His hand was on the lever. He began push it up-

"Hajime, no!"

Kamukura took his hand off of the lever and looked behind him to see Nanami and Minako. Nanami was wrapped in her make-shift blanket and was very pale, and she stumbled to the floor as soon as Minako let go of her. "Sorry-"

"Let me talk to him," Nanami said. "Please leave." Minako bowed and left the room. Nanami, trembling, grabbed the edge of the bathtub and pulled herself up. Kamukura sighed and moved to help her up. "What're you doing?"

She coughed and fell into Kamukura. "What are you doing down here?" hissed Kamukura.

"You're Kamukura, aren't you?" Nanami said. "Please, Hajime-" And the worst of Kamukura's headaches began. "What does she want-?"

"Pull the lever up, and she gets killed. Pull the lever down, and we get killed," Kamukura gasped. "I'm going to pull the lever up," he said, and then he was on the floor, cringing with pain. The door slammed open.

"Nanami-san!"

"I'm fine! I just need more cloth," she said, and Mina left the room. She put her hand on Kamukura's and squeezed it. "Please, Hajime, please don't be too far gone- I don't want you to leave, at least let me say goodbye to the right person…"

Kamukura tried to get up, but Nanami was gripping him tighter. He could see her blood starting to bled out, so he quickly moved her to her side again. But she was breathing faster, shallower. She was dying. "Hajime, what does the up lever also do-" she winced and began trembling more.

"It… it kills everyone else," Kamukura said. The headache was receding. "But I won't die. If I die, you die. This way, Enoshima and Despair die too." He stood up. "Yes…"

"No," Nanami said. "Push the lever down. Save the others. Are you hope, or despair?"

Kamukura stared at her, his dislike of Nanami increasing. Her head went down and he reached out to strangle her. And yet, almost at her neck… he couldn't do anything to her. Something in him wouldn't let him. And just thinking about that something caused another headache. He backed away, clutching his head, turned around, and put his hand on the lever.

And he waited. "10 seconds left, you know," Enoshima said.

"9."

Kamukura wanted to pull up, but he couldn't make himself.

"8."

Why wasn't he in control?

"7."

Another headache took effect. He kept his hand on the lever but growled in agony.

"6."

He started breathing faster.

"5."

His mind went back to physical and mental therapy, to Enoshima and Matsuda lecturing him…

"4."

To his meeting with Nanami over the years…

"3."

To his friendship with Komaeda before he ran away.

"2."

To his times at school and work, with the Kirigiris and Sonia and Komaeda and Nanami and Koizumi and Fujisaki and everyone else who died…

"1."

And to his family, his parents and sister and his friends, and especially the most important person in his life.

Hajime Hinata pushed the lever down.

White gas instantly began flooding the apartment. Hinata turned away from the lever and moved over to join Nanami and prepare for death. He felt bad, condemning Mina too, but to save the lives of all those other people… he prayed they would forgive him some day.

He heard people shouting, the sound of boots… and his world went white.

Hajime Hinata awoke in a hospital with an Asian man in blueish-gray suit decorated with medals staring at him. "The nurses said you were speaking today," the man said in perfect Japanese. "I am General Kim, of the Army of the United States. We barely saved you from that bunker."

"I thought you couldn't get into the school?" Hinata croaked.

"A lie concocted by Enoshima," General Kim stated pompously. "The police forces in conjunction with the militaries of America and Japan were able to break into the building despite the best efforts of that computer system. The 900 hostages were saved, well, those that were alive, and thanks to your friend Nagito Komaeda a special forces team was able to retrieve you, Mrs. Masaru, and Miss Nanami."

"Are-are Chiaki and Mina… safe?"

"They are fine, Mr. Hinata," Kim said. He turned his back on Hinata. "Although they are still bedridden. It will take some time for you to all recover. President Romney and Mr. Togami send their regards."

Kim left the room and for a moment, Hinata was alone. Then the door opened and Kirigiri entered. "I was in the area," she said. And then she smiled at him. "Good work down there. You did what I expect from a Kirigiri detective."

"You knew about the game?" Hinata said.

Kirigiri nodded. "I didn't think she'd go to that length, though," Kirigiri said. "Don't worry about Enoshima. She was relying on her different face to escape, but when you didn't give in to Kamukura and kill all those people, plunging Japan into despair, Enoshima gave into despair herself and simply turned herself in. She wasn't expecting you to do that."

Hinata nodded numbly. "Was it really two weeks?"

"Yes. The computer was difficult to break. And Ikusaba was distracted, that was important too. Still, you did a good job," Kirigiri said. "By the way, Hinata-kun, Nanami-san, Komaeda-san and Sonia-san have been pardoned, and in the group that was supposed to kill you, only Nakejawa died, in self-defense at that. Nidai was merely put into a coma."

"Thank God," Hinata said. "Kirigiri-san, is there anyway I could-?"

"I'll arrange something," Kirigiri said. "Thank you, Hinata-kun."

Hinata and Nanami would have to go through physical therapy, one of hundreds of people. Their reunion was a subdued affair, owing to the fact that Nanami was still recovering from being shot and being operated on. "Hajime," she'd whispered, with her in the hospital bed and Hinata in a chair next to her, "am I a murderer?"

For a moment, Hinata was confused, before he remembered that she had shot and killed Matsuda. "Matsuda killed a lot of people, including my parents. He turned me into Kamukura and made sure that Enoshima could hide for years. If you hadn't killed him, he would've been killed by the police," Hinata said slowly.

Nanami was silent and simply stared at the ceiling. "I chose the shield and out of the two of us I was the one who killed," she said. "I took a symbol of justice and I killed a man in cold blood."

"You killed a man who was going to kill others," Hinata said firmly. "And that shield blocked the Monobear deployment chute. And besides," he said, taking her hand, "I would've killed everyone still alive, and the police and soldiers too if you hadn't stopped me."

"I stopped Kamukura," Nanami replied, squeezing his hand feebly. "Don't act like he's you."

"He is me," Hinata replied. "But he's not in charge. I'm sure he'll always be there, always… trying to get out. I don't even know what he wants, but I know he's still partly me."

"He wants talents," Komaeda said, entering the room. "That's what the boss always said. Really, I don't get it." He walked over to the hospital bed and dropped a little red bag on Nanami's bedside. "That's from us, by the way, and something we found in your apartment." He walked back towards the door. "I think you distorted him, Hajime," Komaeda said, and he turned around. "He couldn't break through you to act out on what he wanted to do."

Hinata thought back to when he tried to strangle Nanami in the apartment recreation beneath Hope's Peak. He glanced at the red bag, but kept listening to Komaeda.

"The fact that you can have emotion probably means that Kamukura could too," Komaeda said, "and that because of it Kamukura couldn't fight your emotions and simply kill everyone that you cared about. I'm sure he would've collected talents, if he'd been able to have full control." Then he left the room.

The door swung shut, leaving Hinata and Nanami alone again. Nanami glanced at the bag. "Hajime, can you give that to me?"

He followed her wishes and she spilled it out on her bed with her free hand. The thing Komaeda had given her was a very familiar set of rings Hinata had last seen one night very long ago. Nanami picked one up and examined it. "So he found it," she said, emotionlessly. "I guess I'm not surprised."

She glanced at Hinata and pulled her hand out of his. "I thought you hated me?" he said. Nanami nodded. "Then why?"

"…I don't know," Nanami said, "I don't remember saving them…"

"Maybe he didn't mean the new apartment. Maybe he meant the old one," Hinata said. He didn't know what had happened to the old thing, and he doubted that Enoshima's trap was anything more than a replica. "Does it matter? We don't really need-"

"Your hand," Nanami said, "Hajime."

He blinked but followed orders, knowing full well she was about to do. She slipped his old engagement ring back onto his finger, and then gave hers to Hinata. "Do I even need to ask?"

"No…"

They sealed the engagement with a kiss.

"You saved the lives of 693 people, Hajime-kun."

Hinata glanced up from his desk and his report to stare at his sister. Mina had gotten out of the hospital rather quickly too, and was writing… something as part of her new job at KDL. Of course, that meant that they had to share an office. "Just in case you wanted to know," Mina added, "the Americans and the police were trying to hide it for some reason, but Togami's talked them out of it…"

"It wasn't just me," Hinata replied, "it was Chiaki, and Komaeda-san, and you, too."

"All I did was threaten to kill you and tend to Nanami-san's wounds," Mina replied, imperiously, "and yet I still left my dear sister-in-law in a room alone with a madman and helped her climb down a ladder after being shot…"

"We're not married yet," Hinata said, glancing back down at his report. "She's still in the hospital, even if the doctors say she'll be ready to leave soon..."

"I know," Mina said. She shut her computer. "Almost time to go," she announced, and then said, "although I don't know what to expect- if the Kirigiris were willing to forget about their kid while stuck at the school and she was alone for two weeks-"

"Ikusaba made sure that someone cared for her while her parents were in the game," Hinata replied wearily. He had been on hand to see father and daughter reunited and watched Makoto's sister babble about a call in the middle of the night from his old girlfriend Mukuro-san. When he told Nanami, she shrugged and said it was part of the deal with Kirigiri Sr. when everything was being installed. He had only cooperated, after all, because of the Monobears following the Kirigiris around.

"Still," Mina said, drawing Hinata out of his thoughts, "say goodnight to Nanami-san for me. You're going back to her apartment again tonight, right?"

Hinata nodded. "Good luck," Mina replied. Hinata stood up, closing his own computer, and was surprised by Mina briefly hugging him and then leaving the room.

Hinata left the office, passed Maizono at her desk (now sporting a temporary eyepatch due to the events of the game), and took the subway to the apartment complex. The door was shut, and the room was cold when he entered. A slumped-over pink-and-white rabbit was sprawled on the floor, and upon closer inspection Hinata found a set of electronics and a malfunctioning voicebox inside of it. He threw the whole thing in the trash- cruel, perhaps, but the less reminders of Despair the better- and set to work on a new task. He shoved aside his bed to set up an iron-stand, pulled a chair from the TV room, and a little box of clay he bought and (drawing on all his powers as Izuru Kamukura) made a statue that vaguely resembled a rabbit. Satisfied, he put it in the oven to cook and set to work making dinner.

He switched on the news and began eating his food, getting up only to retrieve the "rabbit" from the oven. "Police are yet to confirm the number of casualties, but already a legal battle is raging: a number of high-ranging politicians are urging that all blame be pinned on terrorist leader Dr. Ryoko Otonashi," the news said while Hinata worked at painting the rabbit white, "however, some people are demanding full accountability except in proven self-defense, an easy task considering the broadcasting of the carnage. Examples include Princess Sonia Nevermind and Prince Consort Nagito Komaeda-Nevermind, former members of Despair who were pardoned for assisting in the capture of Otonashi, and Taeko Togami- er Celestia Togami- who became a one-woman prison warden in the school's bath complex, saving several criminals from public execution-"

Hinata turned the news off. When he was done painting the rabbit, he set it out to dry and retired to his room. He didn't dare go into Nanami's yet. So instead he sat on his bed and admired the glint of his ring in the moonlight. And then someone knocked at the door.

He got up and opened his bedroom door- and was greeted with Nanami wrapping her arms around him, a crutch at her side. Koizumi waved to him and then left the apartment, leaving the couple together. "Out early?" Hinata said, trying his best to sound dry despite the huge smile on his face.

"They said I should be fine, now," Nanami said. "Although they said I still need some support despite being shot in the waist and not actually hurting my legs any, but hey? I'm not a doctor." Hinata couldn't help but notice that she was leaning on him now, though.

Then again, that probably didn't have much to do with medical concerns. "Back again," Hinata said. "I…I made you a new rabbit, since your old one-"

"Was computer-controlled? I know," Nanami said. "I don't think the kids would've wanted it anyways."

"Kids?"

"It's part of the deal, Hajime. Even if it was the old one."

"Yes, Chiaki."

"It doesn't matter anyways," she said, "the less reminders of Despair, the better."

He walked with her over to the couch. "Want to do anything?" Hinata said.

"Just play a game," she replied, "make sure that I still have my talents." Hinata smiled and turned the PS3 on.

"Go easy on me, will you?" Hinata said as he retrieved a controller for Nanami.

"Don't worry," Nanami replied, "I'll treat you the same as always." And true to what she said, Hinata still didn't stand a chance. After soundly trouncing Hinata several times, Nanami announced that it was time for bed (and, naturally, Hinata would have to carry her there). But as Hinata kneeled over the PS3 to turn it off, Nanami said, "Oh, and Hajime?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this is the final 'reset' to our relationship?"

Hinata considered what to say, but finally he just switched the PS3 off and turned to face his fiancée. "Chiaki, who said it needed to reset? We just turned it back on."

A/N: It took me a while to write something I liked to finish the ending. The final part of this chapter was basically added just to answer some of the questions I had myself after rewriting this things. There's still an epilogue upcoming, though, which will have my final thoughts. Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, or reviewed!