It's been a week since Sota's death. Taiki still hasn't left his room. During the first few days, the house with filled with heart-wrenching sobs, mostly from Taiki himself. Sleep did not come easily to him. The nightmare he had, if he did sleep, burned within his mind. It changed every time, but it had a reoccurring theme. He was never quick enough, he was too far away, he wasn't there.

He was never enough.

A part of him thanked Sota for not asking him to end his pain. However, that duty fell to the youngest. The leader within him wished he had been strong enough to go against Sota's wishes. To take the gun from Sota and do it himself. A burden like that shouldn't have to be held by Hayate. What kind of a leader was he? To allow his youngest member to do something that he himself was too afraid to do.

It was too late to fix his mistakes. Taiki knew this. There was no way for him to forgive himself after what he did or rather didn't do.

This he also knew.

Guilt confined him to his room. The weight of the member's death made his legs as heavy as lead. Thankfully, Yudai was there to comfort Hayate. Taiki knew that Toru would have helped too, had he yet lived.

Toru

A wave of emotion washed over Taiki. He used most of his strength to push himself to a bucket by his bed. Although he ate close to nothing for the past few days, anything that still remained in his body was now in the bucket. He coughed a bit and angrily pushed away the now filled bucket. He shakily took a drink of his water. It tasted musty after sitting there for more than a week. But it didn't matter to him. Nothing did anymore.

Although Toru's departure of this god forsaken land was merely a fortnight ago, the memory of it was as fresh as Sota's.

Their base was formed a 20-minute walk from the nearest town. Supplies were running low and so were their spirits. They had enough water to last them a few days, however, they would be eating their last meal that night.

As Taiki handed the last of their rations out, he felt Toru's gaze fixated on him. He tried to ignore it before letting out a sigh. "What is it Toru?" He asked

"Let me go get more food"

"No Toru, we don't need more food" Yudai spoke up quickly, "We have enough," he said firmly, even though he spared a glance at their empty food container.

"You can't go out there alone," Hayate piped up, "It's too dangerous."

Sota nodded solemnly, "We can't lose you. We can't make that risk"

"Does it matter?" Toru snapped back. "If someone doesn't get food, we are ALL going to die." He yelled out, throwing a stick he held into the ground, "If I go down there, at least we'll have a chance."

"Toru-kun! Calm yourself." Taki commanded over him, "Nobody is dying! You hear me? You better snap yourself out of that or else-"

"Or else what?" Toru interrupted, anger flaming within his eyes, "You'll kick me out of the group?" Toru asked and threw back his head, laughing at the situation. "What group? Look at us!" he cried out and gestured to the group, "We haven't had a decent rest in weeks, we haven't even danced since this happened! When was the last time any of you have felt joy? Laughter? Something other than fear?"

Silence fell onto the group as the leafs around them rustled and played. After a few motionless moments, Toru scoffed and crossed his arms. "My point exactly." He spat out.

"We have each other"

Everyone turned to the owner of the soft-spoken statement. Sota slowly rose from his seat, "We have each other" He repeated in a much louder tone. "We have each other and that is enough."

"Sota, I've had it with your 'Everything will be okay as long as we are together' bull." Toru said and took a step towards him, "Sticking together isn't going to fill our stomachs, it won't warm our bodies at night. Sota, for once in your life, think about this rationally." He let out a grunt and shook his head. Taking a moment to calm himself before looking up at Sota again, "I'm not going to stand by, watching you all whittle away to nothing. I can get us food, supplies, water... And I'm going to do this with or without your permission." His tone now was not one of anger. It was softly spoken, filled with sorrow.

"Toru..."

"No! Don't try to talk me out of this. If-if you want to come with me, fine. But I'm done discussing this with any of you. I'm leaving in the morning." Toru said with finality and retreated back into his sleeping quarters.

Although he promised them all that he would leave in the morning, when Taiki woke up that morning, Toru's bed was empty. Either Toru left at the brink of Dawn or in the middle of the night. Taiki leaned towards the latter. Taiki rushed to the other members, seeing if any of them had left with Toru under the blanket of the night. He was relieved to see that they were all still sleeping. But that only meant one other thing.

Toru was alone.

Alarm bells rang within Taiki's mind. Looking back at it now, he should have just stayed with the rest. Toru would never have been able to make it. However, fear had clouded his judgment and only one thought rang through Taiki's head as he dashed towards the town. There was still hope.

By the time he reached the town, exhaustion threatened to overcome him. However, he remained standing due to his strong will and sheer panic. He would have to regulate his breath, as the living dead littered the town.

Reaching the town was the easy part. It was finding Toru and bringing him home that would prove to be difficult. He slowly made his way through the town, taking care not to be seen. He looked at the first buildings he would expect Toru to be. The supermarket, the pharmacy, he had even checked the local school. There was no sight of him. No trace. Nothing. Just as Taiki was about to turn back, to look into the woods, a building had caught his attention.

It was nothing more than a small blue building. It shouldn't have caught his eye, and yet it did. He cautiously made his way back into the town, it didn't seem like there were any zombies around the building. But one could never be too careful, especially at a time like this. He took the pistol within his hands and opened the door, pointing his gun in the room.

It was empty, save for the body in the middle of the floor. He should have turned away. He should have left the body alone. But something drew him, much like a moth towards a light. The body, if you could even call it that anymore, was nothing more than a torso with a head. It could do him no harm, even if it returned to life. It lay face down on the floor, lying in a pool of its own blood. The hair, although matted with blood, was familiar to him.

The stench of the decaying flesh grew stronger as he neared the body. Upon closer inspection, he could see that the body was a male, and he had to have been his height. Perhaps taller. He knelt down beside the body and used his pistol to push the head to the side.

Toru's sightless eyes pierced into his own. Taiki covered his mouth to muffle his scream. Toru's eyes held the fear he must have had at the time of his death. His features were frozen in time.

Taiki took a step back, before tripping onto something and falling into Toru's life blood. He gasped in pain and held his ankle. Sprained probably. As he stood up, he caught sight of what he had tripped over. The severed limb of the eldest member.

"Taiki"

The voice of the present shook Taiki from the past. His eyes flew open at the crack of light that invaded his room.

"We brought you something to eat," Hayate said as he walked in with Yudai close behind him. A part of him waited for Sota and Toru to enter the room. But he knew that would never happen. It was only the three of them now.

"Taiki... you look..." Yudai began but shook his head, "Never mind that." He said swiftly and set down a tray. "Here. Have lunch at least." He frowned as he glanced down at the bucket and took it away without another word.

"H-How are you feeling?" Hayate asked, although he most likely already knew the answer.

Taiki forced himself to take a bite of the food that was set for him. What should have been a tasteful meal tasted like mush to him. "I'm fine." He said once he was finished chewing. The two men regarded him with compassion before nodding a bit.

"Did you sleep at all?" Yudai asked with a concerned look. A look that demanded a truthful answer.

Taiki frowned and thought about lying to them again. He shook his head silently and forced himself to eat more. "Can't sleep." Usually, when Taiki failed to fall asleep, he would phone Sota. They would have talked for hours, sometimes until the sun's light reached his window.

During the past few days, Taiki would often look up at the moon. It was funny, after everything had happened, after more than half of the human race perished, the moon still shined brightly. Illuminating the night sky. As he watched the moon, he would talk to Toru and Sota. Trying to beg for their forgiveness. Taiki always believed that there was a limit to how much one could cry. These past few days have made him wronger than ever. When he wasn't crying, he was fighting the urge to cry.

Everything he did reminded him of his fallen friends. Eating, walking, the trees, the sun, laughter, music, dance even sleeping. There wasn't a moment during the day where he wasn't thinking of them. Trying to go back in time to change their fates. It was much too late.

"Yudai's going to get us some more water. You try to get more sleep." Hayate said, sounding much older than his 23 years. These two weeks have aged Hayate, both physically and mentally. It wasn't unexpected, of course, but it still shocked Taiki how this child was forced to grow up.

"Yudai," Taiki started and studied the male. Hayate wasn't the only one to change. Yudai's usually muscular body had gone slim. With their rations, he knew they were all supposed to lose a few pounds. But Yudai looked like he dropped more than a few pounds. "Are you alright? You look like you lost weight." He asked.

Yudai looked at him and gave him the usual cocky smile, "I work out." He said, "That's kinda the point."

"B-But you don't have enough calories to keep up your body mass." Taiki said quickly, "Y-You need at least ____ calories! A day! The rations, they-they..."

"They give us enough of what we need." Yudai said firmly, "I make them remember?" He reminded, "I've made sure that we all get the amount that we need to be healthy." His tone was truthful, however, he had averted his eyes to the half empty glass.

Hayate frowned and nodded in agreement with Taiki. "Yudai, you're getting too skinny. Maybe you need more-"

"I don't need any more" Yudai said firmly. He stood up straightened his spine. "I have enough food and so do you two. I make sure of it." He said again. "Just eat your lunch, you too Hayate. I'm not talking about this anymore."

"But Yudai-"

"I said no" Yudai said and crossed his arms. "I'm going to go get water." He huffed out and stomped out of the room.

Hayate and Taiki both looked at each other. Hayate let out a sigh and sat at the edge of Taiki's bed. They sat there in silence for a while before Hayate placed a hand on Taiki's shoulder. "Do you miss Sota?"

A simple question. How could a simple question cause him the greatest pain? Knifes stabbed him in the stomach and it felt as if his lungs were filled with water. He felt his body shake and tremble but he had no power over his body. He looked at Hayate, tears stinging in his eyes. With all the strength he had left, he nodded his head.

The youngest member took the eldest within his arms and held him as he cried out in pain and agony.