~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        Video Girl Hosoi
                            Part IV

                      Written by Ed Hrzic

                 Copyright (c) 1997 by Ed Hrzic

  Based upon and inspired by Masakura Katsura's "Video Girl Ai"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Previous part may be found at "ftp.cs.ubc.ca" in
"pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Miscellaneous/EdFics/" along with
most of my other fiction.
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Comments are welcome at "bd981@yfn.ysu.edu".  Thanks!
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                    Part IV -- "Finality"

<< ELEVEN >>

Blink.
  Ed looked at the ceiling from his bed.  For a moment, he was
about to say "unfamiliar ceiling," but he knew all too well where
he was.
  "When" was another matter.
  He glanced over at the clock, and got out of bed.  "Nine
o'clock?  Morning or night?"
  He opened the door, and went into the store.
  Day.
  Ed stopped for a moment, and grasped at his chest.  There was
still a sharp pain in his chest, though not as bad as before.
  "Two more left...who's closest?"  Ed closed his eyes, and
reached out everywhere.
  Ed grabbed the trench coat from the rack and went out to find
Hosoi.

               *              *              *

Brien knocked on his bedroom door.  "Are you ready yet?"
  "Almost," came Hosoi's voice from inside.
  He leaned against the wall next to the door.
  After a few moments, Hosoi came out, dressed in her sailor
outfit.
  "You look...wonderful!  It was made for you!" he exclaimed.
  Hosoi blushed.  "Okay, let's go."
  "Where to?"
  "Let's go for brunch."
  Brien nodded, and the path from his house was soon their
walkway.
  However, Brien seemed a little more concerned than usual.
  "Brien?  What is it?  I can tell when something's bothering
you."
  Brien sighed, and gave one of those "can't fool you" smiles. 
"Remember yesterday?  When Hyle wanted to have a talk?"
  "Yes.  Is there something wrong?"
  "I would called it a problem.  It seems that Ms. Stacey wants
to talk to me...TOMORROW at school."
  "Oh.  And are you going to speak to her?"
  "I don't rightly think so.  I mean, with all that's happened
between she and I-"
  Hosoi stopped him.  "Perhaps you should."
  "And why?  What would it do for me?"
  "Some sense of closure.  Brien, if you don't end on peaceable
terms, bad things can happen to you."
  "You mean to tell me that if I don't talk to her, I could end
up having some sort of complex for the rest of my life?"
  She started them walking again.  "I wouldn't really put it like
that, but maybe.  It could be the start of healing your heart."
  "But what if I don't want to be healed?"
  "What?"
  "If I'm healed, then you'll have to...go..."
  "Brien, you know that I'll have to leave at one point..."  It
really pained her to say that.  It was her duty to help people. 
But this person...this person...  "Let's not think about that, or
anything else today.  Just you, and me, and the day."
  Brien smiled a big smile from the heart.  "Okay."

               *              *              *

Ed stepped into the park.  He looked around, at the many people,
and closed his eyes.  She was close.  So very close.
  There wasn't much time.

               *              *              *

"Do you know how cute you were when you slept last night?"
  Brien blinked and turned to her in the bench.  "You were
watching me?"
  "Yes."
  Brien leaned back.  "And did you know how beautiful you look
while YOU slept last night?"
  "And how long did you watch ME?!"
  "I thought I told you that I don't get much sleep."
  She turned her head.  "No, you didn't."
  "Hey, do you want another ice cream?"
  She laughed.  "Do you like it that much?"
  "It's the only thing I know how buy."
  "Then I'd love some."
  Brien left, and Hosoi was left alone with her thoughts.
  Well, almost alone.  She had the company of the man that was
standing about a hundred feet from her...looking straight at her:
a man in a trench coat.
  And glasses.
  Hosoi felt and incredibly strange attraction to him...more of a
slight reverence than appearance.  She stood up, and walked to
him.  She asked, "Um, who are you?"
  Ed leaned against the railing that separated the park and the
lake.  "You may be a new video girl, but I thought that you would
have remembered me."
  "You're a Creator!  Aren't you?!"
  "Yes."
  She bowed slightly.  "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."
  "It's okay.  Listen, I have something important to tell you,
and it could be a matter of your life."
  "Life?  Am I being recalled?"
  "No.  It's in regards to your tape and yourself.  Hosoi,
there's someone that is going to come to see you soon."
  "Who is it?"
  Ed sighed.  "Not someone that you want to meet.  I don't
exactly know when.  But, he's going to try to kill you."
  "KILL ME?!"
  "Hush!"
  "Why me?!  Was it something I did?!  I mean, I've been trying
my best as a video girl."  She began to cry.  "What did I do...?"
  Ed put his hands on her shoulders.  "It's not because of you. 
You have been doing a wonderful job.  It's something to do with a
rival company.  They're coming after me.  But they're going
through my video girls first."
  "So, me?"
  "Yes.  But there it something that you can do to save
yourself."
  "And what about you?"
  "Don't worry about me.  Listen, and listen carefully.  You're a
video girl.  There's only one other case that I know of that
happened to a video girl who became human-"
  "Human?"
  "Hosoi, I'm going to make you human, so that you can save your
own life.  But you're going to have to do something."
  "What is it?"
  "You're going to have to make love with the one you were
assigned to.  It won't be easy."
  Hosoi paused, and felt her heart sink.  "Make love to him?"
  "Yes, it's the only way."
  "But he's not that type of person.  I'm too nervous.  How can
I-"
  Ed feel to both knees, clutching his chest.  "Oh God...not
another one..."
  "What's wrong?"
  Ed growled in pain.  "Don't...worry.  You haven't a lot of
time..."  He rose to his feet and staggered off, despite the
searing pain going through him.
  Brien returned just as Ed was out of sight.  "Hosoi?  What's
wrong?"  he handed her an ice cream.
  She looked up at him with a different expression.
  "Something wrong?"
  Hosoi looked down at her ice cream, and then back up to him. 
"No.  I don't think so."

               *              *              *

Ed collapsed in an alley and cried out, tears of pain going down
his face.  "I can't stand it!  Why me?!  Oh God, why me?!"

               *              *              *

On their way home, Hosoi put her arm around his waist.  "Are you
going to talk to her tomorrow?"
  "I haven't given it any thought since we last talked."
  "I know you better.  You thought a lot about it."
  "Okay, okay.  So I did.  And, yes, I'm going to."
  "I knew you would.  You're a better person than you think."
  "I hope so."
  "Brien, I've...I've got to ask you a question.  What if we were
to...I..."
  Brien stopped and looked at her.  "What is it?"
  'How?  How did he know?  The Creator knew all about it!  I...I
can't ask him... I...I love him too much.'
  "It's nothing."
  "Well, okay."
  "And what are you going to say to her?"
  "I'm going to listen, and answer whatever she wants to ask me."
  Hosoi nodded.  "Good."

               *              *              *

It was night when Ed staggered into the store.  Kokoro and
Gokuraku were there to catch him before he fell to the ground.
  "The...pain..." he was crying.
  "Let's get him to the bed!"
  Ed fell unconscious, again, when he lay down.
  "Is it...?" Kokoro asked.
  "Another video girl.  Yes.  Come, let's leave him be."
  In the store, Kokoro and Gokuraku sat down at a table.
  "He's so fragile," she cried.  "I can't seem him like this..."
  Gokuraku put a hand on her shoulder.  "Have you told him about
that?  It may be what he needs to hear."

               *              *              *

  In the room, Ed awoke with the pain that kept plaguing him. 
"I...can't...stand..."
  He reached over to the night stand, and opened the drawer.
  He pulled out the gun, and making sure that it was loaded, held
it, cradled it in his hands.
  His arms were shaking as he slowly brought the gun to his
temple...

               *              *              *

  "Do you really think so?" Kokoro asked.
  "Ed really doesn't have anyone.  If he knew that he was
wanted...needed...then maybe things-"
  And there was a gunshot.

<< TWELVE >>

Brien adjusted his shirt while he was in his room.  "Hey, Hosoi?"
he called downstairs.  "Are you almost ready with those chips?"
  "Yeah!" she called back.
  Hosoi opened up the bag of potato chips, and poured them into
the large bowl in front of her.  She then stopped when she saw
her own reflection in the metal of the toaster.
  She unplugged it, and picked it up, looking at her reflection
even more.  "Hosoi, are you going to ask him?  It's a simple
question to ask.  And why do you have such a hard time?  Simple:
will you make love to me?"
  And there was something else in the toaster.
  She dropped the toaster on the counter and turned around.
  "Don't worry about it," Rolex said.  "You're going to be dead
soon, and you won't HAVE to worry about asking him."
  Before she could scream, Rolex grasped his hands around her
neck.
  "Die, video girl."
  From upstairs, Brien heard something drop.  "Well, perhaps she
can't do it all by herself."  And he went downstairs.
  "Br...Brien..." Hosoi tried to yell, but Rolex's grip was too
strong.  She was beginning to lose consciousness...
  And Brien saw it.  And he raced to them.
  "LET GO OF HER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
  Giving him little thought, Rolex let go with one hand, and
swung the fist backward, smashing into Brien's mouth, and sending
him to the ground, out for the count.
  Well, what Rolex thought was out.  And he forgot about Brien.
  Hosoi was beginning to fade in and out of existence.  
"Br...Bri...Bri...en..."
  With what little sense he had, Brien reached up to the sink
above him, and grasped the only thing within reach: a butter
knife.  Though dull, they could be deadly.
  Brien stood and stabbed the knife downward at Rolex's exposed
hand.  Though it didn't sink in all that much, he decided to make
the wound all the more annoying by then slashing down the arm.
  Rolex screamed in pain, dropping Hosoi and clutching his wrist. 
He thrashed around, knocking the glass bowl from the counter.  It
smashed on the ground.  "YOU BASTARD!  I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
  He slashed the knife again, and caught Rolex across the face. 
It didn't seem to phase him this time, and punch Brien in the
face.  He fell to the ground.
  And Rolex screamed again, as a large piece of glass found its
way into his back by way of Hosoi.  "DAMN YOU!  I'M NOT THROUGH
WITH YOU TWO YET!"
  Rolex then vanished from sight.
  Hosoi then went down to Brien and held his hand.  "Brien? 
Brien?  Are you alright?  Speak to me?"
  A moment later, Brien woke.  "What...what did he do...?"
  "Come on!  We have to get out of here!"
  "To where?"
  "The store!"
  "What about your tape?"
  "Forget the tape!  He wanted ME!  Let's go!"

               *              *              *

Gokuraku and Kokoro burst into the room.
  Ed was sitting on the bed, gun at his side, crying.  There was
a bullet hole in the ceiling.
  Kokoro knelt in front of him.  "Master..."
  He kept crying.  "I couldn't even do that right..."
  Kokoro put her arms around him and let him cry.  "It's
alright..."
  The door to the shop opened.
  "Someone...?" Kokoro asked.
  Gokuraku went outside.  Hosoi and Brien walked into the room. 
"Where's the Creator?!"
  Gokuraku was puzzled.  "Ed?  He's-"
  "We need to see him, now!" Brien shouted.
  Ed walked into the store, after hearing them.
  Hosoi recognized him.  "Creator!  It was true!  He came to kill
me!"
  Brien stopped her.  "Wait.  You both knew about this, and
didn't tell me?!"
  Hosoi turned to him.  "Brien...I didn't want to worry you.  You
seemed so happy-"
  "BULLSHIT!  I'm not happy unless you're happy, Hosoi!  I can't
believe that you would DO this!"
  "Brien-"
  Ed went into the back.
  Kokoro was still there when Ed grabbed the gun.  "What are you
going to do?!"
  "Finish this, once and for all."  He went out into the store,
and grabbed his trench coat.
  "Brien," he said,  "it's not Hosoi's fault.  If I wanted you to
have known, I would have talked to you both.  But it really
concerns Hosoi most of all.  She really cares for you a lot, and
don't berate her for something I did."
  Ed walked to the front door.
  "Where are you going?" Hosoi asked.
  "Out.  If I don't come back, remember what I told you."  and he
left.
  Gokuraku went to the back to get Kokoro, and brought her out to
the front.  "He's going to confront Rolex."
  Kokoro looked out of the window, unable to see Ed.  "Can he do
it?  Stop him?"
  "I don't know," Gokuraku said as he hung his head down.  "But
if he's still the Ed I know, I think he can.  As long as he
believes in himself."
  
               *              *              *

It was an empty field, next to the school that Ed had went to
earlier in his life.  A playground was not far from him as he
stood in the grass, the wind whipping across him.
  "ROLEX!"
  There was no answer.
  "Rolex!  I know you can hear me!  Show yourself!"
  "There's no need to yell."
  Ed turned to find Rolex standing some distance behind him.
  "Usually I would have gone for the Creator last, but since
you're standing here, I might as well do away with you.  It will
also help me get rid of the other video girls; when you, the
creator, dies, they die, too.  Simple.  By the way, nice trench
coat.  You're getting to be more and more a Creator every day. 
I'll tell you what:  the Elders, just as I left, gave me the
proposition to recruit you.  What do you say?"
  Ed pulled the gun from his outer coat pocket and pointed it
straight at Rolex.
  "That's hardly an answer.  If you pull the trigger, don't you
think that would be anti-climactic?"  He took a step forward.  Ed
failed to move.
  "Besides, I know you.  I know you all too well.  You wouldn't
pull the trigger.  You're not the violent type."
  Rolex staggered back as the gun fired.
  The bullet struck him in the shoulder.  Rolex placed his hand
to his shoulder, then looked at his hand.
  "Blood.  You shot me.  You actually shot me.  YOU SON OF A
BITCH!  YOU SHOT ME!"
  And two more shots hit him.  He went to the ground, falling
backward.
  Ed walked over, and stood over him, still aiming the gun.
  "You SICKEN me..." Rolex said.
  Ed remained quiet and fired twice more: one each at his arms.
  Rolex screamed.
  Kokoro and Gokuraku had found him, and were standing behind
him.
  "Ed-" Gokuraku said.
  Ed pointed the gun at Rolex's head.  "NEVER believe people when
they talk about me, and NEVER believe what you know about me.
Those were for my children.  This one's for ME."
  "ED!" Kokoro screamed.
  The gun went off again, and Rolex became silent, the bullet
traveling through his skull, and to the ground below.
  Ed put the gun back in his pocket, and began walking off.
  "Ed..." Kokoro breathed.
  Gokuraku turned to see him walk off as well.  "Ed, what about
the body?"
  "What body?" he said without breaking a stride.
  Kokoro and Gokuraku turned back to Rolex...
  ...who was gone.

<< THIRTEEN >>

"Are you sure that you're ready for this?" Hosoi asked.
  "Yeah, I think.  She wanted to meet me in the central court."
  Brien stood in the school hall, and walked out.  Hosoi
followed.
  They walked outside, and Hosoi sat at a bench that was within
view of the court.
  "That's her..." he said, pointing to the short-haired girl who
was sitting at one of the benches.
  "She's...attractive.  No wonder you picked her.  She's better
looking than me..." Hosoi looked down.
  "Not anymore.  It's time."  Brien then went to his destiny.
  "Good luck," Hosoi silently whispered to him.

               *              *              *

  Stacey was looking around for Brien.
  "You wanted to talk to me?"
  Stacey jumped as she heard him right next to her.  "You scared
me!" she smiled.
  Brien didn't.  That made her own break.
  "Stacey, do you want to talk, or not?"
  "Yes, yes I do.  Would you sit down?"
  Brien stood there, unanswering.
  "Brien, I, I don't blame you for being angry at me.  But things
happen..."
  Brien stood, listening.
  "I...I was really hurt by the note you wrote to me.  You think
I don't care?"
  "You DON'T," he said, flatly.
  "That's ridiculous!" she said.
  "Is it?  Stacey, you don't notice me, you've broken every one
of our dates, you say that you don't want to get into a
relationship, yet I SEE you in one with Clark, and each promise
that you made, you broke.  You see why I don't think you care?
  "You wouldn't even let me do things for you.  Stacey, I don't
want to be thought of as the 'last one on your list.'  I really
wanted to be given some credit now and then.  Each time you
wanted to talk, it was only if I was the only person there.
  "I wished I would have seen it then, but it was as if this was
going through your mind: 'Oh well.  Brien's the only one here. 
Might as well talk to HIM.'"
  "Brien, that's not true..."
  "TAKE a look.  Did you REALLY ever talk to me while Clark, or
anyone else for that matter, was around?  Did you?"
  "You're saying all of this is MY fault?!  Like you didn't make
any mistakes!"
  "I KNOW that I made mistakes!  At least I can recognize them! 
Too many notes, too many puzzles, and not enough talking."
  "And you wanted me all to yourself!"
  Brien stopped and sighed.  "Is that really bad?  If Clark
wanted you to himself, you would have thought it only natural. 
For me, it's the symptom for a control freak, isn't it?"
  "Brien, it doesn't have to be like this."
  "Stacey, why did you REALLY want to talk to me?  I've been good
at knowing what people are getting at these days?"
  "I...I wanted to be friends again, to fix whatever we did
wrong..."
  "Stacey, I know that Clark just broke up with you, and I'm not
a quick fix.  Again, you put me on the 'bottom' of your list.  I
can't be thought of as the person who is going to be there as
second-best when everything else fails for you."
  "Yeah, and like you're REALLY involved with someone!  You
conceited bastard."
  "WRONG.  Take a look over there."  Brien pointed to Hosoi. 
"See her?  She actually appreciates me, and likes me.  She lets
me do things for her that you wouldn't, and she's much more
receptive."
  "And you're probably fucking her as well, aren't you?"
  Brien brought his hand up to punch her as hard as he could. 
  And he almost did, to the point that Stacey actually flinched.
  "You never got it, did you?  I never truly wanted to sleep with
you, or have an icon to have on my arm.  I wanted a relationship:
someone I could talk to, hold, be held, do things for, and have
things done for me.  And Hosoi allows me to do those things, and
does those to me."
  Stacey looked up at him.  "You're serious, aren't you?  Then,
what about friends?"
  Brien laughed and shook his head.  "Stacey, you're naive, as
naive as I was."
  "Like one heartbreak makes you an expert," Stacey folded her
arms.
  "No, but the little number you did on me did screw me up quite
a bit."
  Brien felt a strange sensation.  He was feeling more and
more...at peace with himself.
  "Stacey, all anger aside, you'll never know how much you HURT
me, to the point where I could physically feel it.  I know that I
made my mistakes.  But I can't be friends with you anymore.  My
heart wouldn't be able to take it again."
  Brien turned to leave.
  "Wait...Brien?  Don't I at least get a hug?"
  He turned back and contemplated it for a brief second.  He
walked forward, and they hugged.  Brien barely held her; Stacey
clung to him, almost for dear life.
  When they broke, there were tears in her eyes.  "I'm sorry..."
  "Goodbye, Stacey."  And he left.
  "Brien...Brien!"
  And he ignored it all.

               *              *              *

The doorbell rang.
  "I'll get it!" Brien yelled to Hosoi, who was upstairs.
  He opened the door.
  Ed was standing outside.
  "It's you!" he exclaimed.
  "Yes, it's me.  I...I need to talk to Hosoi."
  Brien stopped.  And he realized the enormity of why Ed had
come.  That...feeling...he had earlier, with Stacey, was the
beginning of it...
  "Is this...about Hosoi going back?"
  Ed slowly nodded.
  "She...she can't go back."
  Ed peered at him.
  "I need her too much.  You can't just take her away.  Please."
  They both felt their hearts sink at the same time.  Brien
didn't want the woman that he had learned to love and care for in
these three days to leave him.  It wouldn't be too much for him
to lose her at this moment.
  And Ed felt saddened, as he realized that although he and Brien
were very much alike, Brien had something that Ed didn't: someone
to care for, and someone that cared for him.
  He envied Brien so very much, because when he was Brien's age,
he didn't have anyone.  And he desperately knew how he felt.
  "Please, I would like to talk to Hosoi."
  Brien bit his lower lip, almost letting a tear begin, when he
went into the house and up the stairs.  In a little while, Hosoi
walked down and went outside.
  "Creator, what are you doing here?"
  "Hosoi, it was much harder than you thought, wasn't it?"
  She silently nodded.
  "I'm sorry I have to do this, but I have to recall you since
you're not human."
  "You can't!"
  "I have to.  There are other people who may need you-"
  "Or may not!  I'll most likely sit on a shelf for who knows how
long.  You can't just take me away...I...I..."
  "Love him?"
  Hosoi looked up into his eyes and soft the soft expression of a
father...of a friend.  Those eyes looked so much like Brien's...
ones that had seen so much pain that they didn't want to see any
more of it.
  "There is one other way, Hosoi, and you can spend the rest of
your life with him."
  "How?" she asked.
  Ed turned and started walking away.  "You already know.  If
you're not human by this time tomorrow, then you'll be recalled."

               *              *              *
  
Hosoi and Brien hadn't talked to each other until later that
night.  Brien was sitting on his bed, when Hosoi entered the
room.
  He looked up at her, and it was obvious that he has been crying
a great deal.
  "So...are you leaving?"
  "I can only stay if I'm human."
  "But...you're not."
  Hosoi walked to him, and kneeled down in front of him.  She
took his two trembling hands into her own, and looked into his
eyes.  "There...there is a way."
  Brien stared at her, intently.  "A way...to become human?"
  "Yes, but it would take sacrificing a large part of who you are
and want to be."
  He shook his head.  "I don't care what it means.  If will be my
right arm, I'd give it."
  Hosoi felt at peace.  Her heart wasn't fluttering, and her mind
was clear when she said those words.  "Brien, would you make love
to me?"
  He was shocked that she asked that of him.  I...I..."
  "It's the only way that I'll be able to become human...and stay
with you.  And I know that you would only make love with a woman
who is your wife."
  "For so many years, I told myself that I would only make love
with my wife.  That wasn't so much a choice as it was forced upon
me...with my lack of popularity and looks, it was no wonder."
  Brien took her hand and held it in his won.  "But, you'll know
that I'll do it for you.  I love you too much to let you go."
  "I love you too," she cried.
  "But there's just one problem."
  Hosoi looked at him.
  "How DO you make love?"
  Brien smiled, and Hosoi began to laugh, Brien soon joining her.
  He took her hands and put them around his neck, and leaned down
to her face, shyly at first, then placed his lips against her
own.
  She smelled so nice and fresh.
  He pulled her up with him, and began to tug at the sailor suit
that she had worn yet again.  Move moved around behind her, and
undid the kerchief, and pulled the blouse over her head.
  When he tossed the blouse to the ground, he kissed the back of
her neck, which made her shiver.
  "You're doing pretty well for a person who doesn't know how to
make love."
  "Too many books," he said.
  He pulled her skirt and underwear off, leaving her with only
her skin.  He turned her around, and he looked her up and down. 
"Heavens...you look so...beautiful...you're perfect..."
  Hosoi responded with an entire-body blush.  "What abut you?"
  "I'm terrible looking.  Besides, I'm not the best smelling
person in the world, and I'm not exactly skinny..."
  Hosoi walked up and tugged at his shirt, pulling it up his
body, and over his head.  She lightly kissed his chest, and
leaned her cheek against his chest.
  More and more tension was building up in Brien.  He felt so
frightened and confused with everything that was going on.
  "Brien?"
  "I'm...I'm scared..."
  "Scared?  Scared of what?"
  "I...I don't know..."
  "If you don't want-"
  "No.  I told you that I would do it-"  And Brien pushed those
nagging feelings aside.
  With speed, she pulled off his jeans and briefs, too.  And what
she noticed was that he was fully aroused.
  Hosoi kissed him again as they lay down on the bed.
  Both relatively inexperienced, foreplay was not something that
they knew how to do, let alone anything else.  But as part of
natural instinct, Brien knew where to put himself.
  He leaned over Hosoi, propping his hands on either side of her
arms.
  "Brien..." she breathed, face flushed.
  And he entered her, and found the most wonderful feeling that
he had ever had in his entire life: a warm, wet, feeling that
surrounded and comforted him.  Something that gave him joy.
  That same feeling was shared by Hosoi: something that filled
the void of her body, an ache that was finally silenced, and a
fire that was begging to be fanned.
  It didn't take long for them to reach the crest.  Hosoi's sighs
of pleasure, and Brien's moans of ecstacy culminated in an
explosion of white light that both of them reached together.
  Every part of their body sang as they met in a physical form,
and a state of mind that few could ever understand.
  It was love in its highest state, and only they could
understand what they felt.
  Brien began to cry as he lay on Hosoi.  "Oh God, that was so
beautiful...you and I..."
  Hosoi began to cry to.  "Thank you, Brien..."
  And they kissed once more.

<< EPILOGUE >>

Ed sat in the store, continuing his reading of "Frankenstein",
while sipping a cup of coffee.
  It was the morning.  Very early.  A time when only birds rose.
  Speaking of birds, one landed on the window, and then promptly
left, almost surprised at Ed looking at it.
  The door in the back opened, and Kokoro walked out.  "You're
up?  I should have made something for you..."
  "It's alright.  I'm having coffee."
  "Coffee?  You don't drink coffee."
  "Well, today seemed to be the day for it."
  Kokoro sat down across from him and looked at him. 
"Master...there's...there's something I want you to know..."
  "What?"
  "I...I care for you a great deal, Master.  More than I should. 
And..."
  Ed put down the book.  "Kokoro, if you want to say something-"
  "I just wanted to say," and there was some indication of a
tear, "just because you don't think that you need yourself, it
doesn't mean that others don't need you.  Please, don't ever
think that you're alone.  I may not be the best person in the
world, but I'm always here.  For you, and only you."
  Ed leaned back in the chair.  "Kokoro, what do you want to do
with yourself?"
  "I would like to stay here.  That's all that I want; and it's
all that I need."
  Ed looked out of the window, and said 'Good luck, Hosoi.'
  And the sun rays illuminated the store.
  Yes.  Today would be different from now on.

                             EL FIN

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Okay.  So VGHosoi changed a bit from the original projection, but
essentially remained the same.  Only a few things were changed,
and I hope that you enjoyed the slightly depressing trip.
  This one is the first of the fics of mine that I've been trying
to finish off before starting some new stuff that will surprise
you all (well, maybe all...).
  Adios.

- Ed Hrzic
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