~Flashback~
Ayumi and Yoshiki entered the Science Lab, hearts full of fear of what awaited them. Yoshiki saw a figure with a sheet draped over it. He immediately went up to look under it, to make sure it wasn't anything that would harm Ayumi. He raised the cloth and looked under.
Yoshiki:
"Gah…" stumbling backwards
Ayumi:
"What is it?"
Yoshiki looks under the sheet again
"It's just an anatomy mannequin…"
They both sighed with relief, walking around to look for anything of interest, ultimately finding nothing stimulating. Yoshiki turned back around to face Ayumi, shuddering when he saw the mannequin behind her raising a knife up above her head.
Yoshiki:
"NO!" pushing Ayumi aside, and taking a scalpel to the neck
Yoshiki is then pushed aside by Kizami, hitting his head against a table.
Kizami:
"Your next little rabbit" Turning to Ayumi
"Aren't you a cute little rabbit."
Kizami walks towards Ayumi holding her down roughly.
Yoshiki:
"Get off her!" Pulling back on Kizami, with his arm tightly wrapped around Kizami's neck. Kizami draws his large survivalist knife from his jacket.
Kizami:
"So this one wanted to play" Plunging his knife deep into Yoshiki's chest, leaving him bleeding out. Yoshiki, shocked, with the knife still plunged into him, falls to the floor.
Kizami:
"He'll die soon enough" Turning back to Ayumi, whom is still shocked.
"I'll have some fun with you first" Kizami laughs like a maniac. He grabs Ayumi, while with the other hand, reaches to grope her and continue to try to undo her skirt.
Yoshiki:
"Back off her YOU BLOODY SON OF A BITCH!" He says after slowly standing up and pulling the knife, painfully, out of his chest. Kizami is shocked for a split second before Yoshiki plunges the knife in his Atlas joint (between the cranium and bone C1), severing his brain from his spinal cord, the knife reached deep enough that it cut into the back of his tongue only to follow through right underneath the skin of his tongue, making his tongue rigid, and the tip peeping slightly out of the tip of his tongue.
Kizami collapsed dead, suffering a split second death, and Yoshiki fell next to him
Ayumi:
"YOSHIKI!" she ran to his side propping his head on her thighs as she sat on her knees.
"It's going to be alright… I'll go get help OK, I'll be back in a flash"
Yoshiki:
Knowing he was going to die inevitably, "N-No, stay, I want t-to have my final moments with you" Gravely grabbing her forearm to make sure she was there.
Ayumi:
"You aren't going to die; I won't allow you to be the only one who dies!" Starting to cry
Yoshiki:
"It's O…K, I'll always be there… for you" He squirmed as the words escaped his lips
"Take my jacket…I…I…don't want you to be cold" He says offering the jacket, with no holes and only a small amount of blood.
Ayumi:
"I'll always remember you" She said as her sobbing increased taking his jacket and putting it over her shoulder.
Yoshiki:
"I…I….I….."Struggling to say something as he was close to death.
"I…I love you"
Ayumi:
"I love you too" Her cries increased further.
"Please Yoshiki, please don't leave me" She cried even further.
Yoshiki:
"I n…never wi..ll" He said, reaching up to touch her cheek, then leaning up and kissing her for the first and last time.
Ayumi:
"Please don't die, please… god…please" she scrabbled to say after he leaned back down, in pain from sitting up.
Yoshiki:
"Know…that… I died happy, in your arms, and seeing you look at me in my final living seconds. Know that you're never alone; I will always be with you, to protect you" clutching the jacket as he said the second part.
"Know that I…I will be there for you, to comfort you when you are sad, to cheer you up when you feel down. Know that I always strive to make you happy and see your smile…Know that…" he struggle knowing that death was around the corner.
"Know that…I died loving you…And will always love you" His eyes began to fade
Ayumi:
"No…No…NO!" clutching the boy's dead body.
"Please anything but THIS" Sobbing loudly
She put on Yoshiki's jacket, pulling out his student ID holder and pulling out two extra pictures, one of which was a picture of her, with a red heart drawn around her, without obscuring the picture, and 'I love you' written on the bottom, while the other was a picture of him in his usual attire and a love note written on the back. Ayumi tucked the pictures back in the ID holder and started sobbing lightly. She soon met up with the other seven, Sakutaro, Mayu, Naomi, Satoshi, Seiko, and Ms. Yui.
Naomi:
"Kishinuma's jacket, what happened?"
Ayumi:
"He…he…he…"She started crying again
"He died"
Satoshi:
"What!?" Staggering backwards
"How?"
Ayumi:
"Protecting me…" Crying louder.
Satoshi:
"We have some bad news as well…" Ayumi looked up at this.
"It turns out that people that die here are erased from existence, people they know forget about them, and their faces are blacked out." To this Ayumi cried even louder.
"But…" Ayumi stared at him through teary eyes
"Pictures that were here, in Heavenly Host, when they died have a chance to stay intact."
Ayumi:
"Let's appease Sachiko and escape this hell"
They did, all of them minus a tall, blonde boy.
~Flashback End~
Six figures dressed in black stood around a crumbled one, dressed in black with an oversized jacket, next to an entrance to a forest. Ayumi was clutching a heavy stone in her hands, crying, she looked down at the stone to see the name Yoshiki Kishinuma inscribed on the surface. Satoshi took a trench shovel and made a deep divot for the stone to fall into. Mayu and Seiko tried to comfort Ayumi, yet not succeeding.
Ayumi stood up, wiping off her tears, and walked to the divot; letting the stone slide into the soil, with the top two-thirds standing out of the soil. Ayumi stood up and looked somberly at the grave.
Ayumi:
"I'll always love you"
['Know that I died happy, in your arms, and seeing you look at me in my final living seconds. Know that you're never alone; I will always be with you, to protect you. Know that I will be there for you, to comfort you when you are sad, to cheer you up when you feel down. Know that I always strive to make you happy and see your smile. Know that I died loving you, and will always love you'] She couldn't stop thinking of his last words. Withdrawing the picture from the ID holder, she looked to see as his face wasn't blacked out, touching the photo with her other hand, crying further. She felt terrible inside, wanting to feel his warm embrace again, and return his words again.
Satoshi walked over to Ayumi.
Satoshi:
"It's going to be alright" he said rubbing her back.
"We'll walk you home, all of us" he looked back at the group to see five nods, then nodding himself he looked back at the weak figure before him.
The group didn't talk at all as they followed Ayumi to her house and departed.
~In Ayumi's Home~
Ayumi flopped onto the bed and started to sob again. Hinoe heard and walked in.
Hinoe:
"What's wrong?" She had a mixed look of curiosity and concern.
Ayumi explained the entire story to her sister.
Hinoe:
"You must really love him." To which Ayumi nodded.
"Do you have a picture?" Ayumi handed her sister the picture.
"You know…" Studying both the picture and her sister's small weak frame that looked harmed from all the crying.
"If there's some site that you have dedicated to him, such as a grave or tribute, you can talk to him…well, sort of, you can say things to him and I can guarantee that he can hear, he just can't say anything that you can hear, without the proper spell of course."
Ayumi:
"But Heavenly Host and the closed spaces"
Hinoe:
"I know that that doesn't affect graves" She shifted her hands in her pockets.
~The Next Day~
Ayumi went through school with a lugubrious attitude, as Satoshi and Naomi tried to comfort her after they broke their news to her, telling her that they were dating.
Naomi:
"I thought you weren't interested in Satoshi like that…"
Ayumi:
"I-It's…It's not that…" She was talking through sobs
Naomi:
*?*
Ayumi:
"It's that everyone gets to be with their loved ones, you and Satoshi, Mayu and Sakutaro, Seiko and you, everyone…" Putting her hands on her face.
"Everyone but me" Naomi looked at her contritely
Naomi:
"I'm sorry"
Ayumi:
Solemnly "It's okay" staring down at her feet.
~After School~
Ayumi stood at Yoshiki's grave looking down with concern. Stating all the things that were now happening, how she missed him, how she loved him, pleading at one point for him to come back to her, and finally:
"I promise that I'll come every day, I don't want you to be alone" she knew she would keep her promise.
And she did, coming every day, talking to him, occasionally bringing him flowers, always staying to talk for hours on end, unaware that he was listening to her the entire time, every time, she kept her promise, knowing that they would always love one-another.