~ Michi ~

"Wha' time is it?" I mumbled, stretching as I woke up.

Toma sighed, rolling over to face me and drawing his arms tighter around my back. "Almost eleven."

"I really slept in…" I was generally useless without an alarm clock. "Wait, don't you have work today?"

He shook his head. "I called out."

"What for?"

"I wanted to spend the day with you."

"Well that's irresponsible."

"You're so mean…" Toma sighed. "Can't we just stay here for the rest of the day…?"

I blushed, somewhat tempted. "Sorry, but no. We have to go out, and since you're not working you can come with me."

"Whyyy?" He groaned, flopping on top of me lazily.

"Hey! Cut that out!" I laughed. "We're out of shampoo. I have more hair than you, you know."

"Really? I didn't even notice. I'm used to only shopping for one person, I guess."

"I couldn't even wash my hair last night. Come on. Up!" I shoved him off and he rolled onto his back with a huff.

"Fine… But we can come back here after, right?"

I smirked. "Now who's acting like a child?"

He frowned, pouty, and moved to kiss me. "I could easily remind you which one of us is more childish, you know…"

"Eek!" I hopped out of bed before he could lure me into staying. "Get dressed, okay?" I grabbed my own outfit and claimed the bathroom. "Pain in the ass, trying to…" I frowned. What was Toma's ultimate goal? What did he want in the end, throughout the course of his entire life? Each moment he lived, what was he really trying to do? What was he aiming for?

"So…"

"AHH!" I jumped a foot in the air as Musca floated through the door.

"You seem happy. Little glowy face going on there…"

"Is not!" I pulled on my regular clothes, always feeling prettiest in plaid and checkers. "Geez…"

"Oh, well…" Musca smiled, rubbing at her palm.

I frowned at the sight of the diamond still there. "I… I don't know what else to do, Musca. I can't figure him out, how to solve this pathway."

She pressed her lips together. "Don't worry. Even if you end up going beyond the deadline… Everything will be fine."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Trust me; you don't need to concern yourself too much. Just focus on living happily in your everyday life."

"But Ukyo said that the deadline was important before, and up until just now you've been so worried…" I frowned, made uneasy by her sudden change of heart.

"Ukyo is just a human. He doesn't know the Spirit World like I do. Trust me." Musca smiled, but it didn't reach her weary eyes.

"… Okay. If you say so." There had been a strange twinge in my gut since waking up this morning, but I'd pushed it away. Now it was in the forefront, an almost nauseous stirring. I didn't have a good feeling about today; not one bit.

~ Toma ~

I watched Michi as she stared at the assortment of shampoos lining a shelf at the store. "Do you always take this long to decide…?"

"No, usually I just get the cheapest one. Comes in the two-pack." She pointed to it, a nondescript off-brand. "But since you're paying… I was wondering if I should try something new?" She tugged on her hair. "Might make it softer, or smell nice."

I smiled. Despite everything, she could still be a bit girly when she wanted to be. Rather, deep down she cared about these sorts of things even though she pretended not to. "Just pick what you want."

"Cool." She picked a floral-scented brand, expensive for her norm but less than what I usually paid.

"You really deserve someone to spoil you…" I murmured without thinking.

"Eh?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Nothing!" I cleared my throat. "Remember when you used to come to my house to shower?"

"Yeah… It was yours and Shin's alternating, but once we started dating I never went to Shin's." She shrugged. "That would've been waaay too awkward…"

"I never really realized what kind of life you had," I murmured. "How lucky I was to have had both my parents, at least for a while." Everything had gone wrong, but I'd been better off than Michi.

"You make it sound like I had a horrible time growing up," she laughed. "I did alright. We got by just fine. I have you guys, so everything turned out. I'm happy now."

I nodded, only able to offer a halfway sincere smile. She kept blossoming as time went on while I remained the same, stagnant. Sooner or later she might end up leaving me, drifting past as she forged ahead for herself. I couldn't handle that, so I had to be strong enough to hold her back.

"I'm gonna go and get one more thing for myself, okay? Be right back."

"Okay…" I heaved a sigh.

"What are you thinking about?" Musca asked quietly.

"Nothing."

"Don't even try lying to me. Come on, talk."

"I can't really imagine life without her. That's my problem."

Musca tilted her head thoughtfully. "I understand. It's a difficult thing for me to fathom as well. But sometimes separation is inevitable and we simply have to accept it."

I hesitated. "You can't stay with Michi forever, can you?"

Musca looked away, remaining silent for a few long beats. "Of course not. I'm a spirit and she's a human. Our worlds, the places we belong, are different."

"When do you have to go?"

"Ah, looking forward to getting rid of me?" She smirked mirthlessly.

"… Michi will be sad."

"Yeah. I don't know how to tell her. I… I can't just say goodbye. There's never going to be a right time. But I don't have a choice."

"You know exactly how I feel, don't you? I have the choice and the chance to stay with her, so why shouldn't I take it?" I murmured.

"I don't know. Why shouldn't you?" She gazed at me evenly.

"Don't do that, trying to act mysterious."

"I can't give you the answer, since I'm not you and I'm obviously biased. Figure out your life for yourself."

"Whatever, Musca…"

"Whatever, Toma…" She mimicked my grumping.

"What's taking Michi so long?"

"How should I know? I'm here with you, in your wonderful company…"

I rolled my eyes, browsing aisles in search of her. "What are you doing?" I found Michi crouching in front of hair accessories.

"So, I figured that!" She hopped up. "Maybe I should look some kind of nice for the firework thing. No reason! Just, uh… I dunno. I'm probably just being stupid. Stupid ideas. Anyways!" She shook her head. "Uh… Yeah."

"But you already have this." I tapped the flower pin already pinning some of her bangs back.

"Yeah, I know, but…" She shrugged. "Oh well." She nervously toyed with a silver pin in the shape of an arrow. "I'm gonna get this. Treat myself."

"You're funny." Seeing how easy she was to please was endearing in a way.

"Anyways… Are we done? Is that all we need?"

"I think so. Should we plan meals for this week?" I found myself easily getting lost in the sense of a steady domestic life.

"Oh." Michi shrugged. "I dunno…" She frowned, then shook it off to smile a bit. "I think we're fine. Let's just get back, okay?"

"Cool." I just agreed, choosing not to question her uncomfortableness as all I really wanted was to get home too. Still, her silence on the way back was unnerving, and her expression was tight as if she was deep in thought. When we got back she sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her arms, staring at the wall. "What's the matter?" I asked reluctantly, sitting next to her.

"I'm gonna go home now, Toma."

"What, but…" I shook my head. "That's dangerous."

"Nothing's happened at all after the one incident."

"You got stabbed. Don't just call it an incident."

"Look… Staying here isn't helping at all. I… I can't just run and hide anymore. I hate it. So, I'm going home now. If my mom finds me, then that's fine."

"No, it's not! What if you die this time? This isn't a joke, Michi."

"Look, Toma…" She flinched when I grabbed her wrist.

"I can't… I can't just let you go like this. If anything happened to you…"

She took a breath. "I'm going home. That's that; it's my decision." She pulled away and started gathering her things, frowning.

"Why, all of a sudden, are you doing this…?" It didn't make any sense to me.

"… I don't know much about this world, or this life I'm in. Half of the time I just stumble around. I'd have lost my way completely by now if it hadn't been for Musca and all of you guys. The one thing I'm sure of is that…" She sighed and came back to sit next to me. "In this life at least, I've spent it all learning how to take care of myself and how to fight on my own. That's gotten me to this point; that's why I was able to fight for other people too. This thing with my mom… I guess it's destiny, as much as everything else was. Fate's gonna fuck with me one last time, and I'm not going to back down here. That would go against everything it means to be the me who wants nothing more than to be in this world." She clenched her hands into fists. "I want to fight. I'm never going to lose again."

I put my head in my hands, hopelessly lost. I couldn't understand. Her words, the tenacity of the meaning behind them, were lost on me. "That's it," I murmured.

"Toma…" Musca stared at me warily, obvious in her fear of what I was going to do next.

"I think I get it now." I looked into Michi's eyes and she regarded me silently with the same determination she'd always had. "Something you have… that I could never find in myself. The will to fight. I've never… I don't have that in me, Michi. So I needed you; I thought I did. I wanted to take that fight from you all for myself. I don't know what it means for me to live in this world. You can get by with saying you'll fight whatever comes at you, but the thought I have is always, why fight? I just… I don't have the answer, Michi. I thought you were the answer, but… That can't be true, can it? You're something outside of me, not within me."

"Yeah," Michi murmured. "You're gonna have to find your own reason."

"I don't know if I can," I whispered, holding her hand tightly.

"Do it anyways."

"It's… really scary," I laughed weakly.

"Say fuck you to fear and just do it. That much will take you somewhere, probably." Michi shrugged. "I'm not really sure if there's any meaning to life at all. But still, I have a desire to be here that's a part of me. I think that that part of yourself is something you have to forge on your own."

I let go of her hand even though it felt like it would kill me to do it. "Go, Michi. I think… that we have to be on separate pathways now."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I'm reaching the end of mine. Good luck as you start yours."

"Thanks." After that I didn't really trust myself to speak. She left unceremoniously, waving and turning away with her shoulders back and head high, the door clicking shut behind her.

What did it mean to love someone? What was the meaning of life? Was there a good reason for me to be here other than living to eventually die? I wanted to hold the answers to these intangible questions in my hands, but they had always flown from my grasp. The only thing I knew now that had changed me was that trying to hold on to someone who had their own answers wouldn't actually help me find mine. I had to go in alone. I had to let go, no matter how much it hurt to release control.

I stood shakily, wiping wayward tears off my face and not really knowing who I was without her in my thoughts. Just like she was walking towards her own fate, I had to find mine.

~ Michi ~

"This really wasn't how I expected my day to go when I woke up this morning," I mused, feeling paradoxically weighed down and lightened by what had just transpired.

"… How'd you do it?" Musca murmured.

"Eh?"

"You solved it. Toma's pathway. The diamond's gone." She showed me her hand, now devoid of symbols.

"I did? Seriously? Sweet!"

"… You had no idea, did you? What you just did wasn't even an attempt to resolve things."

"It was too! I'm resolving my own shit."

She shook her head and laughed. "I don't know why I'm surprised at all. This is so like you… But I think I understand."

"Hm?"

"Toma's pathway was different from the others. It was never going to be solved by forging love between the two of you; he'd always felt that from the beginning. With the others, you had to get them to hold on to something: Shin and his ambitions and his father, Ikki and his right to happiness, and Kent with his emotions. They all had to learn to take for themselves. Toma does too; he has to learn to grasp his own sense of self and purpose. But the key here, the thing I never thought of, was that in order to win… Toma had to let go of you. That was the key here."

"Damn. No wonder this was so complicated."

"But you did it anyways. Now there's just one more pathway…"

"What?! I thought there were four! What the actual fuck?!"

"Calm down," Musca laughed. "I'm talking about yours. There were five pathways originally, and you're in place of the final one. The Joker pathway."

"Oh…" I nodded. "Well, I guess that makes sense. So I'm the Joker… I guess Ukyo was the last one?"

"Correct. This is the finale of sorts. It's up to you."

"No pressure…" I shrugged. "I think I know what I have to do anyways."

"Yes." Musca took my hand and held it tightly. "You have to take your place in this world once and for all." She sighed. "I thought I could do more to help you. I thought I could get Toma to help too… I wanted to do something to help you, anything. But in the end, this is something you have and want to do on your own. I understand that now. It's never been up to me. The choices you've made, getting here and fighting hard, that's all been you. I'm… I'm so glad to have gotten to join you on this journey. I'm so glad to have met you."

"Yeah." I smiled. "You're the most precious person to me, you know that Musca?"

She smiled back up at me, eyes watery and pained. "And you as well, Michi."

Fate was waiting when I got back to my apartment in the form of my mother curled up in front of my door. When she saw me coming she stood and bounced down the stairs. "I've always had a feeling, you know!" She announced, stopping a few feet away from where I stood after dropping my bags on the ground and crossing my arms. "A feeling that maybe I wasn't supposed to be in this world."

"Me too." I felt sorry for this woman who wasn't supposed to exist. The truth that I was meant to be without a blood family in any world I was in was a hard but necessary one. "But I belong here. I have to… I want to, and I'm going to stand by that. No matter what."

"I… won't release my hold on this existence. I know I'm incorrect… I know we both can't live on at the same time. The spirits all told me. The world they come from has always been close to both of our hearts, Michi. But I… I was labelled insane and sent far away from you. Locked up like that, I forgot everything, all except for your face and your name and the knowledge that I couldn't properly exist while you lived. So I decided… I decided to live."

"Then you'll have to kill me, once and for all. Aim your knife towards my heart this time. Strike honestly. At least try. But last time was the only time I'm going down without a fight. I had doubts then, but… I belong here. Everything I've done and the bonds I've made don't mean nothing. I always knew I wasn't really from this world, and so I didn't know if I actually belonged. I wasn't sure if anything I was doing was real, or if it had meaning even while I was struggling to figure things out. But now, I… I want so badly to live on, just as I am. I'm so happy to be alive. I'm taking my place here, once and for all." I smiled helplessly. "I'm gonna live."

"Michi…" Musca floated out from behind me, joining my side. "Michi will not die today. You…" She pointed to my mother. "You are an anomaly. You are the final test sent here by the rulers of the Spirit World to question the legitimacy of our intervention into the world of humans. And you will not win. I would never allow such a thing. Besides… Michi has made her choice. She has chosen to live on in this world. You… Nothing will stop her. I know this better than anyone."

"What happened to me doing this on my own?" I flicked the back of her head.

"Sorry… I couldn't help myself. Knowing that this is our last day together… I can't stand by and do nothing."

My heart squeezed painfully. "I get it."

"So this is what it is." My mother nodded, her voice changing suddenly; the sound was now of many voices but flowing as one sound at the same time. "We understand now."

"What's going on…?" I stared, instantly losing all comprehension.

"We took this form to best see into your hearts for ourselves. The worlds of spirts and humans were never meant to collide, we had always thought. Yet with his interventions the spirit Nhil sent his vassal Orion and a bond was formed between the spirit child and the one called the Heroine. We were perplexed and angered all at once, and wanted to see it again for ourselves, so we introduced this anomaly into the world. What would the newest Heroine and her spirit partner do if threatened with death, we wondered?"

"So…" I grasped for words. "In short, you bastards from the Spirit World decided to interfere with my very own pathway…? By, uh, trying to kill me?"

"How dare you!" Musca snapped. "How dare you endanger Michi's life just to satisfy your own curiosities!"

"We found the answer, regardless. When faced with threat, the spirit Musca decided to do anything in order to protect the human Michi, even at cost to herself and compromising her morals. The human Michi in the end decided to live. We understand now. These worlds of ours are not so disparate."

"That's little consolation," Musca muttered.

"We know this, and so listen well, although this is not an apology for you and your master also defied the rules of the Spirit World, spirit Musca. The deadline established has been met, and so… the wish you hold most dear to your own heart will be granted."

Musca's eyes widened. "Wait… You mean…?"

"The journey is over; the Joker may smile now, picking up whichever card it may like." And with that my mother, or rather the husk of her that had been used by the rulers of the Spirit World in one last challenge, turned and walked away.

"I feel like… I just got… I dunno." I shook my head. Musca was speechless as well. "Let's just get back home, okay?" I sighed, lugging my things back into my apartment. "It's different now. Comparing the beginning of this ride to the end… I feel like something… I gained something important." I plopped on my bed, exhausted.

"… Just like you, I have to go home too, Michi."

"… I…" With that tears started streaming down my cheeks. "I know that, of course. We both… know that. It wasn't like you could stay with me forever… We're still from different worlds."

"Yes." Musca hiccupped with sobs and struggled to speak through them. "Listen to me… After this you won't remember anything about the Spirit World, or about… about me."

"What?!" I leaped up, grabbing onto both of her hands as if that could anchor her here with me. "But you… You're…!" I sobbed. "You're a part of me! Everything that's happened, you were there by my side all along! All of these memories with Shin and Ikki and Kent and Toma and everyone else, every single moment, they won't be the same without you!"

"Michi… I treasure every second. I always will. And I… I pray that we'll meet again. But you simply won't be able to remember me. You've become a part of this world. The spirits don't need to guide you anymore. You fought hard enough to earn a sure place here, so go and live, okay? Follow your heart towards whatever path you decide. I want you to be happy; the happiest person in the world."

"Don't…!" She was fading away, shimmering softly. It felt like something was being ripped out of my chest. "You're my best friend, please don't go! I don't know if I can do any of this shit without you!"

"You did so much on your own. Have faith." She touched her forehead to mine. "Farewell, Michi."

"Musca!" Then she was gone, disappearing in a brief glitter of light, and I fell onto my knees, sobbing. I would treasure it for as long as I could, all of these precious moments.


I woke up the next morning looking like I had cried myself to sleep ferociously but couldn't quite remember why. "Eh… Whatever." I shrugged it off, nagged with a strange feeling throughout my morning routine. Normally being alone wouldn't bother me, but there was a slight sense that something was off.

Even so, this feeling faded throughout the day as I reestablished my work schedule and then took a day to just walk around town. There were so many memories here; for some reason I was going around feeling all sentimental.

The lake where Shin and I had become friends. The stairs of my former apartment, where Ikki had confessed to me twice. The karaoke joint where Kent and I had destroyed a love ballad. Toma's apartment, so close and far from mine. All of these places and these people were so important, and yet…

Something was missing. Something would just always be missing.

I smiled and sighed at the feeling. Despite it all, it was so warm and hopeful. It was like I was carrying a wish in my heart, a wish that was my own and someone else's as well. I would bear it with me always.


I dialed on my phone, pacing my room anxiously and jumping when the other end picked up. "Sawa!"

"Yeah? Mine and I are literally on our way over, Michi, you didn't have to call."

"GUESS WHAT FUCKING DAY IT IS!"

"It's the fireworks festival."

"I'M FREAKING OUT!"

"Okay, well, we're here."

I hung up and ran out to let them in. "Welcome, to my humble abode!"

"Geez… You're more excited for this than I thought you'd be," Sawa laughed, grinning at me.

"Yeah, well…" I shrugged. "It's for reasons of plan."

"What?" Mine raised her eyebrows. The two of them were already dolled up in yukata and while I had at least dressed in the red autumn leaf patterned one I had gotten while with Sawa what seemed ages ago, I desperately needed help in the departments of hair and makeup.

"Nothing… Well, I'll tell you guys. But first please help meeee!"

"I'll have you sparkling in two seconds." Mine smiled confidently and made me sit. "Now don't you dare even blink."

"How do you do this every day?" She was always so perfect in her makeup while I was usually too lazy to even bother despite their lessons.

"All it takes is a little dedication, you know." She wiped my face off a few times, changing colors of lip and eyelid color, but finished at last. "Nice. Subtle really works on you. Sawa, your turn."

"Alright!" Sawa cracked her fingers and ran them through my hair. I'm keeping your braid theme, but putting your hair up, okay?"

"I trust you guys." I forced myself to sit completely still despite the constant urge to fidget nervously. "So, uh… Something you said, Sawa, made me want to do something."

"Oh, really? What was it?"

"You said that… Um, that you were going to confess to Kent tonight. No matter what, for the sake of your own feelings. I really admire the fortitude it takes to just do it, you know, so… Well, I figured… I'd do the same thing. Tonight, I'll, uh… make a confession too."

Mine squealed, hopping excitedly. "To who?!"

"Whom," I corrected.

"Now you care about grammar? Just tell us!"

"Well, uh…"

Sawa sighed as she finished my hair. "You have no idea, do you?"

I laughed. "Not a fucking clue!"


Heyy, Muffintops here. So I'm going to do an individual ending for Shin, Ikki, Kent and Toma because after all of this I can't NOT do that you know? Then there will be a so-called "True" ending and that's that. Thanks for coming this far and please stick with me for a little longer!

Also I just figured out the horizontal line button and I freaking wish I'd been smart enough to find it earlier MAN I AM SUCH A DINGUS