Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except the plot. :)

A bulky final chapter for you!

Sorry for the long time it's taken to update, but I have been rather busy :S

Family Planning

By Onkiu

Chapter Eighteen: The miscarriage

"We've got to stop her," declared Soujiro chivalrously, as they sped down the road. By driving over a fair bit over the speed limit, Rui had finally caught up to the black limousine carrying Kaede towards the hospital, and they were now only a few metres behind it in the lane next to it.

"Talk about master of the obvious," muttered Akira darkly, hanging onto the seat for dear life.

"We'll stop her," said Rui stoutly.

"No matter how much I think, there's no way we can! She's already halfway there!" cried Soujiro desperately.

"You can't, but I can," said Rui. It was then that Soujiro and Akira realised what Rui can do that they can't.

Rui suddenly accelerated even faster than they had been going before, and turned the car abruptly towards the lane where Kaede's limousine was traveling. The car skidded into the next lane with the smell of burning tires, and Rui then suddenly braked the car such that it was spread across the lane. With no time to stop, Kaede's limousine collided straight into the side of Rui's car, leaving a large dent on the side, and the car was flung a few metres down the road due to the impact.

There was a moment's silence as the two cars skidded along the road. Then Soujiro suddenly regained his voice.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!" he screamed, his hand placed over his chest as if it would slow down the heart beat and the adrenaline being pumped throughout his body.

"You... you weren't thinking of stopping her by killing her, were you?" gasped Akira.

"Well," began Rui, as if he had actually entertained such thoughts. Then he paused for a moment, before he turned to them, smiling pleasantly, "At least we delayed her!"

"Yeah, you sure did," muttered Soujiro. "You almost killed us delaying her."

The police and an ambulance soon arrived on the scene, probably alerted by some dutiful citizens. As they sat on the roadside, being treated by the paramedics for some minor injuries (Akira's forehead was bleeding, Rui had a bruise on his cheek and Soujiro had broken his nose), Kaede, who, despite the crash was only slightly ruffled, walked up to them, not looking very pleased.

"As I would have expected," she said, staring down at them. "Young master Hanazawa, have you not been taught how to drive properly? I would have thought that the Hanazawa family would be able to afford a chauffer for you."

Her cold aura seemed to have swept any comeback they may have been thinking of. The three of them merely chose to stare at her in disdain.

"And young masters Nishikaido and Mimasaka. How very embarrassing it would be for your families to know that you were in a car accident after attempting to kill someone. What were you trying to stop me from?"

"We weren't trying to kill you," lied Rui evasively. "Please don't use such harsh words."

"As an acquaintance of your parents, it is in my best intentions that you do not stray from the path that you have been so fortunately set by your families," stated Kaede coldly.

A paramedic then came up to her and bustled her back to the side of the road to check if there was anything broken. Tama, Nishida and her chauffer, who were also in her limousine, had already been bandaged up, with her chauffer suffering the more severe of the injuries. The seven of them were soon sent off to the hospital in two ambulances for further observations.

"You know," whispered Akira to Soujiro as they sat inside the ambulance, while the paramedic continued to bandage a newly discovered wound on Rui's arm. "This wasn't what we hoped for. We're going to the hospital at top speed here. This is kind of like nullifying our sacrifice."

The ambulance carrying the Tsukushi party finally arrived at hospital. Tsukushi was wheeled in on a wheelchair by a paramedic while Domyouji and Tsubaki walked grimly by her side. While the nurse was busy taking Tsukushi's vital observations, Tsubaki started completing some of the paperwork involved with a ride in the ambulance. After moaning about not wanting to go to the hospital for the entire trip there, Tsukushi finally found out that complaining more and more would not stop her getting to the hospital and gave up.

While the nurse was busy recording down Tsukushi's blood pressure, Tsukushi hissed to Domyouji, "We're in a tight spot here."

"Tell me something I don't know," mumbled Domyouji darkly.

"And it's all your fault too," she hissed. "If you didn't push for this stupid plan, none of this would have happened."

"What's done is done," he hissed back. "It's not like we can change anything now."

"We should just tell them the truth!" muttered Tsukushi.

"Not before Mother accepts our engagement!" he hissed, as there happened to be a lot of hissing going on. "We need this 'pregnancy' to be the reason for her to accept you!"

Tsukushi paused. That was correct, wasn't it? The trouble she had gone through with this plan, the burden of wearing that fake tummy, was all a plan from the beginning for Domyouji's mother to accept her. Despite her protests that she wanted to go to University and get a job, deep down, she knew that she desired to be with Domyouji for the rest of her life. She could have resisted more with the plan; she could have refused to wear the tummy. But yet, she did - because she knew that secretly, she wanted to be able to marry him. Marriage would not mean that she could not go to University or get a job; marriage did not mean that she would have to have kids right now.

"Fine..." began Tsukushi. "Then you'd better delay this even further while we think of another plan to stop the truth being leaked."

Domyouji, for a moment, simply smirked. Then, smiling wanly at her, he said. "The Makino I know shouldn't give up that easily. But since I'm such a genius, I've thought of a way out."

"Like?"

"LIKE THIS!" he declared, suddenly jumping up and kicking the nurse that was now taking Tsukushi's temperature. The nurse was knocked back and sent slamming to the floor, passing out from the blow given by Domyouji's monstrous strength.

"Domyouji!" gasped Tsukushi, surprised at his sudden violence, which she had thought she put an end to so long ago. Tsubaki and some medical staff heard the commotion and rushed over.

"What's going on?" demanded Tsubaki, noticing the nurse lying on the floor and Domyouji, who had taken command of the wheelchair.

"Sorry, Sister," said Domyouji tersely. He grabbed the handlebars of Tsukushi's wheelchair and bolted straight down the corridor and disappeared around the corner.

"Hey! Tsukasa!" cried Tsubaki, rushing after him in her dangerously high stilettos. "What the hell are you thinking? You're going to hurt Tsukushi!"

Despite having often worn high heels for much of her life, Tsubaki had never run in them before. After taking a few steps, she found it quite painful to continue running as such, and by the time she limped to the lift lobby that Domyouji was last seen disappearing into, there was no trace of either him or Tsukushi there.

"That jerk," she muttered darkly, rubbing her sore, twisted ankle as the medical and security staff with her looked around questioningly at each other. "What the hell was he thinking? Oooh... just he wait! I'm going to teach him one hell of a lesson when he gets back!"

With a murderous look on her face, she made her way back to the waiting area whilst grabbing onto the walls for support, and had sat there for half an hour thinking about how to punish Tsukasa when Kaede, Tama, Nishida, and the F3 party arrived.

"Mother? What are you doing here?" cried Tsubaki, surprised. Kaede was not the type to go see her son face to face even if he was in a critical condition. But then she noticed the vehicle that her mother had arrived in; not a grand limousine but an ambulance. Strangely, her Mother looked a bit ruffled too. "And... why in an ambulance?"

"Tsukasa has friends who are inept at driving," stated Kaede coldly, purposely not elaborating on what she had said to them on the roadside. The F3, all with various bandages on their faces, merely looked back at her as defiantly as they could.

"Young Miss," said Tama, hobbling over to where Tsubaki was sitting, rubbing on her sore ankles. "Tsukushi... how is she?"

"Where's Tsukasa?" asked Rui, butting in.

"Argh! Don't remind me of that foolish fool who only thinks of foolish thoughts!" screamed Tsubaki, tearing her hair in frustration. "That twerp! He just suddenly attacked a nurse and ran off with Tsukushi! He doesn't know what kind of danger he's putting her in!"

"Do you know where he went?" asked Soujiro hopefully.

If he ran off like this, then they were just a little further off from finding the truth. All they need is a little bit more time, he thought.

"I tried running after them, but I twisted my ankle on the way. I only made it as far as where the lifts were," she sighed, feeling as if she had failed in saving Tsukushi and the baby. She did not notice the suspiciously hopeful look Soujiro had.

"Sister, we're going to go find him, okay?" said Akira reassuringly, patting her hand and smiling charmingly. After all, he did have a thing for older, married women."We'll bring him back to you!"

We'd better find him first before other people find him, Akira thought. We have to inform him of what we heard his mother say.

Despite the protests of the nurses who were about to begin treating the rest of their wounds, and the protests of Tsubaki who was worried about them exacerbating their injuries, the F3 sprinted down towards the lifts where Tsubaki said she had last seen them.

"Nishida," commanded Kaede as she watched the F3 run off. "Find Tsukasa."

"Yes, President," said Nishida, as he bowed and retreated from her sight.

"Argh, man," groaned Soujiro, holding the split in his side from running so quickly. "We should've got ourselves treated before we rushed off like this."

"No time," said Akira, leaning against the wall of the elevator. "We have to warn him that his mother suspects him before she corners him."

"Where are we going now?" asked Rui helpfully.

"Oh yeah. Where are we going?" asked Soujiro, perplexed. Their chivalrous rush to aid their fallen comrade was all an act; the truth was, they really had no idea where to start.

"Let's call Tsukasa and see where he is first," stated Rui, pulling out his phone. "Then we can find him."

"Good call, Rui!" said Akira, slapping Rui jovially on the back (Rui winced and shot Akira a dirty look) as he dialed Tsukasa's number. It was a good thing that they had a friend that did what was obvious first.

"Any news?" asked Soujiro hopefully.

"Nope," sighed Rui, twirling the strap of his phone between his long fingers. "His phone is off."

"That idiot! We told him we'd keep in touch! How about Makino? He ran off with Makino, right?"

Rui dialed again.

"Her phone is off as well. Probably out of money," he said, shaking his head and pocketing his phone.

"Great," sighed Soujiro. "That makes the job so much easier for us."

"Guess we'll just go floor by floor and ask if anyone has seen them," said Akira, pressing the button to the first floor.

As if by some strange twist of fate, the first floor happened to be where the maternity ward, the birthing suite and the pediatric ward was located.

"I kind of get the feeling that whoever created the hospital is laughing at us right now," muttered Soujiro darkly, frowning at the sign with the arrow pointing to the direction of the maternity ward. "As if Makino would hide in the maternity ward."

"The safest place is probably the least obvious," said Rui. "No one would think that Makino would hide in the maternity ward, so if anyone else is looking for her, they'd probably disregard that as her hideout."

"Good, well, let's go!" said Akira, marching confidently into the wide open doors of the maternity ward.

Although they had hoped to blend in and search each room of the ward discretely for Domyouji and Tsukushi, they soon found that it was a near impossible task. As Rui pointed out to them as they entered, it was way past visiting hours and the only people who were roaming around freely without looking suspicious were the nurses. In fact, apart from them, there were no other visitors that night.

"We'll creep in, okay?" whispered Soujiro.

"We don't need to look more suspicious than we already are," said Akira firmly. "Act like we're meant to be here, okay?"

Akira walked up confidently to the nurse's station.

"Good evening, miss," he said, smiling his most winning smile.

"Oh, um, hello," said the nurse shyly, upon seeing Akira with his most radiant smile.

"I'm here to enquire about my brother's wife. I hear that she was just admitted to hospital because she was about to give birth. Has anyone come in in the past two hours?" he said, beaming so radiantly that Soujiro thought that he was sparkling.

"Oh, I... um," said the nurse, entranced by his brilliance. "Um, what does she look like?"

"Well, she's pregnant," began Akira. "And um... she's short like a dwarf, has limp brown hair, and usually looks malnourished. But the most distinguishing feature is that she has a really flat chest."

"Actually," corrected Rui, pushing Akira aside. "She's small, has silky brown hair, and would be slim if she wasn't pregnant. As for the chest - I suppose I can't think of a rebuttal to that one."

"Well, uh, no- " began the young nurse.

"-Who are you looking for?" finished a much sterner voice. There was an older and crabbier matron standing behind the young and easily seduced nurse, who looked very annoyed that her younger counterpart could not withstand the attack of suspicious young men.

"I was just wondering if-" began Akira, smiling radiantly at her, but her frown did not quiver. Clearly, she was a hard one to crack; she was suspicious of three young men coming to the maternity ward at night; she would not easily fall prey to the likes of Akira and Soujiro.

"Name of the person you are looking for?" barked the matron.

"Her name is -" Akira turned to look at Soujiro. Soujiro shook his head. They did not need to alert any more people of Domyouji and Tsukushi's disappearing act and have more people competing to find them first. "Actually, never mind, I might have gotten the wrong hospital."

The three of them left before the matron could question them any further. Back in the lobby of the first floor, they bemoaned their failure.

"No good," sighed Akira, leaning against the wall and sliding down on it. "I thought I had it nailed there."

"We're not going to be able to get information from any other wards while we look so suspicious," said Soujiro, looking around to each one of them in their dinner suits. "We have to at least look like a part of the staff in order to gain information without suspicion."

"That matron had a very keen intuition," said Rui helpfully.

"Don't remind us." muttered Akira. It was the first time he had failed in seducing an older woman.

"At least we know that she's not in there," said Soujiro. "The nurse said no new people came in in the past two hours before we were interrupted. But how are we to go to the other wards to get information like this?"

"I suppose we should ... look like someone you can give information freely to," said Akira.

"Perhaps, like a doctor?" suggested Soujiro.

"Ha ha ha," snorted Akira. "Where do you think we can get stuff to dress like doctors? We're not Shigeru, we can't pull costumes out of thin air."

Almost as if by divine intervention, three doctors came out of a descending lift, chatting about something in low tones. Soujiro stared at them for a little while before his lips twisted into a sly smile.

"I have an idea," he grinned.

Akira noticed what Soujiro was staring at. Looking back from the group of doctors to Soujiro with his evil expression, Akira could tell exactly what Soujiro was thinking. Rui simply stood there, wondering what Squire's idea could be.

"Uh, Soujiro, you aren't going to-" began Akira, trying to stop Soujiro, but it was too late. Soujiro had already marched up to the doctors with a worried expression on his face.

"Sirs!" cried Soujiro, very much like a submissive servant. "I... I just saw a woman lying on the ground, unconscious!"

What a great actor, thought Akira darkly. Perhaps he's too good. I can see how he keeps winning girls over.

"What?!" cried one of the doctors, aghast. "Whereabouts?!"

"Over there, sirs," said Soujiro, pointing towards a long, dark corridor conveniently placed there for the purpose of this story. "I heard really erratic breathing too!"

"Let's go!" cried the second doctor. As the three doctors rushed valiantly to the aid of the 'unconscious woman' in the direction that Soujiro had pointed out, Soujiro turned and waved for Akira and Rui to follow him, looking very cunning indeed. In fact, he looked so cunning that Akira nearly thought Soujiro looked like a wolf about to devour little girls.

"Oh my goodness," muttered Akira grimly. "He isn't seriously going to do it, is he?"

Regardless of Akira's moral qualms, however, the F3 disappeared into the dark corridor. Some muffled protests could be heard, and five minutes later, Soujiro, Akira and Rui emerged dressed as doctors.

"There," said Soujiro, adjusting the tie he had just acquired from the doctor.. "Now that we look like doctors, no one is going to question us when we demand information."

"But, do you think that that was the right thing to do, beating up doctors for their clothes?" sighed Akira, rolling up the sleeves of the blouse that he just took (they were a bit too short). He had moral qualms about beating up three doctors for such an ulterior motive. "Because of us, they're now lying unconscious and tied up in some dark corridor. What if some patient dies because those doctors were not there to save them? It would all be our fault!"

"But we're off to save someone else's life, so it's alright," justified Soujiro.

"Giving thema warning isn't saving their life," corrected Akira.

"It's close to it," reasoned Soujiro.

"What if we get asked to give an expert opinion on a patient? What are you going to say?" said Akira.

"I'll make up something when the time comes," teased Soujiro, flicking Akira's head playfully. Rui could almost swear that there was something going on between them. "Look what we even got! Their ID cards! We can probably get access to areas that are off limits to visitors!"

"Hmm," said Akira. "We'd better memories these names in case anyone asks us who we are, though, in all honesty, I look nothing like Dr. Abe Tsuyoshi here."

"I'm Dr. Matsuda Shota," said Soujiro, flashing a brilliant smile Akira and Rui, both of whom failed to swoon.

"Dr. Oguri Shun," said Rui, looking at his ID card in fascination.

"Let's get going then. To the next ward!" declared Akira.

Armed with their attire, stethoscope and identity cards that they had gained from the three doctors, the F3 sauntered into the next ward where Tsukushi and Domyouji could be with a newfound confidence. However, neither Tsukushi nor Domyouji were to be found. They attempted to find them at the next ward where there was still no sign of Domyouji or Tsukushi. Progressively, they went to each ward; yet they were still not to be found. The F3 soon found their confidence waning.

"It's no use," sighed Soujiro, collapsing against the wall outside the renal dialysis ward.

"If only they'd turned on their phones, they would've made our jobs so much easier," lamented Akira woefully.

Just as they were about to give up, however, Rui's phone suddenly started ringing.

"Hello, Tsukasa," said Rui.

"Where the hell are you guys?!" demanded Domyouji by way of greeting, as if it were their fault that they couldn't be contacted.

"We're on the 6th floor of the hospital looking for you," replied Rui calmly, either by accident or purposely ignoring his tone.

"I'll have to explain this to you later, but Makino just got taken by the SPs!"

"What?" said Rui. The sudden change in the tone of his voice startled Akira and Soujiro. "Where'd they take Makino?"

"Who knows?" muttered Domyouji darkly. "But my guess is the maternity ward, if they're expecting Makino to give birth."

Rui found his feet automatically running down towards the lift lobby and slamming the 'down' button, and Soujiro and Akira bolted right after him. As he made his way to the maternity ward, he heard the rest of Domyouji's sorry story.

After running away from the medical staff in the emergency ward, Domyouji had ditched the wheelchair that Tsukushi was sitting on in the lift lobby. Together, they hid inside the medical records room which they found to be conveniently unlocked. After hiding for a while, however, Domyouji felt nature calling him, and thinking that Tsukushi should be safe inside there while he took a short and well deserved break, he made his way to the toilet. It was then that two SPs walked by and saw him coming out of the room; when he came back from the toilet, he saw them dragging Tsukushi out while she put up a brave fight (like the girl he knew and loved).

Domyouji too, joined the fray, but as one SP held him off, the other one had made his escape with Tsukushi. Domyouji had ended up beating the SP that was left with him, and he had run around the hospital like a frantic, headless chicken looking for Tsukushi. It was then that he had the idea of calling up Rui to enlist his help.

This is not looking good, thought Rui, as he finally made his way back to the maternity ward. Fearing the worse for Tsukushi, he rushed past the nurse station without being stopped by them (he was, after all, still in his doctor's attire) before realising that they did not know where Tsukushi's room was.

Bolting back to the nurse's station, he hurried up to the counter and breathed, "Makino."

"I beg your pardon?" blinked the matron, who had long forgotten that the three young men in front of her were the three scoundrels that she had earlier shooed away, thanks to the clothes that Soujiro had forcefully taken from the doctors.

"Where... where's Makino?" he said quickly.

"Makino? Oh, you mean that girl that just came in? She was screaming, I think she's about to give birth."

"Where is she?" said Rui in a demanding tone, feeling his patience running dry with this woman.

"The birthing suite... sheez, young people these days, no manners at all..." muttered the matron, as Rui ran towards where the birthing suite. He pushed open the door to find everyone assembled around Tsukushi, who was lying on the hospital bed - without a baby bulge.

The atmosphere there was intensely gloomy. Kaede had a cold look and Domyouji looked dark and murderous. Tsubaki and Tama looked almost woeful. Tsukushi had pursed her lips, looking grim.

For a second, the F3 stood there silently, observing the scene, wondering what exactly had happened.

Not knowing what else to do, Soujiro broke the silence.

"So, what's up, sunshine?" he said brightly, grinning broadly. "Did you have a miscarriage or something?"

Rui and Akira turned and scowled at him. Soujiro sent them a hurt I'm-merely-trying-to-cover-for-them look.

"Give it up, Soujiro," snapped Domyouji.

Soujiro felt crushed. Here he was, sticking up for his friends at the expense of his own dignity, and he gets a double whammy from them.

"I'm going to tell them the truth," sighed Tsukushi resolutely. "There's no need to cover up for me anymore."

Soujiro felt totally owned.

"Now that everyone is here," said Tsukushi, "I think it's time that I told you the whole truth."

Tama and Tsubaki's eyes widened in surprise. From their woeful looks, one could almost guess that they had really thought it was a miscarriage.

"The thing is... I'm not pregnant. At all."

Domyouji pulled out the large, hollow, fake stomach from behind the bed (out of sight from everyone). Tsubaki and Tama gasped while Kaede looked as cold as she did before; except now, her face was marred with a twinge of triumph.

Tsukushi then dove into their sad and sordid tale of how they did it - how it had all been Domyouji's idea; how he 'accidentally' let slip to Soujiro and Akira that she was pregnant; how they had researched up on this; and how they put up with it for the next nine months. The more she told them about it, the more horrible she felt inside; she had caught a glimpse of Tsubaki out the corner of her eye, and the disappointment plainly written across her face stung her. Tsukushi would have preferred Tsubaki to be angry with her for lying to her; yet, her crushed look simply hurt.

"Why, Tsukushi?" asked Tsubaki, looking terribly sad.

"It...it's because..." began Tsukushi, trying to avoid Tsubaki's sad face.

Did she dare to tell them the real reason?

The real reason - that Domyouji wanted to trick his mother into believing that she was pregnant so that they could get married?

"... it's because I want to marry her," finished Domyouji coldly, looking particularly at his mother.

"And so, you let your logic be thrown into disarray by nothing less than a lower class commoner? You let her seduce you into such a foolish plan that could easily have tainted to Domyouji name into disrepute?" stated Kaede evenly, holding her ground.

"It wasn't Makino's fault. The idea was all mine," said Domyouji smoothly, looking slightly proud that it was all his plan even in such a situation. "She kept refusing to follow this brilliant plan because-" Domyouji paused, and frowned. "-she thought it was stupid."

"Don't blame her," piqued Soujiro. "We were the ones who purposely spread the rumours against her will."

"Yet she went along and wore the stomach for a whole nine months?" enquired Kaede coldly, raising her eyebrow.

Tsukushi felt herself flush angrily, though she had, in the end, went along with their silly plan.

"She only did it when there was no way out of it," sighed Domyouji, looking almost apologetic for forcing her into this. However, his face hardened as he looked back at his mother. "Mother..."

For a moment, his voice sounded choked up, but then he pulled himself together.

"... I love Makino. And I will marry her," he said firmly.

While Tsukushi expected Soujiro and Akira to whoop and cheer for their friend, the room fell eerily silent as all eyes turned to Kaede to see what her reply would be. None, however, had a more intense gaze as Domyouji did.

"I've said before," began Kaede slowly, "That you can pretend that I am dead for a year."

This was not the response that Tsukushi had been expecting - she had been so sure that Kaede will refuse with absolute certainty.

"And that year that I am dead is not over yet," she finished.

All eyes widened in surprise. Anything she said that was not an absolute refusal certainly had an element of acceptance in it, which Tsubaki immediately caught onto. She gave a little gasp and gave Tama a quick high-five.

"So you... approve of this?" said Domyouji cautiously.

"Don't get me wrong," she replied sternly, "I do not approve of it. That said, however, I cannot refuse your request. Your little stunt has made far too much damage on the Domyouji Enterprises reputation for me to salvage."

"Damage?" enquired Tsubaki.

"Your so called pregnancy has been given far too much publicity than it deserves. Miss Makino's face is now associated with the Domyouji family, and the public is expecting a baby soon. Because of this baby news, the reputation of Domyouji Enterprises has soared, and we have become greatly popular with the masses because of a fresh, young face. If the news that you were faking a pregnancy were to leak, it will damage Domyouji Enterprises beyond repair, and have many legal repercussions."

"So, you'll allow us to get married, because of this?" replied Domyouji hollowly.

"I will allow you to marry on the condition that you will never tell of the pregnancy being fake," said Kaede harshly. "It was a good thing that I suspected its authenticity before the public did."

Although it was not the full, enthusiastic seal of approval that Domyouji had wanted, an acceptance by Kaede was nonetheless welcomed.

"Deal," said Domyouji.

Tsukushi felt strangely hollow despite this victory. So they had won.

But Domyouji was going to be leaving her side for New York - for four years.

New about Tsukushi's pregnancy soon started reemerging in the media. As far as Tsukushi could see, Kaede had summoned all her powers and suppressed news of the pregnancy being fake. Instead, all reports stated that it was a still birth and public sympathy for the Domyouji family soared. Mama and Papa wept at their lost grandchild. Tsukushi had decided that it was far better to hide the truth from them, that there was no grandchild in the first place. Articles expressing condolences appeared, and Tsukushi found herself, once again, inundated with the 'well wishes' of the Eitoku crowd.

But for once, she did not care about how fake they were. All she cared about was every precious minute she had now to spend with Domyouji before he left for New York.

She now realised how much she needed him, and knew that the next four years without him by her side would be unbearable. It was inevitable that she should marry him - for how else would the rest of her life be bearable, if he were not by her side?

The dreaded day soon came, and Domyouji, with a single piece of hand luggage, was saying his final goodbyes to her. They had managed to escape their friends for a private moment together before his flight was due to start boarding.

"I guess this is it," sighed Tsukushi, averting her gaze from him. "Goodbye."

"What do you mean, goodbye?" teased Domyouji. "It's supposed to be 'see you soon', you dumb woman."

"How is four years supposed to be soon?!" cried Tsukushi. "You're going to be ... gone ... for four years. And I won't see you... and..."

She found that she really wanted to cry, but her strong will refused to give in.

"Argh! Why do I have to cry over this stupid idiot?!" she said aloud, blinking back her tears.

"Hey, I heard that," scolded Domyouji. "And you have perfect reason to cry."

"Give me one good reason first!" demanded Tsukushi, feeling the tears start to trickle out the corner of her eyes. "I don't want to waste my tears over someone who gets his vocabulary mixed up!"

Domyouji laughed. He dropped his luggage onto the floor and wrapped his arms around her as she sniffled into his expensive coat, soaking it. Stroking her hair, he pulled it back as he bent down and whispered.

"It's because you'll be marrying this stupid idiot."

The end!

Or is it...

Next chapter - the grand finale - the epilogue!

"What? There's a next chapter?" cried Tsukushi, staring at the bit of text on this screen. "I was sort of hoping it would be the end of this sorry story!"

"It's not really a chapter," said Rui. "It's more an epilogue."

"What's the point of that?" scowled Domyouji, who had no idea what an epilogue is.

"Sort of like a final, final ending," said Rui, knowing Domyouji's ill-disguised question was one of ignorance. "I suppose there are still some loose ends to be tied, but the last chapter isn't particularly essential to the story."

"I hear it could be read as a standalone!" piqued Soujiro, appearing out of nowhere.

"How'd you know?" gasped Tsukushi, surprised. After all, she was the protagonist, and she certainly didn't hear anything about that.

"I know everything," replied Soujiro mysteriously. "They don't call me the gossip queen for nothing."

"Stay tuned for the epilogue," said Rui to nobody in particular. "Happily ever after."