Rika T. Strange here, with the forth and almost-final chapter of my fic! I hope you guys have all been enjoying it so far 3 I know I've been having fun writing it!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Since FF. net's a bitch and won't upload text that has been struck through (like I originally intended some of the words to be) they will instead be bolded and not underlined, the latter state only present when the text around the words is underlined (you'll see what I mean). ALSO. When he's writing, the words that are supposed to be crossed out are Lavi's. When he's thinking, speaking, or there's narration, the words that are supposed to be crossed out are Bookman's.

Characters are Hoshino's!

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He glanced up at the clock on his wall: two thirty a.m., exactly. If anything, he was more reluctant than ever to leave. Five years of not only observing but fighting alongside his Lavi's ink… The stain it left on him was even greater than he thought.

But he still had to leave, didn't he? That's a given. He didn't want to but he had to. He owed that much to tradition, after breaking away from so much. Receiving a heart, deliberately omitting someone from the historical record… He was a terrible Bookman, and he'd only had the job for a few months.

But I don't understand why.

The thought had come out of nowhere, but it made sense in a way. He didn't understand what had driven him to want a heart, or to try and balance two different lives at once. And wasn't that important, to understand why he did things? To understand why the ink he recorded did things?

And maybe it was flimsy logic, but it was logic nonetheless.

So he wouldn't leave, not yet. Because there was still so much to learn from this ink, these people. He pulled out a new log and set it down to write. After cracking the spine, he opened to the title page and carefully penned the title.

"A Treatise on the Human Heart"

Bookman "Lavi" 49th

It wasn't part of the secret history of the world. And it wasn't something a Bookman normally wrote. But it was important, for himself and his successors. Because maybe, it was time they were allowed to have hearts to better understand their ink.

When it was done, he'd return. He wasn't sure what his home-coming would entail, whether he would still want or need a heart.

But he would return.

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Rika says: I always thought "Lavi" was both his 49th identity, and the 49th Bookman-to-be. Just 'cause. Reviews and con crit LOVED! And I know at one point, I promised I'd make another chapter concluding all this... But as of right now, it's not working out. I've already murdered my "one chapter a week" deadline and I can't think of anything to start with, even WITH suggestions! So until further notice, this is the last chapter. It works as one, I promise!