Despite the obvious signs that it was nice, cloudy afternoon outside, Ace decided to lock himself in his apartment room, light a cigarette, and play with his PSP while lying comfortably on one of his bean bags.

Suddenly, a soft knock at the door broke his thoughts from the game he was playing. "In a moment!" he yelled as he lazily stood up and made his way to the door. To his surprise, on the other side of the door was his childhood and best friend, Sagano Megumi.

Well it wasn't uncommon for her to visit him occasionally. In fact, since the start of their high school years, she made it a point to visit him at least once a week, claiming that since he's living alone and his parents were far away, she was assigned the "divine" task of "watching over" him - which is basically checking if he isn't slacking off, or skipping school, or eating too much junk food, or doing anything stupid or dangerous. Of course, she kept this fact away from her classmates, and warned Ace to do the same.

"It would be bad for the image of the 'Official Matchmaker' of 2-C" she would tell Ace with a wink.
"Sure. Whatever..." Ace would answer with a sigh.

He doesn't really care if anyone learns about it. But he wouldn't go sharing it either, preferring to stay silent on the matter. The only people he knew who knew about this situation were Megumi's bandmates, who were also her closest friends. Sometimes, a couple of them would tag along with Megumi during her visits. He didn't really like the idea of three or more people suddenly barging into his room, but he doesn't hate their company either, since he gets to play some of his favorite versus games with Fuyuki, or have Yuuki help him with the harder assignments. And Ichijou would always bring snacks for everyone. The only person in the band who hasn't been to the apartment is Karasuma, whom Ace took little notice of, even in class.

So far, Ace had been doing well by himself, proving to Megumi that he's independent enough. Although sometimes, she still catches him getting too much immersed in his PSP or DS... or even worse, fighting a random deliquent in the neighborhood. In both occasions she would scold him like a good nee-san would, sometimes pinching him in the ear or slapping him silly, much to Ace's annoyance. But he would listen to her all the same.

But what surprised him that afternoon wasn't Megumi's visit per se, but rather, it was the fact that she looked down and silent. Usually, she would shout "Oi Ace!", tap him on his right shoulder, force an entry to his room, and make herself feel at home...usually by diving on one of the bean bags scattered throughout the room.

However at that moment, Megumi didn't do any of those. Rather, she just stood there, downcast. Silence settled between them for a while. Only when he motioned to invite her in, that she suddenly dived into his chest and started to cry loudly.

"Something bad happened huh..." Ace whispered as he closed the door behind them.