Syrus grasped at his head in frustration as he ran. "Why did it have to be her of all people?" He let out an exasperated breath. He looked at the message from Arlin again. ["I'm waiting with Sharpe at the designated location. Come join me, I'm bored!"] At the bottom of the message was an address. It was an empty office building on the opposite side of the city. "How the hell did he get there so quickly?" Syrus ran into a nearby subway station. He didn't have the time to run the whole way. He grew more unsettled with each passing minute. When he finally got off, he darted out of the car, pushing people out of his way. "I can't believe I didn't see this coming!" Syrus growled to himself as he ran through back roads leading to the specified place. His lungs felt as if they would collapse. His legs ached but he couldn't stop now. Not with what's at stake. His thoughts circled in his head. "Why did Arlin get caught up in this too?" The bandages on his right arm had loosened when he cut down the illusion. He could feel his wounds start to bleed. "Why is this happening now?" He came to a stop and removed his jacket. His right arm was covered with cuts and gashes of various sizes. He sat against a wall and dug out some gauze and bandages from his bag. He removed his soiled ones and redressed his arm. It wasn't as good as when his sister did it, but it would work for the time being. He collected his stuff then turned a corner to continue on. Before he turned his gaze forward he ran into a person.

"Oh, Sor-" His eyes grew wide. "Dunley?"

"Watch where you are going, boy!" Kelly sneered and brushed herself off.

"You...you're one too?" He couldn't believe his intuition. "You have to come with me!"

"What?" She started to back away. "Why would I ever want anything to do with a creep like you?" She scowled back. "Creep?" Syrus closed his eyes in distress. He bared his teeth with a sigh. Disgust.

"FINE!" he growled. "I don't have time to deal with a snob like you!" He shoved her aside and kept running. He didn't have time to lament his rejection even if he had never told her his feelings. "She's one of us, huh? Great." There was no denying it. Meeting her there, that conversation only fueled his anger and restlessness. As he neared the address Arlin sent, he spotted a familiar figure leaned against a wall in pain. Grief and shame surged over him.

"Noriko!" He called out. Skai turned to see Syrus had found him.

"K-Kanamura?" A glimmer of hope shone in Skai's eyes. "So, you weren't with them after all." he sighed in mild relief and adjusted his glasses.

"Why does everyone think that I am?" Syrus buried his face in his hands, his breathing heavy from running.

"Wait...what do you mean?" Syrus's outburst piqued Skai's curiosity.

"Arlin..." Syrus gasped as leaned on the wall next to Skai. "He sent me a message." the aggravation in his face was apparent. "Why the hell does he think I'm on their side?" His and Skai's eyes met. "Maybe his mother said something to him?" He averted his gaze. "No, she hates me."

"Did he say where?" Skai tried to stand, just as drained as Syrus. Syrus looked back to him.

"Y-yeah." Then he had an idea. "I'll distract him, and you get Sharpe!" a smile crawled across Skai's slightly bloodied lips and he adjusted his glasses. The two located the building Arlin had mentioned. Through a window they could see his familiar purple hair. The building had 2 entry points: the front and the back, employee entrance. Syrus went forward first to the front entrance, while Skai circled around to the back. Once Syrus walked through the door, Arlin gave a big smile.

"You had me worried, I thought you wouldn't come." Arlin ran up and hugged Syrus. Skai crept in the back crawling beneath the interior windows.

"Why'd it have to be so far?" Syrus whined, playing along.

"'He' said to bring Sharpe here. 'That guy's' pretty scary so I didn't object." Arlin answered bluntly. Syrus peered behind him. Through the window he could see Skai untying a barely conscious Kid. He breathed a small sigh of relief. "I can't believe this is really working."

"Yeah, 'that guy' is something else, huh?" Syrus nervously tried to make small talk while getting as much as he could out of Arlin. The guilt of using his friends naivete ate at him but it couldn't be helped in these circumstances. Skai urged Kid to his feet.

"Thankfully, most of my orders go through Alex, if I had to deal with 'him' as much as he does I don't know how I'd manage."

"Alex, huh..." Syrus covered his mouth with his hand and looked to the side.

"Bah!" Arlin breathed out in frustration. "He's really not that bad if you'd just give him an apol-" his reprimanding Syrus was interrupted by a loud crash. Kid's unsteady stride caused him to kick over a stack of boxes. Unbridled rage grew in Arlin. Syrus grimaced then grabbed Arlin's arms.

"RUN!" he shouted. Arlin glared at Syrus as he struggled to break free.

"YOU!" Arlin growled out of rage at Syrus's deceit. "I can't believe you!"

"Arlin, wait-" Syrus tried to plead with his disgruntled friend. By the time he finally broke free of Syrus's grasp the others had already fled.

"Alex was right about you!" Arlin's yelling turned to furious screams. "You planned to throw me away all along, didn't you?!"

"Arlin I can ex-" his futile attempt to pacify Arlin was cut off.

"You threw everyone else away and now it’s my turn, huh?" tears started to form in his eyes. "Is that why you kept me around for so long?!" Arlin struggled to hold back sobs as he screamed. "It was all just to make yourself look better, huh?! I'm not athletic or attractive like you!"

"No Arl-" Syrus tried to grab him by the shoulders but Arlin smacked away his hands.

"You were just biding your time until someone better came along!" He angrily gestured to where Skai rescued Kid.

"What?! No, it isn't anything like that!" Syrus fumbled, his mind overrun by the intense hatred and betrayal radiating off his childhood friend.

"This is exactly what you did to him! I'm just a joke to you..." tears fell down Arlin's quivering cheeks. "Why don't you go play with your 'real friends' instead of wasting my time!" he bawled then ran out of the building.

"No Arlin, wait..." Syrus fought one last time to reason with the frenzied Arlin before he vanished in the murky darkness of the night. His strength drained, he collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down his face. "Damn it!" he punched a wall then curled into a ball. He wept for a while like that before pulling himself together "I'm so stupid!" he cursed at himself feeling disgusted with his actions. He never realized Arlin felt that way until it was too late. No, he knew he just assumed it wasn't this bad. Arlin had been his friend for as long as he could remember. They did everything together. When Syrus started modeling, Arlin was right there cheering him on. When he lost his mother, Arlin stayed by his side when everyone else abandoned him. "This is how I repaid his kindness." Syrus sulked as he walked to the place he had always taken Kori to after school on Saturdays. He looked up at the sign, it read 'Gentle Leaf Cafe'. The interior was illuminated by the lights. They weren't alone. Anya and Kori gathered around a table along with the Kouki twins, the Arata siblings and Skai. Syrus hung his head in sorrow. He took deep breaths and entered the shop. He didn't feel up to socializing, he never did, but he had to retrieve his sister.

"Brother!...What's wrong?" She jumped up but frowned when she saw his face.

"Don't want to talk about it." he answered solemnly. The twins stood next.

"Hey..." Jem started

"Thanks." Mini finished. He looked up. All the uncertainty they usually had was nowhere to be found. Anya averted her eyes.

"Sorry...I shouldn't have been so quick to judge."

"No...no, I never had any intention of getting familiar with you." he gave a cold response.

"But you helped us...if it wasn't for you, Kid would be..." Skai paused and adjusted his glasses. "Thank you." the devastating feelings of responsibility over what happened. "It's my fault 'that' happened..." Skai's voice faded off.

"I had it coming to be perfectly honest." Syrus ridiculed himself. Tori pulled out a chair by him and Sai looked up.

"You should sit." She nodded her head to the chair. "You've been through a lot." Syrus's eyes grew wide at her accurate assumption. She nodded a little to confirm his suspicions. "She's like me, huh?" He took the seat and laid his head down on the table, overwhelmed by all the emotions that swirled around in his head.