A/N: Epilogue-a-go-go! And I'll be done with Nihilistic forever. There's a rather long author's note that you don't have to read at the end of this chapter...skip it if you want to. Just a small note in case you care. Anyways, enjoy the last installment in Nihilistic. I thank all of you readers very much and I love you all. Especially...

Burned Vamp, Akuro, Aero-Grrl, Sillie, Ryo-chan, LadySiri, and Apple from Mars (you gave me the first review for this story ever O.o')! **Gives hugs and hot chocolate to each of them** Goodie. Anyways, I will shut up now since you're here for the story and not my author's note... -_-'

It's been four years since Daisuke last looked at the house he spent the hardest part of his life in. He's now nineteen, finally going to college after five years of high school. He'd been required to repeat his freshman year of high school since he had been kicked out, and he went to a different high school in the city next to his to continue his education. He's going to the same college Yamato is already attending, not entirely because he wishes to be near Yamato every day (that is only part of the reason), but also because they have a plan.

They will attend the Tamachi University of Culinary Arts until Yamato is learned enough in the art of cooking to get a good job in a restaurant, working his way up to the position of master chef. Daisuke will continue in his education until he is also at that level, and by this time Yamato will have garnered enough money with his full-time job (and Daisuke with his part-time job as a waiter in another restaurant) to open up a restaurant of their own, with the two of them as the master chefs. That is their goal, their dream, and the one thing they most look forward to as they drive to college for Daisuke's first day as a college student.

Daisuke and Yamato live together in Yamato's apartment. Daisuke moved in as soon as he left high school, with permission granted with relief from his father, who was quite ready to shove Daisuke out of his house and into his new grown-up life. It isn't that his father was sick of having Daisuke around; in fact, ever since the incident four years before, Daisuke and his father had developed quite a great understanding of each other. However, Motomiya-san felt that it simply wasn't right for a nineteen-year-old to still be living with his parents.

As for the fate of the "villain" of this story...

The judge that had taken care of the trial of one Ken Ichijouji had declared him insane. The judge had immediately hunted for the proper place to send Ken. He found a regimented hospital devoted to the mental care of patients with cruel tendencies which Ken's parents were willing to pay commitment for. Ken was shipped off and Daisuke had never heard from him since.

~ ~ ~ ~

That late afternoon, Daisuke threw the door to their apartment open and ran forward to throw himself onto the couch.

"The classes are so boring," he whined.

Yamato smiled at him as he walked into the apartment and shut the door behind himself.

"Why do we have to take our basics anyways? Why can't I get straight to the cooking?" Daisuke continued to whine.

"Everyone has to take their basics first," Yamato replied. "When I first started going to college, I did, too."

"But it's so pointless. It's not like I'm ever going to use Calculus in my life ever again anyways."

"What about when you need to figure out how much money your restaurant is making?"

"Yamato, what do you think calculators are for? Add up what you've earned, subtract whatever you spent to pay the bills. It's that simple," Daisuke replied.

"Not always," Yamato responded, going over to the couch and sitting on the end, reaching a hand out to grab the remote control. He turned the TV on.

Daisuke sat up and turned his body to face the TV, staring intently at the news channel Yamato was watching. He had gotten used to Yamato's fascination with the news early on in the relationship and no longer argued with him over changing the channel or tried to forcefully take the remote away.

"I'm hungry."

"It's my turn to cook for us. What do you want to eat?"

Yamato shut the TV off and began walking to the kitchen. Daisuke got up and followed, smiling happily and thinking of all of the great food plates Yamato made that he loved to eat.

"I want lasagna."

"How did I know you'd say that? I make other things besides pasta, you know."

"At least it's not ramen."

It had become a private joke between the two of them that Daisuke only loved Yamato for his wonderful ability to make the best ramen Daisuke had ever tasted. Daisuke's favorite kind of food was pasta, and he especially had a soft spot for the ramen the blonde cooked especially for him, called his Daisuke Ramen Special.

It was a tradition they shared that every evening for dinner, one would prepare a meal chosen by the other. They alternated nights, and tonight was Yamato's night to cook dinner for them.

"It's still pasta."

"Okay, okay, I'll choose something else."

"No, it's fine. I'll make lasagna for you."

Yamato gave him a soft smile and Daisuke leaned forward to kiss the blonde on the lips.

"Ah, and I'm not even wearing my Kiss The Cook apron today. I feel so special."

"You are," Daisuke assured him, seating himself on the counter and settling down for yet another round of watching Yamato cook and prepare his food.

While he watched the blonde, he let his mind wander back over the years to the time in his life he was trying to forget. He remembered how reluctant he was at first to get into a relationship with Yamato for the first few months after Ken had his trial and was taken away. Yamato, however, had stuck around for the younger boy as a friend, and Taichi and Sora had also offered their friendship to Daisuke. Daisuke didn't think he could ever have made it through that first year of high school in a strange, new place if it hadn't been for the fact that he knew he had friends back at home that cared about him.

A whole year after the tragedy in his life finally ended, Daisuke accepted Yamato's often-given offer of love. At first, Yamato could hardly believe Daisuke had finally said yes to him, but one they had gotten over the first date and the first week of being a couple, they found that they were quite comfortable around each other, and it was pretty much smooth sailing after that.

"Daisuke, where's the garlic?"

Daisuke was startled out of his thoughts and he blinked at Yamato. "What?"

"The garlic. For the bread."

"Oh, it's...right over here." Daisuke slid down from the counter and went to search through the refrigerator. "Here." He handed it to Yamato.

"Thanks," the blonde muttered distractedly, immediately turning around and getting back to work.

Daisuke smiled. When Yamato was cooking, you couldn't distract him with anything short of the entire apartment exploding. Yamato dedicated all of his attention to his cooking when he was busy with it. Daisuke was slowly getting to that point where he was that distracted. His head still popped up whenever something fell onto the floor, or whenever the phone or doorbell rang, but it took him a while to respond to anyone if they tried to talk to him while he was cooking.

"Okay, now all we have to do is wait until it's cool enough to serve."

Daisuke's head shot up. He noticed it was darker outside than it had been before, and Yamato had the kitchen counter on the other side of the kitchen covered in ingredients. He began putting things back where they belonged and Daisuke slid off of the counter to help him.

Daisuke couldn't believe the blonde could make such delicious food. They ate dinner slowly that night, savoring each bite. Daisuke truly believed that Yamato's pasta was his specialty. There was no other food in the world Daisuke preferred to Yamato's pasta. Yamato smiled as he looked at Daisuke's face while he ate. Many emotions passed over that same face, all of them pleasant to the eye. Yamato was very proud when it came to his cooking, but when it came to preparing food for Daisuke, Yamato secretly needed approval more than anything. It wasn't so bad that if Daisuke said he didn't like the taste of a food dish Yamato prepared then the blonde's confidence would shatter completely, never to return again, but Yamato did appreciate Daisuke's opinion of his food more than anyone else's.

One great thing about having Daisuke as his own personal food-tester was that Yamato knew Daisuke was his greatest critic. Daisuke was still learning how to be an excellent cook, but he had the strange gift of excellent taste. Daisuke could taste a meal and tell you where you had gone wrong in preparing it. He could tell you which ingredients you used too much of and which ingredients you needed to include more of. With Daisuke around to tell him how to better prepare his meals, Yamato was able to perfect himself and his cooking.

"That was great, Yama-chan," Daisuke told him once he'd finished, leaning back in his chair with a satisfied grin. "Though you might want to ease up a little on the amount of garlic you put on the bread."

"Will do, Dai-chan," Yamato replied happily. The end-of-the-meal comments on his food were lessening day by day, and Yamato knew he was getting better and better at cooking.

~ ~ ~ ~

Such was the daily life of Daisuke Motomiya and Yamato Ishida. Daisuke's father leant the two more than enough money to buy the lot where they would someday walk to work every morning to cook their meals for the populations of Odaiba and Tamachi.

Yamato bought Daisuke a puppy that was never tortured or killed in any sort of brutal way. Daisuke didn't hesitate in naming the puppy Mukai, in honor of his deceased dog, who Daisuke had proclaimed should have been named Mukai during its short life a couple of days after they gave the dog its funeral and last goodbye.

Yamato, Daisuke, and Mukai lived a peaceful life in their apartment for a few years before they finally built their dream house and moved in together, where they spent half of the rest of their lives (the other half was spent at the restaurant.)

They never so much as heard Ken Ichijouji's name again, and he soon become nothing more than a bad memory in the most nether regions of Daisuke's mind.

A/N: Okay, you can skip this and just review now if you want. This is just a note as to why exactly I picked Mukai's name as such. (This is how you can tell that I can get obsessed with my own stories...I stick symbolism in them.) Well, the following is what I wrote as a side note when I was in the process of writing the ninth or tenth chapter:

Mukai - Daisuke's deceased dog's name - Japanese word for "innocence"

Daisuke names the dog Mukai to honor his deceased dog. The original Mukai's death was symbolic of Daisuke's slow, gradual stripping of all innocence from years of being with Ken and witnessing his own life going down the drain due to this relationship. Ken attempts to destroy Mukai much in the same way he destroys Daisuke's innocence, and Daisuke is the one to deliver the final blow, and in that moment, all innocence Daisuke might have been able to cling onto was lost. He killed it himself to relieve the pain of going through it's slow loss, the same way he did the dog. Ken promises not to hurt Mukai, much in the same way he promised Daisuke never to hurt him at the very beginning of their relationship, and fails to keep both of these vital promises. However, Mukai's death triggers the opening up of the floodgate of anger Daisuke has kept building up inside of him after all of those years spent as Ken's boyfriend, allowing him to finally sever all hurtful connection with Ken and move on with his life (with Yamato faithfully keeping by his side).

Yes, and that was so unneeded! I could have named the thing any old name, but no, I had to attach deep meaning behind the name and turn the whole freaking dog character into a symbol. If you've read this whole thing, I thank you for your patience with me. You can review now. I'm done. O.o'