The Aftermath

"Yoshiki, do you ever think about… how we got here?" Satoshi asked, taking a small sip of his steaming hot chocolate.

Yoshiki was uncharacteristically silent. He turned, set his hot chocolate down on the table, and then engulfed Satoshi in a hug.

"I try not to."

Satoshi let out a small sigh, and laid back on their plush, hideous maroon couch. Yoshiki was laying on top of him in the new position, his face buried in the smaller man's chest. The faint rainbow lights from their Christmas tree only illuminated the room slightly, and Satoshi had turned the TV off a few minutes before.

"Sometimes I think about it. Heavenly Host… and everything after," Satoshi offered, trying to get Yoshiki to open up.

"Satoshi, I love you more than anything, and don't take this the wrong way, but we experienced Heavenly Host in vastly different ways."

Satoshi knew that. He had known it since the moment Yoshiki had first opened up to him. Satoshi thought what he had been through was hell… but he couldn't imagine being there with a girl who he loved, who barely cared for him at all, constantly having to save her, and just trying to keep yourself alive.

Of course, Satoshi could relate to a degree. Yuka often needed saving, but at least he and Yuka mutually cared for each other.

Yoshiki was chasing a girl who was already chasing someone else, protecting a girl who threw herself into dangerous situations without a second thought, and had to keep himself alive. At the end of the day, the others had simply survived, but Yoshiki and Ayumi had gotten them a way out. Well, Ayumi formulated the plan, and made Yoshiki execute it. Anyone could make a plan with the right information, but Satoshi wasn't sure he could have done all the things Yoshiki had.

It was partially what made Satoshi love him so endlessly.

"I loved her. It's so hard to just," Yoshiki paused, and Satoshi held his breath, "it's so hard to live with everything she did after. What she did to me. What she did to you."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

There was a brief pause. They both stared at the rainbow colored Christmas tree, covered in various cute ornaments they had purchased at their local Target. The tree had so many pieces of both of them on it, from the adorable ornament with a baby picture of Satoshi that his mother had given him, to the glass, red, electric guitar Yoshiki had boughten on a whim in June.

"Maybe it would be better if we both talked about it. You can try to shoulder my pain, but I'm sure as hell not letting you shoulder everything alone."

Everyday, Satoshi was sure he loved Yoshiki more and more.

"I can't believe… we made it home."

The phrase was whispered by an infamous girl, known for her love of black magic and her harsh leadership in class 2-9.

"Satoshi… you saved us!" Naomi cried out, charging at the unsuspecting brunette and engulfing him into a large hug, her large breasts pressing uncomfortable against him. Shinohara seemed to notice his growing blush.

"Naomi! Why does Satoshi get to feel your amazing breasts! Come on, give little old me some love!"

As soon as the paper doll had been chucked out the window, the haze covering their minds seems to fade. The mysterious deja vu all began to make sense.

This wasn't their first attempt at the charm.

Ayumi backed away, gripping her pigtails, "I...I don't understand! It was a charm I found on the internet, how could it…"

"There is a reason you aren't supposed to do creepy charms, and come on, it's not like we don't go to those dumb seminars every year about how you aren't supposed to trust everything you see on the internet," Naomi snapped, her stance suddenly becoming a lot more tense and hostile.

Ayumi glared right back, "how was I supposed to know it was actually real!"

"Guys, lets not fight!" Ms. Yui said, getting in between the two girl's line of vision, hoping to stop any future conflict.

"Oh… my… I…" Morishige took a step back from the group, crashing into one of the nearby desks. He was shaking, staring at his hands in abject horror. Mayu shivered, grabbing onto her shoulders, "smashed… into a million pieces."

It seemed as the reality of what happened sunk in, the group progressively began to lose their grip on their own reality.

"Seiko! You… I killed… Seiko!" Naomi began to sob hysterically, latching onto Seiko. Seiko herself seemed to be at a loss for words, but managed to snap herself out of the collective hysteria that had begun, holding Naomi tightly and trying to comfort her in anyway she could.

That was Seiko. Nothing could get her down, even being hanged by her own best friend.

"Big brother…" Yuka let out a wail and latched onto Satoshi's leg. She began to cry, and Satoshi gently patted her head.

"There there, we're safe now," but Satoshi's voice was shaky, as he struggled to come to terms with what had happened. What almost happened again.

Ayumi continued to pull on her hair, "I don't understand!"

"Shinozaki, you need to calm down-" Yoshiki was abruptly cut off, the hand he had been holding out was slapped away.

"Don't touch me! Don't ever touch me! Can't you see after all of that, Kishinuma! I don't love you! I never have, and I never will!"

Yoshiki staggered back, as if he had been punched in the gut, "I'm sorry," was the only phrase he managed to whisper out before his eyes glazed over, clearly with unshed tears. He rapidly blinked them away, upon realizing that Satoshi was actively staring at the pair's squabble. Yoshiki merely shrugged, mouthing "girls are crazy." But, Satoshi wasn't that oblivious. He knew Ayumi's words had cut deep.

"Shinozaki, please calm down!" Ms. Yui shouted, rushing over to the hysterical teenager.

It was complete chaos.

"Everyone, enough!" Satoshi shouted, silencing the group, his voice echoing in the nearly empty classroom, "freaking out doesn't do us any good! We got out, the charm failed this time, we aren't going back!"

Those words seemed to ground the group. Morishige finally managed to look up, look at the rest of them, and Mayu seemed to finally understand that she was corporeal, that she was no longer a bag of guts that Morishige himself had held and dug through. Naomi finally seemed calm enough to let go of Seiko, and Seiko mustered the courage to grab her hand, tightly. Yoshiki looked at him, his eyes already blank in ways Satoshi was familiar with, his normal expression, an expression that hid everything.

Yuka let go and looked at her older brother, "big brother," she whimpered.

"Look, guys, we should just… relax. Freaking out will only make things worse," at this point, Satoshi really didn't have anything to add. He couldn't think of anything else to add to calm the group.

"If you'd all like, you can all stay at my place tonight. I live alone, and I'm sure most of you don't want to be alone now," Yoshiki said, noticing Satoshi's internal debate of what else he could add to alleviate the situation.

"You're probably only inviting us over so you can be a pervert! You'd probably just… grope me or the other girls in our sleep! Why should we trust the class delinquent?"

Satoshi's eyes went wide at Ayumi's rude comment. Yoshiki had protected her throughout their stay at Heavenly Host, why the sudden hostility?

Yoshiki took a small step forward, the sound impossibly loud in the silent classroom. "If we're all there, how would I possibly get away with something like that?"

For a brief moment, everyone was silent, thinking over what to say. Satoshi stared at his reflection in the grey tile, wondering how his expression managed to look do weathered and old. He was only seventeen. As Satoshi turned to look at the blackboard, looked at the beautiful writing, Culture Festival, he knew he had made up his mind.

"I'm in." Mayu and Satoshi said at the same time, the pair looking at each other oddly, before Mayu gave him a warm smile and Satoshi let out a small snort.

Seiko and Naomi stared each other down, until they both nodded at Yoshiki.

"I'm in… if I'm invited," Morishige added quietly, looking at the group hesitantly.

Of course, the entire group could see why Morishige was asking. Some of them had done bad things, but the things Morishige had done were far more severe. Even in the correct timeline, his motives and actions were questionable at best.

"I said all of you, didn't I?" Yoshiki said with such a nonchalance, it almost seemed like he wasn't inviting a necrophiliac into his apartment. But, that had always been one of his many charms, his ability to make everything seem to easy, so uncomplicated.

Wait, many charms?

"I'll go too," Ayumi agreed, mumbling "only for Mochida," under her breath. Of course, the entirety of the group heard.

"I'm sorry, I can't. Laws and all, but call me if anything comes up, I'm sure I can bend the law in case of an emergency." Ms. Yui then proceeded to write her number on Yoshiki's hand, "no funny business, mister."

Yoshiki grinned, "I'll be on my best behavior, ma'am. Scout's honor."

That night, not many words were spoken. They all simply enjoyed each other's presence, and remained thankful that they were saved.