Dimensions

Farewell And Hello

"Haru?" whispered Hajime, feeling a bit of his life leave at Haru's words. Time seemed to stop for him, as all his moments with Haru flashed through his head, starting from that fateful day in high school.

Haru smiled as he stalked over to Sen, but was interrupted.

"I'll do it," said Chizuru, staggering out of her room. She pulled Haru back, and took his place. Silence rang out as everyone let Chizuru's declaration sink in. Hajime grabbed Haru by the arm, deciding he wasn't going to release him until all this was over.

"No," said Souji, glaring at Chizuru. "And you lecture me about throwing my life away?" Hajime wondered if he was going to threaten to kill her, but that would defeat the point anyway.

"You can't," said Sen, tilting her head. "Someone from their dimension has to die."

"My name is Ayame Sorano," said Chizuru, stepping forward. "I'm a stage actor, who was going to be cast in a movie before I fell off the roof. I work with Hikari Talent Agency." Her gaze softened. "And this body is dying anyway."

"What?" asked Sen with surprise. Souji looked both betrayed and sad. Ayame must have never told him that she wasn't even a part of this universe, but then again, their story here was never fated to have a happy ending. They were both dying.

"She's not kidding," said Hajime. "She is a part of our dimension."

The look on Sen's face was one of utter disbelief. Souji looked down, as Ayame saw his expression and winced.

She took the blade from Sen, who was too surprised to stop her, and positioned it over her heart, before looking at Gravi and Procella. She stepped out of Sen's immediate reach, the look in her eyes telling Sen she would stab herself if she came too close. Her eyes lingered on Hajime.

"I don't know if I'll die, or if I'll make it back to my own body, to our dimension. I don't even know whether I'll remember all this." She looked around. Her eyes moved to Harada, Saitou, and finally Souji. "I don't know whether killing this body will kill me or Chizuru. But when you get there, call my name if you see me, will you?"

Hajime nodded, a knot forming in his throat. She was really determined to send them home, even if the price was her life.

Ayame then looked to Souji, who gave her a heart-broken smile. "Let's meet in death, okay?"

She smiled as she drove the knife through her heart and disappeared, causing a blinding flash of light.

All Hajime heard was a shout of farewell, before the light consumed them all.

Hajime woke up on the floor of the living room; Aoi had his head on his stomach, preventing him from rising. Haru stirred as well, before glancing at the roof. "It's over."

Hajime nodded. "Do we wake them up?"

Aoi shivered, and Hajime placed a hand on his head, watching as the tremors stopped.

"A nightmare?" asked Haru, getting up and looking at Aoi.

"Probably."

Everyone else was sleeping peacefully, but Shun sat up and stared at the ceiling in a daze, almost as if he had just woken up from a dream. Staring around at all of them, Hajime could almost believe that all of it had been a dream, if not for the light scar on Yoru's exposed arm.

"You alright?" asked Hajime.

Shun waved a hand in dismissal, before calling Tsukino. Hajime watched as they bargained, and Shun managed to get a three-day holiday for everyone, pushing back all their schedules.

"You should do that more often," said Hajime, as Shun put the phone down.

"Getting a holiday?"

"Acting like a leader."

"So cruel," he pouted. He looked around at everyone, his eyes settling on Rui, who was sleeping rather peacefully on Shun's lap. He lightly ruffled Rui's hair. "Besides, we need a break."

It took a while for them to settle down, and a little longer for them to not reach for their non-existent katanas when they heard a shout. But things gradually came back to normal.

Hajime sometimes woke up to random screams in the middle of the night. He knew they were all safe now, but he couldn't protect them from nightmares. It wasn't only once or twice that Hajime and Haru had woken up in the middle of the night to head over to someone's room and rouse them from their nightmares. At some point, Kakeru and Koi had taken to sleeping beside each other, as did Arata and Aoi.

Aoi had it worst; Hajime once had to hold him down to stop him from thrashing and breaking everything on his bedside table. After that incident, Haru would wait in Aoi's room until he fell asleep. For some reason, that kept his nightmares at bay.

After a brief talk with Shun and Kai, who confirmed Procellarum was going through the same, Shun made charms for each of them, which none of them ever took off. And all it took was bribing Shun with a date, but Hajime was sure Shun would have made the charms even if he hadn't been bribed.

Three months later, Hajime and Haru received a job offer. They were being cast for a movie. As they made their way to the studio, a girl ran past them, and Hajime called out to her, before he could even process his thoughts—before he could even understand why the girl seemed familiar. "Ayame?"

"Yes?" she said as she turned around, her brown eyes bright. She frowned with confusion as she saw who it was. "Hajime Mutsuki and Haru Yayoi? Have we met before?"

Haru and Hajime glanced at each other, as Hajime shook his head, deciding it would be a very long and unbelievable story. "No. We'll be working together on the movie, so we look forward to working with you."

"As do I," she said with a nod, as a brown-haired and green-eyed boy walked over to Ayame, who looked up at him with sparkling eyes. He threw a hand over her shoulder.

The boy looked awfully familiar, but Hajime couldn't place it. The way he walked, those bright green eyes. Something was tugging the edge of his memories, when the realization hit him. Haru's eyes widened in surprise.

The boy nodded to them both. "I've been cast as the villain. My name is Souji Ryuu."

He gave an all-too familiar smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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