Her funeral was beautiful.
Yukari, Fuuka, and Mitsuru all saw to it. How could they let their friend down? And more than a few people cried. Hidetoshi had approached her in the casket, a western approach that seemed so fitting for someone who had touched so many, and hung his head in shame. He hadn't been able to save her, because he'd been worried about being the right kind of man.
Akihiko was comforting to Shinji, but he was in his own world, one where Minako did not drift to sleep forever in his arms. One where he'd never gone away in the first place.
Theo stood aside his two sisters and remained silent. They looked at him. "You're sure?" Elizabeth remarked. Theo nodded.
"More than anything."
And so Theo left, meeting the somber android outside the Velvet Room.
"We...must save her," Aigis commented sadly. Theo nodded. "We must."
And somewhere, far off, Minako Arisato's soul was sealed in stone with a smile. For she above all, was grateful to have lived.
'How cruel,' a familiar voice mused to ears that could not hear. 'You're so close to me, but you can't speak to me.'
And three people felt agony in turn for the girl who had loved them, and then left them even moreso than they'd left her.