And now, the finale of our beautiful story. I had a good time writing this. Enjoy the final chapter, folks!

The days don't past quickly, but slowly, and Meroko feels grateful for that. She's happy that she and Izumi have all the time in the world, and she wants to make the most of it.

One day, as they sit in her room, she remarks, "I wonder why I never gave up on you."

Izumi turns to face her. "Is that so?"

"Yeah." Meroko fingers the edge of her dress, thinking. "I wanted to. A lot of times. But I never did. I wonder why."

Izumi looks at her thoughtfully. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"What do you think?"

Izumi speaks slowly, carefully. "I think you never gave up on me because you knew, somehow, what I could never tell you. You knew that I really did love you, that I was sorry, and that I wasn't going to give up either."

He leans back a little and takes her hand. "I tried to tell you that so many times, but I could never figure out how to do it. I always thought that my message wasn't getting across, and that I would have to live without you forever."

A smile comes to his face. "Maybe you realized what I couldn't say."

Meroko smiles back. "Maybe."

She's a little surprised when he leans in and kisses her, but responds in kind, her arms snaking up and around him, her heart reveling in the feel of his lips, soft and tender on hers.

Maybe Izumi is right. Maybe that was the reason she never gave up on him. Maybe she'd had some vision in her heart—some hope of someday ending up with this—and wanted to see it through to the end. Maybe, deep down, she'd always understood what Izumi was trying to say.

Maybe the whole time, she'd been holding out for this.

And that's the end.

I know this is definitely not one of my more popular stories, but I had fun writing it. Check my forum in the very near future for some comments on the writing of this story!

RRE.