Happy End

It was finally over.

Honyalaland was safe, everyone in the Defense Club and Student Council was safe. And they could all go back to their normal lives. And for the most part, they were all glad.

But perhaps the most glad were Nanao and Taiju.

The two of them were glad that, as long as there were no surprises, they wouldn't have to go back in time again.

They weren't fully sure how many times they had done it. About 10 times, perhaps? It was harder to count considering Taiju had already done it a few times before Nanao joined him.

No one had been harmed this time. No one had died. Furanui and Karurusu's uncle had been stopped.

Everything went fine this time, and yet Nanao couldn't help but worry for Taiju a bit whenever he looked at his face. He could tell something was off. But no one else at the bath house seemed to notice it…

"Can I come to your place after this?" Nanao whispered to him.

Taiju almost jumped when he heard his voice, but quickly forced a smile. "Sure."

Nanao didn't like that smile…

The walk on their way to Taiju's house was quiet. It just made Nanao even more worried. He was usually at least a little talkative whenever they were together…

Once they had arrived at Taiju's house and he had taken Nanao to his room, Nanao let his own smile disappear. He didn't want the other guys to see him worried, but he would make an exception for Taiju.

He sat down beside Taiju on the bed and cupped his cheeks. "Are you okay?"

Taiju was silent for a moment, lips twitching before his smile disappeared. He held onto Nanao's hands. Not tightly enough for it to hurt, but still enough for Nanao to want to hug him.

"I'm just…" Taiju sighed. "I guess I'm just tired. And… A bit worried."

Nanao knew what he meant. They had been doing this for so long. Finally having a happy ending felt almost too good to be true. Like something was going to suddenly ruin everything just to mock them for still trying.

But they couldn't just let themselves get swallowed by that thought. Nanao wanted to believe it was truly over now. Believe that they really could finally rest and actually look forward to the future.

"We'll be okay, darling." Nanao kissed his forehead, then pulled him closer to rest his head on Nanao's chest. "Don't worry too much. Just rest."

"I would tell you to do the same." Taiju looked up at him, then pushed Nanao by his waist so he was sitting on his lap.

Nanao was silent for a moment. Of course Taiju had noticed he was also a bit scared. He should have expected that, after how long they'd been working together.

He held Taiju tighter and nuzzled his neck with a genuine smile. "Of course."

There was a moment of silence, in which they both just remained the way they were. Holding onto each other. Feeling each other's warmth.

"What do we do with the crystals?" Taiju asked, right when Nanao was about to space out.

Nanao took a moment to think about it. Furanui had given one crystal to Taiju and, after he had used it a few times, Karurusu had given another one to Nanao. They had some kind of connection to each other, so only one of them would need to go back in time and the other would be brought along.

(Even now, Nanao still felt his heartache whenever he remembered the time where he had to reset with Taiju almost dead in front of him. He had never cried as much as he did when he found Taiju was okay again afterwards.)

By all logic, they should return the crystals, even though the Furanui and Karurusu of this timeline had no idea they even had them in the first place. But Nanao couldn't help but still worry if something else was gonna happen. And even if nothing happened… He just wasn't in the mood to explain everything to them yet.

"Let's hold onto them for now." Nanao finally responded.

Taiju silently nodded. He then laid down on the bed, pulling Nanao along with him and making him gasp from the sudden movement. Taiju giggled.

Taiju held onto him, keeping Nanao's face pressed to his chest as he ran his fingers through his hair. Nanao's heartbeat sped up. When was the last time someone else had held him like that?

He closed his eyes, soothingly drawing circles on Taiju's back. For now, he was just going to enjoy this moment as much as he could.