Natsuki followed behind Athena, Aquila, and Kasumi as they stepped up to the door of the Yami Katsura Bridal House.

    “Oh yes, I’m going to be a zookeeper,” Athena was saying as she held the door open for them.  “I visited the Osaka Tennoji Zoo a little while after I got here, and they had this brand new wolf pack that I couldn’t stop watching.  I asked one of the staff if they knew how long it would be before the pups arrived, and it turns out I was the first one to figure out that one of the females was pregnant.”  She grinned.  “Apparently, I have a nose for it.  But, the management was so impressed that they offered me a job helping to take care of them.  So, I’m in training now, and I’m going to be starting my own degree at Osaka University in biological sciences as a mature student, specializing in zooology.”

    “That’s wonderful!” Aquila said.

    As soon as they were all in the door, Athena clapped her hands.  “Right...we need to get everybody measured for their kimonos and dresses...starting with Aquila.”

    Aquila raised both of her hands.  “Now, Athena, Kasumi, hear me out...you really need to consider pants suits as an option here.  I understand that they’re quite acceptable these days, and they’re much more comfortable than a stuffy old dress.”

    Kasumi grinned.  “No deal.  You’re getting a dress.”

    “Now, be reasonable!” Aquila protested.  “A dress wouldn’t look good on me at all – I have no girlish figure to make it work!”

    “I’ve seen your figure,” Kasumi pointed out.  “It will look very good in a dress.”

    “But that’s wrong!” Aquila declared.  “My figure is far too girlish to make a dress work!”

    Kasumi’s grin got wider.  “Nope.  I had to let your pants out last week, remember?”

    “But I’m a...I’m a feminist!” Aquila announced.  “That’s right, I’m a feminist.  And that means I can’t wear a dress!”

    Kasumi put her hands on her hips, her grin even wider.  “Okay then, what’s a feminist?”

    “I know that answer!” Aquila said.  “It’s, um, it’s somebody who...who really likes to look feminine!  Wait, that can’t be right–”

    Kasumi made a show of pulling Aquila to the back of the store.  “Into the measuring room with you!”

    “This is a travesty!” Aquila called out.  “I’ve got the powers of a god, I–”

    Kasumi closed the door to the measuring room behind her and started laughing.

    “You have way too much fun doing that to her,” Athena chuckled.

    Kasumi nodded and grinned.  “I know...but even if she won’t admit it, she loves it just as much as I do.”

    Athena nodded, and then she turned to Natsuki, her smile fading.  “Right, then, now that she’s out of earshot, what has Aquila told you about her leg?”

    Kasumi breath caught.  “Tina, we don’t need to do this...”

    “We can’t be the only ones worrying about this, Kas,” Athena said.  “And if Natsuki is as smart as you say she is...”

    Natsuki blinked and stared at both of them.  “Wait a minute...‘Tina’, ‘Kas’, just how close are you two?”

    Kasumi sighed.  “Very.  Tina’s my best friend and then some.”

    “Nearly losing the people we love gave us a lot to bond over,” Athena stated.  “Now, Natsuki, what do you know about Aquila’s leg?”

    “It was a battle wound,” Natsuki replied.  “She had a limp when I first met her.  It’s gone now, though.”

    “Did you know it nearly killed her?” Athena asked.

    Natsuki nodded.  “Yes...at least, that’s the impression I got.”

    Athena glanced at Kasumi.  Kasumi sighed and nodded.  “You may as well.”

    “We don’t know the circumstances under which she was hit,” Athena began.  “All we know is that one moment Aquila was on...well, hovering above...the wall beside Daiki and I, and the next she was gone, and Cap was flying her to the healers as she bled out with an arrow in her leg.  It had opened up her femoral artery.”

    Natsuki’s eyes widened.  “It was that bad?”

    “It was a very long night,” Kasumi said.  “She almost died more than once.  And the healers said...”  Her voice broke.

    “The healers said it was as though part of her didn’t want to survive,” Athena stated.  “I’m pretty sure that Aquila didn’t think she deserved to...and she may still feel that way.”

    Natsuki blinked.  “Now, wait a moment – I’m very good at reading people and making deductions, and Aquila’s a happy person!  Her smile always reaches her eyes, and she is always enjoying the moment.  She’s not like Cap, who’s always wearing a mask and pretending to be happier than he is.”

    “You’re right,” Kasumi said.  “When she’s with everybody, she is a very happy person, and she enjoys every minute of it.  But, when she’s alone, or just with me...it’s different.”

    Athena took a deep breath.  “Natsuki, think of it this way.  Imagine for a moment that you come into existence as this happy, empathetic teenager who hates seeing people suffer.  You come to find the person who means more to you than anybody else in the world – somebody who you are pretty sure is your soulmate, and will understand you like nobody else ever could – but she’s gone, and you learn that you never had a chance of finding her.  So, you go mad...you become lost in grief and rage, you lash out, and you start hurting people, anybody you can get your hands on, to take revenge.  And then a miracle happens, and you get her back...and that’s when you realize that nobody in your corner of the world has caused more suffering than you.”  She sighed.  “That’s Aquila.”

    “She’s gotten better,” Kasumi said.  “She’s not obsessed with atoning anymore.”

    “You can’t seriously need to measure that too!” Aquila’s raised voice called out from behind the closed door.

    “And that’s not nothing,” Athena said.  “I know, but...”

    Kasumi sighed.  “But, she’s not making any more progress.”

    Natsuki’s mind began to race.  “So, when she spends all this time with us doing the things that make her happy, she’s running away from her guilt?”

    Kasumi nodded.  “And the longer she runs...”

    Natsuki grimaced.  “The harder it will be for her to turn around and face it.”

    “Precisely,” Athena said.  “As you can tell, we’re both very worried about her.  I mean, what the blood loss from that wound did to her physically, particularly her heart–”

    “We don’t know that the healers were right about that,” Kasumi snapped.  “Her heart could be fine.”

    Athena held up her hand.  “Okay, you’re right, her heart could be fine.”  She turned to Natsuki.  “Look, we don’t want you to try to become Aquila’s therapist, or anything like that.  Just be on the lookout for warning signs, okay?  And if you see any, tell Kasumi.”

    Natsuki nodded.  “Okay.  I’ll do what I can.”

    As she finished speaking, the door to the measuring room opened and Aquila strode out.  “My ordeal is done!  Kasumi, you won’t believe the things they measured – it was obscene!”

    As Kasumi gave Aquila a grin and said, “I’m sure it was,” Natsuki wondered how Daiki, Cap, and the others were doing.

    “A tuxedo and a kimono,” Captain Infinite mused as the clerk at Aoyama Tailor finished up his measurements.  “That’s new.”

    “The ceremony is in kimonos, and then we’re changing into western clothing for the reception,” Daiki said.  “Lots of weddings here do it that way.”

    Cap chuckled.  “Well, I wouldn’t know one way or the other.  I think the last wedding I attended was in the 1960s.  And, I don’t think I’ve ever worn a kimono.”

    Daiki blinked.  “Wait a moment – didn’t you tell me that you spent time in Japan in the 1980s?”

    Cap nodded.  “Yes, but that was all work...and for some reason, giant monsters really like the city of Tokyo.  Don’t ask me why.  Anyway, I was either in my working clothes or a suit back then.”

    “Well, just have fun tomorrow,” Daiki stated.  “We got all the paperwork filed a month ago, so there’s no pressure.”

    Cap blinked.  “Wait, does that mean that you’re already...”

    “Already married, yes.  But, we wanted to have a proper ceremony anyway.”

    “Lovely,” Cap said.  “So, how are you otherwise doing?”

    Daiki smiled.  “I’m good.  I’m back to school and specializing in marine biology.  I’ll graduate a year late because of that whole being isekai-ed thing, but I’ve already got a couple of ideas for places to work, and Athena and I are saving up for a house by the coast.”

    “That’s great, but that’s not what I mean,” Cap said.

    Daiki gave him another smile.  “As I said during the dinner, we’ve both been seeing a therapist, and being home and safe has made a big difference.”

    “And how are you really doing?”

    Daiki sighed.  “I’m still struggling a bit.  The nightmares won’t stop.  I’m almost always dreaming about being back on that wall fighting the Devil King’s army, or being hunted by the two idiots and their parties.  Athena’s having problems with nightmares too.  And, it’s odd...I thought when I got home I’d feel better, but I spent a lot of time feeling worse.”

    Cap gave him a sad smile.  “That’s trauma for you.  It doesn’t really hit you until after you’re clear of danger.  And then, it hits you like a ton of bricks.  That happened to me too, once I was discharged from the army.  I still feel bad about what I put poor Janey through – she’s who I was dating at the time.  That...didn’t work out.”

    “How long did it take your nightmares to go away?”

    “They didn’t,” Cap replied.  “They just got less frequent.  A couple of nights ago, I was back liberating Dachau – that was a concentration camp...not a lot of fighting, but what we saw there was far worse than combat.  A couple of weeks before that, I was watching one of my friends get gunned down by a German tank in the Ardennes.  However long we live, we still experienced those things, and I think they’ll always be with us in some way.  It just takes time to come to peace with them.”

    “I wish it was happening a lot faster,” Daiki said.

    “So did I, back then.  Don’t worry...you’ll get there.”

    Daiki nodded and took a deep breath.  “Right then, if we’re finished here, we should go take care of the kimonos.”

Yukari watched as Yuri admired herself in the hotel room mirror, her kimono perfectly fitted, and frowned.

    “Why so glum?” Sayori asked, sitting down beside her.  “We get to keep the kimonos – Daiki’s parents are buying them for us.”

    “It’s hard to explain,” Yukari said.

    “Try me.”

    “We tried to chase Daiki when he came into our world, remember?” Yukari said.  “And now we’re going to watch him get married to Athena.  And what if, during the ceremony...”

    Sayori sighed.  “What if the yandere comes out?”

    Yukari nodded.  “I don’t want to hurt anybody.  Daiki and Athena deserve happiness.  They don’t deserve a stalker.”

    “Are you feeling jealous right now?”

    Yukari nodded again.  “I don’t want to, but...I keep thinking ‘What if it were me he’s marrying?’”

    Yuri sat down at Yukari’s other side.  “We were all chasing him back then.  We’re all feeling that, at least a bit.”

    “Yes, but only one of us was written to be a violent stalker,” Yukari pointed out.  “When the rest of you get jealous, you don’t try to hurt people.”

    “One near-incident doesn’t make a pattern,” Sayori said.  “Aside from which, you didn’t hurt Natsuki – you stopped yourself.  And we’re out of that story, and we’re never going back.  What you were written to be doesn’t bind you any more than it does us now.”

    Yukari gave her a fragile smile.  “I guess.”

    “And we’ll be with you,” Yuri said.  “All of us.  We’ll help you through any trouble.”

    Sayori turned to Yuri.  “And, as for you, now that you’ve had a couple of months to think about it, is it real?”

    “You mean do I really like Cap?” Yuri replied.  “Yes, I think I do.”

    Sayori nodded.  “Okay then.  Eighteen.”

    Yuri blinked.  “Sorry?”

    “The age that Americans consider people to be adults.  It’s eighteen.”

    “So we’ve got just over a year to figure it all out,” Yuri said.  “I can work with that.”

    “I hope so,” Sayori declared.  “Because tomorrow’s the big day...”