*Hi, everyone! This is it! This is the last chapter of this story. I am not going to use the "ending" that Book of Shadows utilizes (that really bothers me, and I think that they deserve a good ending, yeah?), so this is how this is going to end. There will be no going back to Heavenly Host. Anyway, thank you so much for reading this and sticking to it this whole time! I'm really thankful!

Sincerely,

Kari*

~Twelve Years Later~

Their days at Heavenly Host, while in the distant past, were still clear to their memories so many years later.

Unable and unwilling to forget what they had experienced there, they made a promise to meet at Tsukiyama Koruba's grave once per year and the anniversary of the day they returned from Heavenly Host. There, they paid their respects to her, Shinji Minako, and all the ones who had died at Heavenly Host by lighting one candle. No matter what the circumstance, this act never changed, and neither did the bond that they all had for each other from enduring the wrath of the school together. They each bore scars from their endeavors that were a constant reminder of what occurred.

On the other hand, there were many things that had changed.

Shortly after arriving back, Haru kept his promise and married Shiori. They lived two doors down from Takeshi, and graduated high school. Haru decided not to go to college and worked at a power plant. Shiori, however, did go on to college and became an elementary school teacher. Seven years later, they welcomed a son into the world and named him Masaru. Shortly after giving birth to Masaru, they decided they needed a house and moved to the countryside. Despite the fact that they were married, Haru still wore the same ribbon on his wrist. While both grew up generally having difficult lives, they made the best out of it and gave happiness to each other and their son, whom looked just like Haru. Every summer, they grew a vegetable and spice garden, and in their front yard had peach trees.

Hideki, nearly a month after the incidents and Heavenly Host, finally admitted to Anju his feelings for her, to which he was delighted that she felt the same way toward him. They graduated high school and went on to college, where Anju became a high school Science teacher and Hideki an engineer. Hideki felt as though he had seen enough brutality and depravity and changed his mind about going in the police force. A year after they began dating, Hideki asked Anju to be his wife, and a year after that they were wed. They lived in a one-story house in the city, and five years after they married had a son whom they named Shinji, in memoriam to the Shinji that had lost his life in Heavenly Host. Two years later, they had a little girl and named her Yua. Shinji looked much like Hideki, while Yua favored Anju. Every year, they grew a lovely flower garden.

Takeshi and Ayame began dating six months after Heavenly Host. Takeshi, twenty years old at the time, was still in college majoring in business. Ayame graduated high school and went on to college to be a physical therapist. Two years after dating, Takeshi graduated college and married Ayame, supporting her until her graduation. They moved out of Takeshi's apartment and into a house in the outskirts of the city. Four years after getting married, Takeshi and Ayame gave birth to a son, whom they named Makoto. Before Makoto was born, Takeshi and Ayame would often go fishing; once when Makoto was old enough, they would take him as well.

Reika, after returning from Heavenly Host, was a more courageous girl. Having seen the worst, standing up to her classmates was no issue at all. She went on through high school and into college to be a journalist. Her first year, second semester into college, she met a twenty-year-old man named Daisuke Nakamura, and the two fell in love. Three years after the two began dating, they became husband and wife. Daisuke became an engineer as well and worked with Hideki, and Reika went on to be a journalist for a well-known magazine company. The two owned two cats named Willow and Luna and enjoyed hiking in the woods. They were planning on trying for children in about a year or so.

Despite everything that had happened at Heavenly Host, their lives were filled with happiness and laughter, as well as times of sadness and moments of torment. Their children would play together, but they would never know of the trials that their parents (minus Daisuke and Takeshi) endured while at Heavenly Host, and how close they were to never having this life they lived today. The events they had witnessed and had acted out themselves were still clear in their minds, and while the young children went with their parents to the graveside, they did not fully know what it was they were there for. Perhaps in time, they would be told.

But, as for the present day, they decided to let their children have their innocence. The smiles that were given by the children, the laughter, the tears- it was worth every ounce of the pain they endured at Heavenly Host just so that they could survive to see this day.

Their bonds, no matter what came between them, no matter the distance, would never be broken.