Aster was not always quite inclined to look in the mirror in the morning as the first thing she did; usually it involved staring at Chrys, then at the manga shelf, then back at Chrys. However upon waking up she immediately noticed her center of balance had changed, so a trip to the mirror was in order.

Her suspicions were confirmed. Usually, a change in art style was less drastic, and by the time her appearance had significantly changed it would be so gradual she wouldn't notice until she was already used to it; however, she very clearly did not look the same as she had the previous night. At least it was an improvement – though of course it would take some getting used to.

Adjusting her somewhat smaller eyes and struggling to get the somewhat thinner (but neater-looking) hair out of them, Aster noted that in the darkness of the room, her hair was now taking a more purplish tint, probably because of the shadow; it would go back to its normal blue in the light. Clearly her Author had spent some more time learning how to shade colors. She was also proportionally a little bit shorter, not to Akai's height but at least indicating that abnormally long legs and torso were of the past.

Aster turned towards the closet to get out her sailor fuku, only to find it was gone; yet another outfit change was in order, and Aster rarely looked forward to them as the last one had been so utterly hideous that her Author had eventually relented and given her back the uniform. However, this new outfit looked at least moderately casual and had good colors.

Nice to know she's finally picked up some fashion sense…

Donning the outfit, which consisted of an extremely short-sleeve T-shirt with moderate length and some buttons near the top and a mid-length skirt, Aster sighed, slowly opened the door so as not to wake Chrys, and walked out. A little warning would have been nice – but her Author had not visited her in almost a year. Ah, well. Such was life.

Taking care not to make Chrys wake up, Aster opened the door, snuck out, and closed it gingerly. Akai was sitting distantly in a corner, playing on a DS.

"Don't you have a 3DS now?"

"Too lazy to switch out the cartridges," said Akai.

"I see…"

"This is the fifteenth Dusk Ball I've chucked at this stupid legendary…ah, goddammit, he ran away again!" She switched off the DS and turned it back on. "Might as well save my money and just keep resetting…"

"This is Black or White?"

"White. Zekrom is cooler-looking."

Walking away to leave Akai to her legendary chase (though not before noting that Akai was crossplaying), Aster walked away to the manga section. Puella Magi Kazumi Magica hadn't been updated…things had seemed to slow down after Madoka had finished, though Akai seemed to find Tiger & Bunny amusing and Chrys had bawled her eyes out at AnoHana (all three of them found the full title a mouthful). In fact Aster hadn't even liked Puella Magi Madoka Magica as much as Akai had.

This was not to say Aster's passion had tempered at all – she was still holding diligent classes on the 2011 lineup and continued to watch every episode and read every chapter diligently; the tenth and eleventh Haruhi novel had been absolutely amazing in her perspective and she was now having spirited debates with Akai over pairing Haruhi or Yuki with Kyon (Aster now supporting the former).

Nothing had changed – the anime was still good, Aster was still into it every bit as much as she always had, but there was something else making her feel listless.

"Feeling a little abandoned? I don't blame you."

Aster found her Author standing nearby, apparently interested in a small speck in the wall. She had cleaned up her appearance significantly, though she hadn't grown at all. She had dropped the glasses that she had always been too lazy to swap for contacts, and she was wearing better-looking clothes for once.

"So…"

"I'm sorry. I've been lazy. I've always been lazy."

"So it's true. What I've heard…"

"Yes."

The author looked down, unable to look even her own character in the eyes.

"You knew this was going to happen…you heard the warnings from Cassie, you saw what happened to Ness. But you shouldn't have been afraid."

"After three years, you're going to leave me…"

"Nothing will change, for you," said the Author. "You're still in the hands of the Society. You won't be sealed forever in a sketchbook in your own world, you won't be pursued and trapped forever. You'll have a bunch of very skilled Authors minding you, whom I trust enough to leave you in the hands of. And it's not like you won't see me again – this November will be the last time, not now."

"I know, but…" Aster sighed. "You've always been the person to say the truth right in someone's face no matter how blunt it is. So tell me the truth right now – am I a failure?"

The author looked upwards, still not at Aster.

"Like you said, I can't pretty this up, despite that I've tried to do so for the past year or so. You're not a complete failure, Aster – you were definitely a step in the right direction. But sometimes I can't deal with it anymore…I've learned a lot about myself and the world and you don't really fit there anymore. I guess you could say I've grown up, and things aren't as easy as 'oh, you could always be young inside', because this just hasn't worked out for me. And as much as I hate to say it, you do sit pretty clearly on the borderline between normal and Sue, more than you used to. If I had taken this any further, the Society would be hunting you."

Aster shook her head. "But – "

"It's very easy to say you make up for it with your flaws, but at this point they come off as more of a reason to like you…and I'm not saying you should go and make yourself hated, or that you really are a full-on Sue, but this sort of happy optimism doesn't work with me anymore. I'm sorry, but you asked me to make it blunt…"

Aster was crying, but she nodded.

"Don't put yourself down, though. You were very useful. I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now without you. It's just that things have to end someday…"

Aster nodded again.

"The way things are, the Society's way of doing things is too complicated for me to follow after I've been gone for so long. So I'm sorry for neglecting you. But you can still move on in the Library, here, right?"

Aster nodded.

"So don't take it as an insult. By the time you're ready, you may even improve or so. I'm proud of you. But this is the end."

The Author turned around. "I'll see you again in November. Please don't think too badly of it. I'm cruel. But maybe this is for the better – you're still in capable hands."

"I'm sorry," said Aster.

"You didn't do anything wrong," said the Author. "But this is how I am."

The Author vanished as if she hadn't been there at all.

"Always knew she was a bitch," said Akai from the corner.

"You were listening?"

"Kinda hard to not eavesdrop, even if I'm catching legendaries," said Akai. "…And there he goes again."

She switched off the DS and faced Aster.

"Hey, but it's good for us, isn't it? We get more freedom. If she's such a bitch, it's better for us to not be working for her. It's not like anything's changed after all."

"Yeah."

"Stop caring about what she thinks. Our lives are our lives. Now let's get some ramen."

Aster smiled. "Sure."

As they walked off, they were observed by an Author, who looked sadly upon that last scene. If only there was a way to go back…

But there would be no regrets. That's how life worked.

In November she would make sure the ending was no longer bitter. But as for now, at least she had made her point. She said her last goodbye to the Library Arcanium, and sighed.

(A/N: I promised a fic in return for Harriet trying to get me a Pottermore account. I know you guys expected a happy glorious fic as a reward, but if I tried to do that I'd never get the fic done. In any case, I do owe the Society a real concrete fic to end it.

Many of you will hate me for writing this, but the reason for the bluntness and abruptness is that this is really how it is - I can't continue to keep lying to myself the way I have the past year. And as Akai said, if you hate what I'm saying, just forget what I think and use them as you would like.

I'm so sorry to all of you and it's really been great, but I can't take it anymore, as I said on my blog.

Please do not engage in debate with me over Aster's status as Sue/non-Sue, regardless of what she is or what I think she is, I've still made my decision.

As stated before, Aster is now usable for anything, even killing her off permanently or turning her into a vase, though I do request people start limiting the "kyaa" to only when she's trying to pretend she's cute or seriously flustered as I feel it's getting spammed a bit much along with her gratuitous Japanese...this is however just a request and you can still do whatever you want.

Once again I apologize. It's been great, it really has, but this is the end result.)