Notes: Hmm...might as well post all of this as soon as I can. Again, please don't criticize how far I am from canon. I WILL ignore you if you try.
Otherwise, I'd love to hear any comments. Thanks very much to Yuutousei and BlueFreesia for their reviews.
Yuu-san: Sorry about the Hokkaido thing. I just saw them go to Hokkaido in Azumanga Daioh, and it looked warm. ; Well, we can pretend that Aya-chan just used "somewhere warm" as a synonym for "vacation."
Here's Omi!
Omi
Omi had no idea what he wanted to do now.
He thought life would continue like normal, now that they had finished their mission to stop Eszett's leaders. Well, almost normal. He had imagined that Aya-chan would stay at the Koneko, and Sakura-chan would visit. He thought Yoji would womanize, and Ken would be his usual kind self, and Aya would clear out the flower shop trailer when things got too loud. And then Yoji would tease everyone, Ken would be embarrassed by the girls, and Aya would occasionally make a joke. And maybe sometimes Kritiker would send them a mission, and they would take it. Then afterwards, one of them would have a few issues to deal with, and the others would understand and let each other deal, and the next morning they would open the flower shop again smiling.
Which was basically what had happened.
Until now.
He knew they had all been avoiding what Birman forced them to confront—did they want to give up each other in exchange for the end of being an assassin? None of them were terribly proud of being killers, per se, but they had all formed an attachment to Weiss in the years they had been together. Which was why Omi should have expected to see what he did the last time he returned to the Koneko when Weiss disbanded. Yoji and Ken had not surprised him at all, other than for the first few seconds. The two of them always treated Weiss like their home. But Aya… Truth be told, Omi was not as surprised to see Aya as he should have been. It was, indeed, a small shock that Aya had returned even though his revenge was complete. But once Omi learned that Aya-chan had been kidnapped, everything made sense. No matter what Aya tried to make everyone believe, the rest of Weiss, Omi included, saw through him. When Aya-chan was in danger, and Aya needed help, he had not gone to the police, or searched for Kritiker, or, what was more likely, investigated it on his own.
Instead, Aya had returned to Weiss. Each and every time he said he was no longer part of Weiss, that he did not need it, that he wanted to do his own thing…every time, he had come back, to them and for them, because he needed them and they needed him. Near the end of the Takatori fiasco, Omi, Ken, and Yoji were dying in a makeshift bunker surrounded by helicopters and soldiers, and Aya had driven back to help them at risk of his own life and revenge.
When Schwarz had them cornered, and Manx was helping Sakura-chan and Aya-chan out of the collapsing structure, Aya stayed behind with Weiss. Omi knew that Aya could have gone with Manx then. Aya had his sister and Sakura-chan safe, and he had gotten his revenge on Takatori. He had very small need to eliminate Schwarz for personal reasons, and even if some degree of revenge could be suggested, Omi also was aware that most of it was for Weiss. For Ken, who was being thrown across the room by a laughing Farfarello. For Yoji, who was getting soundly pummeled by Schuldig. And for him, for Omi, who was pinned to a pillar by Nagi's powers. In some sense, too, Aya had stayed for himself. For the safety and friendship he had to have known the others gave him. Omi wondered now if Aya wanted to leave. After all, the swordsman had said he made a decision already.
As for Ken, Omi was almost positive that Ken was going. Ken had, out of the four, been the one who most often felt uncomfortable with specific assignments, and Ken was the one who seemed to have done the best outside of Weiss last time they tried to split up.
And Yoji? To be honest, Omi had the sneaking suspicion that Yoji would stay. Not that he underestimated Yoji, but Omi knew that the wire-wielding assassin had little else to do with his time. Of course, he could waste it on dating girls and drinking in bars, but Omi also saw through Yoji easily, and knew that Yoji needed Weiss, needed a way to do something good and ease his conscience, and, even after the Neu-Asuka incident, needed to deliver some sort of vengeance to the people who victimized innocent women. Because in the end, Yoji still blamed himself for everything that had happened to Asuka, even if Neu-Asuka had tricked him all along.
However, Omi still did not know what to do himself. He wanted nothing more than to keep running the flower shop with his three friends, now that he was finishing up his studies at the high school nearby. He wanted nothing more than to see Sakura-chan and Aya-chan laughing at "silly Ran-san" and watch Ken's confusion at his adoring fans as Yoji looked on with a smirk.
Omi wanted to live among the people who made him happy, but what if they wanted to leave? What if Aya was tired of sitting at the counter, or Yoji no longer felt like teasing? What if Ken wished he did not have to carry petunias and chrysanthemums back and forth all afternoon?
He supposed…he would have to find his own path. And, of course, he needed to let the others know: come hell or death or anything worse, he, Omi Tsukiyono, would always consider them his friends, and they were, under no circumstances, to forget that.