It had been five hours since Ayumu got up and nothing had happened, "Only ten o'clock." He muttered, still holding Kousuke's hand. The hand holding his suddenly squeezed shut tightly nearly breaking Ayumu's fingers, "Ow, Kousuke, what are you..." Ayumu trailed off as he looked over to Kousuke to see him holding his side, gritting his teeth in pain, "Kousuke?" Ayumu asked, "Is it happening? What do I do?"
"Ayumu...something's wrong. I think..." Kousuke's words trailed off into a scream of pain.
Ayumu looked at the others to see they were all holding their sides in pain as well, "Guys?" Ayumu looked over to Hiyono who was next to Kanone, she was crying, "Hiyono!" Ayumu stood up, terrified, "What do I do? What did Kiyotaka say? They have to believe in me. How will that help?!" Ayumu wrenched his fingers from Kousuke's, "I'll be back in a second. Just hold on." He quickly walked over to Hiyono, "Hiyono? Honey, are you okay?" Ayumu asked in a small voice.
"Daddy, my side hurts, and I can't breathe." Hiyono gasped out in short breaths.
"Ayumu, get out of here; we were right, there's nothing you can do. Just leave." Came Kanone's voice from next to Hiyono.
"No, way am I leaving now! I have to do something. I won't leave you here to fight this alone!" Ayumu shouted even though he was shaking, terrified of what was to come.
Hiyono smiled slightly for the first time in hours, "I believe in you, daddy. It might not be much, but I believe that you will help us."
Ayumu hid his tears as he hugged Hiyono, "That means the world to me, Hiyono. Thank you."
Kousuke had made his way over to Ayumu and Hiyono and now sat down next to them, "I believe in you, too, Ayumu. Just take your time, you'll figure it out." With that Kousuke grabbed his side again in pain, "No pressure, but try to hurry up, okay?"
Ayumu nodded and thought, "What can I do? How could I possibly save them?"
"Daddy, believe in yourself. If you don't, then we can't. That's what Kiyotaka said, right?" Hiyono asked, laying her head on Ayumu's lap, "You have to believe."
"She's right, that is what Kiyotaka said. And I do believe I can save them; I have to. I can't live without Hiyono and Kousuke, I love them so much. Kanone, too, I won't let them face this on their own. I will find a way to save them." Just then, Hiyono started to glow a little. It started around her chest and spread all throughout her body, a blue tint now covering her and pulsating with each breath she took, "Hiyono? Are you okay?" Ayumu asked.
Hiyono opened her eyes and smiled brightly at Ayumu, "Daddy, the pain's gone! I can breathe again! See I knew you could do it!" With that said, Hiyono slowly faded away, disappearing completely right before Ayumu's eyes.
Before Ayumu had a chance to react, a glowing blue hand grabbed his wrist. Ayumu turned to see Kousuke grinning at him, "You did it, Ayumu. Hiyono was right, all we had to do was believe." Kousuke kissed Ayumu gently and then faded away just as Hiyono had.
Next Ayumu turned to see Rio standing up and running over to Ayumu, hugging him. She was glowing as well and looked up to him, "Thanks, Ayumu!" Was all that she said before disappearing with the others.
Ryoko didn't say anything but just smiled at him as she faded away to join her friends. Ayumu turned to see Eyes and Kanone still there, but only Eyes was covered in blue. He stood and walked to Ayumu, "Kanone still has a hard time believing in you, despite what he may say. He doesn't truly feel that you can save us. I can't seem to make him certain of your abilities, Ayumu, but you have to." Ayumu nodded and saw a sight more unrealistic than any other: Eyes smiling. It wasn't a smirk or a knowing grin, it was a full fledged smile that lit up his face, "Thank you, Ayumu." Eyes disappeared as well, leaving only Kanone.
Ayumu walked over and sat next to Kanone, putting his arm around the other man, "Kanone, why don't you believe in me? You're the only one left, how can you not be satisfied with the results?"
"Where have they gone, though, Ayumu?" Kanone asked. Ayumu hesitated, he had a point. Where had they gone? Ayumu just assumed that it had been somewhere good, but why had they left, "I always told Eyes that the Blade Children were children that were not meant to live, but I thought if we could be saved then we would be allowed life. It turns out that the opposite is true."
"You think they're dead?" Ayumu asked quietly. Then shook his head, "No way, I don't know how I know, but I am certain that they aren't dead. I couldn't possibly have done anything to hurt them, Hiyono and Kousuke especially; I think it's impossible for me to even imagine hurting them. I believed that I could save you and then they started to disappear. It was my will that sent them away, but I would never send them to another world where I couldn't be with them. Kanone, I love you, and I promise that if you just place your trust in me, I won't betray it. Just believe in me."
Kanone hesitated but finally let go of his doubt. He started to glow, "It feels so peaceful. So this is what Kiyotaka meant, about the happiness of those who believe. I always assumed he was talking in riddles. I finally understand, though. Thank you, Ayumu." Kanone leaned over to gently kiss Ayumu who returned the affection. Not long after Kanone disappeared and Ayumu was all alone.
"A whole month, it's been a whole month since I've seen them." Ayumu thought. He sighed as he looked down at his watch, "Great, I'm going to be late...again." Ayumu started jogging towards his destination...work. After the Blade Children had disappeared, Ayumu didn't know what to do. He just moped around for about a week in a state of depression, but then realized that he needed money. Eyes had supported them all while they were living there, but now he was gone with the rest of them. Ayumu had considered just moving in with his parents and brother, but then he would have lost the only thing he had left of the Blade Children. He knew it was foolish, but he had still hoped that they would come back.
Kiyotaka hadn't been much help, either. Ayumu had explained what had happened and Kiyotaka had just shrugged and said, "I never said what would happen afterwards. I only assured you that they would be freed from their curse. And they were, correct?" Yes, they were. But Ayumu had no idea how to get in contact with them.
"I only did it because I thought that everything would be okay. I never would have done anything if I thought I would lose them." He thought back to his promise to Kanone, "I told him that everything would be okay if he just trusted me, but now..." Nothing was okay now. And he was also at work; this day couldn't have gotten worse if it had tried.
"Late again, Narumi? What's the excuse this time?" His boss, Mike, questioned him.
"No excuse, sir, just over slept again." Ayumu answered, putting on his apron. He had gotten a job at some classy restaurant as the head chef. He had been a waiter for a day, but was soon bumped up to chef because he had taken over one day when their former head chef had gotten sick.
"You're lucky you have so many people requesting your meals, or else you'd be out of here!" Mike yelled at him, "Of course, if you're not here, then you can't satisfy your customers..."He began.
"I get it, I won't be late again." Ayumu assured him and got to work cooking whatever he was told to cook. A few hours into it, Ayumu noticed his boss standing at the kitchen door, "What is it, now? I haven't been out of the kitchen long enough to be late again."
"Very funny. One of our waitresses apparently fainted so I need you to take the next order out, okay?"
"She fainted?" Ayumu asked, concerned. There were only a few waitresses in the restaurant and Ayumu knew them all pretty well, "Who was it? What happened?"
"Are you a chef or a detective?" Mike asked, "It was Jen. Apparently one of our guests is some kind of celebrity and she's a big fan."
Ayumu nodded, that made sense; Jen had a huge crush on a number of celebrities and got overexcited every time one of them came to the restaurant. Ayumu hated the famous people, they were all incredibly stuck up. Even Rutherford, when Ayumu had first met him, was arrogant, "Alright, I'll take it out in a second." Ayumu finished cooking his current meal and turned the stove off. He looked at the order he needed to take out and sighed, turns out it was a celebrity and about 10 friends, all who had ordered three course meals. Ayumu carefully stacked all the food he possibly could onto one of the sturdier trays and started to carry it out to the table. Without looking at the table's occupants, Ayumu sat the food down on the table, they could find out for themselves who had what, "The rest of your food will be out in a minute." He informed them and then turned on his heel and walked back into the kitchen to get the rest of the food.
The occupants of the table started to chuckle. Well, most of them did, and then a voice was heard over the laughs, "He has no idea, does he?"