Euphoria Summer

    Three days after the festival, Hiro, Shuichi, and Sid all sat on Sid's back porch, smoking, eating pocky, and drinking beer. It was then, Shuichi came to a realization about their current situation. He turned to his friends.

    "Shawn's gone," he said. Hiro glanced over at him.

    "Yeah, I know," he said back.

    "Okinawa, right?"

    "Right."

    Shuichi looked confused for a moment. "Why there?"

    "Beats me."

    "/Either way, Nicole's really pissed off./"

    "Can you blame her?"

    "/Guess not./" There was a moment of silence between them. Shuichi looked over at Sid.

    "Casper's gone too."

    "/No way! When?/"

    "Same night Shawn left."

    "/Where? Why?/"

    "Dunno. All we know is that she left a text saying, 'Don't follow me.' And she was gone."

    "/I wish she would have at least said goodbye. Simon's really depressed about her./"

    "How is Simon, anyway?"

    "/He's getting better./"

    "That's good."

    "/Yeah./" Then was another moment of silence. Hiro took another puff of his cigarette.

    "Now, Emma's good too."

    Sid and Shuichi looked up, almost shocked at that statement. "Say what?!?"

    Hiro nodded. "Fujisaki came back to their apartment and found that half of her stuff was gone. She didn't even say goodbye to anyone."

    "/Anyone?/"

    "Nope. Seguchi-san seems to know where she went, but he's not talking."

    Shuichi finished off another pocky stick. "Do you think..."

    Hiro looked over at him. "Think what?" Shuichi only shook his head and said nothing. The three boys looked at the sky.

    "/What do we do now?/"

    "What is there to do?" Hiro asked. "We just wait until they come back..." Even he didn't sound too hopeful there.