Ending B

The Severing Ending

Aimi decided she had no other choice. She had to save herself. She couldn't bear to suffer such a gruesome death. Using the last of her strength, Aimi took the Spiritual Shears and began to furiously cut at the roots of her own flower, the white gardenias. Working fast and quickly, Aimi watched as her flowers fell at her feet and withered into nothingness. She kept cutting and cutting until there was nothing left. Once it was over, Aimi dropped the Spiritual Shears to the ground and took a moment to catch her breath and wait for her heart to return to normal. The pain slowly dissipated and then it was gone. She no longer felt any pain in her lungs or chest.

She'd done it. Aimi performed the Severing Ritual on herself. Any feelings of romance or love she felt for Shou Fujiyama was gone now. She couldn't even remember what that kind of love felt like. Then Aimi gazed regrettably over at Hanari Kimura who still had her red-spider lily. The Unloved Woman was still suffering from the pangs of unrequited love. Was there other way to save her? As the Unloved Woman sat crouched there in the meadow of red lilies, Aimi couldn't help but feel bad for her.

In a last ditch effort to try to free her, Aimi reached out her hand to Hanari Kimura and thought perhaps she could try ripping the roots of the flowers out of her. But to her surprise, Hanari had already reached up and proceeded to yank the red-spider lily out of her chest. Now as Aimi watched, Hanari seemed to slowly rise up and seemed to gaze over at here where their eyes met.

Somehow Hanari managed to free herself and finally had the inner strength to let of the love that imprisoned her for so long. With nothing left tying her to the world, Aimi watched as Hanari's soul disappeared and became part of the garden along with all the other lonely broken souls. Aimi sadly bowed her head and felt bad for not being able to save Hanari Kimura from her fate. Hopefully she could rest in peace this time. The Red Spider Lilies would guide the Unloved Woman to the Otherworld. But all that matters was that she was still alive and that she managed to overcome the Hanahaki Disease.

"Aimi?"

Aimi turned around and saw Shou coming up to greet her. Shou was so relieved to see Aimi was okay from her battle with the Unloved Woman. However he stopped when he caught the look in her eyes. The love and adoration that used to shine in Aimi's eyes had suddenly gone away. Aimi gazed at him but it almost felt like she wasn't truly looking at him. It bothered Shou a great deal to realize that Aimi's eyes appeared emotionless to him now. And that's when it occurred to him… Aimi must have performed the Severing Ritual on herself. Did that mean that she…?

"Come on, Shou. Let's leave this place together," Aimi smiled reassuringly at him. Shou nodded his head and went to follow her out of this forbidden place. But all the while, he couldn't shake away the unsettling feeling that their connection had somehow been cut off…

Epilogue

During their lunch period, Aimi and Ume were sitting in their school courtyard together, having lunch and chatting away about their school-work. Aimi's life had returned to normal after the events at Matsumura. Once Spring-Break was over, Aimi was able to return to school and get back into her studies. As for her best friend, Ume, she too was able to overcome her Hanahaki Disease and return to her own life. Hopefully now she could find someone who could return her love.

While Aimi was going over some math problems, Ume couldn't help but keep sneaking worried looks over at her best friend and noticed that ever since she and Shou had returned from Matsumura, things have changed between them. Aimi no longer seemed interested in her big brother and it really showed. It was disheartening to see that Aimi's feelings have been severed. Aimi looked up and caught the concerned expression Ume was wearing. But Ume sadly looked away and thought it better not to approach the subject. After all, Aimi Hanazawa had moved on. But her brother hadn't…

Standing not too far away, Shou was watching Aimi and his sister sitting on the bench together and going over their schoolwork. It's already been a week and nothing has changed. Shou sighed gloomily as he couldn't tear his eyes away from Aimi. He couldn't stop loving her. Aimi no longer felt any romantic attachment to him but Shou couldn't let go of the love he still felt for her. He wondered if the pain would ever go away. And as Shou continued to watch the girl he loved from afar, suddenly he started coughing…

This is considered the bittersweet ending. Not really a happy ending but not quite a downer-ending either. Hey, at least everyone survived, right? But the trouble with bittersweet endings is that there are always too many loose ends and some problems still exist. These endings are especially common in video games. And let's be real, Fatal Frame is notorious for having either downer endings or bittersweet ones. Personally, it'd be nice to see a golden ending for once in those series. Anyway, maybe not the best ending but definitely not the worse. Thanks for reading and hope this ending was satisfactory!

Sincerely, ActionGal07

AG07