A/N: Woke up from a nightmare. Came up with this gem. Along the lines of 'Her Reality,' but not a partner story/sequel/prologue/connected in any way, shape, or form.

SERIOUS spoilers.

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The question was how he found out. The question was why things had to end like this. The question was why now. When everything was finally okay, why now?

The answers did not matter. Not to him, anyway.

Naru had found the murderer. The revelation had hit closer to home than any of us expected.

An accident! It was an accident! we hear from the parking lot. We all received anxious glances from one another, recognizing the voice. We take off into a sprint.

We're face to face with a scene none of us wanted to see. The black van was his backdrop while a white SUV was hers. Kind of ironic, actually, if you were relating it to what they were arguing about. She was a mess and he was livid.

He whirls to face us when he hears our footsteps. His words meet ears that aren't ready for the truth.

She killed Gene.

The words echo, echo, echo. Words we hope we didn't hear correctly. Gasps, soft shrieks, and a fuck, no are heard. I stumble back.

I didn't mean to! She comes to her own rescue, defending herself from an already-lost battle. I was coming back from a party drunk! I wasn't in my right mind!

I speculated for a while. You see, Mai? You didn't believe me.

I freeze, my muscles coiling up. How dare he drag me into this? Yes, he had talked to me a while back, but in all honest I thought he was joking. A callous joke, but a joke nonetheless. I defended her all the way. I'm not afraid to say I'm proud of that fact, even now.

Even after her confession.

My eyes flicker to her stained dress and I begin to hate Naru's conniving mind.

So that was how he got her to confess tonight. He knew her weakness. The drunker she got, the more likely it was that she would tell him. He had told us not minutes earlier that he was going to take her back to her car to rest, eying the two empty wine bottles on the table. The moment they had left, the table had shot into discussion about his sudden kindness. Maybe we had been getting to him after all.

Turns out we had been very wrong.

Tears slip down her face. Masako has already started crying. John has his hand over his mouth. Lin's eyes are wider than I have ever seen them. Bou-san… my eyes fall on him, and my heart pangs. The light has died from his face. His jaw is slack and his eyes are dead. He thought of her as a sister. No, something more. Something much more.

But Naru doesn't care. He never has and never will.

You will be hearing from my lawyer.

He stalks off without another word.

We were finally friends. Family. We trusted each other, loved each other, could confide in each other. But things had worked themselves out and what we once thought of as reality would remain in the past.

And now I'm standing here with red eyes. I'm watching my boss – the man I think I was in love with – walk away. I'm watching one of my closest friends cry herself to death because of his verbal beating. I'm watching everyone else leave. I stare in disbelief, and then reproach myself. She was a murderer – is a murderer – so why should they help? Why would they?

I'm asking myself this question in vain. She needs their help, their comfort. Just like that her life is gone, and they don't even care.

Do they forget that she was their friend? Do they forget that she saved their lives on many occasions? Do they forget all the good times we had together?

I'm trying to comprehend how they could do this to her. I don't get it. I just don't get it. But as Naru would say, there are a lot of things I don't get. I suppose he was right. Lead-hearted bastard.

I want to cry, too. I want to scream and stomp and call out to the blackened sky why everything happens to us. I want to know why the world is so small, so cruel, so narrow-minded. I want to know all of the answers that Naru could have told me.

But it's not my time to act like a child.

It's my time to grow up. I move to comfort her, wrapping my thin arms around her. She doesn't push me away like I expect. I jump up on the car hood and sit next to her as she buries her head in my shoulder. There's nothing to say. The situation has already hit rock bottom, but there's no way things could start looking up.

Naru would only drag us to hell.

Ayako pulls away. She gives me a shaky smile through the running makeup and whispers a thank-you. I nod, biting my lip. I don't trust myself to talk. She asks if I want a ride home since my original ride left in a blind rage. She adds sarcastically, Only if you trust me enough to get you there alive.

That's it. I'm crying.

It's not fair. It's just not fair.

I slap a hand over my mouth, realizing I've just screamed my thoughts. Ayako's smile slips and she shrugs. We hop off the car and move toward the doors. Ayako looks over the hood at me and sighs.

I know it's not fair, Mai-chan. But you know how life is.

I ended up taking the wheel. She was a mess – emotionally, mentally, and physically. We had driven home in silence. Three words were stuck on repeat in my head.

I won't forget.

I won't selfishly forget my friend. I won't be like the others. I won't follow the crowd. I'll stand up for her. I'll be there when she needs me, just like she always was for me. I won't forget – even if it means losing everything else I love in the process.

Through the court trial, the verdict, and the death penalty, I promise I will never forget.

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A/N: It's just a possibility. I don't want Ayako to be a murderer at all, believe me.

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