Final chapter! Sorry for the wait, faithful fans – I was waiting for the completion of the epic cover photo you see now. Seriously, click on it. Make the delay worth it! Big thanks to my friend Jake for providing it.
Big thanks as well to all my reviewers, who seem to be awaiting this chapter with bated breath. This will be the last official chapter, although I might post a followup if anyone calls me out on missed details or anything seems left out.
A few seconds later, the room was filled with a bloodcurdling scream.
It wasn't Midori screaming.
Aku fell to his knees, his legs paralyzed by the knife that Ayano had driven through his spine. She drew out the knife and pulled him around to face her. Begging for mercy, he tried feverishly to defend himself, but to no avail. Blood splattered every which way as the murderous schoolgirl impaled him repeatedly.
Once she was convinced that her victim was dead, she set down the knife. Though her heart was still racing, Midori slowly stood up, pulling her underwear back up in the process. "Th-thank you," she stammered.
"You're welcome," said Ayano. Proper manners were still a foreign concept, but it seemed appropriate. "There should be a spare uniform outside Info-chan's window. Get it for me, please. There would be no explaining all this blood."
Midori nodded. As much as she wanted a hug, she was still indebted to her senpai for saving her backside (and other parts of her body as well). She turned to the door, and pushed it open. Movement on the other side startled her a bit – and then she, and Ayano, realized who was standing there.
Taro Yamada. Senpai.
The girls weren't the only ones hit by realization. Taro did a double-take as the scene before him registered in his brain. A bloody knife on the floor next to the mutilated corpse of a classmate – laying at the feet of Ayano Aishi in a blood-soaked uniform.
He gasped, speechless. "You-" He struggled to find the right words. "You killed him! You monster!"
"No!" cried Ayano, her heart about to break. "It's not what it looks like! He- he was the monster!"
"How can you say that?" Taro asked, his voice shaking. "Look at all the blood! The – gulp – stab wounds. You murdered him!"
"I—I… I was trying to save-" Ayano glanced around. Midori had apparently sneaked out of the room. She'd be furious had she not been on the verge of tears.
"You weren't saving anyone!" Taro interrupted. "You were just… oh, God..." He had just done the math, and the true realization hit him. "You killed them, didn't you!? Kizana, and Amai, and…" Tears formed in his eyes. "and Osana… I will not rest until the whole school knows what you've done!" he sobbed.
It was over – Ayano knew it. Senpai could never love her now. The color flushed from her world; the room and the halls felt dark, gray, and lonelier than ever before. Well, there was a brief flash of green from outside the room, not that it mattered.
"How could you be so horrible!?" he continued, still too shocked to put his plan into action. As she fell to her knees, Ayano looked up at him. She wished only that he would stop talking, stop crushing her heart even more than he already had. And that's when she noticed someone else in the hall. Behind Taro, standing silently, was Midori – with the knife.
Her soft green eyes briefly met Ayano's, and she shrugged. Ayano knew she was about to make the hardest choice of her life – but she had to; her heart was broken and her mind had snapped. Worse, her Senpai's plans could only end with her rotting in prison, never to be happy again. With tears streaming from her eyes, she uttered three of the most powerful words she had ever spoken.
"Leave no witnesses."
Taro sensed something was very wrong. As his mind jumped back to the present reality, he realized someone was behind him, and whirled around. Before he could react, Midori Gurin rammed the knife into his chest. He collapsed to the floor, dead within seconds.
Midori pushed his body into the room, closed the door, and placed the fresh, clean uniform onto the shelf. Then she walked slowly to Ayano, still crying on the floor, and held out a hand for her. She took a long time even to try looking up, but eventually she took Midori's warm, soft hand, and pulled herself up.
Now wasn't the time for coherent thought and conversation. The heartbroken yandere buried her face in Midori's shoulder, holding her tightly. The younger girl returned her embrace, finally claiming the comforting she so needed after her own traumatizing event. The two of them remained standing together that way for a long time.
Eventually, Ayano mustered the mental strength to stand up straight and let go. "Thank you," she finally said. Silently, the girls collaborated on the ambitious project of cleaning up the double murder scene. The work couldn't keep Ayano's mind off her conflicted feelings, however. As she stuffed the bodies into trash bags, she considered how she could ever go on living without Senpai.
He could never love you after that, she thought. Right? I feel so stupid. I did everything too fast. She shook her head, wiping up a spot of blood from the wall. Why did I ever think I had a chance? I really am a monster. No one would knowingly stay with someone like me.
She glanced up to check on their progress, and her eyes met Midori's. And suddenly, all the pieces fell into place.
"You're still here," she said.
"Well, yeah!" replied the green-haired girl. "We aren't done cleaning up yet!"
"No," said the older girl. "I mean… you're still here with me."
Midori tilted her head, unsure where this was going. "You still needed help, right?" she asked.
Ayano sighed. "What I mean is, even after all the things I've done, after the people you watched me kill… you're still here. You didn't run away. You didn't tell anyone."
"Well, you told me not to! So I didn't."
The yandere set down her mop. "I never thought anyone could be that faithful to me," she admitted. "I thought I would have to hide what I really am, so that Senpai could love me. I didn't think- I didn't think I could have a real friend."
Midori was stunned. Not only had her senpai already told her that she was more useful than annoying, she had just called her a friend. As long as she could remember, no one had respected her like that. Meanwhile, Ayano had made up her mind.
"Get the rest of the blood mopped up while I go get rid of the bodies," she said, pulling the corpses onto a hand cart. "Then please meet me out in the back – you know, by the sakura tree."
Midori nodded. "Okay!" she said, taking the mop. "I'll see ya there!"
Ten minutes later, Ayano stood by the tree under the pink blossoms, watching for Midori. Waiting for her to reach the tree seemed like an eternity, even with the younger girl running as fast as she could. Finally, she stopped next to her.
Ayano waited a moment to allow her to catch her breath. "I don't know how to say this," she began.
"Maybe you can find a script somewhere," Midori suggested.
Ayano let it slide. "I've never met anyone else who supported the way I live," she said. "I've always had to fake my emotions because I never felt them for real. And I always had to hide my crimes to avoid being caught. But you accepted me. I don't know why, but you accepted me."
Midori blushed a little. She still wasn't used to being treated so nicely by a peer. "I guess there was just something interesting about you," she said.
"I thought my life was over when I lost Senpai," Ayano continued. "But there's still meaning and color in my life… and I think it's coming from you."
"It must be green," Midori observed. "I wear a lot of that color!"
Ayano took her hand. "I think I can live without him," she declared. "I realize I don't need Senpai to make me happy. Midori..." She swallowed hard. "I think I'm in love with you."
The green-haired girl's cheeks burned a brighter red than ever before. "You- you like me? You like me like that?"
"Yes. I want you to be my girlfriend."
For a moment, Midori was silent, contemplating what it could mean for her life. Finally, she made her decision, charging forward and hugging her tight. "I love you too, Yandere-chan!"
Yandere-chan. Clever. She had never thought of that before. She hugged Midori back, and once again they stood there for a long time, arms wrapped around each other. As the sakura petals fluttered through the air in the breeze, Ayano's lips met Midori's for the second time. And this time, she really meant it.