Morning used to be the beginning of something great: a new day of possibilities, meeting new people, and having all kinds of fun at work. Now it was simply the end of something abhorrent. Even with sleeping pills the images crept into his mind; a distant pop, a scarlet splatter, screaming, crying. Over and over again the dreams would repeat to the point where Yutaro knew exactly when the shot came. He knew what note of what song marked the end of that poor girl's life. He knew that if she moved at that particular moment, she would still be here. If he had started dancing earlier, if she would have gone for a drink, if if if... so many ways she could have lived. But the only possibility he relived was the one where he sat there, blissfully unaware of the tragedy only moments away, until it all came to an end.

Yutaro groaned and looked over at his clock. There was no point in trying to get back to sleep at this point. The sun was up, and his biological clock was telling him he no longer belonged in bed. However, his body was stiff and tired from the restless night. He stretched and forced himself out of bed, walking past his coffee pot and over to where he kept the caffeine pills. Screw coffee. It was too much work to heat up water, pray the the grind he had tasted good, and sit there sipping the hot beverage when all he really wanted was to wake up. He threw the caffeine pills back with some water, as was now a part of his morning ritual. Pills to force him to go to sleep, and then another set of pills to undo what the other pills did. Sure, sounds healthy.

Then his gaze moved to the letter from his parents on the table. He let out a heavy sigh. Right, he had forgotten about that. They knew that something was wrong, especially his mother, but he hadn't told them what happened. Talking about what happened wouldn't change what happened, so he saw no point in it. The caffeine started kicking in, he splashed some water on his face and he put on the smile everyone was used to seeing. Nobody questioned familiar things. 

One thing that hadn't changed was that he still hated being cooped up in his apartment, so he decided to go out for a morning walk through the town. He had no plans, really. He didn't work until later, so his mornings were usually free. He was free to just walk through the streets and let his thoughts wander. He wondered how Ryoki was doing... No, that was a stupid question. He knew she wasn't doing well. She wasn't talking to him or doing much of anything; sometimes he even wondered if she was still alive. Not, that he could blame her after what happened. But still, he [i]hoped[/i] that things were starting to look better for her.

"Whatever fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low," he muttered to himself. He had said those words to another unlucky person at the ball. Perhaps those words were a curse, a secret incantation for a dark spell that brings misfortune into the world. Or, perhaps they were just a simple truth, realized through generations of misfortune befalling the great. However, right now, Yutaro wished those words were wrong.