CNA=certified nursing assistant

EEG=electroencephalogram, which is used to measure and record brain waves

Tatami mat=a flooring board usually made of rice straw

Shoji=made of paper over a wooden frame

ICU=Intensive care Unit

A/N: Read until the end...or you'll regret it! Seriously =.=

Review

It was a ridiculous idea, but it was what I got right then. So, I didn't hesitate letting my imagination run wild. Immediately, I visualized dust particles swimming about inside the tower. I imagined every dust particle (which would probably be millions in the tower) in the air as numerous dots━the minute substitute splinters━roughly cutting, hitting, colliding, and inducing tiny sparks around the aggressive moving dolls. It was like dozens of erubescent fireworks surrounded the dolls, Rika, and Fumenmoku from head to toe.

And when they motioned and hit all the beleaguering tiny sparks...

I opened my eyes once more...

...And flames engulfed my surroundings.

End of Review

XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

"However different our human lives may be, they all, without exception, start with birth and end with death."

~Roger Troisfontaines, S.J.~

XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

DAY 6; 3:48-5:29 am

It was like perdition; fire swallowed the dolls, Fumenmoku, and Rika. Terrified screams incessantly rebounded the yellow walls of the tower.

The SPR gang was suspended in disbelief. The flames had come out of nowhere, and it brought them into a stockstill.

What was happening? How did this happen? Unanswered queries bounced back and forth within their minds.

"Mai!" Naru exclaimed, and the rest whipped their heads to the two.

In her bloodied white lace dress, Mai was sprawled on the floor with her eyes wide open. She was unmoving, but she was alive...

Was she?

XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

MAI DREAMS?

"Ahhh, how could you~~?"

Kou Mochiyuma spun around and broadened his eyes. "You...You can't be━"

Midoriko smiled wickedly. "Yeees, your attempt failed~ Aww, how could you kill the girl you love like that? She was carrying your child too~"

"W-what...?" Kou was confounded as he glanced back at the cadaver in the large cage...and saw not a monster...but the placid face of the one he loves.

An invisible mighty force pounded on his chest, and he drew out an astonished breath; it was as though somebody hit and run him over as the cognizance smashed his skull. "W-what are you saying? It was Moku...I killed? I-I killed her and our b-baby?"

Kou doubled over and barfed. "N-no━!*cough* Urgh!"

Blood splattered on the floor, and he stared at the hands he'd used to wipe his mouth. Tears traveled down his red cheeks, and he trembled madly. "W-wha━This can't be...! I-It wasn't her I wanted dead! It was━"

"ME~" Midoriko whispered behind him, and he scrambled up and away from her.

"Y-you! You demon!" he spat in unbridled fury, and his nerve popped and jaw clenched as he gritted, "I'll kill you!"

He searched the place wildly, but there wasn't any good weapon anywhere. He coughed out blood again, and the floor was dyed with red.

"Ah-ah, no fun at all~ Why are you humans so easy to toy with? Don't you even have some dignity?" Midoriko frowned. "Seems like you don't have much time left too...Kou-kun~~"

"YOU!" Kou bellowed, but his coughs worsened.

Coughing nonstop, he hunched on the floor in mingled pain: pain for the death of his loved one by his own ignorant hands and pain for the disease that was corroding his life.

"Mo━*cough*━ku! I━*cough*━didn't━*cough*━mean to━!" He crept on the cold stone floor towards the large cage. His throat was burning with the taste of blood and bile. His tears were brimming his gray eyes, and he convulsed at the agony of his lover's destruction by himself.

It wasn't you I wanted dead...! It wasn't you...! Forgive me...! Forgive me...! I didn't mean to kill you and our child━I━

He grasped a grille and wedged in his other arm inside the cage. Even in the end, he wanted to be with her...to hold her hand...to embrace her...

Even in the end, he wanted to be with her forever...

Because although death was like a punishment...if he would die beside her...

Death would become his greatest reward.

"Moku..." Kou breathed lovingly, tormentedly, and blissfully in remembrance. I love you...

END OF MAI'S DREAM?

XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

The dolls, Fumenmoku, and Rika were ablaze, and tension left me. I could not feel my muscles relax, but inner tranquility pervaded my whole being.

It felt so good...

So warm...

Wait...

It's not yet the end, right?

That's right...

I roused and saw darkness. A large white bird cage stood before me. It looked like a skeleton in the dark; it was so eerily white. Sitting inside the cage was Fumenmoku, crying forlornly. Smaller bird cages hung inside the large cage, and inside each of them was a firefly; their glowing ends were getting dimmer as if...

I...need to purify them...lift the heavy souls to light...

I had done this before. I could do it again.

I unhesitantly neared the cage and spoke, "Fumenmoku-san..."

She halted crying and looked up at me in wonder. She was hurting. Although she'd killed a lot of people for her one desire...although there was satisfaction in the process of making her wish come true...she was hurting.

She was still hurting.

"It's alright...That's enough..." I could hear my voice clearly. It was as though it was a salve for burns; it was soothing and assuring for the first time.

"But..." Fumenmoku sniffed. "My baby...deserves to live!"

I nodded gently. "Yes...but...so as everyone."

She stared at me and joggled her head. "It's not fair. It's not fair...!"

"Yes..." I uttered dismally. "Death has never been fair."

It snatches everyone important to you...It mocks you all your life.

"Then, why...?" She looked confused; her face wrinkled.

"Death is a punishment," I mused. "But...it doesn't have to feel like that all the time."

Gene...Gene never condemned the person who killed him...He'd never...cursed the god of death for killing him at an early age...He'd never said that death is his punishment. Naru too; he'd never said that people deserved to die because it is the supreme consequence to all our sins. Death was natural; that was what Naru implicated when I told him he could cry for Gene's demise...

"What...are you saying?" she queried, baffled.

"Death isn't painful; dying is," I concluded. "Is this what you really wanted? Your body is dead, but your soul still lives...Why are you killing it?"

"I wasn't━What are you━?"

"You are," I persisted. "You are killing your soul by becoming evil. If you kill your soul, what about your baby? It won't have a mother's soul to be born into!"

She expanded her eyes at me.

I didn't know what I was saying myself. I couldn't help thinking that I was spewing nonsense. What lies was I pointing out? What truth did I reveal?

I was never an expert about death or the afterlife, so why was I telling Fumenmoku all those things?

"My...soul?" she quoth hoarsely in perplexity.

"Yes. You are killing your soul." I ogled dolefully at the smaller bird cages above her. "So as the others. You really wanted to be free, but...you're trapping yourselves."

"All of you wanted to have a better life, a happier life," I carried on. "You want to live again. You want your baby to live."

"But my baby died! Kou killed us!" Fumenmoku wailed.

"I...It was unfair. It was horrible, but...is that why you are killing others too? Because someone killed you?"

She nictated and became reluctant. "I-I..."

"Killing others will also kill you," I murmured. "Please stop killing yourself. If you kill your soul, how can Kami-sama revive all of you?"

"Nilne said...she said..." Fumenmoku raked her hands through her hair in bewilderment. "I followed what she said! She said she could improve our next life! That we can━!"

I shook my head. "She wanted you to suffer. She enjoys watching all of you killing your soul...your humanity for the sake of one desire. She wasn't saving you. She was leading all of you to destruction."

"No...!" She succussed her head.

"This is the truth. But, that's enough; stop killing yourself, Fumenmoku-san."

"But my baby! My baby is━"

"Your baby will live as long as your soul lives," I reassured. "So, stop killing yourself. Stop killing yourself and your baby."

I didn't know what I was saying. They weren't facts brought about by studying or experience. They were things...I had spoken as though I completely understood the situation. They were things that popped out of my mouth as though I knew everything.

Why did I say the soul lives even if the body is dead?

Where was I basing such a thought?

How could I say that...Fumenmoku and the 4,442 people trapped in the huge coop...were killing their souls and that such crime would lead them to damnation?

Where?

From what belief did I acquire such thoughts?

Ah...

Ah...?

Wait...

I know why...

Because we're not dolls.

We're not empty. We have souls. Even without the body, our soul remains.

That is my conviction. That is why we're not dolls.

I slipped my right arm inside the cage and ushered, "Fumenmoku-san, take my hand! You're not a doll! You don't have to follow anyone. You didn't have to pretend to be a doll to live one more time. Stop trapping yourself by yourself!"

Flummoxed, Fumenmoku goggled at me. "I'm not...a doll?"

"Yes, you're not!" I bobbed and beamed. "You're not empty. You are filled with love!"

I felt my cheeks burn. Ah...so corny, Mai...

"Love?" She gazed at me incredulously. "That doesn't exist!"

"It does," I insisted. "It exists in you because you are not a doll. Not just love, but other emotions too! Don't you remember how they felt like? They're unstable. They're not perfect, but...love made you alive, right?"

She blinked.

Finally, I understood how she felt...at least a part of what she felt...because I was hurt too...I felt betrayed too.

Loving hurts, but if it doesn't, can it still be called love?

Isn't love like a rose; it won't grow beautifully without its thorns?

"Don't you remember, Fumenmoku-san?" I questioned. "Kou-san loves you! He loves you so much that he tried to kill Midoriko for you!"

Fumenmoku gazed at me as though some loosened screws were falling out of my head. "He tried to kill...Midoriko?"

It made sense━the last vision I'd had. Kou-san had realized everything...That's why he drew that painting...That's why he gave a poisonous drink to Fumenmoku...He'd thought she was Midoriko!

"Your shadow! The one who took everything from you! He thought he was killing the demon!" I persuaded. "He didn't mean to kill you! He meant to kill Midoriko, not you!"

Fumenmoku wasn't totally convinced, but she slowly nodded. "Y-yes...I...remember...Kou...Kou loved me..."

Her voice was softening; her posture was unwinding. It was as though she remembered something pleasant, and her hatred was diminishing...

"He still does," I affirmed as I recalled Kou-san's inner thoughts in my vision. "Forever."

"How...?" She gazed at me skeptically, but there was a glint of hope in her sable eyes.

She just wanted to be loved...to be told that she was loved...to be freed by such love.

She only wanted to cleave to the warmth given by Kou-san.

She only wanted to be happy.

Hadn't we all wished for that?

"He led me here to save you," I croaked; a lump was formed in my throat. It was as though my feelings overlapped with Fumenmoku's, and I could empathize...I could synchronize with what she felt.

I wanted to be loved too...by Naru...I felt such longing too.

There was a gasp from Fumenmoku.

"Kou..." Tears dripped down her cheeks, and they sparkled. The mirror of resentment shattered, and the real Fumenmoku, the dollmaker and not the doll, emerged.

"Kou...! I want to be with him! I want to be with him and my baby! I want the three of us to be a family!" Fumenmoku cried and concealed her face with her hands.

"Then, take my hand," I offered gently, and I extended my arm further inside the cage; my shoulder was getting squished in between the narrow grilles, but it didn't matter.

She looked up with a sniffle.

"I...will be truly free? We will become a family?" she wondered as she cannily crawled towards me.

"Yes." I beamed once more.

Fumenmoku stretched her arms and clutched my right hand with both of hers. She closed her eyes and opened them and gradually smiled, and I reminisced the dream where I saw her taking a mug inside the cage. Her expression was that of relief...and ultimate happiness.

"You're warm," she commented and perked up at me with deep gratitude. "Thank you."

The effect was instantaneous. The small bird cages opened, and the fireflies flew away. The large bird cage vanished, and nothing stood between me and Fumenmoku anymore. Tears continuously flowed down her face, and she eyed me with true glee.

"Thank you," she spoke in an undertone; the hiemal iciness in her voice was gone...

She wasn't trapped in the cage she made by herself anymore.

"You're welcome," I wholeheartedly mouthed back.

And I was falling in the darkness.

XDXDXDXD~nya~

"Mai!"

I had a sharp intake of breath, and I was back to earth. Naru hovered over me; his face was anxious, just like that one time wherein I inhaled formaldehyde.

"Naru...?"

Fire...it was everywhere.

This...is my doing?

The dolls had fallen, spiritless, on the ground, and Fumenmoku's ghost was nowhere in sight. Only Rika...

I drew my breath.

My eyes became glued to Rika or Nilne, the demon, and stayed. I could not hear the environment once more; I was isolated once more. I was...

It was as though my vision had zoomed in, and Nilne or Rika was staring at me. It was as though her eyes had enlarged and glided in front of me, and in her snake-like eyes...I saw myself...

Burning.

I screamed.

Pain. Pain everywhere. It was excruciating. It was maddening. My body was stinging. It was aflame. I writhed and curled on the floor.

"Mai! Mai!" The voices of the others were overpowered by my vociferations.

It hurts! It hurts!

"NOOOO! IT'S HOT! I'M BURNIIING!" I shrieked as I doubled over and shuddered violently while slapping my inflamed body with my hands, as though expecting to abrade the hurtful sensation.

It was as though acid was poured all over me. Everywhere I touched stung. I saw myself on fire on Nilne's eyes, but I wasn't on fire. Yet my body felt ignited. I could feel the pain from where I stabbed myself.

I could feel everything.

You will lose, Nilne invaded my head, and I could sense her smiling inwardly. You will lose what's precious.

What are you...?

I screeched as the torment heightened, and gravity weighed me down; subsequently, I collapsed on the floor with a loud thud...

Then my consciousness was no more.

XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

"Mai!" The former narcissist was at a loss. Mai had become conscious and then not again.

What was happening? Why was she shouting that she was burning when she wasn't? Scientifically or not, he found himself unable to explain.

The fire...He could only surmise that it was Mai's doing. It was a shock. But more than awed, he was uncharacteristically afraid. He was afraid of the toll it would cost her. He was afraid of losing her. He had never felt such trepidation all his life.

He looked at the fiend, burning in the distance. It regarded him with indifference. It didn't yell or showed resistance. It was so calm...

"Lin!" Naru called, but Lin had already noticed.

The Chinese man whistled a long piercing tune, and the hands of his shikis egressed from the ground and clasped Rika's regenerated yet fervent figure...

And the rogue was dragged beneath the Cimmerian earth.

It did not scream. It did not curse them with words. It left them so anticlimactically that they could not shake off the feeling that it meant to end that way━that it meant to imply that its 'no resistance' meant that it wasn't the end of their suffering.

It would strike again, someday, some time━perhaps to torment them...or other people like them in the future.

The terror left inside the nooks of their minds would probably never fade.

XDXDXDXD~nya~

Consequently, the ignition didn't stop; it grew larger, fiercer, and hotter.

"Naru-bou, let's take the stairs!" Takigawa suggested, carrying Claude askew on his back. "This place will be a goner!"

Without replying, the young boss carefully scooped up Mai in his arms and followed the rest upwards the winding staircase, which was adjacent to the walls of the tower. Indeed, it was the best option at the moment.

They didn't know where it would take them, but they hoped that there would be a way out of there. Mai was still bleeding, and Claude was still unconscious. The smoke was making them cough; it dried up their throats and suffocated their lungs. The sweltering heat made them drench their clothes with sweat. The assent was drawing them out of breath to the point of torture.

They ran and ran and ran until at the topmost landing. Drowsiness and exhaustion ate their energy, but the sight of a rectangular hollow and a door gave back a little of their strength to form a smile or expressions of relief.

Without further ado, they pushed the door open...

And was extremely grateful that there was no menacing brick wall anymore.

XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

They got out of an armoire inside a Roman-style room. Soon enough, they bustled out of the chamber and descended staircases. Tenura-san, Kirio, and some servants frantically met them outside the base.

"Shibuya-san, what━?" the housekeeper started, but Naru curtailed him.

"Have you prepared the helicopter?" the former narcissist just asked bossily, and the jittery man nodded swiftly; actually, Naru had asked the housekeeper to ready the Kawabukis' private helicopter before he and the rest went up the seventh floor.

"Y-yes! It's in the back━"

"Lead us!" Naru ordered, and they rushed out with the housekeeper.

The events thereafter were a blur. Naru, Ayako, and Yasuhara rode the Kawabukis' helicopter towards Yamanashi Red Cross Hospital with the unconscious Mai and Claude. Upon arriving, Mai and Claude were lain on a gurney and hurled to the emergency room. Stat x-rays and numerous tests taken, documents answered and signed, numbers dialed on phones, and shouts of commands to the CNA and nurses to and fro the hallway: the three of them waited in uneasy silence. After physical examination and unknown diagnosis, Mai was brought to the operating room with a few nurses and an on-call surgeon while Claude was admitted in one of the rooms after being injected by a suspicious dose. He seemed fine...just unconscious, but Mai...

Before long, again, Naru, Ayako, and Yasuhara waited. They had not called the rest, who were left in the castle, as of yet. Their minds were too engrossed with the thought of Mai's surgery.

Were they too late? It took the hospital people so long to examine where she was stabbed; what if they couldn't save her?

They had wasted so much time! Why were they so slow on the uptake?

The three of them were restless although nobody spoke. Indeed, they were too quiet that their inner turmoil was becoming more turbulent.

What would happen? Were their efforts in vain? Would she die as Naru had foreseen? The wait was agonizing, unnerving. What else were they supposed to do?

XDXDXDXD~nya~

MAI DREAMS?

I was lying on a recliner again. Before me was the blue-green sea. I was sprawled on the same shore of the island in Gene's "heaven." Which means...

"Mai."

I swished my head from the wonderful summery view and smiled at my spirit guide.

"Hello," I greeted as though it was everyday that we met like that.

He sat on the side of another recliner and faced me with his ever-soft gaze. "Are you alright? Were you hurt?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine..."

I didn't want him to worry. I didn't want anyone to worry for me...

But that's what I always did, right?

Still, I wanted to spare Gene from bothering...because I'd caused enough trouble in the real world...

He sighed, and I tilted my head with a questioning look. He shrugged and then uttered, "You...used your power..."

It was like both a question and a statement. Honestly, he and Naru had the great ability to read through my lies.

It was my turn to shrug. "I...used what I discovered..."

Gene blinked. "You mean, you exhausted all your energy?"

I made him more worried than I'd expected. Ack.

"I don't know...I...I found out I can make up fire." I shunted my head purposively.

I could feel Gene's surprised stare on my face.

"You...have pyrokinesis?" He was astounded as I was.

Indeed, if not for the spur-of-the-moment thinking, I would not have been...

Wait...am I not...dead?

END OF MAI'S DREAM?

XDXDXDXDXD~nya~

7:25-7:30 am

The surgery had ended after nearly 2 hours. By then, the three had ambushed the doctor before they wended to Mai's hospital room.

"She's alive..." Lin breathed on the other end of the phone line. The Chinese man sounded tired. He'd just informed Naru that they'd extinguished the fire in the tower with the help of other servants. The fire had not spread much in the castle, but the armoire they came out from was burnt. So far, everybody else was safe. However, Lin and the rest hadn't slept yet because they were having a discussion with everyone in the castle about the case and what to do with the crocodiles in the moat.

"Naru, this means...?"

"Something was changed," Naru responded, glancing at the glass of the door to Mai's room; his assistant lay unconscious on the white hospital bed with Ayako and Yasuhara sitting beside her. They were also talking to someone on Ayako's cellphone (probably the monk). "Mai...she changed something. Where she stabbed herself changed."

"You mean...?"

"She stabbed herself in the heart in my vision, but she didn't do what I saw ..."

"Another possibility...She...Your visions only showed one possibility...and she strayed from it...? That..."

"This shows that my visions aren't possible; they are probable," Naru concluded.

"Naru, if that's the case...what if...what's probable doesn't happen now but happens soon...by a different cause?" Lin mulled.

"That's━" He'd never thought beyond that, and it was the first time he wasn't foreseeing. The former narcissist was silent for a while.

"She acquired pyrokinesis, right?" Lin intercepted. "What if━?"

There was a cry from Mai's hospital room, and Naru wasn't able to properly end his phone call with Lin as he barged in instantaneously.

"What happened?" he queried vigilantly.

"Boss, Mai's━" Yasuhara sweat-dropped after pushing the emergency button.

"Naru, she was suddenly━!" Ayako got cut off as nurses and a doctor came in.

Subsequently, the three stood motionless as the storm they had thought had passed...returned once more.

XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

MAI DREAMS?

Wasn't I stabbed?

I blanched. Ah...maybe this is a mere...transition to where I'm supposed to go when I die...?

"Mai! You're bleeding!" Gene shouted, and I gaped at him.

"Wha━?" I looked down, and indeed, I was wearing the same white lace dress which got drenched more and more with my blood, oozing out from the lower part of my stomach.

Pain shot through me, and I keeled over. "Agh!"

Gene bent down and held me up on the sandy floor; his face was filled with anxiety like Naru's from before. "Don't move! You're hurt!"

I wasn't sure on how to react on this replay in the spiritual world, but the only thing I could think about was that the seascape setting was all too appropriate.

No...More than appropriate, it was exact.

It seems like Kami-sama loves the theatrics...

"I'm fine...I'll be..."

Gene held my right hand, and I noticed his whole body began to emanate a bluish green light. He resembled a radiant creature, a saint engulfed by godly rays of light...

An angel without wings...

Through our connected hands, light coursed through my right arm and to my body, and I felt so cozy.

"W-what is this? W-what are you doing?" I stammered.

Gene was focusing his gaze on our intertwined hands. "I'm nullifying whatever side effects your usage of pyrokinesis will bring."

"T-that's...You also have...PK-LT ?"

Gene shook his head. "No. I'm just neutralizing your psychical imbalance."

"But Gene, it might harm you━"

Gene smiled slightly. "I'm already dead, so I have no physical limitations to worry about."

"P-please...don't say that..." I begged.

"It's the truth, Mai," he said neutrally. "Having only a soul left entails that I could use my powers without physical limitations and complications."

The light faded, and I observed how the blood has stopped from spreading all over my dress...

So fast...

Gene helped me sat up on the sandy shore. I felt lighter...The pain from my stomach poofed entirely.

"Thank you, Gene, but you..."

He just lifted a corner of his mouth.

"It's the last thing I could do for you, Mai."

I nictated at him.

"W-what do you mean?"

"It's my farewell gift," he divulged gingerly. "So, you must live, Mai."

END OF MAI'S DREAM?

XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

7:35-8:14 am

Mai was transferred again on a gurney, and she was examined for the second time.

"What's happening to her?" Ayako demanded to the nurse who was going to enter the ICU. "What will you do?"

"Se-severe epilepsy!" the nurse replied when Ayako suddenly grabbed her arm. "Her fit isn't stopping, and sedation didn't work. But we might try surgery!"

Ayako, Yasuhara, and Naru were speechless as the nurse disappeared inside the neurointensive ICU.

"Another...surgery?" Ayako muttered and slumped on a chair on the hallway. "No way...Her seizures won't stop? A brain surgery?"

"Ayako-san..." Yasuhara murmured but didn't say anything else.

Naru was quiet, but his jaw clenched. He felt indescribable utter contempt for the god of death, playing on Mai's life like that. Just when they had simmered down, everything was going downhill again.

He gritted his teeth and tried to compose himself. He was powerless...He was always unable to do something when someone significant was slipping away from him.

Why was it always like that? Why...when everything had abated...would problems arise again?

Why must Mai...undergo so much suffering?

The thought was making him queerly furious at the unseen god of death, but they would have to wait again...because that was the only thing they could do...That was the only thing he could do.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and Mai, lying on a gurney, was taken out. She wasn't shaking violently allover anymore, and the nurse from before approached them with a slightly haggard face. Latterly, they all blanched at the sight of Mai's immobile body.

"S-she suddenly stopped convulsing..." the nurse panted, "EEG was normal again..."

Not one of them knew how to react.

XDXDXDXDXD~nya~

MAI DREAMS

"F-fairwell gift?" I mumbled in puzzlement. "Why...?"

"I have somewhere to go, Mai. I...can't stay long." He diverted his gaze.

"W-where are you going?" It was as though I was thunderstruck. "Gene, where are you going?"

"Yomi-no-kuni."

"Yomi... The underworld? Why?" I gawked at him.

Gene reluctantly replied, "Something paved the way for me there."

"Something? What something? No!"

Gene still didn't look at me, and I suddenly knew.

"You will lose something precious..." Nilne's words echoed to my soul and to my heart.

"Nilne paved the way for you? She━?" I gasped and gripped Gene's arms. "No! Don't go!"

He shook his head and smiled wistfully. "I...need to go, Mai. I'd stayed here for a very long time."

"No! Yomi is a gloomy place, Gene! Please don't━!"

He embraced me, and I halted yelling. Tears soon rained down my face.

This is goodbye...? No! I can't accept it!

"It will take your soul if I left the portal to the underworld open for long," he said in a hushed tone.

"Nooo..." I sniffed and sobbed. "I don't want this! I don't want you to go!"

He pulled apart and wiped my tear-streaked cheeks with a caring look. "I have to go."

"Death isn't painful; dying is..." How could I say such erroneous things? Both dying and death are painful! They're both painful...to the ones who would be left behind!

"No...! It wasn't even very long since we talked again...since I saw you again...! Don't go, Gene! Don't go!" I hugged him tighter.

He didn't complain but just hoarsely replied, "We'll meet again, Mai."

"No...! What if rebirth isn't true? What if there's no next life? What if I won't see you again?" I succussed my head and cried on his chest. I was contradicting myself once more...

How could I be so ignorant? How could I be so careless?

Why? Why must Gene die again? Why must Gene...be taken out of my life?

"There will always be a way for us to meet again, Mai." He was trying to be hopeful, but I couldn't. I couldn't encourage him.

I joggled my head. "No! Don't lie to me!"

"We'll meet again," Gene pressed on. "We'll meet again, and we'll bother the idiot scientist to no end."

"Gene..."

He patted my back. "We'll meet again, and I'll kiss you before the idiot scientist can."

My heartstrings were being knotted and tangled.

Why...why is reality so cruel?

I pulled apart and admonished with watery eyes, "Why are you saying that? What if there's no 'again'?"

Gene just lifted a corner of his mouth. "There will be. I'll make sure of it."

"How can you be so sure?" I moaned demandingly.

"I just am," he smirked, and my heart ached for the similarity of Naru's cockiness he'd exhibited.

"Gene, it will take a long time...!" I snuffled. "It might not even happen...!"

"About 200 years later probably." He nodded and patted my head. "Fortunately, I would be alive too."

"Gene...!" I bit my lip.

His expression shifted, and his eyes became glassy...

It was futile. Gene had decided. He'd decided to go...in my place.

Why...must there be sacrifices?

Why, Kami-sama?

Why must I live while Gene dies?

For what purpose is death in the world?

I knew I shouldn't make a sad face... I should let him go...with a happy countenance.

"Goodbye, Mai." Gene swiftly yet gently pulled away and stepped backwards. "Take care of the idiot and mad scientist for me."

That made me laugh a bit. Gene...had always left me with a serene...fluffy feeling. I would miss him. No, not just miss...I would long for the times we shared in my dreams...They might not be real...They might be fake...But the emotions...The emotions we'd shared...the thoughts and words we'd shared...they were sincere...They would live with me forever...

And I would awfully miss him. I would awfully lament for his absence in my dream world.

I would be forever distraught that he'd gone to the place where I should be.

Just then, the seascape disappeared and was replaced with a background of the outerspace; the stars, planets, and moons were so lucent that they were blinding me.

Without warning, a white hole appeared behind Gene, and I knew...that time was up.

No!

Shaking my head, I darted towards him, but no matter how I tried to move forward, it seemed like I was just running on a fixed spot; the distance between us was stretching forever, and I couldn't get near him again.

I couldn't...reach him again...and it broke my heart.

"Gene! Goodbye for now...right?" I yelled hopefully and stifled a sob and gasp.

Gene hesitated and then smiled; as always, his smile was always so radiant and beautiful.

"Yeah...for now...Mai."

I cried his name in agony, but he said nothing else.

An assurance...That was all I ever needed...just like Fumenmoku...just like what Claude said before.

Everyone wants certainty...that's why we believe in something.

But that was bull. I didn't just want to believe.

I wanted it to be real in front of me. I didn't want to be left with just a word to have faith in. I wanted the word to be personified, be manifested!

But what else could I have when the reality I wanted could never be real?

Gene...!

He spun around voicelessly...expressionlessly, and his back faced me...for eternity.

For now! I corrected and sincerely wished in my mind. Just for now! Please! Come back, Gene!

My arms outstretched, I shouted his name...

Then everything was white.

END OF MAI'S DREAM

XDXDXDXD~nya~

2 DAYS LATER

I could hear the annoying beeping of a machine.

I groaned and moaned.

Stop...so noisy...

Tears streamed down my face as my eyelids fluttered open...

I put a hand to my left cheek.

Why am I crying?

There's something...? Someone...?

An image of Naru beaming dispiritedly flitted my mind.

Naru...smiling so...despairingly? That's an impossible one.

Maybe Gene would, but━

Wait.

Gene?

Who's Gene?

I rubbed and opened my eyes properly. My gaze wandered, and it was him I first saw. He was standing against the broad glass window with his arms crossed and his eyes looking sideways at somewhere far unto the rooftops of the buildings that are visible. The sky was dark outside, and streetlights and buildings' lights illuminated the place beyond. As if he sensed my scrutiny of him, he whirled his head towards me.

I felt at that instant that I couldn't be any happier. He didn't smile, but I felt so...pleasant.

"It seems strange," I, laughing a bit, told him. "I usually see you in a hospital bed. But now, it's the other way around."

He was taciturn as he ogled at me for a second before glimpsing again beyond the glass window and towards the vast sky outside. The stars were shining so bright, and again, tears streamed down my face.

What's wrong with me...? Why am I crying...?

I'm...alive...I...survived from using my power...? How...?

I shrugged. You're alive, Mai. What's more important?

Naru appeared so peaceful, but his eyes had this twitch. It was as if he was avoiding my gaze.

"Idiot," he said nonsensically━his thoughts, though, still incomprehensible. "You shouldn't have done that, Mai."

I could feel some uncertainty and confusion in his voice. He was struggling for words, and it's the first time I saw him like that.

Ah…he never fails to amaze me…I stared at my fingers as if fixated with them. I realized then that I had hurt his pride. I had saved him instead of him saving me.

But…why must he be so angry…?

I frowned as I sat up slowly, yet I scrunched my eyes as I felt a twinge from my lower abdomen. "Ah...Honestly, if I died, would that also be the first thing you'll say to me?"

"Who knows?" he retorted crossly.

"Idiot scientist," I started.

"Idiot Mai," he countered.

"Extremely idiotic and narcissistic boss," I scoffed.

"Blockhead-bonehead-cretin-dimwit-dumbbell-dunce-fool-ignoramus-kook-nincompoop-nitwit-pinhead-simpleton-stupid-twit Mai."

I swear it was like he was tongue-twisting.

"Whaa─!" I gawked and fired, "Are you challenging me?"

"In short: you're a great idiot," he chided and then sighed. "Why did you stab yourself?"

I blinked. Oh, so this is an interrogation?

"Because I thought it was fitting," I answered haughtily.

"So you wanted to die?" Naru queried and I fumed.

"I only did that because I can't kill you!" I defended. "I don't do suicides!"

"All the more the reason." He glared.

"I saved you, and you are angry?" I gritted my teeth. I can't believe it!

"That was not called saving," he reproached, shaking his head. "If you were saving someone, you should have saved yourself too, and not do otherwise."

"Well, you didn't even think twice in using your powers! You were reckless too!"

He loured. "That was different. I had confidence."

The distance of the hospital bed and the window was immense. He was far.

He would always be far from my reach.

"And I didn't?" I snorted. I knew that I was being obstinate. It was the truth; I didn't know how everything would work out. I was always trying out things even without certainty.

I was impulsive again.

But so was he.

"You were reckless, Mai," he said quietly.

"Then you should try having yourself controlled by somebody else, and see what happens!"

"Mai…you shouldn't have done that," he replied firmly, closing his eyes.

"Then, what was I supposed to do?" I demanded hotly. "Can't you see that I can't hate you enough to kill you?"

He opened his eyes and just stared at me unfavorably in quiescence. Undaunted, I glowered at him, and he suspired. He un-crossed his arms and approached me at the side of the ivory hospital bed.

"Don't do that again," was all he said, and there was an implied plead to it.

I peered at him closely and uttered glassily, "I cannot promise that."

Because I couldn't let anyone get hurt for me. Because I couldn't lose anyone anymore.

Because there might be a time wherein I must do that again.

He didn't respond, but we gazed at each other as though trying to read each other's minds. However, recalling something, I shunted my head.

"Where's Claude? How is he doing? Is he alright?" I questioned, and Naru was somehow a little taken aback before frowning.

"Murakami-san got out of the hospital this morning," he informed. "He's alive."

He resembled someone sulking. His eyes were twitching again.

I put a hand to my heart in relief. "That's great..."

I could feel again. I could feel the beating of my heart on my chest. Naru noticed the gesture, and he asked, "Did it come back? Your sense of touch?"

"Yeah...It's Rika...the demon's doing..."

"She didn't exist," Naru pointed out. "Kirio Kawabuki was an only child."

Our conversation was diverted...for the better. There continued to be a certain awkwardness between us...and it didn't have anything to do with the case...or my "suicidal" attempt.

"Just like Midoriko-san..." I muttered.

"Everything was fabricated, distorted, and manipulated."

"Can they remember? The people in the castle?"

"Everyone can."

There was something...crushing my heart. What was it? There was something missing...something taken...someone gone...?

"Nobody else was hurt?" I persisted, and Naru just jounced his head.

"What was the name of the demon? Did it tell you?"

"Nilne...Why?"

"A summoning ritual was done there," Naru disclosed.

"How did you know?" I said quizzically.

"I had a vision when I touched the doll, which was left in the chapel. Lin said it's an Ainu ritual."

"Ainu?"

"An ethnic group. Fumenmoku Wakakko used to live with her grandmother in her mother's side before they inhabited the castle. Her grandmother was a direct descendant to an Ainu tribe, and we could only speculate that she taught the dollmaker some tribal rituals and spells to summon a demon and trap a soul into a doll."

"I see...Fumenmoku...She wanted to be free from her father's stringent training...She wanted to have a sibling to take her place...But she was still trapped...and that demon...that Nilne took advantage of her desire...! Kirio-kun's too! It took advantage of everyone's desires...!"

The tears ran freely now with a conscious cause. I grieved for the lives lost. I grieved for the lives sacrificed just for a certain demon's game. I grieved...for the atrocity of the world we lived in.

There was something missing...Something lacking that I couldn't point out...and I wept for something unknown that I had lost.

What was it? What's this void in my heart?

Naru seemed perturbed at what to do next, so he just stood there and let me cry. He didn't know how to comfort me, but his uneasiness every time I wept in front of him...showed that he cared about how he should react.

That he cared for my pain, but he didn't know how to give me solace.

But then...

"Mai," he interrupted with a commanding voice, and I forgot what I was supposed to say.

"Naru, wha─?" I was addled at the randomness.

"Do not give up on me," he said with a point-blank face.

Slowly registering, I blinked, goggled, and rubbernecked at him.

"W-what?" Dumbstruck, I stared at him. It was so sudden...and out-of-topic. "What are you─?"

And that's when he leaned over and kissed me.

...

...

...

On the lips.

It was chaste and short.

But it took my breath away.

"I owed you one," he reasoned and leered after pulling apart, drowning me with his cerulean eyes. "When you got away."

The straight-faced jerk...

Wait.

I owed him "one" when I got away?

The memory of me kissing him while he's asleep fleeted in my mind, and I could not stop the heat from creeping to my cheeks. And oh, how I could feel the erubescence of my cheeks! I didn't know if I should be thankful to the demon for reviving my tactility.

I was more than stunned; I was petrified in utter overwhelmingness.

WHAT.

WAS.

THAT?

WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT?

Wordlessly, he then exited the room without looking back at me.

Holy-cow-grazing-on-the-fields!

My jaw was digging its way underground like a restless mole.

What just…happened?

Unbeknownst to me, that was how the narcissist strangely comforted me━making me forget the cruelty of reality for a moment.

XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

NEXT DAY

I didn't know how and when I dozed off, but when I roused the next day, it was Claude I first saw. He was sitting beside the bed.

"Claude!" I was so glad he's safe, and I embraced him.

He smiled brightly. He was healthy, very healthy. "I'd heard about it. You saved me even at the expense of your life. I doubt a simple 'Thank you' would be enough to express it."

"You...don't have to."

He flicked my forehead.

"Wha━!"

He frowned. "I'm touched, but don't do that again, Mai."

Just like the narcissist, he was scolding me.

I pouted. "Mohh...is this what I'll always get?"

"Your life is important too, so for us who think of you as important, please take care of yourself too." He sighed, and I bit my lip.

I always had a talent of making everyone worry about me.

"I'm sorry. I was impulsive again."

My eyes wandered, but it was expected; Naru was nowhere in sight. He was probably somewhere...busy with work. As always...How could I delude myself by believing I could become a priority in his life? How many times should I hope...be resilient? How many times should I make a fool out of myself?

I mentally kicked myself. Who was I thinking when I'm with my boyfriend? Erase the thought, you cheating Mai!

I joggled my head.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Claude inquired worriedly, and I waved my hands.

"N-no! I was just thinking...w-what...happened? In the castle, I mean."

It was a very good distraction from my straying thoughts.

"I only heard from Yasuhara-san, so..."

According to Yasu, after I fainted, Lin-san ordered his shikis to transport Rika or Nilne to Yomi-no-kuni, the underworld. She would be trapped there for eternity...never to disrupt human lives again. Afterwards, they got out of the tower and rushed Claude and me to the hospital. I had a surgery, and my appendix was removed...

I gawked at Claude. "Removed? Will I be━?"

"It's alright. The removal of appendix isn't harmful. Although it stores some helpful bacteria, removing it was the only way to save you."

I nodded feebly and told him to continue about the case. He then told me about who Rika really was.

"Nilne okkoko. That's the snake or demon in Ainu folklore. Snakes and demons were synonymous words for them. Most likely, she did an Ainu ritual taught by her grandmother when she was young, but she called the wrong entity. Snakes have always been said to have a deceptive nature in Ainu folklore, yet she must not have known that. Attacking her weakness, Nilne must have easily persuaded Fumenmoku-san."

"Rika...can you remember her...?" I asked slowly.

Claude blinked at me and smiled morosely. "Yeah..."

"She...didn't really exist...? Midoriko too...?" I was clarifying, double-checking my sanity.

"It's very perplexing for me too, but it was all an illusion. Everyone in the castle can remember also...and the memory of a fake existence will always haunt us wherever we go."

"Is Kirio-kun alright? I mean..."

Claude jounced his head. "He's coping well. He'll be alright. He's now staying back at the original Kawabuki household before he would transfer to an all-boys boarding school this fall. He finally attained the guts to overcome his parents' domination and even threatened them."

"That's a relief..." I soughed.

What was it...? I forgot something...but I couldn't remember what...

"Kou-san...He tried to kill Midoriko...Rika or the demon...but he was tricked. He didn't mean to kill Fumenmoku... And Fumenmoku...she wanted to be free...Nilne...granted her wish by becoming a twin sister. Nilne pretended to be human...She pretended to love Kou-san, the person Fumenmoku loves. She pretended to be jealous. She pretended...Nilne told me...she manipulated everything...My dreams...Midoriko's death and Fumenmoku's viscious thoughts...she probably made everything convoluted...just to confuse me...She was omnipotent...omniscient...She...was the scariest thing I'd ever encountered."

My hands shivered as I ran them through my hair. I could feel again...Nilne made me feel again. She made me feel what pain was like again, but it was the worst pain she'd given to me. I could almost hear her speak, "Burn me, and you shall burn."

No! I closed my eyes. It's done! It's all over! Stop remembering! Stop thinking about it!

My throat was hurting, and it was as though I inhaled charcoal...smoke...My breathing quickened, and Claude held my hand soothingly.

"I'm here. It won't harm you again...Do you want some water? Anything?" He was somehow panicking, but he was trying not to show it. His worry for me was heartfelt.

"W-water! Yes, please!" I requested, and he briskly got a cupful from a water dispenser near the window.

I chugged it all down and was assuaged by the feeling of my throat's immediate ease.

"Claude..."

"Hm? Do you want to drink another cupful?" he offered kindly.

I shook my head and avoided the topic of the demon from springing out of my mouth again. "Claude...what about your job?"

He hesitantly replied and scratched his head while flushing and averting his eyes. "Ah...well...I'm taking a leave for two and a half weeks, so..."

I nictated. He...took a leave...?

He didn't glance at me, but I could tell that he was embarrassed about something...

An idea struck through me.

Ah...I see...

There's something I must do...a decision I should make.

I...needed a respite too...from everything. And only one person...could give me the tranquility I needed.

I stared at Claude wholeheartedly. Before me was the person who changed me within two months. Before me was the person who expanded my horizon and made me feel loved. Before me...was the person who prioritizes me before everything else.

Before me...was the lover Naru would never be.

"Claude..." I called tenderly, and he gave me an inquisitive look. "Let's go to Osaka."

XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

6 DAYS LATER

"You would like to take her somewhere for a week and a half?"

Rinna Kagami, Mai's foster grandmother, raised an eyebrow at the former narcissist before her.

They were in the tea ceremony room of Kagami-san's mansion. It was a 4-and-a-half tatami mat room with shoji walls on all sides. It lacked decorations that could usually be found in other rooms. The shoji doors towards the grassy garden outside were open, and the tapping of the bamboo rocking fountain could be heard prominently every now and then. Sitting across each other on the tatami mat, Kagami-san whisked the green tea in the tea bowl before handing it to the young boss.

"Yes." Naru inclined his head, received the tea bowl with his right hand, rotated it clockwise (3 times) on his left hand's palm, and sipped elegantly.

It was 3 days after Mai checked out of the hospital. No one knew how she survived severe epilepsy, but after many tests, the sign of any tissue in her brain that could be attributed to her condition that problematic day was nowhere to be found. The hospital staff had announced it as a miracle, but Naru and the rest of the SPR gang knew better━although, only Naru, Lin, and Madoka truly knew more about what happened.

Naru had ordered Yasuhara to ask Mai about Gene's role in it. But, it was as though she never met his dead older twin. She couldn't remember him...She didn't know who he was. Naru and the rest could only surmise that it had to do with her miraculous recovery...That the repression which caused her to forget Gene's existence...must have something to do with how she escaped from death.

Naru had told the others not to delve further about Mai's somewhat particular *psychogenic amnesia since then. On the other hand, because Naru wasn't able to visit her in the hospital after that one night, he'd decided to go directly to Kagami-san's mansion when everything about the Kawabuki case had been cleared, filed, and just etched to memory.

Finally, when he'd lodged his tea bowl down, Kagami-san stared at him before soughing. "You're very late, young man."

He nictated and was about to inquire what she meant when his phone rang inopportunely. Shrugging and excusing himself politely, he answered the call.

"What is it, Madoka?"

"Lin told me to call since he's busy with something~" Madoka responded cheerfully.

Naru loured. "If it's not important, you━"

"It's important! Well, it is for you, I think."

He frowned. "What is it then? I have something to do, so━"

"Mai came here."

His ears were very attentive then. "Why did she━?"

"She gave me her vacation leave letter, and I granted it."

"Why did you?" Naru asked icily. "I should be the one who━"

"She was with a blond boy (whom Lin pointed out as her boyfriend), and well...it seemed like even if you won't grant permission, they both had planned to go."

"Where were they going? Did she say anything?" He glared at nothing in discontent.

"Nope. Not at all...Ah!" He heard Madoka speak to someone on the other line before there was a shuffle, and Madoka was back. There was a mischievous chuckle. "Lin's shikis overheard something when they were going out. But...I'll only tell you if you agree to take another case for me~!"

Naru continuously narrowed his eyes and soughed. Madoka never halted with her tricks. "Fine. Just tell me where they're going."

Madoka tsk-ed. "Mohhh, still as ungrateful and impolite as always. Oh well, I sympathize for you anyway; Mai has quite a gentlemanly, caring, and loving boyfriend."

She was pushing his buttons as usual, but he didn't retort.

"Madoka, where?" he growled in a low voice, and Madoka laughed.

"Alright, alright! Lin's shikis heard them talking about boarding a train to Osaka through Tokaido Shinkansen in an hour from now. It seems like they'll be having a summer vacation together. Was that right, Lin?"

Osaka...train?

Naru excused himself to Kagami-san, and the old woman just nodded and dismissed him wordlessly.

"Ah, Naru, wait━!" He ended Madoka's call and chucked his phone in his pants' pocket before he ran out of the room and the mansion and to the driveway.

Yes. RAN.

It was very unlike him. He'd never sprinted to catch up to someone he knew would come back anyway, but that time, it was different.

He used to think that emotions were a nuisance. They could make one unstable and lose track of his or her judgment. So, he'd sought to be insouciant, uncaring, just to gain stability in the emotion-driven dog-eat-dog world.

But Mai...made the passive him...active, and he became cognizant that...caring for somebody else...wasn't troublesome at all.

So he'd decided to stop being indifferent, unmoving.

Because if he wouldn't do anything again...he could foresee that she might never come back anymore.

And it wouldn't be just the god of death he would be extremely furious with.

So, madman he would be, but he didn't care as he hopped in his black BMW and began racing down the road towards Tokaido Shinkansen despite how many speeding tickets he might acquire.

XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

"Ah-ah, he hung up." Madoka puffed. "And I was going to tell him what I said was wrong."

The ghost hunting mentor, garbed in a yellow ruffled blouse and pencil skirt, jumped off the desk and pored over the Chinese man's 'private' blog, yet the latter exited the window immediately.

"You did that on purpose, though," Lin mumbled and warily shut down his laptop, and Madoka pouted.

"No, I didn't! I just thought Mai would take the train. After all, she's quite a thrifty girl, but I guess that Miller boy has a lot of money, besides love, to spare?"

"Her grandmother might have helped." Lin shrugged and narrowed his eyes at the red-headed woman. "But Noll will catch up to her."

Madoka was intrigued. "Ara~And how can you be so sure?"

"That's just the way he is," he smirked and Madoka smiled furtively.

XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

15 MINS. TO GO

I'd never been to Narita International Airport (nor any airport) before, but then, I'd never really had the opportunity (nor the money) to travel anywhere in the country by airplane. My mother and I would usually take the train or ride along with a friend of hers, and we'd never insofar went across islands.

We arrived quite early in the departure lobby at Terminal 2. Since we couldn't check-in yet, we settled on a row of tan seats. There was so much bustling on the dirty white polished floor. Noises of different people━laughing, crying, talking, whispering, clicking heels, stomping shoes, dragging of trunks and trolleys━pervaded the great expanse of the area.

The sky outside was a brilliant light blue. The tall and massive wall of glass made it easy for the sunlight to stream in from outdoors.

Somehow, I was still sweating despite the air conditioning and the breeziness of my pinkish lavender tank top and plum-colored denim shorts.

There's too many people...and my throat's weird.

"I'll buy something to drink," I told Claude with a slight smile. "Watch my things for me?"

"Okay," he replied, returning my smile. "Can you buy me a drink too?"

He motioned to get his wallet, but I stalled him.

"It's on me." I winked. "Besides, you already spent so much for me."

Besides paying for my back-and-forth plane fare and procuring a place to stay in Osaka, Claude had done so much already. Naru never visited me again, but Claude wended to the hospital to visit me everyday until I checked out; he even slept there to accompany me. (Although, Ayako, Bou-san, Masako, Yasuhara, John, and even Lin and Madoka visited me from time to time when they had finished everything in the castle.)

Buying him a drink is the least I could do...

After getting excellent results from the innumerable tests given to me at the hospital, I was finally able to go home to Obaa-san's. I actually didn't know how I survived either, but there was some name Yasuhara mentioned which made me ponder.

Gene...

I'd kept on reciting the name in my head like a mantra over and over. I was hoping some memory would pop up...some clue to my survival. But, so far, I couldn't recall anything. I could feel a tug, though, in the fringes of my mind. It was as if I always found myself near the tip of the iceberg, but then, I'd roll back down again. I'd tried to ask the others, but they would just say that they didn't know much about the guy either...that it was only Naru who could tell me...the only person who'd never even cared to show up after stealing a kiss from me!

Argh! He really (embarrassed) annoyed me! How could he just make everything complicated? Grr!

I soughed.

Anyway, back to the topic, there was something familiar about the name Gene...but I couldn't pinpoint about what was...particularly...warm and soothing and...tearful that the name induces in me.

Who is he? Is he someone close? Did he...save me from the harmful effects of my pyrokinesis?

I couldn't remember anything after I blacked out. All I knew was that Fumenmoku and the people who died in that castle had been purified...before Rika made me feel burning...

I shivered oddly.

Anyway, moving on to the status quo, I searched the pockets of my shorts as I sauntered the lobby and discovered about 400 yen worth of coins.

Enough for two cans of...

I looked around for a vending machine. Spotting a dancing red Coca Cola vending robot, I skipped to it good-naturedly. It was doing a slight jumping jack and zombie walk, which made the passersby scoot away. Anyway, it looked quite lonely with people avoiding it. I tapped its arm, and the robot gladly stopped and let me slip in my money.

I tried not to look at the glass that reflected my face. Actually, I could not look at myself in mirrors or reflected surfaces anymore. When I did back in the hospital, I had frequent panic attacks. I had become afraid to look at myself...because I would see myself burning on Nilne's eyes once again, and I would feel the maddening twinge all over my body, as though it recalls perfectly and relives the pain every time I see myself...

Besides panic attacks and mirror avoidance, I had also become afraid of fire. Just seeing pictures with flames or the fiery kitchen stoves made me grow cold and shaking and screaming and numb and...frightened. Because of my phobia, Obaa-san made me undergo therapy and changed the mansion a little. Instead of a gas stove, she replaced them with an electric one. The paintings that depicted of demons in hellfire were also replaced with flowerbed ones.

Despite the changes and minimization of phobia triggers, though, Nilne continued to haunt me in my dreams. I would usually find myself awake and panting heavily with cold sweat. Additionally, I couldn't think of being able to feel again as a blessing.

...Because I knew she gave me back my sense of touch for me to suffer...to be reminded time and time again of the acidic pain she'd given me when we had that one last eye contact in the tower.

I shuddered and shook my head.

Erase, erase!

Indeed, panic attacks were the last thing I had in mind to experience in an airport where I should be thrilled. I was going to Osaka! The beach!

And so I let that mirthful information seep in and knock out the horrors of the Kawabuki case.

It seemed like I was idle long enough. When I was about to pick a can, the vending robot suddenly darted to the left.

"Wha━!"

I could have just left it alone. After all, I didn't have any energy or motivation to run after it, and it was partly my fault for dawdling around due to remembrance of the newly finished case. But then, I never wanted to waste my money even if I might tire myself...

So I chased it.

We must have been quite a sight. A lot of people turned our way as we dashed in circles. I could feel my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

But then, every cent counts!

I'd lived quite a yen-less life a lot of times, so I knew not to disregard spent money.

"Argh! Stop, you idiot robot!" I yelled, but the freaking machine never did what I pleaded.

It turned a corner, and I followed, causing me to bump into someone on my left. I yelped and fell on the floor.

"Oww..." I sat up slowly, saw some shoes before me, and apologetically bowed. "I'm so sorry; I was━"

"Mai?" a familiar voice panted, and I looked up in an instant.

My eyes widened. "N-Naru? How did you━Why are you━?"

He was flushed and out of breath...from running? His eyes showed relief...and was that a joyful glint...?

"Why...?" I murmured, but he didn't reply yet instead stretched out his left hand to help me up.

It was then that I noticed his other hand, holding the white lily hair pin I'd been missing since God-knows-when...

And it all clicked.

"Y-you used your psychometry?" I uttered in puzzlement.

Sweat trickled down the side of his face. It was probably the summer's heat that made him look so...rosy-faced...and it was so refreshing a sight.

Dang. He's so cute. Dang, dang, dang, dang, dang!

I bit my lip and restrained myself from hyperventilating.

Naru nodded, suspired, straightened, and said with his sincerely straightforward face, "Don't go with Murakami-san. Be with me."

I became probably redder than the freaking vending robot. And what's worse? I could feel the heat on my cheeks very well.

Holy...dang!

How could such an unfeeling expression still drown me? How could he shoot my heart down so easily with such a...point-blank face?

Dang it!

"I-I━" came my stammering voice.

Claude's waiting for you, my inner voice reminded. He'd always waited for you.

What was true happiness? Being with somebody who loves you? Or being with somebody you love who doesn't feel the same way (maybe)? I was confused even until now. Claude had always made me happy, and Naru made me feel the same way too sometimes...

But who should I be with?

Who should I really...be happy with?

Naru's erubescent face after running was a view to behold. My heart truthfully melted at seeing him trying so hard to...stop me from going...

There was a two-note sound, and a woman announced through the intercom, "All passengers on the 12:00 pm All Nippon Airways flight NH023 to Osaka, the check-in counters are now open..."

Ah...

But, I'd decided.

I shook my head and tried not to look sad. "Claude...is waiting for me."

What face would he make? I didn't want to see. I didn't want to waver, so I averted my eyes while speaking.

What face should I make?

I still love Naru, but...what if what he feels for me...is something temporary...fleeting?

Can he prioritize me like Claude can?

…

That seems impossible no matter how I try to hope for it.

I exhaled and gazed at Naru resolutely. "I'm sorry...but I can't be by your side anymore."

I swiveled and no longer glanced back at him.

This would be the end. I would move on and further expand my horizon. My love for Naru would merely be a bittersweet reminiscence of a bud that did not bloom.

Yes...just a bittersweet reminiscence...

Sayonara...my first love.

And Naru lived miserably ever after~nya~

"So, I'm gonna leave you.

With just a little bit of regret.

I lost it somewhere,

that 'I love you.' "

~Over, sung by Wotamin~

…

…

…

...

JUST KIDDING!~nya~

Just then, there was a clicking sound, and I whipped around in bewilderment.

"Wha━?" I gasped.

"I knew you were going to say that," Naru spoke smartly.

"Naru, you━!" I sputtered in disbelief at our handcuffed wrists. W-w-w-wha━!

Naru gave a smirk: the expression I'd always hated...and loved.

"You're not the only one who's stubborn, Mai," he quipped with his rare yet amaranthine ethereal smile.

Then he grasped my hand and took me away with him.

XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

"Just because someone doesn't love you in the way you want him to, it doesn't mean that he doesn't love you with all he's got."

~Unknown~

XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~

A/N: NARU=KIDNAPPER!

Ü

YES. BIG YEEESSSS. A LOT OF FLUFF will be coming...Well, I was saving the 'best fluff' for last...

I believe this was quite a darker one than Reminiscence, so I'm very sorry for giving all of you such dark emotions. I'm very glad that you all still read my story despite that, sooooo there'll be LOADS of fluff stuff ahead. I mean, balance (or imbalance) can be good too, right?

P. S. I am still deciding if I should post the fluff stuff as next chapters to this story, or I would post the 2 WEEKS OF FLUFF as a sequel, a transition story before the case. I might take the COMPLETE tag off this one and add more chapters of fluff at the end, OR I might leave the COMPLETE tag and make a sequel containing all 2 weeks of fluff ^^

There are many things that needed to be explained yet, so I might come back with a new chapter in the end; I don't want any loose ends at all. Anyway, the COMPLETE TAG isn't permanent yet. So, rest assured. ^^

Will it be okay if Dollmaker is longer? Or do you all want the fluff to be separated?

Either way, the next chapter or the sequel will be entitled "RAPTURE." ^^ See you all soon!

*Psychogenic amnesia= amnesia caused by psychological events (trauma...violent or sad memories)

Epilepsy=a brain disorder that happens when brain tissues causes the neurons to misfire and make abnormal electrical activity in the brain...resulting to convulsion...seizures...

P.S. THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO READ AND REVIEWED! T_T