Shiori runs around looking for Hikigaya. She goes to the school and searches for him but finds nothing. She continues running into town and decides to head to the remnants of Fawn Tower. She runs to the tower and looks around, up and down but can't find a trace of him anywhere.
She pauses for a moment while panting with a frustrated look. Her eyes then widen as she sharply turns around to look at the mountain in the distance. She stares for a moment before taking off running. She jumps up high and dashes into the woods, dodging trees swiftly and going up fast.
'Please Hikigaya, please be there. I know it hurts, I know you're in pain but this won't help so please just hang on, for me!'
She jumps one last time before coming to a small clearing in the woods. There is an abandoned stage with long benches around it. The stage overlooks the rest of the forest with a clear view of the city, hills and sky.
As she flies through the air above it, her eyes widen when she sees Hikigaya standing on the wooden guard rails along the back of the stage, overseeing the large, sheer drop. She sees him lift his leg over the edge. She freaks out and attempts to call his name.
"HI-"
Before she can, however, she crashes over the benches and onto the floor. She winces in pain for half a moment before looking at Hikigaya and dashing towards him.
"HIKIGAYA!!"
She screams. He slowly looks back, surprised by her scream but cannot react in time as he steps over the edge. He falls for a brief moment before he stops. He looks up to see Shiori holding onto his wrist with one hand and onto the guard rail with another. She struggles to hold him as he stares at her.
"Shiori..?"
"It's okay Hikigaya…"
She opens her eyes slowly and looks down at him but what she sees is not Hikigaya. She sees Amber in her grasp on the night everything happened. It fades back to Hikigaya as tears form in her eyes a bit.
"I got you… I'm not letting you go..!"
Hikigaya's eyes begin to shine as tears form a bit in them as a painful, hurt expression spreads across his face. Shiori begins to pull him back up when suddenly something grabs onto Hikigaya's leg, yanking him down a bit. This causes Shiori to struggle even more.
"Come on Hikigaya! I killed your sister, now I gotta kill you!"
The voice shouts out as a beaten Commander Spark holds onto his legs and tries to climb up. A wicked, vile smile across his face. Hikigaya looks down at him as claws dig into Hikigaya's legs. He grits his teeth as Sahara climbs up onto his lower body.
"You were never strong enough to save anyone! I'd kill her a hundred times over if you tried protecting her!"
She screams as Hikigaya looks back at Shiori with a pained look.
"Shiori, why are you here? This isn't your responsibility. Just let me-"
"I'm sorry…"
Tears fall from her eyes and land on his cheeks. His eyes widen as she speaks.
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner… I'm sorry I didn't help you… Like you helped me all this time… I kept letting it go because I thought… I thought if we ignored it, if we just pushed it away then maybe… maybe things would get better… maybe… you wouldn't realize… this is all my fault..!"
She cries as she looks at him. Tears begin to fall down Hikigaya's face as he stares with wide eyes.
"I don't want you to hate me… I don't want you to stop being my friend… but even if you do… I don't want you to die!.."
Shiori screams. The ghostly apparitions of Hikigaya's past shifts again into Strife as he climbs up next to Hikigaya's ear.
"Look what you're doing to her. Let us die together and make everyone's lives better. No more hurt."
He says with a ghostly tone to his voice as Hikigaya struggles. Despite these ghosts of the past solely existing in Hikigaya's mind, a reminder of pain he's endured, Shiori grits her teeth and shuts her eyes tightly as if reacting to its words.
"You… You leave my Hikigaya alone! He's mine! You can't have him!"
She says angrily making direct eye contact with shadow of the past. The ghostly image of Commander Spark looks shocked for a moment but just smirks at her before letting go and falling into the darkness of the forest below.
Hikigaya ignores the figure as he reaches up with his other hand, tears still coming from his eyes. He grabs onto the stage and helps Shiori pull him up. They both go falling backwards on the stage and onto each other. Hikigaya sits back for a moment rubbing his head before Shiori immediately latches onto him, crying out.
As she hugs him, Hikigaya starts to cry more and hugs her back, embracing her tightly as if letting go meant death. After a few moments that felt more like lifetimes, they eventually stop crying and pull back a little but only enough to be facing each other. They press their foreheads together for a moment with their eyes closed.
"Hikigaya..?" Shiori says, opening her eyes and looking at him. He opens his eyes too. "Let's go home."
She says. He smiles a bit, looking as if something just dug its claws deeply into his soul but finally letting go.
"Yeah."
As they sit there in silence for a moment, focus is shifted to one of the wooden posts in the guard rail behind them. It is the post that the group all carved their names into the first time they had a sleepover, over one year ago now, with Shiori and Hikigaya's names at the top.
Eventually they make their way back home by Shiori flying them there like they used to do as Fullsky and Watchdog. She lands on her balcony then steps towards her door. She looks back and smiles at Hikigaya with a look as if finding her lost pet back home safe and sound.
"Goodnight Hikigaya."
She opens her door and steps inside but before taking another step, Hikigaya speaks.
"Wait, Shiori… I… don't want to be alone tonight…"
He says, a little embarrassed. She looks at him confused a little but then smiles as she sits down on her bed. She looks at him then opens her arms.
"Then come here."
She says, blushing a little as he slowly walks into her room. He shuts the door behind him as she climbs into bed. He stands next to the bed hesitating.
"I could sleep on the ground next to you if you want?.."
He says blushing too. She sighs and looks at him.
"That would make me wildly uncomfortable. Besides, I… want you close to me too…"
She looks away when saying that. He blushes as he slowly lays on her bed. He quickly rolls over so his back is facing her as she does the same. They lay under the blankets in silence for a moment.
"Thank you.."
Hikigaya whispers silently as he tightens his grip on the blankets around him. Shiori softly nods with a slight smile on her face.
'I'm just glad you're safe…' She thinks to herself before closing her eyes.
In the morning, Shiori wakes up first to see that they had rolled over in their sleep and were cuddling sort of. Their faces are close together as they lay on their sides and their hands are holding each other. She slowly opens her eyes and stares for a moment before they open wide and she quickly sits up embarrassed. Hikigaya groggily wakes up and sits up rubbing his eyes.
"What's wrong Shiori?.."
He asks, tired. She blushes intensely as she turns around away from him covering her mouth.
'I can't believe we actually did that! We slept in the same bed last night! I mean, under the circumstances, it's not like it was a romantic thing but still.'
"Shiori?"
He says with a confused look. Shiori is surprised then calms down and smiles at him.
"It's nothing. How are you feeling?"
"I'm… okay. Thanks again, Shiori. I… don't know what would've happened if I…"
"It's okay, Hikigaya. We're here now, together. That's all that matters. And I'm here to talk if you want to, remember that."
She smiles warmly at him and he smiles back for a moment before getting up off the bed. He stretches his arms up as Shiori stands up too. He walks next to her and bumps her arm with his elbow.
"I don't know about you but I'm starving. What's for breakfast?" Hikigaya asks with a smile.
"If you expect me to make you breakfast, you're dead wrong." Shiori says back, crossing her arms.
"Oh come on, you have to be nice to me!" He pouts.
"I don't have to do anything. As far as I'm concerned, you should be nice to me, putting me through that."
She teases as he giggles a little. The smile on his face much warmer than it has been recently. Shiori watches him and smiles back with blush across her cheeks.
As she does, they go to her room door and open it to leave but stop when they see Riku coming from the bathroom. He stops too and looks at them before his eyes grow wide. They sweat a bit realizing what it looks like.
"Oooh! Moms, moms! Shiori and Hikigaya slept together!" Riku shouts, ratting them out. Shiori gets embarrassed.
"N-no we didn't! Shut up Riku!"
She shouts angrily. He runs down the hall calling his parents as Asami and Hamasaki rush out of their room, obviously half asleep.
"What? What is it??"
Asami asks, concerned. Riku comes up to them.
"Shiori and Hikigaya slept together! I saw them coming out of her room together!"
Hamasaki looks at Shiori and Hikigaya in her doorway then smiles softly.
"I see." Hamasaki says warmly.
"Jeez kid, you gave me quite the scare running around calling us like that."
She rubs her head with a sigh before she crouches down and pats him on the head, smiling a bit.
"Why don't we head downstairs and play a game?"
Asami asks. Riku smiles widely.
"Really?"
She nods and smiles as Riku jumps with joy and rushes down the hall then down the stairs.
"I'll make us some breakfast." Hamasaki says.
"Great cause I'm starving."
Takanou says while coming out of the room behind them and down the hall. Asami follows and smiles warmly at Hikigaya.
"Glad to see you smiling sweetie."
Asami says before heading down the stairs as Shiori and Hikigaya smile and follow.
Later that evening, Hikigaya is at his desk drawing as Shiori sits behind him on his bed.
"Dude, I really don't want to go to school tomorrow." Hikigaya whines.
"Well, you're in luck, it's Winter vacation right now, remember?"
Shiori says back with a slight sigh, amused by his forgetfulness. Hikigaya then turns around and looks at her excitedly.
"What? That's awesome! I totally forgot!"
He says with a big smile at her. She smiles back and shakes her head.
"How could you forget? It's only one of two major breaks we get a year."
"Well, I've had a lot on my mind."
He says with his back turned to her as he goes back to drawing. Shiori's smile kind of fades and she gets a conflicted look.
"Yeah…"
She says under her breath. Hikigaya picks up on her tone and turns around to look at her with a concerned look.
"Everything okay?"
He asks softly. Shiori pauses and lowers her head while bringing her knees up to her chest.
"Hikigaya… Do you… hate me..?"