Okay, I know I ended on a cliffhanger in this last chapter so let's get into this. Brace yourself.

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I swung the door open in a panicked manner and saw Rin was holding Akito up. He was standing limply in her arms as if unconscious.

I then noticed the curse marks on both of his hands like the twins did. He lifted his head to me and whispered hoarsely, “R-Ritsuko…”

“Akito!” I gasped, running to him. When I made it, I took hold of his body. He stumbled back weakly and put his arms around me. “No, no, no, no, no!” I whimpered as I tried to hold him up.

Unfortunately, we both fell to our knees. I laid him down and saw the mark on his chest, just like Michael's. I could guess the other marks were on him as well. That's why the Flower of Despair never died. The curses didn't go to the Flower. Instead, they went to the next nearest person which was Akito.

“No, no, no, Akito, please!” I begged. I saw the pain in Akito's eyes. Too many curses could easily kill him. The only thing I could do was try to extract the curses, but I was already worn out.

My hand glowed dimly as I tried to absorb the curses. I looked back to watch Dominic and the twins appear in sight. Michael was behind them, obviously shocked.

Akito placed his hand on mine, making me turn back to him. “Ritsuko, d-don't force yourself.” I sniffled, “No, Akito, don't. I can't lose you too. I'm fixing it, okay?”

“You healed them, right?” He coughed. The curses were draining him quickly, I could tell. I nodded, “Yeah, they're fine. I have to worry about you, though.”

“It doesn't matter.”

“Don't say that! You're dying!”

He paused and looked at me. “It's okay, Ritsuko. I helped you finish what you were supposed to.” he grinned weakly.

I couldn't believe him. “That's all you’re worried about? Akito, please, help me.”

He put his hand on my cheek. “I did help you. I'm glad I was able to meet you, Ritsuko.”

“Don't talk like that, Akito, please!” I begged him. He smiled, “I’m glad I was able to know you and help you.”

Tears spilled out of my eyes, “Akito, no! Just stay with me please.” My grip tightened on him. “I'll fix it, I promise.” I put my forehead on his. “You’ll be alright, just give me a second.” I inhaled deeply, feeling my breath getting shorter with his.

“Ritsuko.” I lifted my eyes to him, “Yes?” He looked at me and brought my face even closer to his to kiss me. I closed my eyes and relaxed. It hurt so much, but I couldn't pull back. Dominic's curse must have been taking effect on him.

“Thank you.” He panted out as he looked at me. “Thank you for giving me a chance with you.” I leaned back a little and felt his hand go limp in mine.

Slowly, his head tilted to the side and his hand slipped out of mine. I stared for a long time until the tears burned my eyes. “Akito!!!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs with the tears finally coming out.

My hands went to my face as an overwhelming sense of failure came over me. First, I failed to protect Maiko, and now I let Akito die as well.

“No, Akito, please!!” I cried and put my hands on him. I hoped to just have him wake up again, though it wasn't likely. “Why?!” I shut my eyes tightly. “Why did this have to happen?!!”

Footsteps made their way over to me, to which I didn't know who's they were. I sobbed and shook my head.

My vision was so blurred from the tears, I couldn't see who was in front of me when I looked up. “I failed…” I whimpered before another cry came out.

Voices were speaking, but I couldn't hear them clearly. “It's okay, Ritsuko.” Rin grabbed me and hugged me tightly. Dominic's voice echoed in a blurry haze, “Wait, we can still save him!”

That was the only thing I heard before I suddenly felt my body go weak. I closed my eyes and suddenly every one of my senses went numb.

I was just surrounded in darkness after that.

What's going on? I heard myself think after what seemed to be only a few seconds of closing my eyes. Where am I? The thoughts flooded into my mind. I had no sense of what was going on.

Suddenly, as if air was coming back into my lungs for the first time, my eyes snapped open. I looked around to see a pale colored room. I heard machines beeping and chiming around. It smelled familiar, like what I smelled in Dominic's lab. A hospital?

A woman dressed in white came to my side after I realized I was on a bed. “Hello there. What's your name?”

I lifted a hand to my head and thought. “Ritsuko Akiyama.” The woman smiled and took out a clipboard. “Good.” She murmured as she wrote something down. “You're in the hospital. Do you have any family around? We were not able to find anyone related in the village.”

I shook my head. “No, I'm here by myself.” That's when all the questions came to my head. “Where are they? Where are the others? Is Rin alright?”

“Your friends are just fine. They did receive a few injuries but they were already taken care of. Rin Sakura was not hurt and she's just downstairs.” She handed me a clipboard with a paper. “Please put your relative's contact information to inform them of your stay here.” I took it.

“You were very lucky, Ms. Akiyama. You're one of the few victims to survived the assaults that night along with the few others. You have been asleep for about 2 weeks.” The woman mentioned. I assumed she was a nurse because of her uniform now that I saw clearly.

I sat up a little and stopped writing. “2 weeks? Wait, may I ask who brought me here?” The nurse clicked her tongue and checked the monitors. “About  people. They brought you in along with someone you healed; do you recognize the name Akito Tanaka?”

My eyes widened, “A-Akito?” I suddenly sat on the side of the bed, wincing when one of my legs felt weak. “Be careful.” She held out her arms to warn me. I paused, looking down at my leg. Guess that injury was still healing.

I looked up at the nurse and asked, “Is he alright?! How did I heal him? I wasn't awake for 2 weeks.”

She took a deep breath and explained, “He almost died because of a Flower overdose. They said he had 5 curses on his body. They were able to heal him through your power and transfer it back to the Flower. She pointed behind me to which I turned.

The Flower of Despair I had was in a container, now completely black and dried up. I turned back to the nurse and smiled, “He's alive?”

She nodded. “He's in stable condition now. Would you like to see him?”

Of course, I said yes! The nurse then took me and led me downstairs to another hospital room.

“Here we are, Ms. Akiyama.” She guided me into the room. I stepped in and saw Rin and Mr. Tanaka sitting at the side of the bed. They both turned to me with surprised looks on their faces.

“Ritsuko!” Rin smiled with tears coming to her eyes. I gripped her tightly as she embraced me. “Oh, I'm so glad you're okay!”

I chuckled. “I'm glad you two are okay!” I glanced at Mr. Tanaka. He gave me a warm smile.

Rin let her go and gave me some room to approach the bed. I saw him. I saw the one who helped me through everything while I was here. The one that sacrificed himself for me.

“Akito?” I took slow steps, limping over to him. He smiled at me with that bright smile he always had. It was the smile I wanted to see all the time. He looked at me with his classic blue eyes and sighed, “I'm glad to see you again, Ritsuko.”

I paused and stared in awe at him. It was like hearing him say my name for the first time. My vision was suddenly blurred with water and I laughed, practically throwing myself on him. He instantly wrapped his arms around me tightly as well.

I whispered, “You're okay!” He smiled and whispered back, “Of course I am.” He held me tight, reassuring me he was fine. I was comforted by this, as I was always comforted by his voice.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. “Akito….” He wiped my tears as we looked at each other. He smiled at me and I only looked down. “I’m sorry for what happened.” I turned my view to Rin and Mr. Tanaka, standing up. “I'm sorry for everything I caused.” I bowed to them in apology, resisting the urge to cry again.

Rin's hands lifted my head to her and I frowned. “Don't be sorry. I know this wasn't your doing.”

Mr. Tanaka sighed, “What happened is something that wasn't in your control. Don't feel responsible for it.”

That's when another thought came to mind. “Michael….the twins and Dominic. Where are they?!” I panicked to Akito. He sat up and ran his hands through his hair. “Dominic was released a few days ago. He's been with his family from what I know.”

Rin looked to the door. “Rosalina and Alexandra have been recovering from some injuries. They said Michael is in a room upstairs. He broke an arm or something.”

“Oh, how am I gonna fix this now? The police are going to find evidence all over the village and they're all gonna go to prison.” I murmured.

“Isn't that what should happen?” Akito asked. I shook my head, “I healed them just now, and they're going to spend the rest of their uncursed lives in a cell? That's not what I intended.”

Rin furrowed her eyebrows, “B-but they did all these horrible things!” I shushed her and she paused. All of them looked at me as if I had just lost it. “None of us are going to say anything about this until I talk to them. I healed them for a reason, and what they did might have not been my fault, but it is still my responsibility and I neglected that.” I sniffled.

“Please. Let's just keep it between us and then I'll sort it out. I don't know how we're going to deal with this.” I ran my hand up to my forehead and sighed. “Was I really unconscious for weeks?”

Rin nodded. “I had hoped you didn't give out from your wounds.”

“Oh, gosh.” I sighed and looked to them all. Akito grabbed my hand. “Don't feel bad Ritsuko. You were strong. We both made it out alive and we saved so many other people.”

I did my best to grin and nod as I turned toward the door. “I'll come back later. I'm going to go see the twins.”

Rin offered, “I can join you if you want.” I shook my head. “I think it's best if I talk to them alone.”

Akito and Mr. Tanaka looked at me warily. “I'll be okay.” I assured them and walked out.

Searching for the Koizumi twins’ room, I wondered what I would say to them. Last time I saw them, I just healed them and stopped them from trying to kill me. What do you say when you see the person who tried to kill you?

A nurse that was passing by assisted me as to where they were, along with Michael's room. Now I didn't know whose to in first? The twins or the head of this whole plot, Michael?

I knocked on the door nervously. I didn't hear anything but a slight gasp in there. “C-come in.” The familiar voice muffled through the door. Even though the voice was so distinct, I never heard it like this.

I grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, stepping through. Michael's clear blue eyes widened as he glanced up for a second time, having not gotten a good look at me the first time. He was covered with the blankets and he was sitting up.

Bandages covered a part of his forehead along with a wound on his shoulder. That was all I could notice as I approached him. He took the cover off himself and tried to get up. He paused and winced for a second. I noticed now his left forearm was in a cast

I put my hand up to him, gesturing for him to stay where he was. He looked up at me and submissively sat in the bed. “I heard what happened.” I began.

He stayed staring at me as if he couldn't speak. I looked back at him with a frown. “Akito survived, if you didn't know. I still don't know, but how did Akito and I get here?”

Michael looked down in what seemed to be embarrassment. “Mm, when Dominic checked Akito's pulse, h-he said he could survive. You collapsed and we knew that if we called the hospital, he and you wouldn't make it. I decided t-to get everyone to take you two here. They saw our injuries as well and wanted to treat us.” He explained it slowly.

I blinked and tilted my head a bit. Michael actually helped us? This helped me conclude that even under all the resentment and anger against me, he still cared. And I could tell that he was deeply ashamed and full of regret from what he did.

“You had every right to be angry with me. I tried to keep myself on a certain plan on how this should all go that I lost myself in what I was actually here to do.” I sighed. He tilted his face up at me, looking confused.

I finished, “I can't take full blame for what happened, but it could have been avoided if I had just done what I was supposed to. I'm sorry.”

He shook his head at me. “No. I don't want you to feel sorry for any of this.” He looked down. “What I did, it's horrible what I did. I made Dominic and Alexandra, Rosalina and Asher do all sorts of horrible things too. You were right when you said that it didn't fix anything. Because it still hurt…” his right hand went to his chest where his curse mark was.

I tensed up as he stayed silent and tightened his grip on his shirt. “I can't fix it.” He admitted. “I can't fix everything I did. I'm a terrible person, and now, I don't even deserve to live.”

Droplets of water stained the sheets in front of me as he buried his face in his hands. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.” He gasped through his sobs.

I sighed, letting him vent it all out. “What you did was horrible. I can't believe what a curse really does to people.” He raised his head a little, staring at me with watery eyes.

“Have you told anyone what you've done?” He shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Good.”

“W-what?” His eyes widened. “Why not?”

I looked down. “I need to talk to the twins first. Then I need to discuss with Dominic. Then, I'll tell you why. Just don't tell anyone yet.”

He wiped his eyes. “Okay…”

I nodded. “Thank you. When are you being released?”

He answered, “Next week.” I went to the door. “Okay. I'll see you later then.” I opened it and stepped out. I didn't know what he would do now, but I just hoped I could trust him for now.

It was all I could do for now.

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These last few chapters are gonna be a lot to process so prepare yourself. What do you think of the aftermath? Do you think something unexpected might pop up? Well, you never know.
Thank you for reading. I really really appreciate the readers who stayed to read all these chapters. I hope you enjoyed and you're ready for the next chapter! 💜