A/N: Song Series-centric, with Ayano gone, but before everyone separates because, in all honesty, I hate that it ended like that. :'(

The Kagerou Project Ending

At first, it was just in his dreams. He'd slide into sleep to find himself confronted with her small smile and her, "Hi, Hibiya-kun."

There wasn't really much to say. He would walk through the blank landscape of his dreamland to stand by her side and nod in acknowledgement. At first, the dream had somewhat bewildered him, but it was already pretty obvious who she was. He'd heard enough about her, anyways.

"Watch," she'd say, running her hand through the whiteness before her, opening a blurry video of the Dan.

They'd stand there in companionable silence, watching the scenes with a sense of longing and a feeling that they belonged there, even though they sort of didn't.

Sometimes, Ayano would try to make conversation.

"So… Shuuya, Kousuke, and Tsubomi are doing well?" she'd ask, her eyes still glued to the screen like she wanted to fall through it - down, down, down and back into the cotton-candy warmth of the Dan. "It seems like they are." She'd run her hand over their faces with a soft smile. "Though Shuuya seems to be having a little trouble, sometimes."

It would take a minute for him to translate their names into how he knew them. Kano. Seto. Kido. "Yeah," he'd say, watching their faces with a furrowed brow. "Kido beats up Kano a lot, though."

"Mhmm. It's kind of cute, though, huh?"

"Not really."

"And Marry is so sweet. I think she and Kousuke are really great together!"

"I guess. They're always together, anyways."

Ayano would add commentary to the scenes, little, "Oh, I should've expected that from Shintaro!"s or "Takane and Haruka are getting along better than I even imagined!"

And he'd nod, politely, without saying anything. Because he knew "Takane" as "Ene" and "Haruka" as "Konoha." But everything had changed and, without really seeing it in person, it was hard to get used to.

Sometimes, he'd wonder if Ayano should take his place in the Dan, or if she was bitter about her passing. He asked her about it once, but she just shrugged it off with a smile and didn't answer.

And then she started appearing around him, in real life.

He'd be walking through the hallways at school, hearing whispers about Hiyori's disappearance erupt whenever he passed. And he'd scan the shifting faces of his classmates to see a flash of a red scarf and dark hair, a sad, yet comforting smile.

Soon, she began to appear for long stretches of time, sitting silently next to him in class or leaning over him as he did his homework.

"Hi, Hibiya-kun," she'd say, popping into existence suddenly and clasping her hands behind her back with a smile. "Am I bothering you?"

They became friends, sort of. They talked and she laughed and he shrugged off the fact that she really just wanted a connection back to the Dan and she'd somehow found it through him.

Not to mention that she had a seemed obsessed with Shintaro and constantly reminded Hibiya that he was practically a "shota-version" of the boy in question, and therefore could be his son. Which was kind of scary.

And now he was on the train ride back to the Dan, seemingly alone, as no one could see Ayano's translucent form sitting next to him, her hands folded in her lap and her smile just a crescent sliver of dim light.

"Are you excited?" she asked.

"No," he answered, sullenly. "They probably don't want me back."

But Ayano shook her head, resolute. "They're family," she reminded him. "They really miss you, you know."

Hibiya shrugged. "You, too," he responded, and Ayano pursed her lips, leaving Hibiya to wonder whether she fell between joy at still being remembered and guilt for putting them through grief.

"It's different," she said, and they both heard the words lingering unbidden in the air: Unlike you, I'll never be able to go back.

But she waved the sullen moment away and smiled brightly like it would fix everything, wrapping her nonexistent fingers around his wrist and urging him forwards.

"This is the stop," she informed him, cheerfully.

He pushed himself to his feet, offering her a rare smile.

"Let's go," she said, squeezing his hand in anticipation as the train doors began to slide open. Finally, they'd see the real faces of the Dan again.

As light flooded through the widening crack between the train doors, he heard wailing erupt. "Hibiyaaaaaaa!"

Ayano's hand tightened on his, passing through his skin. Her lips moved to form words, the sunlight filtering through her warm, flickering form, before the wind swept her away and back into nothingness. She was gone the second the Dan collided with him, knocking him to the floor.

As they swarmed him, he pushed himself up, stunned, to stare at where she had stood. Throughout the whole summer, she had never said that to him once. So what did this mean?

The wind picked up again, ruffling his hair like Ayano's hand, whispering, "Goodbye," like it was carrying her voice.