Chapter 8:

Freedom was as sweet as a child's first taste of candy. The sunlight felt warm against my pale, sun-deprived features, the air felt fresh, clean, without the smell of sterilizers and bleach, the sounds were like music because there were no screams. It was my first taste of heaven, and I loved it. I felt Nakano-san put his arm around my shoulder.

"Enjoying the view?" he asked.

"Just taking it all in. After not seeing the outside for so long, I kind of missed it."

"Well, you can see it all you want now."

"HEY!"

Nakano-san and I looked up to see Shindou-san, Eiri-san, K-san, Sakano-san, Sakuma-san, Tatsuha-san, Tohma, Mika-san, and Noriko-san approach.I was rattled as to why absolutely everyone came to greet me, but it sent a warm feeling inside of me. So, I really did have a lot of supporters.

"How about we go and celebrate?" Shindou-san said enthusiastically, waving his free hand (his other hand was gripped in Eiri-san's).

"Sounds good to me." Everyone agreed.

We all began to make our way away from the dreaded asylum. Tohma stopped me. He smiled gently.

"Suguru, may I have word?"

I looked at Nakano-san and nodded to him, letting him know it was okay to go on ahead of me.

"Yes, Tohma?"

"I want to say that I am proud of you."

"Proud of me?"

"You have always been stronger than you realize, you know that."

"Yeah."

"I am proud that you have made an effort."

"It just took the right amount of inspiration."

I turned and looked back at the colossal walls of the asylum, looking through each of the windows, remember what it used to be like staring out of them. Then, I saw a familiar face.

Suzi was staring down at me from the top floor (the fourth floor) with a smile on her face. I smiled back and waved, thanking her to myself. She seemed to get the message because she nodded to me.

"Now, maybe things can go back to normal." Tohma said, adjusting the hat on his head.

"Normal..."

I looked ahead of me at the group making their way into town. They seemed so comfortable with each other-- K-san and Noriko-san finally at peace about K-san taking Sakuma-san away to the United States, Sakuma-san and Tatsuha-san whispering lovey things to each other, Sakano-san and Nakano-san scratching their heads nervously at Shindou-san and Eiri-san who were (yet again) arguing, Mika-san slapping Eiri-san upside the head for being mean to Shindou-san.

"This is normal?" I asked Tohma, not taking my eyes off of the group.

"Yep."

"I think it was more normal in the asylum."

Tohma laughed at my remark.

"If you haven't already figured it out, Suguru, NG Records is an asylum, because apparently I like to hire strange and insane people."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"No, actually it is a compliment. See, if you were 'right in the head,' then I wouldn't have hired you onto Bad Luck. You complete the band."

"How so?"

"Well, Shindou-san is the foundation of the band, he keeps everyone together, Nakano-san is the walls, containing everything between the places and people that it needs to, and you are what attracts the people."

"How do I attract people?"

"Have you listened to yourself play that synthesiser? You're beats are played in all the clubs around the city."

I smiled. "I guess not."

"You may never be completely together, Suguru, but you do have people that care about you. Remember that."

"Okay. Thanks, Tohma."

He smiled at me and patted me shoulder.

"Well, we had better go catch up, or they will leave us."

"Yeah."

We began to walk after the group. My eyes scanned them until they landed on Nakano-san. He looked back and smiled at me, laughing along with Shindou-san and the others. They never looked so inviting.

(A/N): This was the final chapter, guys! I think this last chapter sucks, but I didn't really know how to wrap it up. Nothing seemed to fit right. So, I just let my fingers do all the work. Please review and let me know what you all think of it. I am planning on having another fic up really soon. Ja ne!