The next evening Yomoriko was gone. Just like that; pure and simple gone. The Cross Academy vampires didn't know for sure but they thought she'd slipped away during the daylight hours as they slept, taking her scant belongings with her to wherever it was she'd decided to go and leaving naught but a farewell note addressed to her brother on the bedside table. It was Ichijou who'd discovered the letter and he'd faithfully presented it to Shiki before class, unopened.

Shiki had been neither surprised nor worried to find his little sister's absence – in fact he'd predicted it, even as she'd hugged him the night before; he'd felt it through her skin as clearly as one feels a breeze through an open window. Thus he opened the letter only out of passing curiosity, just to see what she could possibly have wanted to say before disappearing from his life once again.

Onii-sama,

It read in flowing feminine writing.

There's so much I'd like to say to you... a letter isn't NEARLY enough to do my thoughts justice. As you've probably figured out, I've left Cross Academy – perhaps for good. I can't say for sure because I honestly don't know. The time might come when I return but for now I feel my place is elsewhere. I'm not sure where yet; when I find it I'll know.

You apologised last night for not saving me all those years ago... I want you to know you have NOTHING to apologise for. You were a child, the same as me, and deep down I was glad you'd escaped even if I couldn't. I realise I've been bitter all these years over something that neither of us could control – my suffering led me to point the finger and for that I am very sorry. I love you very much Onii-sama; know that that will never change no matter what.

You were right. It's high time I let go of the past and move on. I've been free for three years now and yet in those three years (excluding the time I spent with Taijo) it's been almost as though I was still a prisoner – something I'm sure our father had PLANNED for me; it shames me to admit I've played right into his hands. So I'm letting go. I want to see the world; I want to LIVE. I think I'll visit our mother – I've missed her so much. After that, who knows? We'll meet again, Onii-sama. I promise.

Look at that! I'm rambling, huh?

At this point in the letter there was a dark smudge where the ink had gotten wet and run. She was crying, Shiki thought.

I'd best get going now but before I do there's one last thing I wanted to say. The pretty girl with the pigtails – I think she likes you. Maybe you already knew that, I don't know, but I wanted to offer you some sisterly advice. She strikes me as the kind of girl who waits around for no man – not even you, Onii-sama – and I saw her last night on my way to bed... I think she's planning to do something drastic. If you haven't done it already, you have to find her and stop her. She's perfect for you and just between us, I'd like having her as an Onee-san.

Good luck

Yomo-chan xxx

P.S. Do me a favour and pass this message on to Kiryuu-kun: Thank you. I'm not giving up either.

As he finished his sister's letter his thoughts were drawn back to Rima with the inevitability of day following night. He didn't need Yomoriko to tell him she was going to do something drastic; that very same thought had occupied his mind fully since he'd left Yomoriko the night before. He hadn't seen her since she'd fled her room and for some reason, hard as he'd tried, he hadn't been able to find her before the rising sun had ordered him to his bed. Yomoriko's letter threw in to sharp light that which he had already considered; that Rima may have decided to leave as well.

Shiki knew Rima better than most and he knew her mind as clearly as he knew his own – better than he knew his own, even. It seemed likely to him, frighteningly so, that she'd probably taken the previous night's events to mean something more than they did, and now she was intent on leaving the Academy.

He doubted she was gone just yet; Yomoriko may be crazy enough to wander in the daytime but Rima certainly was not. If one took that to be infallibly true, there was no way she could have left without him noticing. So now the only question left was when she would do it.

Sighing in anxiety and exhaustion, Shiki pressed his fingertips to his temples, massaging soothing circles into his flesh and remembering with a twinge, the same ministrations performed by Rima when class had been draining and the night was too long.

Tonight, he thought wearily, walking away from a bemused Ichijou towards the classroom and what promised to be a frustrating lecture on recent advances in the field of nuclear physics. She'll try her luck tonight.

Tonight, when classes had finished and everyone was in their rooms; that's when she'd make her move. She'd sneak out while everyone was too busy to notice her and if that happened Shiki knew he'd never see her again. He couldn't let that happen – not now, not ever.

If she wanted to leave that was fine; but she'd find herself with a permanent travelling companion.

I realise this was a short chapter – it's supposed to be. It's what you might call an anticlimactic interlude. Anyway the point of this note is to let you all know the final chapter will be posted tomorrow, since this chapter was fairly short. The last chapter is a lot longer than this one – it's the longest chapter in the story. So look forward to it and with it, the conclusion of this story.