Author's Note: Dekomori is still not herself in this chapter, but soon she will regain herself and soon Nibutani will come into the picture!

Thank you again to those who have read this and followed this, and I am sorry for the consistent long waits in between chapters. Once I finish graduate school (just a couple more months), I should have a lot more time to focus on my writing.

Even three weeks into her abandonment, I still resisted.

He could take her away from me romantically, but I would not allow him to take away the one thing, the one bond, that had brought us together- that had helped us become such inseparable friends.

One morning, I waited on the bridge that passed through Rikka's route to school.

As I saw Rikka and Yuuta approaching, I leaned on the bridge's railing, trying to remain inconspicuous, though my pigtails blew in the wind. "I await," I said, as they got near.

"Morning," Yuuta said nonchalantly.

"Do not 'morning' me!" I yelled, pointing my finger accusingly. "Today at last, I shall release the demon that has captured Master's heart!"

"Sanae," Rikka said weakly, her eyes averted, so lonely without her eyepatch, without her identity.

I twitched at the sound of my first name and barely heard her speak as I screamed, "Do not call me 'Sanae!' Here I come!"

I leaped up on the railing, ready to attack. Already precarious, I balanced on one leg, showing how indifferent I was about my own existence at that moment…

Luckily, as I slipped, I fell more sideways than I did backwards. And Yuuta caught me. That bastard. But even so, I was happy that my demise did not come so early. "I thought I was done for!" I exhaled, pawing at the ground.

"Be more careful," Yuuta said again, in the most nauseating, nonchalant manner possible.

"I'm sorry. I mean, no!" For the first time since she took off her eyepatch, I looked Rikka directly in the eye, my face scrunched up in a stubborn sourpuss. For a moment, I saw a spark of the old Rikka- no, the real Rikka.

I jumped backward, "Be destroyed, real! Blow up, synapses!" Rikka's signature move; I was hoping it would inspire her to come out of her stasis. "Banishment this world!" Withdrawing my "hammer", I prepared to strike her with everything I had- my resentment, my disappointment, my love. "Master! Open your eyes!" I lifted my hammer, ready to bring it down when-

"I'm over this," muttered Rikka.

Cold words.

Dead words.

A weight came over me. One that brought down not only my "hammer" but my spirits as well. I fell to my knees. "Master!" I called, not knowing what else to do. "Master!"

Yuuta tried to say something, but I wouldn't let him. "Be quiet!" I commanded. "I, Dekomori, won't give up! I will, I WILL, drive out the evil that's taken hold of my Master, and I will save her!"

I grabbed my bag and ran away, wiping my eyes before they could see my true weakness, which has nothing to do with garlic, or crosses, or all of the other silly things I usually claim.

Despite that failure, I knew I saw Rikka's desire to return to the chuunibyou world that morning. I planned for another encounter that afternoon to try one more time. I took out my secret weapon. I knew that Rikka had an affinity for mysterious stones, so when she walked into the clubroom that afternoon: "Master! I've been awaiting you! I made an incredible discovery! I've come to show you! Feast your eyes on these magic rocks!"

I poured the blue and turquoise stones onto the floor. She leaned down and grabbed one, a beautiful aqua the same color as her eyes. "Which would you like? Which would you like?" I asked, excitedly. She held the stone close to those eyes, shining phosphorescent. "All of these stones possess magic of the highest caliber."

"Dekomori…"

"Oh, just a moment," I said, pretending not to hear her. Just a little more… "This will make them even prettier!" Using the "magic circle", I turned on the lights. Their blue glow made the stones shine even more, her eyes sparkling.

She was captivated… The look was coming back…

"Dekomori…" She put down the stone.

"Yes!" I beamed. She is using my last name. This is a good sign! I prattled on, so oblivious to everything.

"This Society…" Rikka interrupted. "No… this club is… As of today, it is dissolved."

"Master…?"

"I think we should all be free to do the things we want to do," Rikka continued.

But I want to be with you! "What's happened, Master?!" I screamed and shook her, desperately trying to shake the answer out of her. I tried to look into her eyes, for a final glimmer of hope, but she had them averted, as they were this morning. "This society is needed to find the invisible boundary lines to go to the world beyond!"

What about your father?

What about our mission?

WHAT ABOUT US?

I don't really remember the rest of that afternoon.

I didn't want to remember it honestly. I actually looked up spells and incantations for erasing memories…

But when I heard that Rikka was going to visit her family in the country, I knew very well that she may not be coming back. So, being as stubborn as I am, I decided to try one last time.

I figured out the day and time she was leaving, so I could intervene.

"Wait there!" I called as I spotted Rikka and Yuuta sitting on a bench near the station. They looked over at me, confounded, as I declared, "I believe I told you: I won't give up!" I clutched my pigtails, embedding all of my emotion and frustration into the fibers of my hair. "So long as I am your servant, even if flung beyond the world of darkness, I'll stand with you, Master!" I screamed this, not caring who heard my confession.

And I also didn't care who saw me flinging my hair, jumping around, or yelling embarrassing things.

I continued this, relentlessly pounding poor Rikka with my hair sacks, until I tired myself out and fell to the ground, my disheveled hair slumped, like my shoulders. Both Rikka and Yuuta reached out toward me, but all I could muster was, "Do not touch me!"

Then it came. The train, like the chariot taking Cinderella to the ball…

Rikka didn't even say goodbye. She glanced at me briefly as the train doors closed, but her eyes instantly averted. She did not say anything to me. The train pulled away, no words exchanged.

Only me and Yuuta remained.

Rikka was gone.

And so were my inhibitions.

The barrier… no, the façade, I had tried so hard to uphold in front of Rikka came down.

And the recoil was directed at Yuuta, a backlash of unspoken words and hair.

Didn't he realize how much Dark Flame Master and the invisible boundary lines meant to her? Didn't he realize that chuunibyou was Rikka's coping method? That it gave her purpose? That HE gave her purpose, that he was the one who had introduced that world to her… but now, but now! In a strange twist of fate, he was the one who was taking it away from her! He had forced her to stop the very thing he had started, and the only thing that had made her happy! And that was why she was so confused!

I tried to express this as best I could, but I think it only came out as chuunibyou and pigtails. "Why can't you say that Wicked Lord Shingan is the strongest? Why can't you say to be enveloped in flames of darkness?"

He stood there, unanswering, silently taking the brunt of my attack.

"For so, so, SO LONG, Master has waited for that!" I continued. "So why not? Why not? Why not?"

Finally, he grabbed my arms. "What good would saying it do?" he uttered.

What is he talking about? I thought. It would make all of the difference! I tried to argue, but-

"There are no invisible boundary lines!" he yelled. "Her father's in his grave! There's nothing I can do about that!"

"Shut up!" I screamed.

"No matter how many scenarios she invents-"

They aren't just scenarios to her-

"No matter how much power she thinks she has-"

She does have power! Even if it isn't supernatural-

He pushed me away, causing me to fall backward onto the ground, the second time I had shown such disgrace in front of him.

"When something is gone, it's gone!" he screamed, his frustration mounting to the same level as mine.

No, it was worse. His anger had surpassed mine, as my emotions turned from aggravation to despondency, reality being pummeled into me.

Despite this, he continued his assault. He walked toward me and, afraid, I pathetically scurried backwards, like a mouse trying to prevent its tail from being stepped on.

"No matter how much you think it, no matter how much you believe it…" Yuuta roared. "There's no such thing!"

There was no fighting that blind rage, that complete denial- yet acceptance- of reality.

"I- I know that!"

This battle was lost. The only thing to do was retreat and recuperate.

"I KNOW THAT!" I screamed, a stream of tears rolling down my cheeks.

I turned and sprinted with Yuuta to my back.

Fine, I thought as I ran. Make me admit it. But you don't realize what you are doing. If you don't believe in Rikka, she will never believe in herself. You are the delusional one if you think she is happy the way she is now.

Thus, this is how I relinquished my chuunibyou identity and became what I am now- a plain, boring commoner. But what I am supposed to do when my best friend has done the same thing? As long as Yuuta has a hold on her heart, she will continue to do what he says and I will continue to be nothing but a forgotten sidekick.

And to make it worse? Rikka is going to stay with her grandparents in the country, just as I expected. I suppose with or without Yuuta's influence, her and I were meant to be separated, nothing more than friends that drift apart over time due to distance, whether physical or mental. And so… I suppose this romance ends just like any other typical commoner tale.

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