The Limit

"Are you guys all ready for the little play we're about to put on?" Yogi asked the rest of his friends. It was now just an hour before the event was to begin. So far, the library was empty, but hopefully there would be at least some students pouring in to enjoy the show.

"Of course we are." Yuriko answered. "But where's Arata? This is his show after all."

"I didn't see him in class." Yogi replied.

"Probably because he requested time off for this." Misei was notified of this by the teachers. It was allowed because he was fairly ahead of his class in course study. "He's probably busy setting things up right now."

"Oh hey guys." Speak of the devil, as they were on their way to the library. Arata ran into them. In his arms, a large box that was clearly heavy from the way he was straining himself.

"There you are." Yogi smiled at him. "I was a little worried when you didn't show up to class."

"I thought I already told all of you." Arata responded, confused. A quick check on his phone revealed he didn't actually send the message. "I guess I must've forgot."

"Um, are you okay Arata?" Akiba asked him. There were bags under his eyes, his breathing was clearly audible, and his arms were shaking from the weight he was carrying.

"Of course I'm fine." He played it off. "Just haven't gotten that much sleep in the past few days, but it's no big deal."

"Maybe you should just let me carry that." Akaki offered and took the box from him.

"Great, thanks." Arata expressed his gratitude. The first step he took after that was a bad one. Walking straight into the wall right next to him. "Oof."

"…" The others just looked at him with worry.

"I guess I just wasn't used to using my full power." He laughed it off. Everyone went towards their destination, the library.

Arata has had a very busy last couple of days just preparing for this event. First, there was the helping Yurime to promote the event. He would spend all lunch doing that with her, skipping the eating part to not waste time. Then there was the second break, when he would work with Ichiri with obtaining everything they needed to succeed. Props, lighting, anything really. All had to be carried by hand from the theater, this box that Akaki was holding being the last of it. Too bad the library and theater were on opposite sides the school.

After school yesterday, and early in the morning today. Arata made sure to run through every scene with Yuki, staying patient throughout her mishaps. Pretty much didn't get that much sleep the last two days, because he was making sure that his homework was sufficiently ahead to be allowed to do this.

All-in-all, hopefully that work was going to be worth it for him.

"I'm back… And look at who I found." He tried to announce everyone's arrival to build hype. Though, his voice sounded about as enthusiastically was possible.

"Arata." Hifumi saw him for the first time today. "You look absolutely terrible."

"I'm… glad to hear that you've given up pursuing me." Arata sat down at the first table he reached for a breather. "Just… Just… Listen to Ichiri." He pointed over to her for Akaki.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Erina asked him, sitting right besides him.

"Oh I've done worst then this." He dismissed her concern. It was true that he could handle little sleep. After all, there were times when he'd pull an all-nighter watching an entire season of an anime. Except those were usually when he knew there were no obligations expected of him the day after.

Without taking the time to slow down, Arata got back up to get to work setting up the stage. Despite the protests of his friends, he didn't stop. This was going to be over soon, so what was the big deal? Besides there wasn't much time left, and everyone was going to have to pitch in to make sure things were just the way they needed to be.

With about 15 minutes before the show was going to begin, it appeared that some students really were interested. The seats were being filled, slowly but surely.

"Hello!" Of course, some of those students didn't feel like sitting to enjoy the show. The gardening club made their arrival known. "This is so exciting isn't it?"

"Shouldn't you be sitting with the rest of the audience?" Misei scolded them.

"It's fine." Arata said, not raising his head from the table he took a quick break at. "They're friends, so it's really not a big deal."

"There you are." Matsu ran up to him in excitement, but she was surprised to see his lack of a reaction when she jump on top of him. "Arata?"

"I'm fine, really." He was actually uncomfortable with this position their were in. He could feel all her body pressed against his, specifically her chest, or lack thereof. The reason being that he knew why she was like this now, it changed how he reacted to it.

Or at least, how he would've reacted to it. If his body had any strength to push her off.

"Kashimura, are you all right?" Another voice asked him. He thought to himself, that this question was already getting old before he was asked it the first time. This one came from Yurime, who had came as he asked her to.

"I'm fine... really." He got up as a way to show that things were good with him. She could see through that facade. The last time they saw each other, she had already seen the warning signs.

"Well I'm here now." Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for a specific group. "So I'll just-"

"Please, you should stay with us." He told her. Everyone else glared at him, it wasn't hard for anyone to know who his blackmailer was given the events that occurred after his confrontation.

"Are you sure?" The pressure was immense, like she was going to get kicked out very soon.

"Of course." Arata's state meant that he couldn't read the room very well. Not that it would've matter either way to him. He also had the delusion of something good happening.

Now there was only one other group to meet with them, the news club. Hopefully, they might be able to see the good things that Yurime did and that group can make up with each other. If that succeeded, then both of his jobs would be complete.

However, his dreams of that ideal were about to hit the wall.

"K-Kashimura?" Yuki pulled on his sleeve, as he was peeking out to check the crowd. "I… I don't know if I can do this." She told him.

"What?" She was growing concerned at the group of people that were attending this. Too many people.

"I'm sorry, but all these people. I'm just going to mess everything up." She meekly told him. This wasn't good, there was no time for them to get a replacement.

"You can't just… Give up." He responded to her, Arata's heart dropped. There was no preparation for something like this.

"But… I just can't." Tears started to form in her eyes. "If I mess up, then everyone will laugh."

"But you're the only-" Before he could continue convincing her, the final group had made their arrival.

"It's you." Hansu glared at her former friend. "We heard about what you were doing these past few days."

"I see…" Yurime didn't have much to say to them. She could hardly lift her head to look them in the eye. "And-"

"Don't say anything else." Susa responded to her in anger. "We know what you did to that boy. How could you! I looked up to you."

"You two, please." Horin tried to calm the situation.

"Yes, please don't cause a disturbance." Arata abandoned Yuki to try and defuse the problem occurring.

"What's your problem?!" Hansu turned her attention to him. "How can you just up and forgive her that easily? She could've trashed everything we stand for."

"Look, if you would just hear her out-"

"We don't want to." Susa interrupted. "There's no way we'll just forgive her for what she's done."

"Do you understand now, Kashimura." Yurime had no emotion in her voice. "I don't belong with them anymore."

"Arata." More people grabbed his attention. It was Misei and Hifumi standing side next to each other. The expression on their eyes didn't indicate anything positive to him.

"What do you guys need?" He breathed out heavily. It was getting hard to talk, getting hard to breath.

"I see what you're trying to do." Hifumi scolded him. "It's not going to work." Her arms were crossed, along with her expression towards him.

"I don't exactly understand what she means." Misei followed up. "But you're clearly doing too much on your own, why are you even arguing with them?"

"I'm fine." He countered. "This is just some other stuff I'm working on."

"You don't look it." Hifumi continued. "Please, just take a break. This clearly isn't working out."

"Um, Kashimura." Yuki returned to him. "We didn't finish what we were talking about.

"Honestly, why are you here?" Hansu continued her attack on her former friend.

These voices, they were getting mushed up. Arata looked around, everything was getting blurry. His head, hurting. What was going on again? What was he doing here again?

"Everyone, will you please be quiet!" He yelled out to them. Everyone else working backstage turned their head to look at him. "I will…" Huh? What was he about to say? "I just… We need to…" The words wouldn't form in Arata's mind. He couldn't remember what he was doing. "Let's. Just. Get…"

Those were his final words. As he was speaking them, his eyes closed slowly. His body fell to the ground.

"Arata! Are you all right!" For him, those were the last words he heard. Until the darkness covered his vision.