***
Aya sat, blanketed in the warm and golden sand as she stared at her lover. "Tooya..." she smiled at him as she placed her hand over his own. Her eyes scanned the beautiful view of the ocean and she let out a quiet sigh. O, how happy she was to be together with her Tooya and Miku. "I missed coming here together with you, Tooya," she giggled like a young schoolgirl as she smiled at her 1-year old toddler who was currently busy trying to catch the sandcrabs before they could scatter away. "Don't go off too far, Miku-chan!" She warned the girl as she began to wander off further and further away from their resting spot. "What am I saying? She can barely even walk; she's so young... But it feels as though she's growing so fast... Most babies can barely stand up at the age of 1 year... right?" Aya let out a lighthearted breath.
"Miku's special," Tooya's husky voice tested the air. He had meant that. Miku was a part of him, and the only human part of him at that. "She's special..." And so she was, with all that was said and done, a descendant of a Tennyo; perhaps the most beautiful and complicated Tennyo of all. 'The fact that she has MY blood... that is, before I became a mortal--running through her body is only helping in accelerating her motor skills and mental development.'
Tooya slung his arm around her shoulder and pressed her closer to his body, enjoying the warmth she was providing him. "It's cold," he finally breathed out, with a slight cough. He hugged his own body, but upon looking at Aya's anxious expression, he closed the space that was left between them, with a kiss.
Aya felt her own body melt as she dwelved deeper and deeper into the heated touch. She felt a burning blush creep up over her face as she finally broke the kiss. She turned her head forward and cried out to the calm wind in a playful voice, "I, Aya, will forever love Tooya until the skies break and... all the birds decide to lose their sense of flight and fall down to the ground! ... All at the same time too!"
"Ah, that just reminded me," his voice suddenly sounded much weaker and hoarse with only a tint of amusement surrounding its wearied edges. "This..."
"What, Tooya? What is it?" she caught the blinding shimmer of light as he pulled it out of his pocket. "It's... It's beautiful...!"
He held out a beautiful white gold locket in plain view. Embedded into the silvery cover was the image of a small white dove, which had been carved out of ivory. "I've been meaning to give this to you for quite some time. I guess I just never got around to it..."
"Locket... what's inside?" Aya inquired as she poked at it with her index finger.
Tooya let out a chuckle as he handed it to her. "You open it, Aya."
Anticipating what picture the locket would hold within, she slowly cracked it open and looked inside. "Hm?"
A graceful looking profile of Aya smiling, laced with a gleeful grin on the face of Miku, glazed the two halves of the inner walls of the small, scallop-shaped locket. "I love it... It's so beautiful, Tooya. Thank you."
"The perfect love," he explained to her flipping the locket onto its back. "The ivory dove represents an eternal peace. Peace of the mind, soul, and body. And the shell... well, I don't need to explain that one, do I?"
"I _love_ it, Tooya... But... how come a picture of you isn't included inside? There should be a picture of you and Miku-chan in here, not me and Miku-chan," she questioned him, a worried look prying its way onto her delicate face. "If it's the "perfect love," the perfect family... It should be you and Miku-chan... I'm gonna be the wearer of this locket, remember? People might think I'm awfully concieted if they see me wearing such a pretty locket with a picture of ME in it."
"It can't be me, Aya." After all... perfection was a mar in itself.
"Why?" Came the simple, one-word inquiry.
Aya waited for her solemn reply. One that would never come. Unknowingly, silver tears streaked its way down her face, and dripped onto the clean, tan sand. She lifted her hand up to her face and wiped a lone tear from under her eye. "Huh...? Why am I crying? I don't feel sad... but the tears just won't stop." She forced out a laugh as she wiped at her wet face with the back of her hand. She looked down at the white gold locket which was now held tightly within her grasp. She gave it a quick squeeze. "I'm happy, Tooya. Happy when I'm with you. That I get to _be_ with you like this. When you smile and say to me "I love you," my heart feels as though it's going to shatter and become whole all at once. Being loved is simple... but loving someone is hard and at times, painful. But as much as it hurts... I just can't help myself. Does that sound... a bit silly?"
Tooya let out a pained sigh and closed his eyes, trying to bask in the warm sunlight which had already stopped providing him with any sense of warmth for quite some time. For him, it was the exact opposite of what Aya had said about love. 'Being loved isn't at all simple... and neither is loving. It's all painful because eternity just doesn't exist. I'm sorry, Aya. As much as I myself wish to lead the life of a "fairytale" family... it just won't happen.'
"Ee..." was the only silent sound that escaped from his lips.
"Mama! Papa!" Miku's shrill and childlike voice echoed through the cool air which smelled of salt. "Look!" she cried in joy as she waddled over in a goose-like manner to the two of them, grasping in her hand, a substance which emitted a shiny light in the view of the sun.
"Miku-chan? What is it?" Aya asked kneeling in front of Miku, looking curiously at her tiny fisted hand, which concealed a hidden treasure.
Miku victoriously held out her right hand, and on her face, was plastered a big and silly looking grin. "Mama! For you!"
Aya carefully extended her hand to recieve the gift. Her eyes widened in familiarity and shock as she realized what Miku had just placed in her open palm.
"A shell..." she gasped as she stared at the small, white, scalloped seashell in her hand. She held it close to her heart and as tears once again began to sting at her eyes, she looked up at Miku and a sad and longing smile began to play on her lips. "Thank you... Miku-chan."
The young child nodded innocently and abruptly turned around, solidly marching off to the sea's shore once more. "And next is Papa! Miku's gonna find him the most prettiest shell _ever_!" Her bright eyes glimmered in the rays of the sun for just a second; evanescent laugh disappating into the heated sky.
***
"At that time... I didn't understand why my tears had begun to overflow. I was happy, I was really truly happy... Now that I finally get why unconsciously, I had begun crying, it stabs at my heart. To replay that memory in my mind over and over again, it's so utterly painful. You knew, Tooya... You knew at that moment that you didn't have much longer to live, and just like an idiot, I avoided having to face the grim reality of it all, and I laughed. I was laughing at your pain... at your heartache. I wonder what you were feeling then? I didn't even bother asking. Sometimes, I wonder if I ever really understood you... I wonder if you ever got annoyed with a girl like me...?" Aya repeated her private thoughts aloud as she traced the jawline of Tooya's framed picture that she had placed on her table.
***
Tooya's physical condition had been deteriorating. Rapidly. Several doctors had come and gone and none of them had been able to do anything for Tooya. When one young doctor had had the nerve to tell Aya that she should begin to plot his grave and make funeral plans right away, she had literally thrown the man out of her home, screeching that he knew nothing and how she wondered why he'd been allowed to go into medicine in the first place, especially considering his blatant stupidity. All the results, however, had been the same. Every medical doctor that they had been to in the entire region had said the same thing: Tooya's cells were breaking down. They had thought it mysterious that such an ailment would strike a seemingly healthy young man, but of course Tooya had known better. He _was_ dying. All of his cells were slowly breaking down, eating itself. A victim to cruel fate and a child of destiny.
It had been a beautiful sunny July day when Tooya had collapsed in their living room, breath coming in shallow and shuddering gasps. Although he had recovered from the episode immediately, the incident (and the fact that this had happened too many times before) had frightened Aya so much that she had swiftly made a run for the phone and called up the Aogiris. Within a few hours, Yuuhi, Suzumi, and even Q-san had hopped on the fasest train there and started to pound on their door with a fearful fury.
Yuuhi had been a nervous wreck, spending half of his time threatening Tooya if he dared leave Aya like this and comforting Aya the other half. Aya on the other hand, had been sitting near Tooya's futon, a chilling blank look in her eyes. Her left hand was being clutched tightly by a Q-san who refused to leave Aya's side no matter what. Her right hand lay still, enterwined with Tooya's own. Hot. So very hot.
Suzumi had made herself busy in the kitchen, preparing tea for the others while huge droplets of tears fell from her eyes. The pain of having to lose a loved one all too near. 'Kazuma-san... please watch over Aya--over us all--from heaven above. Kazuma-san...'
Ten highly tense minutes had passed when Aya suddely stood up, startling Q-san and Yuuhi. She stared at Tooya's still body for a minute, his closed eyes covered with a thin sheen of sweat, his labored breathing, then slowly made her way to the door, step by step.
"A-Aya! Where are you going?" Yuuhi seized Aya's wrist and turned her around halfway there. He jumped slightly when he saw the emptiness in her eyes.
"Let me go." Her tone had promised something horrible unless he complied to her wish.
"Aya-san," Q-san spoke up. "Shouldn't you be with Tooya-san at a time like this? Now more than ever he needs you."
"Nothing's going to happen to Tooya. Stop talking rubbish," heartwrenchingly calm words. "You two... the two of you are in here acting as though someone's gonna _die_ or something. I can't stand it. I'm going to outside for some fresh air."
Yuuhi's brows crossed in anger and confusion. "Go... out? You're kidding me, right?"
A dry silence lingered in the room, broken only by Tooya's harsh breaths.
"How can you even THINK about leaving at a time like this? Are you crazy? Can't you see that Tooya's going to _die_!! And you! YOU should be here by his side!!"
From his view behind Aya, he could see her shoulders begin to hitch, slowly being aggravated to the point of uncontrollability.
"... How can you say that, Yuuhi...? Aren't you my friend? How dare you say something like that to me..." And with that, she ran out of the room, pushing past Suzumi in the process and causing her to drop the tray of tea she had been carrying for the others.
"Aya!" Yuuhi was hot on her heels as she slammed open the door and sped past it to the vastness of the ocean.
***
"And so I left you alone... To leave this world alone. How you must have been lonely... How you must have resented me for what I did..."
Yuuhi sat against the wall near the door. He had been listening to her every word. Clinging to her every tear and memory. "He loved you," he answered her rhetorical question in a clear and powerful voice. "Aya, he loved you and you know it better than anyone else. He would have never left OR Miku of his own free will, and it isn't like you at all to doubt that for even a second."
Aya smiled a private smile as she gripped the locket in her fist. "Yes... I know that now... Or I always did." She brought her precious object up to her lips as she placed a chaste kiss on the center, where the white dove lay embedded. 'You felt that too, didn't you, Tooya?'
That night, Aya opened the heavy lid to her oak chest and carefully laid down her treasured photo of Tooya amongst the array of other pictures the three of them had managed to accumulate during their all-too brief years as a picture-perfect family.
'It hurts to live with those memories... but I also don't want to lose a single moment that I shared with you, Tooya. And if that includes the painful memories... or the happy memories or even memories of the quick glances we shared... then so be it.
'All of them, Tooya... All of our precious memories. We don't have to forget... we don't. I'll keep them safe in my heart for the both of us. Locked in the safety of my heart... Forever...'
She stared once more at the picture, a sad yet somehow triumphant smile gracing her lips. She put both of her hands on top of the chest's lid and slowly brought it to a close.
"Goodbye... Tooya..."
A/N: Wow... and so FINALLY I conclude this chapter. I was actually working on it a loooong time ago but I just sort of forgot about it (sorry guys!). When I found the file again, I felt really really guilty for the people who left reviews (bless your li'l hearts) saying they wanted me to continue and so decided to try and do this again. It hasn't been _that_ hard because I was sorta in the mood to tell a story, or so to say.
Anywho, this chapter is basically 2 memories Aya has. Hopefully it isn't _too_ confusing. I think everyone can tell where the memory flows into "present time," right? For those who are still confused after my lousy explanation, Aya's remembering her final "big" memory with Tooya (the one on the beach) and the one where he is dying/dies (I made it so that she wasn't there when he died... god I'm so EVIL!). The second memory is a sort of prequel for the end of the 4th chapter to my story. She ran out in tears when Yuuhi brought her back to reality and decided to have a look at the ocean while her beloved hubby was passing away. That accounts for her constant feeling of guilt and pain and yada yada yada. See? the angst and continual references to Tooya Tooya Tooya _were_ there for a reason. ^^; To tell the truth, this chapter kinda made me sad myself... And I'm the one who wrote it! Yeesh I'm so silly and sentimental sometimes. The chapter's a bit... _long_ but it's the conclusion (hopefully... *gulp*) to Aya's constant pain at the loss of Tooya so forgive me? Ne ne? =3*
And finally, I'm _really_ sorry for teasing you Yuuhi x Aya fans like this (want a cookie?) but if you got the gist from the end, Aya bid her final farewell to Tooya and has decided to move on with her life (finally! After 4 chapters--or 5... since this chapter was angsty as well ^^;;;-- of pure angst!). Tooya would have wanted that, right (for those of us who finished the series...)? And no, I'm not going by the AnC novels (Miku no Gaiden or whatever it was called) because, well, I think they're crap. I hated them and felt that it just wanted to give AnC a happy-sappy ending (I felt that the manga's ending was p.e.r.f.e.c.t.) Saccharine overload. But if _you_ enjoyed them, more power to ya. ^_^
Aya sat, blanketed in the warm and golden sand as she stared at her lover. "Tooya..." she smiled at him as she placed her hand over his own. Her eyes scanned the beautiful view of the ocean and she let out a quiet sigh. O, how happy she was to be together with her Tooya and Miku. "I missed coming here together with you, Tooya," she giggled like a young schoolgirl as she smiled at her 1-year old toddler who was currently busy trying to catch the sandcrabs before they could scatter away. "Don't go off too far, Miku-chan!" She warned the girl as she began to wander off further and further away from their resting spot. "What am I saying? She can barely even walk; she's so young... But it feels as though she's growing so fast... Most babies can barely stand up at the age of 1 year... right?" Aya let out a lighthearted breath.
"Miku's special," Tooya's husky voice tested the air. He had meant that. Miku was a part of him, and the only human part of him at that. "She's special..." And so she was, with all that was said and done, a descendant of a Tennyo; perhaps the most beautiful and complicated Tennyo of all. 'The fact that she has MY blood... that is, before I became a mortal--running through her body is only helping in accelerating her motor skills and mental development.'
Tooya slung his arm around her shoulder and pressed her closer to his body, enjoying the warmth she was providing him. "It's cold," he finally breathed out, with a slight cough. He hugged his own body, but upon looking at Aya's anxious expression, he closed the space that was left between them, with a kiss.
Aya felt her own body melt as she dwelved deeper and deeper into the heated touch. She felt a burning blush creep up over her face as she finally broke the kiss. She turned her head forward and cried out to the calm wind in a playful voice, "I, Aya, will forever love Tooya until the skies break and... all the birds decide to lose their sense of flight and fall down to the ground! ... All at the same time too!"
"Ah, that just reminded me," his voice suddenly sounded much weaker and hoarse with only a tint of amusement surrounding its wearied edges. "This..."
"What, Tooya? What is it?" she caught the blinding shimmer of light as he pulled it out of his pocket. "It's... It's beautiful...!"
He held out a beautiful white gold locket in plain view. Embedded into the silvery cover was the image of a small white dove, which had been carved out of ivory. "I've been meaning to give this to you for quite some time. I guess I just never got around to it..."
"Locket... what's inside?" Aya inquired as she poked at it with her index finger.
Tooya let out a chuckle as he handed it to her. "You open it, Aya."
Anticipating what picture the locket would hold within, she slowly cracked it open and looked inside. "Hm?"
A graceful looking profile of Aya smiling, laced with a gleeful grin on the face of Miku, glazed the two halves of the inner walls of the small, scallop-shaped locket. "I love it... It's so beautiful, Tooya. Thank you."
"The perfect love," he explained to her flipping the locket onto its back. "The ivory dove represents an eternal peace. Peace of the mind, soul, and body. And the shell... well, I don't need to explain that one, do I?"
"I _love_ it, Tooya... But... how come a picture of you isn't included inside? There should be a picture of you and Miku-chan in here, not me and Miku-chan," she questioned him, a worried look prying its way onto her delicate face. "If it's the "perfect love," the perfect family... It should be you and Miku-chan... I'm gonna be the wearer of this locket, remember? People might think I'm awfully concieted if they see me wearing such a pretty locket with a picture of ME in it."
"It can't be me, Aya." After all... perfection was a mar in itself.
"Why?" Came the simple, one-word inquiry.
Aya waited for her solemn reply. One that would never come. Unknowingly, silver tears streaked its way down her face, and dripped onto the clean, tan sand. She lifted her hand up to her face and wiped a lone tear from under her eye. "Huh...? Why am I crying? I don't feel sad... but the tears just won't stop." She forced out a laugh as she wiped at her wet face with the back of her hand. She looked down at the white gold locket which was now held tightly within her grasp. She gave it a quick squeeze. "I'm happy, Tooya. Happy when I'm with you. That I get to _be_ with you like this. When you smile and say to me "I love you," my heart feels as though it's going to shatter and become whole all at once. Being loved is simple... but loving someone is hard and at times, painful. But as much as it hurts... I just can't help myself. Does that sound... a bit silly?"
Tooya let out a pained sigh and closed his eyes, trying to bask in the warm sunlight which had already stopped providing him with any sense of warmth for quite some time. For him, it was the exact opposite of what Aya had said about love. 'Being loved isn't at all simple... and neither is loving. It's all painful because eternity just doesn't exist. I'm sorry, Aya. As much as I myself wish to lead the life of a "fairytale" family... it just won't happen.'
"Ee..." was the only silent sound that escaped from his lips.
"Mama! Papa!" Miku's shrill and childlike voice echoed through the cool air which smelled of salt. "Look!" she cried in joy as she waddled over in a goose-like manner to the two of them, grasping in her hand, a substance which emitted a shiny light in the view of the sun.
"Miku-chan? What is it?" Aya asked kneeling in front of Miku, looking curiously at her tiny fisted hand, which concealed a hidden treasure.
Miku victoriously held out her right hand, and on her face, was plastered a big and silly looking grin. "Mama! For you!"
Aya carefully extended her hand to recieve the gift. Her eyes widened in familiarity and shock as she realized what Miku had just placed in her open palm.
"A shell..." she gasped as she stared at the small, white, scalloped seashell in her hand. She held it close to her heart and as tears once again began to sting at her eyes, she looked up at Miku and a sad and longing smile began to play on her lips. "Thank you... Miku-chan."
The young child nodded innocently and abruptly turned around, solidly marching off to the sea's shore once more. "And next is Papa! Miku's gonna find him the most prettiest shell _ever_!" Her bright eyes glimmered in the rays of the sun for just a second; evanescent laugh disappating into the heated sky.
***
"At that time... I didn't understand why my tears had begun to overflow. I was happy, I was really truly happy... Now that I finally get why unconsciously, I had begun crying, it stabs at my heart. To replay that memory in my mind over and over again, it's so utterly painful. You knew, Tooya... You knew at that moment that you didn't have much longer to live, and just like an idiot, I avoided having to face the grim reality of it all, and I laughed. I was laughing at your pain... at your heartache. I wonder what you were feeling then? I didn't even bother asking. Sometimes, I wonder if I ever really understood you... I wonder if you ever got annoyed with a girl like me...?" Aya repeated her private thoughts aloud as she traced the jawline of Tooya's framed picture that she had placed on her table.
***
Tooya's physical condition had been deteriorating. Rapidly. Several doctors had come and gone and none of them had been able to do anything for Tooya. When one young doctor had had the nerve to tell Aya that she should begin to plot his grave and make funeral plans right away, she had literally thrown the man out of her home, screeching that he knew nothing and how she wondered why he'd been allowed to go into medicine in the first place, especially considering his blatant stupidity. All the results, however, had been the same. Every medical doctor that they had been to in the entire region had said the same thing: Tooya's cells were breaking down. They had thought it mysterious that such an ailment would strike a seemingly healthy young man, but of course Tooya had known better. He _was_ dying. All of his cells were slowly breaking down, eating itself. A victim to cruel fate and a child of destiny.
It had been a beautiful sunny July day when Tooya had collapsed in their living room, breath coming in shallow and shuddering gasps. Although he had recovered from the episode immediately, the incident (and the fact that this had happened too many times before) had frightened Aya so much that she had swiftly made a run for the phone and called up the Aogiris. Within a few hours, Yuuhi, Suzumi, and even Q-san had hopped on the fasest train there and started to pound on their door with a fearful fury.
Yuuhi had been a nervous wreck, spending half of his time threatening Tooya if he dared leave Aya like this and comforting Aya the other half. Aya on the other hand, had been sitting near Tooya's futon, a chilling blank look in her eyes. Her left hand was being clutched tightly by a Q-san who refused to leave Aya's side no matter what. Her right hand lay still, enterwined with Tooya's own. Hot. So very hot.
Suzumi had made herself busy in the kitchen, preparing tea for the others while huge droplets of tears fell from her eyes. The pain of having to lose a loved one all too near. 'Kazuma-san... please watch over Aya--over us all--from heaven above. Kazuma-san...'
Ten highly tense minutes had passed when Aya suddely stood up, startling Q-san and Yuuhi. She stared at Tooya's still body for a minute, his closed eyes covered with a thin sheen of sweat, his labored breathing, then slowly made her way to the door, step by step.
"A-Aya! Where are you going?" Yuuhi seized Aya's wrist and turned her around halfway there. He jumped slightly when he saw the emptiness in her eyes.
"Let me go." Her tone had promised something horrible unless he complied to her wish.
"Aya-san," Q-san spoke up. "Shouldn't you be with Tooya-san at a time like this? Now more than ever he needs you."
"Nothing's going to happen to Tooya. Stop talking rubbish," heartwrenchingly calm words. "You two... the two of you are in here acting as though someone's gonna _die_ or something. I can't stand it. I'm going to outside for some fresh air."
Yuuhi's brows crossed in anger and confusion. "Go... out? You're kidding me, right?"
A dry silence lingered in the room, broken only by Tooya's harsh breaths.
"How can you even THINK about leaving at a time like this? Are you crazy? Can't you see that Tooya's going to _die_!! And you! YOU should be here by his side!!"
From his view behind Aya, he could see her shoulders begin to hitch, slowly being aggravated to the point of uncontrollability.
"... How can you say that, Yuuhi...? Aren't you my friend? How dare you say something like that to me..." And with that, she ran out of the room, pushing past Suzumi in the process and causing her to drop the tray of tea she had been carrying for the others.
"Aya!" Yuuhi was hot on her heels as she slammed open the door and sped past it to the vastness of the ocean.
***
"And so I left you alone... To leave this world alone. How you must have been lonely... How you must have resented me for what I did..."
Yuuhi sat against the wall near the door. He had been listening to her every word. Clinging to her every tear and memory. "He loved you," he answered her rhetorical question in a clear and powerful voice. "Aya, he loved you and you know it better than anyone else. He would have never left OR Miku of his own free will, and it isn't like you at all to doubt that for even a second."
Aya smiled a private smile as she gripped the locket in her fist. "Yes... I know that now... Or I always did." She brought her precious object up to her lips as she placed a chaste kiss on the center, where the white dove lay embedded. 'You felt that too, didn't you, Tooya?'
That night, Aya opened the heavy lid to her oak chest and carefully laid down her treasured photo of Tooya amongst the array of other pictures the three of them had managed to accumulate during their all-too brief years as a picture-perfect family.
'It hurts to live with those memories... but I also don't want to lose a single moment that I shared with you, Tooya. And if that includes the painful memories... or the happy memories or even memories of the quick glances we shared... then so be it.
'All of them, Tooya... All of our precious memories. We don't have to forget... we don't. I'll keep them safe in my heart for the both of us. Locked in the safety of my heart... Forever...'
She stared once more at the picture, a sad yet somehow triumphant smile gracing her lips. She put both of her hands on top of the chest's lid and slowly brought it to a close.
"Goodbye... Tooya..."
A/N: Wow... and so FINALLY I conclude this chapter. I was actually working on it a loooong time ago but I just sort of forgot about it (sorry guys!). When I found the file again, I felt really really guilty for the people who left reviews (bless your li'l hearts) saying they wanted me to continue and so decided to try and do this again. It hasn't been _that_ hard because I was sorta in the mood to tell a story, or so to say.
Anywho, this chapter is basically 2 memories Aya has. Hopefully it isn't _too_ confusing. I think everyone can tell where the memory flows into "present time," right? For those who are still confused after my lousy explanation, Aya's remembering her final "big" memory with Tooya (the one on the beach) and the one where he is dying/dies (I made it so that she wasn't there when he died... god I'm so EVIL!). The second memory is a sort of prequel for the end of the 4th chapter to my story. She ran out in tears when Yuuhi brought her back to reality and decided to have a look at the ocean while her beloved hubby was passing away. That accounts for her constant feeling of guilt and pain and yada yada yada. See? the angst and continual references to Tooya Tooya Tooya _were_ there for a reason. ^^; To tell the truth, this chapter kinda made me sad myself... And I'm the one who wrote it! Yeesh I'm so silly and sentimental sometimes. The chapter's a bit... _long_ but it's the conclusion (hopefully... *gulp*) to Aya's constant pain at the loss of Tooya so forgive me? Ne ne? =3*
And finally, I'm _really_ sorry for teasing you Yuuhi x Aya fans like this (want a cookie?) but if you got the gist from the end, Aya bid her final farewell to Tooya and has decided to move on with her life (finally! After 4 chapters--or 5... since this chapter was angsty as well ^^;;;-- of pure angst!). Tooya would have wanted that, right (for those of us who finished the series...)? And no, I'm not going by the AnC novels (Miku no Gaiden or whatever it was called) because, well, I think they're crap. I hated them and felt that it just wanted to give AnC a happy-sappy ending (I felt that the manga's ending was p.e.r.f.e.c.t.) Saccharine overload. But if _you_ enjoyed them, more power to ya. ^_^