It was never an easy road. Many people had thought so when Shu had declared that he would be the king that everyone deserved. The crown, the burdens he bore were sinful.
Things had never been the same since the day the students died. Of all the F-Ranked Void users, Souta was the only one who had survived. Everyone else had been slaughtered by the Endlaves. He had vowed to be the king they all deserved rather than the one they wanted. The kindness that she had seen in his soft brown eyes had all but evaporated.
As the days passed, he was off trying to maintain order in the school the best that he could. But she was the only one who could see just what it was doing to him. The bags under his eyes: big, dark and heavy. He stood and walked tall and proud, but she could see the burdens now placed on his shoulders.
Souta was barely by his side anymore. Shu did as little such as eye contact toward him. A reminder that he had gotten his fellow schoolmates killed. Yahiro was often by his side, talking to him and helping him in decision making. But he was barely close with anyone. Ayase and Tsugumi would talk with him on occasion and he would talk back at times. His responses short and curt. Even Inori, he practically cut her out as if he had done it with the sword that was her Void.
She was the only one who had been able to see and allowed to see. The crown given and placed on to him was breaking him. Killing the kind king that she knew was there and creating a tyrant. When she had first come into his room, it had been by accident. She didn't see a proud and headstrong ruler. What she saw was a boy breaking from the mess that they were in. A mess that seemed no way out of.
Crying, heavy sighing. It was a different sight and side that she had never seen in Shu. And she wanted to do anything and everything she could to help him. But not even her Void could heal what had been going through him. No matter how much she had wanted it to. There was only thing that she could do to comfort him was hug him with all her might and not let go. He began to shake uncontrollably once she did. Shu was tired, he had barely bathed. He quite literally smelled like blood, sweat and tears.
"If I could shoulder or even take them away Shu, I would." she had whispered softly in his ear.
It was then she had stared into his eyes. They were tired, but they still had a spark with in them. The faint spark of the boy she was in love with. It was then that she had finally gotten what she had longed and imagined so many times. A kiss. His lips were a bit dry but she didn't care. One kiss had changed much. Before long, they had stared at each other without shame. And then had lost another part of themselves that night. Shu Ouma had been relieved of the stress and burdens that had been placed upon him for at least one night, and Hare Menjou had become a woman.
There had been plenty of more nights like that. It may have been isolating Shu from Ayase, Yahiro and the others, but it had been nice having Shu all to herself. Having him touch and kiss any part of her body that was bare. For the faintest of moments, she would see glimpses of the boy she loved. But there were two different people. There was Shu Ouma; their harsh and stern leader who ruled and towered over them with an iron fist. And then, when it was just them, there was just Shu; the kind but awkward and shy Shu that she knew. The boy who hated his more tyrannical "kingly" side. As much as she wishes it could be, he had a point that he could not be a kind king. At times, when around Yahiro and Ayase, there was faint glimpses of the Shu Ouma they knew and cared for. Even Inori had seen it, and it had brought a smile to her again. She didn't like it that much, but it was better than having her look as cold as Shu had looked when he was in "Tyrant Mode".
But things had taken a turn for the worse soon after. Rumours had begun to spread that Shu was deliberately putting everyone in harms way. That once a person's Void was broken, the person would then die. No one had known that. But they had all seen it when a student's Void had shattered, and soon after, she had been encased in crystals like that of the Apocalypse Virus and died. Shu couldn't have known that. No one could have known that. But someone had managed to convince everyone that it was the truth. It wasn't long until the whole school and Souta had turned against him.
When that hadn't been enough, Shu's friend Gai had made a miraculous return. Things had gotten so crazy, Shu barely managed to defend himself and got a nasty scar across his arm in the process. Gai had betrayed Shu and everyone he knew in the midst of all that chaos and had killed Nanba and his cronies.
If Shu was close to breaking, he was broken then and there. Inori gone, Gai returned from the dead, Souta's betrayal to him. She had wanted to do something but knew that there was nothing she could do to fix him.
"You shouldn't have given me your heart, Hare." she had heard him mumble. She would give her heart and more if it meant removing the sadness that plagued him.
Things were different then. What had gotten him out of his slump, she wasn't sure, but Shu had come back. But he wasn't the same one that she loved. A better version, maybe. Not Shu the Tyrant, or Shu the Kind King. It was something completely different. Seeing him rescue Ayase, Yahiro and the others, how he charged and struck down at the Endlaves; he looked like a hero. Almost like a knight in shining armor. His own Void was devastating and beautiful all in the same. Haruka, his stepmother, described it as something that gathers everything and assumes its weight; Strength, weaknesses, light, darkness... Everything. That was the kind king that she knew he could have been if given the chance.
But that was only a taste of the things that were to come. From what she had understood, Gai had managed to obtain the same power that Shu had. She wanted to come and help him but his stepmother Haruka strongly objected, in spite of the capabilities of her Void. She could at least tell him just how much he meant to her before he left. It was likely the last time that she would have seen him. Instead, Shu had lovingly caressed her by the cheek and kissed her by the forehead.
"I know what you want to say, Hare. And I promise that i'll come back. I want to give you my heart as you gave me yours."
GHQ was done for, Gai was dead along with Shu's apparently revived sister Mana. Shu had come back. That was the important part. But at a cost. Inori was gone completely. He had changed again. He managed to remove most of the Apocalypse Virus in Tokyo at the cost of his sight. She was able to use her Void to heal and restore his sight. But somehow, Yahiro had managed to tag along and somehow had taken Gai's power. He was now the same as Shu. He had decided that it was best to take upon the burden now.
"I forced the crown on to you, Shu. I need to pay the price. And someone needs to usurp your place."
Change had come so fast; especially after graduation. Last they heard about Yahiro, he had managed to create a new security force with that psycho Daryl Yan that helped out not only Tokyo but other countries in strife. it was surprising that they had become friendly with each other. Last they had heard, Yahiro was off somewhere in Africa. Tsugumi had decided that she wanted to become a teacher and decided to make it a personal mission to be friendly with Daryl. It was scary that she decided that he needed a friend and even weirder to find out that they had begun to date. Kanon had decided to become a reporter alongside Souta who was dead set on becoming a news anchor.
Ayase had teamed with Shu and herself to try to help out Tokyo. She had personally decided to go to nursing school while Ayase and Shu had informally joined GHQ and pooling in the remnants of Funeral Parlor in it; with Haruka-san taking the helm of GHQ. And she had managed to perform the ultimate favor to Ayase by helping restore her legs. She still used crutches from time to time, as she wasn't used to full mobility of her legs, since she lost use of them during Lost Christmas. But she slowly but surely made improvements.
Not everyone had gotten a happy ending though. Arisa Kuhouin had been found beaten and broken. Damage to her legs and her back left her crippled. Branded a terrorist and thrown off to jail. Not even her Kuhouin Group was able to save her, or even wanted to, once word had gotten out that she had killed her grandfather.
There was no doubt that many had needed and deserved a happy ending. Especially her king. Shu Ouma was a young aspiring scientist in the same vein as his father Kurosu. And he was never alone as before. Probably best that he wasn't a true king. Kings have subjects and followers. Shu Ouma had her and good and true friends. Herself, Ayase, Souta, Tsugumi, Kanon, even Daryl to a degree.
Although, she did enjoy being his "queen" from time to time. And their roommate often indulged in being a "leal and loyal subject" from time to time. She did mention that she wanted to enjoy every pleasure that she had missed.
But there were no more kings. No more crowns. No more subjects. No more burdens. There was just Shu Ouma and Hare Menjou. And nothing more after that. There was nothing else to ask for. It was more than enough.
I watched Guilty Crown a while back and I had the idea in mind to explore the possibility of Hare surviving in the story but things still presenting a bad hand for Shu. in away, alleviating the burden that Shu goes through. And in all honesty, it kinda aggravated me on how forced Shu and Inori were. I liked the chemistry that he and Hare had but I also liked how organic and natural his relationship with Ayase was and had progressed. So, I had decided to go with the former instead. I do hope that you enjoyed it.