Episode Eleven

I groaned resting my head on my desk. Man, morning sickness was kicking my . Yamato lifted my head so he could sit on my desk. He gently placed my head in his lap. The others sat in the surrounding desks.

Honjo tilted his head at me, "what's wrong, Sai-chan?"

"Nothing. Just a normal morning of being pregnant," I replied as Yamato kissed the top of my head, "but hopefully, the morning sickness will die down by the time July gets here."

"It's almost July," Ren asked before smiling, "that means it's finally summer break!"

"Hey, wanna go on a trip," Honjo said getting excited.

The others agreed, "good idea!"

Ichi smiled, "the last summer break of our high school life."

Kura gasped, "that's right. It is our last summer break."

"Alright," Kamiya stood, "everyone, let's go somewhere!"

Everyone jumped up and cheered. I could feel a headache coming on as they got louder.

"Summer means the beach, right," Yamato hinted.

"The beach means...," Ren's face lit up, "Okinawa!"

Honjo agreed, "we might hook up with some bikini-clad girls!"

"Bikini-clad girls!"

I told them to quiet down because of my headache, but they started daydreaming.

They sighed, "how nice..."

I rolled my eyes at them.

"Don't include me and Heza in your wild imaginations," Yamato said running his fingers through my hair.

Ren shook his head coming back to reality.

"Alright! Let's go to Okinawa," he cheered.

They started cheering making my headache grow, but thankfully, Yamato stopped them.

"But do you guys have money for the trip," he asked.

The guys' faces dropped.

Kamiya stood, "how about we work part time at a beach house and pick up girls at the same time?"

Kura nodded, "that sounds good."

"Everyone," Ichi jumped up, "let's make this summer hot!"

The class cheered.

"I'm determined to get some girlfriends," Kura cheered.

The class cheered again, but this time a small voice joined them. I glanced behind Yamato to see Yankumi with her arms raised and a huge smile on her face.

"Like I always say, stop showing up like that," Yamato lectured.

"You're going too," a guy asked.

She shook her head, "don't you guys worry. I'm going to Hawaii. Since I'm an adult, I deserve to go somewhere like Hawaii."

The door slammed open, "What's with the ruckus?!"

I groaned at the sound of Sawatari's voice. I buried my face in Yamato's leg before raising my head so he could get off my desk. He kept his eyes on Sawatari and Yajima as he backed up to stand beside me. I leaned my throbbing head on his hip as he put his hand on my shoulder.

"We can hear you all the way down the hallway," Yajima said.

Yankumi smiled, "sorry. We were discussing summer break and..."

"Summer break," Sawatari asked cutting Yankumi off, "it seems like you guys are very worked up, but you haven't forgotten that before summer break there's final exams, have you? If you want your summer breaks, it would be best if you all did your best on finals."

"Those with failing scores below 30 points on the finals will need to take supplementary classes during summer break," Yajima explained.

"Supplementary classes?!"

"Everyday. Monday through Friday...," Sawatari smirked, "you can pretty much kiss your summer break good bye."

The guys started booing the two male teachers.

Sawatari ignored them and turned to Yankumi, "Yamaguchi-sensei, please teach them well. It's homeroom teachers who will be teaching the summer classes."

Yankumi's face dropped completely, "what?"

Yajima laughed, "in other words, if one of them has a failing score, you won't have a summer break either, Yamaguchi-sensei."

Yankumi's jaw dropped, "what?! I didn't hear about such...," she paused and looked straight at Sawatari, "so, that's why you were smirking earlier?!"

Sawatari gave her a smug look, "Yamaguchi-sensei, it's unfortunate, but it's better you accept that you don't get a summer break."

Yajima nodded, "well, it's impossible that no 3-D student will get a failing score."

Honjo jumped up, "what was that?!"

"How dare you say that," Kamiya shouted.

Sawatari laughed, "if that does happen, well....I'll walk through the neighborhood once on my hands. I can even do it with just a loincloth on."

"Bastard, are you for real," Ichi growled.

"For real."

"So, you'll really walk on your hands with a loincloth on," Kura asked.

"I will, I will, I will."

Ren glared at Sawatari with a smirk, "fine. Let's have you do that. Okay, guys. Let's get scores above 30 in every subject!"

"Oh!"

"Are they serious," Yamato whispered.

"Great guys," Yankumi cheered.

"I think your efforts will be wasted, but well, try the best you can," Sawatari smirked at me, "mainly the one who looks like she about to pass out."

I groaned, "hey, monkey! Have a loincloth ready!"

Sawatari smirk dropped. He turned and walked out with Yajima right behind him.

"Let's prove him wrong, guys," I said standing weakly.

"Oh!"

"Geez, it can't be be helped. I guess I'll join," Yamato said wrapping his arms around my waist, "but are you sure you're up for it?"

"I'm always up for proving that monkey wrong," I growled.

He snickered resting his chin on my shoulder.

"This is an interesting turn of events," Yankumi smiled, "alright! 3-D's Don't Fail Finals Operation! Fight-oh!"

"Oh!"

Right after school, my guys and I went to the takoyaki stand because one: it has a table and chairs where we can study, and two: I was craving takoyaki. After a few minutes, the guys started complaining.

"Ah! I haven't read textbooks like this since elementary school," Kura yelled slamming his textbook down.

Ichi scratched his head with a pencil, "man, I'm losing brain cells."

"Well, if we have to study this hard, we'd want to go somewhere like Okinawa on summer break," Ren stated.

"But, we have no money," Yamato pointed out again.

Kamiya stood up, "how about making some money at pachinko?"

"Okay, let's go play pachinko," Honjo cheered.

The guys, except Yamato, stood up cheering.

"HEY," I yelled cutting off their cheers, "you're not gambling. Now sit your asses down before I make you!"

They slowly sat back down.

"How can Yamato deal with her mood swings," Kamiya whispered to Kura.

"He doesn't do things to piss me off," I growled, then I put on a huge smile and held my hands out to Yamato, "and he gives me pocky."

Yamato sighed at my childish behavior before he handed me a box of pocky. We kept studying until Minaru-san and Tetsu-san had to close the stand. Then we decided to go to our usual spot. Yamato and I were walking in front while the others were laughing about random things. Yamato turned a little and started laughing at them when someone ran into us. Yamato quickly caught me before I hit the ground and glared at the person.

"Hey!"

"Ogata?"

We froze at the voice. Yamato immediately pulled me behind him.

"Goda."

Goda didn't say anything. He just turned and ran down the street. The others ran up behind us.

"Hey, that was Goda, right," Ren asked.

"Yeah. I smell something fishy here," Yamato turned to me, "are you alright? Is the baby okay?"

"We're fine. He didn't bump into me that hard."

"But..."

"Aww. Look at Yamato being the worrying father and boyfriend," Honjo laughed.

"Shut up," he barked in embarrassment then mumbled, "I was just making sure they were fine."

I giggled, "there's no need to worry, but I really should be getting home. I'm really tired."

"I'll walk you," Yamato said shaking off his embarrassment.

We said good-bye to the others and walked to my apartment. We said our good-byes to each other before I walked into my apartment and went to bed.

========================================================================

The next morning was great. First, I woke up without any headaches. Then, when I got to class, everyone was already studying, meaning it was quiet for once. I sat down, got out my books and started studying. After a while, the guys started to complain breaking the peaceful silence.

"Ugh....This is impossible," Ren groaned banging his pencil on his desk, "there's no way."

Honjo threw down his book, "I'm at my limit, too."

"I quit! Quit! Quit," Kamiya chanted closing his book.

Ichi turned to them, "hey, don't give up so easily."

I nodded, "yeah, everyone's still trying."

"It doesn't look that way though," Yamato commented.

"Huh?"

I look at the other guys. Most of them were asleep. One guy banged his head on his desk just to keep himself from falling asleep. We heard snoring behind us. We looked to see Kura sitting up straight in his desk sleeping.

"Hey...," Ren tiredly stood up, "you guys aren't studying?"

Yamato slammed his book closed, "of course they're not."

Then and there, we decided to give up. We just weren't the studying type, no matter how hard we tired. After school, we went to our usual spot and sulked. I sat beside Yamato with my back pressed up against his arm and my head leaning back on his shoulder.

Ren sighed, "no matter how I see it, it's impossible for us to all pass."

"We aren't exactly the types to study, anyway," Yamato said resting his head on mine.

Honjo pouted, "but I wanted to get that head teacher to do a hand stand."

"You know, giving up is sometimes crucial in life," Ichi said trying to sound wise.

"Yeah, that's true," Kura paused, "but I feel a little bad for Yankumi."

Kamiya nodded, "yeah, she'll lose her summer break, too."

"I'm fine with that."

We looked over at Yankumi for a second before jumping back.

"I told you not to pop up like that!"

"Let's have class together during summer break," Yankumi stated sadly.

We relax a little.

I leaned over a little bit, "what's wrong?"

She glanced at me before dramatically turning away, "please don't ask me about it!"

She, then, kept saying 'my apologies.' I was about to ask her what was wrong again, but two cops walked in. They were the same cops who always pointed the finger at us when something wrong happened.

"We would like to ask a few questions. Yesterday, there was a robbery in Shirokin town, do you know anything about it?"

We stood up.

"What's the meaning of this," Ren demanded.

"A witness reported that several young men fled from the scene."

"Huh? So, are you suspecting them," I growled.

It was silent for a few seconds before Yamato spoke up.

"It can't be..."

We looked at him before realization hit us.

"Do you have some clue," Yankumi asked.

"Well, last night near Shirokin town, we happened to see Goda," Yamato explained.

"Is it Goda Ryuuji, an Akadou graduate," one of the cops asked.

We nodded. They thanked us then left. We left soon after.

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I woke up feeling drained. I couldn't sleep. Everytime I closed my eyes, I saw images of our last encounter with Goda. The images weren't of Goda ripping my clothes off. They were of Yamato being pinned down while Goda held a pile above him. I rolled over and looked at the time. My eyes widened. Crap, I'm going to be late. I quickly got ready, grabbed my bag and ran to school. As I ran, I spotted Yankumi. I ran up to her.

"Ohayou, Yankumi!"

She turned to me and smiled, "ohayou, Saitou."

We started walking to school when Yankumi's cellphone went off.

"Moshi moshi....," suddenly her face changed to happy to shock making me stop, "is this Goda?.....What?!.....Don't talk nonsense."

She hung up her phone then started running in the opposite direction. I called out to her, but she didn't stop. I ran after her which was pretty difficult. I followed her to a warehouse. Why is it always warehouses? She looked around then looked at me with wide eyes.

"They can't be...."

"Who are they," she ran off again, "wait! Yankumi!!"

I ran after again. She lead me to school which made even more confused. As we ran down the halls, I noticed the school was a complete reck. We ran to our classroom to see it was worse than the rest of the school, and the guys were on the ground beaten. Yankumi went to the front office hearing the police sirens outside.

I ran to my guys, "what happened?"

Yamato pulled me into a hug, "thank god you're alright! We thought Goda got you too."

"Goda? Goda did this to you guys," I asked pulling away.

Ren kicked over a broken desk, "damn Goda!"

"For him to ambush us is so cowardly," one guy commented.

Another stood up, "we're gonna find him and bag him!"

The guys started for the door, but I blocked them.

"Don't think about stupid things."

"What's stupid about it," Honjo yelled.

"We didn't do anything to him," Ichi pointed out.

Kura kicked one of our dart boards, "we can't stay put after he did this to us!"

"What if you get back at him," Yankumi asked from behind me.

I turned to her and moved out of the way.

Yamato stepped forward, "but he may come back again to pick a fight with us," he glanced at me, "and cause more damage."

"Are you telling us to take a beating then," Kamiya asked.

"Run away," she said.

Honjo glared at her, "that's so uncool!"

"I don't care if it's uncool," she yelled, " he beat me, so I'll beat him back. That's even more childish and uncool. Don't fight a meaningless fight. It won't help. Understand?"

The guys nodded. They started cleaning up the classroom when Yankumi called me out into the hall.

"Thank you, Saitou, for stopping them."

"Like I was going to let my boyfriend and classmates get in trouble."

She smiled, "you have grown up."

I shifted, "not really."

"Well, I see it and soon you will as well as the others around you," she gave me one last smile before walking away.

After school, my guys and I went to the river. We sat on the bank in the grass.

"A meaningless fight...," Honjo said throwing a rock in the river.

"That may be right," Kamiya sighed.

We sat there thinking about Yankumi's words, but the silence didn't last long.

"We've been looking for you."

We turned to the voice to see Goda and some of his gang. We quickly stood up. Yamato and Ren stood shoulder to shoulder blocking me from Goda.

Yamato glared at Goda, "what else do you want?"

"You certainly did enough," Ren growled.

"You guys have guts, don't you," Goda smirked, "you're showing promise. Why don't you join us? You six and your Bakadou Princess," Yamato reached back and put his hand protectively on my waist as Goda continued, "I'll forgive you if you join us."

"What if we refuse," Yamato asked.

"I'll bag you until I'm satisfied."

My hands automatically went to my stomach.

Honjo was about to charge at Goda, but Yamato stopped him and stepped forward.

"We have no intention of fighting you."

"Or joining you," I added stepping forward standing slightly behind Yamato.

Ren took a step forward, "we want to graduate properly."

Goda huffed, "you're not taking that teacher's pretty words seriously, are you?"

"She doesn't just say pretty words," Ichi said taking a step forward.

Kura followed, "there's no other teachers who'd put themselves on the line and face us head-on."

Honjo and Kamiya stepped forward showing their agreement to our statements.

"I see...," Goda's smirk widened, "then, there's no other choice."

"Heza, you run," Yamato said keeping his eyes on Goda.

"I don't think so because we have some unfinished business we need to take care of. Don't we, Princess?"

Goda's gang grabbed us and dragged us to an old factory. While his gang beat the guys, Goda dragged me away from them throwing me to the ground. I quickly curled up into a ball to protect my stomach from his constant kicks. I closed my eyes. Suddenly, Goda's kicks stopped. Then I heard a huge crash. I opened my eyes to see a pile of pipes on the ground. Everyone was frozen staring at the pile. I looked around. The only person missing was Ren. I looked back at the pile and saw red and purple under the pipes.

"Ren!"

My scream broke the others out of their frozen state. I ran to the pile as Goda and his gang ran away. The others soon joined me to get the pipes off of Ren. He was unconscious and his head was bleeding. We got him to the hospital where the doctor quickly took him to the emergency room. I couldn't move. All I could do was stand there in front of the operating room. Was he going to be okay? Was he going to....? My thoughts were broken when a hand landed on my shoulder. I slowly turned to see Kaoruko. She pulled me into a hug. I wanted to cry, but no tears came out. I pulled away when I heard the door open. Kaoruko grabbed the first doctor that came out.

"How's Ren?"

"The surgery is done, but he's still unconscious," he explained, "he lost a lot of blood, and his condition is very unstable."

"By "unstable," you mean...," Sawatari paused.

I didn't even notice he was here. I looked around to see that Yankumi and the rest of 3-D were also here. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the doctor.

"Take it to mean that anything could happen," he stated before walking away.

My heart stop. Ren had to be okay. He can't leave me. He just can't. Why was it happening all over again? First my parents, now Ren...

"Excuse me, coming through," a nurse called from the operating room.

We all moved as they moved Ren out of the room. Kaoruko grabbed my hand and dragged me with her as she followed Ren. We got to his room. Kaoruko immediately went to Ren's side. I just stood by the door. Why did this have to happen again? Why?

"Saitou...," I turned to see Yankumi in the doorway, "you should go see Natsume-sensei so he can check and see if the baby is okay."

I didn't argue with her as she dragged me to a different room. Natusume was already there. I sat on the bed as Yankumi left. He checked everything. He told me the baby was okay and that I needed to be more careful. I didn't respond. I got up and walked back to Ren's room. I paused from opening the door when I heard Kaoruko's voice.

"Ren won't be defeated by this. He fights really hard at critical times. Right now too, he's fighting real hard. He won't leave me and Heza here alone because he promised to protect us and he never breaks a promise."

I sat down on the floor across from the door. I looked down at me hand like Ren did when he was remembering how he clinged to Kaoruko when their mother died. I balled my fist. Ren was going to make it. He was, no matter what. The door opened. I looked up to see Yankumi.

"Saitou, is everything okay with the baby," I nodded, "oh good."

I stood up and started walking to the waiting room to the guys, but it was empty. I went to the front desk to see Yankumi. She was on the phone. When she hung up, she ran out of the hospital.

'Yamato, what did you do?'

I quickly followed her, but stayed a good distance away so she wouldn't catch me following her. She lead me to a warehouse on the other side of town. Once I ran inside, I quickly hid behind a wall. I watched as Yankumi stood before Goda and his gang.

"You again?"

I looked around to see all of 3-D on the ground beaten.

Yankumi started walking towards Goda getting into her serious mode, "Goda, why do you hurt people like this?"

"I have a grudge against them," he yelled.

Some of his gang attacked Yankumi, but like always, she easily pushed them to the ground.

"Is your grudge something you can erase away with violence," she asked. More of his gang attacked her, but they joined their pals on the ground. "Doing this will only produce another grudge." More attacked, but soon the gang ran away leaving Goda to face Yankumi. "Goda, are you going to live like this, destroying what you don't like. By doing so, you're destroying your own live."

"What life," he yelled, "it's already destroyed."

"No, it's not," she yelled back, "no one can change the past, but you can change the future."

"Shut up! What future?"

Goda picked up a pipe and began swinging it at Yankumi. She easily punched him to the ground and took the pipe from his hand. Out of rage, Yamato picked up a pipe and ran towards Goda.

"STOP!!"

I ran out of my hiding place and got between Yamato and Goda. Yamato immediately stopped.

"Heza?! Don't get in the way!"

"But hitting him with that might kill him," I screamed.

"Aren't you mortified," he asked glaring at me, "Ren has been hurt like that. How can you remain calm? I can't forgive this guy. I'm gonna kill him!"

I went up to him and slapped him hard, "don't say that so easily!! How can I be calm? While thinking...what if something were to happen to Ren, I'm sad like crazy....mortified....and my blood is boiling inside."

"Then, why...," Honjo asked trying to stand up.

Tears started running down my face, "I don't want anyone else to feel this way! Yankumi has been telling us, no matter how many times we might fail or make mistakes, we can start over. But there's one thing we can't redo," I gently placed my hand on my stomach, "it's life. Ren is fighting hard. He's fighting hard to live. That's why I don't want you guys to do something that might take away someone's life. Ren's life, your life," I turned to Goda, "and Goda, your life, too, have the same weight," I turned back to Yamato and wrapped my arms around my stomach, "there's no life you can spare in a silly fight like this! Yamato, we're going to have a baby together! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"

Yamato tossed the pipe aside and pulled me into a hug.

"It does. I'm sorry. It does."

I let all the emotion about Ren incident come out. Yamato hugged me closer.

"You can change your future, right?"

I pulled away from Yamato and looked at Goda. I thought he was talking to Yankumi, but he looked right at me. I looked around to see everyone looking at me waiting for my answer. I looked back at Goda and smiled.

"Yeah, you can."

After we left the warehouse, we went to the hospital. The guys stayed outside while me and Yankumi went to Ren's room. Kaoruko was asleep. I sat down in the chair beside Ren and took his hand.

"I think I'll go keep an eye on the guys," Yankumi said leaving the room.

I watched her leave then turned back to Ren. I took a deep breath.

"Ren, hang on. Sorry, I can't do anything else but say that. You've always protected me, but at a critical time, I couldn't protect you. I guess I'm not a good little sister," I buried my face in the bed, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't...apologize."

I looked up to see Ren opening his eyes.

"You're....the best little sister."

"Ren!"

My yell woke Kaoruko.

"Ren!"

"Don't yell, you two," he groaned taking off his oxygen mask.

"I'll go get the doctor," Kaoruko said running out the door.

"I was dreaming," he said, "everyone was at a graduation ceremony. I got my diploma, and I was really happy. Heza...do you think I'll be able to graduate?"

"Of course. After all," I held out my pinky, "we promised each other we would, didn't we? That we would all graduate together. That's not a dream. I won't let it end as one."

He smiled looping his pinky with mine, "you know Heza, you've grown up."

The doctors came in and started checking on Ren. I made my way down to the front of the hospital to the guys and Yankumi. When they saw me, they ran up to me.

"Ren has come to," I smiled really big, "they said he'll be alright."

Everyone started cheering, but unfortunately, our celebration was cut short.

========================================================================

The next day, the school yard was flooded with reporters talking about how Goda turned himself in and about the guys taking revenge. Everyone in 3-D was nervous. I silently sat by Yamato, who was sitting in the far back separating himself from the others.

"Are we going to be punished," Ichi asked as Honjo hit the blackboard.

"We didn't do anything," Kura stated.

"But we did fight," Kamiya pointed out.

"It's my fault," Yamato whispered, "I was the one who wanted revenge."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, "Yamato...let's go."

He looked at me, "where?"

I stood up and walked to the front of the class getting their attention, "Yankumi is about to face a bunch of angry parents. We can't let her face them alone."

I ran out of the classroom. The guys followed without hesitation. When we got to the gym, we heard the parents shouting for Yankumi to quit. We ran through the doors.

"Wait!"

Everyone stopped. We ran to the side of the gym so we could face the parents better.

"Please don't make Yamaguchi quit," I begged.

"No other teachers treat us right," Honjo stated.

"Without her, we would've quit school a long time ago," Ichi explained.

"It's because of her that we're here now," Kura added.

"It's not right that such a teacher has to quit," Kamiya argued.

"She's responsible as your homeroom teacher," a parent yelled.

"I'll take responsibility," Yamato yelled, "it's my fault. I did it because I couldn't forgive Goda."

Honjo stepped forward, "it's not just his fault."

"We're equally guilty," Ichi taking a step forward.

Kura followed, "if he's punished, so should we."

Kamiya nodded, "me too. I feel the same way."

The rest of the class stepped forward agreeing with the others.

"Don't just throw "take responsibility" around like that," Yankumi yelled, "what could you do? It'll be a big mistake if you think withdrawing from school would fulfill your responsibility! Your parents are paying your tuition, you know! Listen guys, you are too young to take such a responsibility by yourself. But that's not a bad thing. You just have to keep learning things until you're a full-fledged adult. Without giving up half-way, without bursting with emotion, without hurting people, however painful it might get, grit your teeth, face forward, and go on living. You understand?"

We nodded sadly.

Yankumi turned her attention back to the parents, "just like you've said, it's true that my lacking abilities have allowed this incident to occur. I am very sorry. I will accept any punishment, but please spare the students. They still have a great deal to learn. They can learn things from now on and change, albeit little by little. I ask you to please help them walk on the right path."

She bowed her head. Soon the other teachers followed. The chairman walked forward.

"In regards to Yamaguchi-sensei and the student involved, the board will take this matter under advisement."

So we went back to our classroom and wait. We waited in silence for what seemed like hours until Honjo spoke.

"Will we be expelled?"

"If that happens, sorry, Yankumi," Ichi said looking up at Yankumi.

Kura nodded sadly, "we're really sorry."

Everyone started apologizing.

Yankumi stood up, "what are you saying? I won't let that happen! Don't say silly things."

The door opened. The chairman walked in followed by Sawatari.

"I'll announce your punishment," she said, "although we can understand your anger over Kazama's injury, we can't overlook the fact that you turned so easily to seek revenge. All of 3-D will be.....suspended for two weeks."

Great, we've been expe....wait, what?

"Repent and reflect upon your actions."

Yankumi bowed, "thank you so much."

We all stood and bowed, "thank you so much!"

Once she left, we lifted our heads and cheered, but Sawatari broke it.

"Listen! Be grateful for the chairman's leniency, and don't cause trouble ever again."

With that said, he left. Yamato lifted me off the ground and spun around. I laughed before pulling him into a kiss.

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It's been two weeks since the incident. It, thankfully, went by fast. I sat in my desk waiting for Yankumi to walk through the door. I looked around at everyone. They were so happy and who could blame them. The door opened, and I took a deep breath.

"Ohayou," Yankumi called as she walked through the door.

"Ohayou!"

Ren smiled, "sorry I made you worry."

She smiled back, "no problem."

"We're in your hands now," Yamato announced.

She nodded, "sure," she walked behind her desk, "listen. In your long life journey, there may be difficult and painful times, and you might stumble or fall down many times. But however often that might happen, you just have to get back on your feet. You have by your side your friends and me for support. Don't forget that."

"We know," I laughed.

The class cheered in agreement. Yankumi smiled then walked to the middle of the class.

"Alright, you guys, we'll dash together all the way to graduation. Follow me closely!"

"Oh!"

"3-D, fight-oh..."

"Oh!!"