page and saw his eyes staring back at him. She had drawn him nearly perfectly and gotten down to the tiniest detail, like the way his hair stuck out of his hat now that he had prolonged getting a haircut for a few weeks. Junpei felt his eyes filling with tears and he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the past few weeks catching up with him. Maybe it was his whole life catching up with him.

Maybe it was just a nice picture.

Chidori frowned. "Junpei? You don't like it?"

"No, no…I love it. It's amazing, Chidori." Sniff.

"Then why are you crying?"

"I don't know."

She put her arms around him. She was so much smaller than he was, and he wanted to envelope her. He wanted to wrap her up within himself and keep her safe from everything. Junpei hugged her back, tightly.

"Will you leave me, Junpei?"

He squeezed her. "Never. I promise."

"Are you sure about this?" Hamuko asked, biting her lip.

Junpei smiled. "Yes, I'm positive. Come on."

Reluctantly, Hamuko followed him down the hospital hallway. Junpei knocked twice and then popped his head in the door. "Chidori?"

She looked up from her sketchpad and smiled. "Oh, hello. I wasn't expecting you so early."

He swung the door open and returned her smile. "I brought someone to see you."

Hamuko stepped into the room timidly and bowed politely. "Hello, Chidori-san."

"Chidori, meet my best friend, Hamuko Arisato. Hamuko-chan, meet my girlfriend, Chidori Yoshino." Nothing could wipe the stupid grin off of his face and for once he didn't care how much of an idiot he probably looked like.

Chidori bowed back the best she could sitting up in bed, and Hamuko approached her bed to sit down. "Junpei has told me a lot about you," Hamuko said. "And I told him I wanted to meet you. You deserve an award for being able to tame him."

Chidori laughed a bit. "Tame? Then you deserve an award for dealing with him beforehand, if that's tame."

"Hey! I resent that!" But Junpei's cheeks were hurting from how big he was smiling. The two girls continued to talk and Junpei felt like his chest was bursting somehow. He looked out of the window and up at the sky.

"I think she'll be okay, Shinjiro-san."

Blah. I'm not sure if I like the ending enough. Do you like the ending enough? In any case, I'm not sure who's next, but it'll probably be one of the girls...maybe Aigis or Fuuka. I'm leaning toward Aigis since I owe the most explanation with her...making her human and all. We'll just see how it goes. =D

Oh, and please excuse any typos. . No beta, you see.