Ayumi sat there in her wheelchair in a vegetable like state, her intact eye dead...emotionless. Where her other eye would be was covered by a white eye patch to hide the gory hole. Her facial expression was haunting, it was like she was unaware of her own existence. She was truly alone but this was the price she chose to pay, for all the lives she ruined and all the lives she ended. She knew it would come to this, this was the path she chosen. Wanting to redeem herself for the mistakes she made and wanting to bring back the memories of her deceased friends to the world of the living became an obsession. An obsession of which ultimately lead to her existence being erased from the real world, but she was content. Upon her lap was the Book Of Shadows who made up it's mind to accompany her.

"Ding, ding..."

The sound of a door bell made its way through the house catching Ayumi's attention, she wondered who could possibly be ringing the doorbell. She had no one, no friends... no loved ones. At least not anymore, once again...

"Ding, ding, ding, ding."

The ringing became more frantic, a lot more frantic. The person on the other end was desperate to find out if anybody was in there. All of a sudden a familiar voice called out her name, once again catching her off guard.

"SHHHINNNOOOOZAAAKIIIII!"

Yoshiki yelled from the top of his lungs, his voice seemed to have a hint of sadness in it. He was currently thinking of the worst, had he lost her forever? Even though things seemed dim he wasn't giving up.

"..."

Taking a few seconds to register the fact that her names been called she replied in monotone, her voice lacking every emotion in the book.

"Kishi...numa...kun?..."

She was in doubt, there was no way he could have had knowledge of her existence. Absolutely no way, everybody escaped... she saw them do it, could he have possibly came back for her? No, this must have been an hallucination... or some sort of dream. It had to be, it just had to.

"...!"

Swearing he heard Ayumi's voice his instincts took over, without a second thought he turned the door knob and let himself in not caring about intruding in someones home. To his shock his suspicions was right, right before him was the last Shinozaki. The girl whom he loved, arguably more than himself.

"Shinozaki!"

He ran to her and quickly embraced her, his mind was blank and he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. Blurring his vision, unable to hug him back Ayumi sat there as a single tear rolled down her pale white cheek. She herself couldn't believe this, as much as she wanted to curse him out for coming back for her she just couldn't. She couldn't find the voice and honestly, she was happy he was here... being alone in a wheelchair for God knows how long would have drove her to insanity.

"... Everybody, forgot... existence. How, you... remember..."

Her speech seemed strange, was this the result of her decision? Did the thought of being forgotten get to her this badly? She was struggling to speak fluently. His tears finally started to roll down, he too was forgotten and he knew this. But there was no way in hell he was going to allow Ayumi to go through this alone, he wanted to be with her until the very end even if it meant being erased from everyone's memories... what a fate.

"Damn it...!"

He clenched his teeth, and pulled back. His hands not leaving her body, but instead they were holding her upper arms firmly, he wanted her to hear what he had to say. Every last word of it.

"...Shinozaki! Why...?! Why did you think that you had to throw your life away! Everyone wanted you to come but you ignored us! Now look at you, you're bound in a wheelchair unable to do anything!… Idiot... Do you know how much we care about you, how much I care about you? I threw away everything just for you, I didn't want you to be alone! Not like this..."

Ayumi was lost for words, why did he do all this for her? Like herself he had abandoned his friends and family. Did they mean nothing to him? There had to be a deeper meaning behind all this, she just couldn't understand his true reasoning.

"Kishi...numa... I don't understand, why leave... friends."

This was all she could say, this made no sense to her. Everyone felt this way towards her, they all cared but none of them came back. There was something he wasn't telling her and she wanted to find out what it was. At this point she was ready for anything, but what he was about to say was an exception.

"Because I love you! Dumb-ass! Ever since you stopped me from hitting the teacher that day I admired you, more than anyone else. I put my life on the line so many times just to make sure you were okay! But even then you still didn't return my feelings for you, and you continued to ignore what I said and put yourself in even more dangerous situations. All I want is for you to be alright, now look at the result of your actions. Our friends will never remember us again... Is this really what you wanted? Shinozaki!"

Hearing Yoshiki pour out his feelings like this was overwhelming, so many emotions hit her at once. She was left speechless, the only thing she could have done was just listen. She never would've thought that the guy who called her an idiot so many times could actually feel this way for her, finding the courage within herself she replied to him. It was her turn to speak her mind.

"You're wrong..."

Yoshiki caught off guard by what she said simply looked at her dumbfounded, what the hell did she mean by that? How was he wrong? Everything he said was the truth, at least... so he thought.

"Huh?"

His eyes widened slightly as the room got dead silent.

"I too, developed... feelings for you... Kishi...numa-kun. That, time you patted... head. I felt, so... safe. I was... happy..."

No way, was she really serious? She usually acted so cold towards me, now all of a sudden she feels like this? Could his kind and reassuring words really make her fall for him or was she saying this because of pity. Her words seemed genuine but I couldn't help but feel skeptical, this was class rep we're talking about and she has feelings for someone else. Specifically Satoshi, this didn't make any sense to him. He didn't know what to say, apart of him wanted to accept it but the other part of him wanted a deeper explanation...

"You can't be serious, Shinozaki... Do you really feel this way?"

He felt his heartbeat speed up as he tried process her words, he was in shock. This was just too surreal, if she was serious about what she said he was prepared to claim her as his own. Even if she was a vegetable he was ready to spend his life with her, he wondered if he married her would he too die or have the curse been lifted. After what seemed to be forever Ayumi responded yet again, a blush would form on her cheeks.

"Yes... But- can you still... love me. When... I'm like... this, unable... to do ... anything...?"

As Shinozaki said this tears streamed down her face as she was trapped with her dull expression, unable to show how she feels through facial expressions or body language. Yoshiki nodding brought his hand up to her cheek and cupped it before wiping the tears from her face with his thumb.

"Of course, Shinozaki. No matter what, I'll never leave your side."

Kishinuma said this with a smile and leaned in, slowly but surely locking his lips with hers.