Mai

When Friede sent a message to tell us that she had arrived, I offered to go down and get her. I was worried about her, just as I was worried about myself.

"You sure?" Ayuna asked. "I can come down with you."

"I mean…if you want to."

"Alright, well, we'll be back in a moment, alright?"

The others didn't have much reaction to this. If anything, they seemed relieved to not have to think about what to say next. Ayuna shut her laptop and then got up to join me. We did not talk as we headed down to the lobby. Indeed, we did not look at each other at all.

"Friede-chan," I called out when I spotted her. "Over here."

Friede was standing in the middle of the lobby, oblivious to everything, staring at her phone. I called her name again and she looked up at me. Or rather, for a moment it was as if she looked right through me before snapping back to reality. But even then, she seemed as if something was particularly troubling her. She looked down at her phone with a troubled glance and then shoved it deep into her bag before striding over.

"Sorry to keep you all," she said. "I'm here now. Shall we get this done with?"

"Yes, lets," Ayuna agreed coolly. "The sooner we get it over with the better, I say."

"It would have been over forever already if we didn't have to talk about it." Friede responded, even icier.

"Ah come on, come on. We can't help it that the investigation has been re-opened. "

Luckily, neither Ayuna nor Friede said anything more, and we headed back to Ayuna's hotel room. As Ayuna sped up, I hung back deliberately to check on Friede.

"Are you alright," I asked. "If you really aren't well then you could have stayed back, I'm sure we could have worked something out."

"No thanks. I'd rather have some control over how my life is falling apart."

"Friede-chan, that's…"

But I didn't know what to say. In truth, I felt the same. I would have preferred to not do this at all, to let everything be buried deep, deep underground again. I wanted to be back in a world where my son was clueless about my past and my husband would actually want to come home to me, and where I could come home to both my children. But since it was clear I could not have that, I supposed that I'd rather see exactly what was happening, so I would know what was coming.

I didn't think there was any point in wishing for control, though.

When we got back to the room, Ayuna immediately went back to her laptop. I offered Friede my seat and opted to just sit on the floor. It felt a little strange to do so, but Takaaki was doing the same so I supposed it didn't matter that much. Though, I kept my legs tucked in towards me rather than sprawled out like his.

"Hey, hope you're feeling better?" Eizo said.

"I suppose," Friede said. "So, how far did we get?"

"We got as far as my sister's case…" Azami said. "Pretty much, anyway. So now we're up to Yuri-chan…"

Yuri's eyes lit up:

"Ah, I've always been curious to see yosakoi dancing on stage, so I'd be so happy to attend one of your performances, Sadie-Chan! I can't believe we have known each other for a year now and I have still never gotten around to it!"

I smiled at her:

"Well, this party will definitely provide the opportunity I'll do my best to make sure it's a good performance for everyone!"

"Oh, I'm sure it will be. But also, if you ever want a completely unique and personalised plushie, I am more than willing to provide - and for friends, a discount is provided and I'll even throw in a smaller version of one of your dance outfits, free of charge and of course packaged with love and care from Kuma Kimi herself!"

I giggled at that:

"Yuri-chan, there's no need," I insisted. "Especially not after those lovely Valentine's bears you and Yuki-kun made for us all! "

"Meeee~"

I shrieked and jumped out of my skin as Yuki appeared out of nowhere, immediately rolling around on the floor and laughing:

"Teehee, did I scare you, Miss Fairy Dancer? I so did, didn't I? I did I did I did~"

"Yuki," Yuri sighed heavily. "You should apologise for making Sadie-chan jump like that."

Yuki sat up, and pouted as he issued a retort. But I could not hear what it was, as I was too busy giggling even harder than I had been before.

"And Seiko." Ayuna said heavily.

"This is going to cause a lot of backlash against her," Friede said. "They're surely going to blame her in particular, especially if you're telling them about the script. You are telling them about the script, aren't you?"

"We're telling them everything."

The two of them gave each other stony looks from across the room.

"Do not trouble yourself with it. Osamu and I will do it."

As she reached to take the sponge from me, she looked over her shoulder at Ayuna, who looked a little bug-eyed.

"Ah really, it's no trouble. "

"This may be true, but it is only fair," Seiko said. "After all, at the moment you really are supporting us a great deal by making all our meals. It counts for a lot, you know."

"Well, I mean, it's something that I can do, so..."

"And helping you clear up is something we can do, so please, let us. "

"Yeah, what she said!" Ayuna chimed in, giving me a cheery thumbs-up. "Though I'll just be doing the drying, yeah?"

I looked from Ayuna and her grin to Seiko, standing there cool and composed yet gentle, too. I didn't think that what I was doing was so special, really. I mean, it was no escape effort or general peace keeping. But I wanted to show I recognised Seiko's kindness in deciding that my actions were meaningful. So I put the soapy sponge down by the tap, then took off my kitchen gloves and held them out. Seiko lowered her head in a way that felt like a salute, and then accepted them.

I was jolted from the memory by Friede saying:

"You're going to do that to her, even though she is dead? Really? Why not just let her lie peacefully?"

Ayuna's eyes flashed, and she half got out of her seat.

"I'm doing it for her," she said through gritted teeth. "Because she is dead. Besides, can you really believe that they have been at peace all these years? Can you really?"

"Cut it out," Eikichi snapped. "Let's get on with it. How have you summarised the case?"

Apparently, this was was enough to make Friede drop whatever problem she had with Ayuna, because she looked over and asked:

"Summarised?"

"Yes, we are putting a small summary of each case before we go into details. So, victim, killer, what day it was-well, as far as we can figure it out-and then the motive."

"Like how the motive for Akari's and Moeka-chan's was the threats to our families. Or in my case, me."

"That still counts as family," Eikichi corrected. "Though we added the clarifier anyway."

"Because it was different, in that you were in there whereas for those of us who also received notes it referred to people on the outside." Friede said, half-asking.

Azami nodded, seeming calm though she sat in her chair stiffly. Eizo reached over and placed a hand on her tensed shoulder and she looked over at him. Oh, how I wished Juro could be here to do this for me. But I did not think that, when it came down to it, I would even be able to be in the same room as him.

"So I guess in this next case the motive is that we were being taunted by a motive, right?" I asked.

"Yes, pretty much."

"It's strange isn't it?" Takaaki piped up.

He hadn't said much for a while, so we all stared at him. He stared back unblinking. He patted his hair absently, almost as if to smooth it. Except of course, it didn't do anything to make his hair look even vaguely neater.

"It's just," he eventually sighed. "Our captor, whoever he or she or they were, they made such a thing about offering us motives but the beginning and the very end, they didn't need a tailor-made motive, did they? They just needed us to be scared and to break."

I found myself nodding along to that before freezing, something occurring to me. I glanced sideways at Friede, but she was pointedly looking right at Takaaki. He had paused, but it was clear that he hadn't quite finished. Sure enough:

"I do wonder though, if we hadn't been rescued, would there have been other motives given?"

"I mean, the script certainly had ideas. Big cash prize, blackmail-"Ayuna said.

"I mean, Lao's was kind of blackmail, even though it was towards her only." Eizo remarked. "But I suppose it doesn't matter really, does it? At least we were rescued before he could think of any other motives."

But there was no need to, was there? I thought with a sickening feeling in my stomach. No need at all. After all, with what we were planning to do…Another glance at Friede, but she was again avoiding my eye. Takaaki, on the other hand, didn't seem to be avoiding looking at me in as far as he did not look much at anyone for very long. Yet surely they both had to be thinking of it? They had to be thinking of what we had planned in the few cramped places no cameras could reach? Surely they had to wonder what would happen if the others were ever to find out that, if we had not been hesitant on the day that we had been rescued, then the police may have arrived to our deaths. And that with our hesitation, if they had not arrived on that day and had instead arrived the day after, they still would have found our bodies. There was no way they would know that. No way any of us were going to slip that into this statement.

But what if there's a way for it to come out anyway?

It wouldn't. It couldn't. They didn't know and if there was one little thing I could have from this, then I wanted to keep it that way. I decided to try and put a brave face on this, to try and be helpful in the hopes that maybe that would be enough to protect that secret.

"So, with Yuri-chan, where are we starting?"

"That's a good question," Ayuna said, all business again. "I suppose that…."

…

When I got home, the silence felt like the loudest thing ever. I tried my best to ignore it, but it felt like it was getting louder. Even after I had washed myself and changed into clean clothes, it felt so loud. I wandered into the living room and stared at the family photographs everywhere, and then found myself going out into the garden. I headed out to the swinging seat and sat in it, staring up at the sky and the clouds drifting across it so gently. There was no breeze, but I could hear distant traffic, people chattering and even some birds. In some ways though, it was quieter than the silence, but this quiet was quickly broken by my phone going off.

When I saw Juro's name on it my heart skipped a beat before squeezing. Please, please, please, I thought:

"Juro!"

"Mai, my love," his comforting voice said. "How have things been?"

"I….yeah….they're alright. No work today, so it's been…a quiet day. When are you coming home?"

"Ah, Mai-"

He didn't even need to finish his sentence and I knew. Once again, he would not be coming home. Perhaps he never would again, especially not once Ayuna and Eikichi went to hand over the statement. At least that means you won't have to see his disappointment when they do, I thought, his voice continuing on without me comprehending any of the words as I thought of how we had wrapped up the statement with our accounts, talked about what would be happening. There was just this day, the rest of this day before it all fell apart. There was a part of me that hoped that I could have my family with me for those hours, but I was foolish to dream. So foolish.

The call went by, and I had no idea what I said, but eventually Juro wished me a good evening and I did the same, using everything I had to prevent myself from sobbing down the phone, Even once I hung up I gasped and took in several gulping breaths to try and hold in the tears. Twisting around, I looked back into the kitchen. A part of me realised that it was dinner time, that I should go in and prepare myself something. The other part, though, asked: what was the point? I was here alone, and always would be. And cooking had never been for me alone. I'd never had the chance to cook for my parents, because they'd died before I was old enough to cook. I had cooked for my grandmothers, but they'd died too. I'd cooked for my friends, but most of them had died and then the rest of us had been torn apart. Then there was Juro, Akio and Sachi. My family, my world. I loved cooking for them most of all but the house I looked back at was empty and lifeless and too, too loud with it.

What point was there in cooking, if it was just me alone? There was none at all. So I did not get up to make dinner. Instead, I turned back and swung the swinging seat a little harder, looking at the sky.

…

Eikichi

I had my hand held up even before I got back to our room, knowing full well that Shion would be all worked up and prepared to have a go at me for leaving her in the lurch again. I'd rehearsed the exact words that I was going to say to her to start this conversation and of course I still had the words from our carefully drafted statement in my head. I hadn't realised that my head could hold so much at once, but of course it could. It'd had to before, twenty years ago, just to be able to keep afloat in that situation. I'd been good at compartmentalising before that, of course. Liars make the best fencers, my old coach used to say. Then of course, compartmentalising was useful for dealing with the workload of university, and of being a coach, and preparing for a new stage of my family life.

But twenty years ago, that had sharpened those skills. Made the walls thicker and harder to scale. Harder but not impossible. After all, wasn't I climbing up those walls, even though they were about to crumble.

I took a breath, opened the door:

"Eikichi-"

"I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you everything, Shion."

I concentrated on closing the door carefully, walking to the bed and sitting on the edge of it. I did not take off my shoes. There was no point, after all. I placed my hands in my lap and looked at Shion, who was still standing in the middle of the room, now looking at me with her forehead puckered. She still had her hand on her hip as if she was about to scold me but now she looked uncertain. But her gaze was still so bright. Looking at her face, I could see the memory of all the smiles she'd ever directed my way as if they were actually superimposed over the anxious expression she had now. I'm sure that if I was a different man I would have waited. I would have made excuses, to try and preserve for myself one more smile, one more good moment to take with me when tomorrow morning we all went to deliver the statement and the wall crumbled for good. I was not that man, however.

"You need to prepare yourself, Shion," I said. "I think…maybe you should sit, but not by me. This…I'll take it, whatever anger you have towards me. I'll deserve whatever hatred you have for me because of this but. I'm going to tell you the truth now, all of it, so you won't be blindsided by it all when it comes out."

"Eikichi, what are you talking about?"

Predictably, she ignored my suggestion of sitting somewhere else and sat right next to me. She pressed up close and looked up at me sweetly and for a moment all I could do was look at her.

"Twenty years ago, you know the basics of that. How my class at Hope's Peak went on a road trip to gather supplies for the upcoming Reiwa Era celebrations and disappeared, how we were found some time later in an abandoned school, but not all of us were alive."

"Eikichi, I-"

"We never talked about it. In fact, we actually actively promised each other to never, ever talk about it. To make that easier, we also told each other we'd never, ever see each other again and it worked. It worked for twenty years but now…now there's no choice. Not anymore, and I would have gone the rest of my life without ever having to talk about it if I'd had the choice, you should know that. But since there isn't…it won't be fair for you to hear it all blown out of proportion, sensationalised in the media, through gossip and through the police asking you what you knew. And you need the time to cut your losses afterwards, so that you can at least rebuild your life after me and…"

I looked away from Shion now, looking at my hands instead. For a moment, they looked to be dripping in red and I had to bite my lip and scold myself to get a fucking grip.

"We did not know the identity of our captor. It is possible that they were the same person who abducted us from our minivan and forced us into the forest, but we don't remember that person's face or indeed any others who might have assisted in transporting us to Shirohata. Regardless, some time passed hazily and the next thing we really remember was that we were in a building that resembled a school, with all the windows and doors boarded up with metal plates, with cameras everywhere watching our every move. Even in the bathroom and the toilets. Nonetheless, we were alone, apart from a voice that would blare through the speakers and occasionally come from an animatronic bear.

Yes, a bear. Of course, it was a toy that somebody was controlling but it claimed to be Monobear, our 'new head teacher' as if we were small children who believed that a bear could be such a thing. It doesn't matter that it was ridiculous though, the sight of such a thing. What this bear was telling us we had to do was even more ridiculous, but not in a childlike way. Rather, the bear told us that what we were now trapped in was a 'killing game'. Basically, we had to try and kill each other…and get away with it."

I went on, as mechanically as I possibly could, going through each point as the seven of us had drafted in the statement. I thought of the little details that Ayuna and Eizo in particular had tried to put in, all those little humanising details about how Yuki kept pretending it was all just a joke and it didn't mean actual killing and all the different ways the more cheerful ones tried to keep up morale (including how much Mai had cooked for us) and how Ayuna and I had tried to take command and keep people on an even keel despite the fact we had not always done so together as such. All of those details, as they'd been written on paper, were emblazoned in my mind but I could not share these with Shion. All I could do was go through the facts, the cold hard facts.

But all the actual memories were there too.

"This is...this is fucked, isn't he punished enough?" Sen'ya gasped.

He staggered back, letting go of the lever to clap a hand over his mouth. He retched violently, but to his credit did not throw up. Some of the others were whimpering and sobbing, just as they had the time before, with Katsuya.

Just as with that time before, it did not seem to bother the bear. Or rather, I supposed, the person controlling it from. ..where? Somewhere in here? Or somewhere outside, a separate building nearby? Wouldn't they have to be nearby-

I flinched as something warm hit my face and I let go of my pulley to wipe it away. For a moment I could not comprehend what it was, this smear of vivid red, spread in some places but clumped in others. I was physically not able to comprehend, to make myself lift my head and look at the state of Fumiaki.

"Upupu, besides, you're almost done! You little bastards may as well go all the way-whaaaaa, don't look at me like that? He'd basically be a vegetable if you stopped now! May as well put him out of his misery. "

"Oh Fumi, oh man." I heard Eizo mutter. "Fumi, man. Fuck, I...I..."

I kept staring at my hand, watching it shake when all of a sudden the bear yelled:

"Hurry up, you little brats! You keep standing around this us gonna be like some third-rate slushy TV drama! Hurry up before I gun you all down and turn this into a slasher!"

Quickly, I grabbed the pulley again and continued what I had been doing. And I blocked everyone and everything else out.

At least, I tried to.

"Sorry, I need to-"

I got up, stumbled my way to the bathroom and barely managed to reach the toilet before throwing up. I thought back to twenty years ago, and the interview in which I had done the same except without the dignity of getting to a bathroom and I shivered.

"Eikichi!" Shion came in, sat down beside me. "Eikichi, are you alright? Do you need me to-"

I pushed her away-not hard, away, curving in on myself. I was instead looking at the toilet bowl, a sight which didn't repulse me even though it should have. After all, what I was describing was worse than a mess of vomit on what was otherwise a clean surface anyway.

"We punished them, for killing. That is to say, we were made to punish them if we did manage to work out who had done it. That form of punishment was already decided, for each and every one of us and there was no choice about it."

I paused, but only to turn so I could look at Shion properly, to take in how her eyes widened and the way her hand trembled very slightly as she put it to her mouth. I told myself that I would not pause again and so I carried on relentlessly, describing each and every moment by 'case' just as we had done so in the statement, with all the little details too, of course. How it had felt to watch Azami completely shut down and Yuki detach further and further away from reality. How hard it had been to keep things together and how I'd failed at that much, anyway. I told her about the promise we'd made, too, and how easy it had been to stick to it because I'd never, ever wanted to think about it again. I told her that I'd worked so, so hard to try and build myself something resembling a life and God knew I'd stumbled a good few times in that regard-after all, she herself could attest to that. There were parts of me that didn't quite fit into this world and never would again after what had happened but that I had tried and I had managed, and it had been good. I'd built a good life, and it was because of her most of all. I knew full well that sometimes it came across as if I took her for granted but I hadn't. Not once we had started dating properly, seriously. I had on that very first date, I acknowledged that but after that…no, never. I'd never taken her for granted and once I lost her I still wouldn't take it for granted that I'd had her once.

I thought it was important that she knew that, too.

So I talked, and talked and talked more than I ever talked before, enough to make me never want to utter another word about anything ever again. I was exhausted by the time I reached what we'd called the halfway point, after Moeka's death. The tiredness was right in my bones but still I forced myself to talk and more than that I forced myself look at Shion properly. To watch how she gasped at each new revelation, how tears would appear at the corners of her eyes and she'd wipe them away, how she'd swallow down words and how once or twice she looked as if she was about to be sick herself. And when I finally came to the end and I was completely spent, I sat there and waited for her condemnation. Steeling myself for it. I was so sure I could see it in her eyes, after all. Wouldn't I be the same, if I was her?

But then she leaned over and said.

"Wash your mouth, get yourself cleaned up."

Usually, she was no good at hiding her feelings. Even on the rare occasions she managed a completely blank facial expression her voice gave her away, rising and falling in perfect tune to her emotions. This time, though, I couldn't figure it out, and this confused me enough that I obeyed mindlessly before just standing there, not sure what to do. Should I stand here and take it? Just pack so I'd be able to leave quicker, so that she didn't have to look at me longer than strictly necessary? Unable to decide, what I found myself doing was obeying her instructions, unsteadily getting up and making my way to the sink, washing out my mouth over and over before then splashing cold water on my face. Dabbing it dry with the towel, I then turned to face her, only to be completely flabbergasted when she kissed me.

I didn't even blink, so startled I was. Though it was only a brief kiss it was hard, passionate. Shion then stepped back, but continued to hold my face in her hands.

"You underestimated me, didn't you?" she murmured.

The steady way she looked at me now, and the low tone of her voice-those I could interpret. I tried to placate.

"No, never. "

"Yet you thought that I would leave you?"

"Why wouldn't I think it? Any normal person would be horrified."

"And I am, though that has nothing to do with my normality thank you very much."

Shion pulled a funny face before she gazed at me thoughtfully and continued:

"But Eikichi, it was more so for you, right?"

"I…that's….that's not the point…"

Shion moved one of her hands to put a finger on my lips.

"Enough. My turn now, alright?"

When I nodded, she returned her hand to its previous position of cupping my face. She leant in, to rest her forehead against mine and she said:

"Look, am I pissed you never told me? Sure. But I'm hardly going to take it personally since you never told anyone else either and like…I do also think it's stupid that you didn't. Look, I get why, since you have explained it now. And I mean…it's easy for me to say that you could have just told, I guess but like. Screw anyone who thinks that you should be blamed. Especially you."

At this I spluttered, though I obeyed her wishes and didn't say anything. Shion laughed, a little choked and then went on:

"Yes, especially you. I mean, come on, nobody is equipped to deal with that type of... depravity. And you were all just kids, terrified for your life. And despite everything you survived and that's…that's really good, alright? It's really good and you did nothing wrong and I am going to stand by you now. You're finally gonna confess? Good, perfect. But I'm coming with you when you do it and I'm not hearing a single word of argument because I am not going to let you do this alone, Eikichi, do you understand? Every single step of the way from now I am going to be right by your side. Even if it's just to yell at people who think that any of this could possibly be your fault or anything like that."

I had to ask:

"But why?"

"For better or for worse, remember. And you have to admit that this is pretty hideous. But to put it more simply. I love you. And that hasn't changed."

I blinked, and blinked again. I couldn't believe my ears or my eyes but yet, there Shion was, looking right at me. Still here. Still here with me after absolutely everything. It felt as if something had been swelling inside me for ages and ages, stealing all my breath and blood and all of a sudden it had burst. The walls had come down and it was both exactly as terrifying and nothing like what I had imagined it to be.

And all I could do in the end, was cry.

I cried and cried and cried for what felt like yet another lifetime, and I was only vaguely aware of Shion leading me back out of the bathroom and to the bed, where she just held me, rocking slightly back and forth and murmuring things that I could not decipher under the onslaught of my tears. I hadn't realised I was capable of crying so much. Eventually, though, just as my story had come to an end so too did those tears. I sat up, and gulped in huge shaking breaths and looked over at Shion. Now she was no longer holding me, she was sitting cross-legged on the bed and gave me a watery smile.

"There, that was better, wasn't it?"

I stared at her sceptically. I wasn't so sure about that. After I roughly wiped at my face with the back of my hand, she grasped both of them in hers.

"This is not quite how I expected our evening to go, I'll be honest with you."

"I noticed, you were all geared up to tell me off."

"I was, huh?" Shion looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I was. But that's because…well, I have some important news for you. But first I want to be clear that this doesn't change anything of what I've just said."

A faint spark of dread lit up, somewhere in the corner of my mind. My shoulders tensed as I asked:

"What is it, Shion?"

She squeezed my hands tightly and said:

"We're going to become parents."

I blinked, for a moment unable to comprehend. Then, I pointed to her stomach, still-flat.

"When did you find out?"

"I tested myself today, but I had a suspicion since we headed out here. I'm only a couple months gone, I think, so it's still too early for us to do anything big about it but…"

I welled up again, but I couldn't quite relax.

"You look worried."

"Only for you," she said. "I…with how you've been, I did wonder if you'd be displeased and now…"

"Shion, I am terrified out of my mind but I am also delighted, I promise."

I tugged my hands out of hers, but only to cup her face. It was my turn now to comfort her, and so I also leaned in, making our foreheads touch. She blinked at me as I said:

"Since I've started being fully open, I may as well continue to say that I'm not sure how to process it, and you can understand, can't you, that I worry about how my past will affect this child's future but…I'm happy. This is good news for me. It really is. You especially will be a great parent, I just know it."

"Oh, Eikichi, so will you. And as I said…all of that, we'll face it together. We will work it out and one day, this child will be proud to know how brave you were."

For the first time, I wondered about the other survivors, namely Mai and Friede. What had it been like for them, when their children were on their way into the world? How had they felt about it? I knew that the past had haunted that part of their lives, but it had to be more than that, surely? Already I was imagining life as it would become in some months' time-sleep-fractured nights and lullabies and first smiles and first words and so many things. I suddenly wanted to talk to them properly and really learn about their lives and connect to them over suddenly being responsible for a new life. New life, instead of lives ending. What a terrifying, transforming but beautiful thing.

"I am happy," I said to Shion again. "And I love you, too."

I let go of her face and we sat there, just looking at each other for a moment. Then, Shion cleared her throat and reached across to the bedside table on her side of the bed, grabbing the room service menu and brandishing it with a grin:

"So, anyway, I think it's about time we had food. What're we gonna go for?"

I frowned at her.

"Room service? Again? Really?"

Now she frowned at me, in an expression that quickly slid into a pout:

"Listen, yeah, I'm not asking you for much here. Under the circumstances I think room service is the least I'm entitled to."

I wanted to laugh at that, but I also wanted to cry all over again. Instead, I just looked at Shion for a long, long moment. I took a deep breath. Perhaps I did not have to fear being alone, but that did not mean that I could just let everything go. I had to stand firm with myself, continue being strong. It was more important now than ever really, with a new future unfolding in front of me, slowly growing even as I sat here and thought. But yet, somehow, the fact that that was happening was what made it easier. For the first time, I had hope to sustain me.

The hope that actually, things would be alright.

So I held my hand out for the menu and said:

"Alright, fine. But I want to choose first."

This chapter was meant to have a couple more scenes and end at a more dramatic point, but the way things ended up it would have made the chapter too long. So those scenes (with maybe some more added in) will be next chapter's content. In the meantime hope you enjoyed this!