The Disconsolate Maiden

Epilogue

Attempting to put on a happy face, nearly two hours late, Jyushimatsu cane back home, absolutely soaked, just as his brothers had predicted he would be. Though, he seemed to be the only one home.

"Hustle hustle! Muscle muscle!" Jyushimatsu exclaimed happily, though his heart was breaking more each second.

"Homura is dead. Homura is dead. Homura is dead," were the only words that seemed to be floating through his mind.

"Ichimatsu nii-san, where are you?!" he called out, running around the house.

Standing in front of the bathroom door a few minutes later, Jyushimatsu located his older brother.

"Nii-san...?" Jyushimatsu asked, knocking quietly on the door. There was no response. "What are you doing in there?"

A quiet, painful moan escaped from behind the door.

"GO AWAY!" Ichimatsu yelled out, his voice cracking in pain. "I'm fine!"

Only seconds later did the rest of the brothers arrive home.

Managing to pry open the locked bathroom door, they were met with a pool of blood.

"Maybe he's secretly a girl!" Todomatsu snickered.

And those were the final words Jyushimatsu heard, his entire world fading into a darkness as his brothers called an ambulance to save their beloved brother.

Holding back his tears, Jyushimatsu suddenly understood why Homura hated living so much. With a world so cruel, so violent, filled with self hatred, who would want to live? It was hard to keep on smiling, but that was exactly what Homura wanted him to do.

Quietly, Jyushimatsu prayed to Homura, promising her that he would stay strong just for her, even though he didn't want to anymore. He promised he wouldn't cry anymore. He promised to never be sad because she was gone.

Though, later he found he failed with many of those things, never once did Jyushimatsu stop smiling. So long as he had faith that Homura was watching him, he would never even consider giving up or losing hope in is brother.

Months later, even while Ichimatsu was lost in a coma, Jyushimatsu remained positive, knowing Homura was somehow going to make everything alright again. That's what she always did, in Jyushimatsu's eyes at least.