File: 1350948620233.png-(3 KB, 208x219, True Ending.png)

"Well, I suppose we may as well get going, if we are both done here."

You nod your agreement. The two of you go back to the parking compound, get in the car and drive off.

"... so, what did you need that stuff from the hardware store for..?"

"Well, this and that." He brushes off the question.

The two of you arrive home, and eventually, eat dinner and go to sleep.

Several days pass after that. The living is average, you and Friend-kun go out several more times, and you also have a few more run ins with Waitress-chan. Friend-kun drives you to and from college. Several more game sessions roll around. Waitress-chan starts to become a frequent participant, and she rolls up her own character for the quest.

several weeks pass after that. Friend-kun starts to be at your apartment less and less frequently. He is still there when you need a ride, but it becomes increasingly rare for him to show up for every meal. You give him his space. You and Waitress-chan are getting along extremely well. She takes you to movies and the mall and various things that she thinks women should do together.

Several months later.

The quest that your group has been on has reached a conclusion. The four, no, five of you have found the macguffin, thrown it into the bowels of hell, and parted your ways.

Friend-kun calls the group together after the final session of your journey.

"Well guys, I have an annoucment to make. This has been quite a while in the making, but it is finally happening." He pauses for a second. "Im going on another tour with the military."

The five of you sit there stunned. He had never mentioned anything about this prior to now.

"I have finished all of the preparations, and I am scheduled to leave. Next week."

You try to piece together everything that is happening. This explains a lot of Friend-kun's behavior up until this point. It gives a reason as to why he was kicked out of his house, why he has been agitated recently, why he has been pretty distant, and generally explains a lot about what has happened.

But you cant fully process it. You feel lightheaded. You are once again going to be without Friend-kun. You need to sit down.

You sit down suddenly, pressing your hand to your forehead. Your breathing is starting to become more shallow.

Waitress-chan is the first to notice.

"Um, Shy-chan? Is something wrong? You look pale."

This draws the attention of the rest of the group. Friend-kun and Waitress-chan suddenly remember something important.

"Oh no. We need to get Shy-chan to the hospital. Now." Friend-kun takes charge. You black out.

"Quite the episode you had there, Shy-chan." A doctor is looking over you. "Last time you were brought in here, you told us you had no history of this kind of thing. You could hardly say that again."

After another quick examination, you get a perscription and are put in a hospital room for rest and observation. Visitors are allowed the next day. Waitress-chan shows up early in the morning, leading in DM-bro, Orc-bro, and Slutty-san.

"Are you alright? I didnt think this kind of thing would happen again. It reminds me of the first time we met..." She drifts off, and based on her face, probably feeling awkward that she is being so casual.

The rest of the group fusses over you for a bit. They stay around and chat for a bit, cracking jokes and generally having a good time. You try your best to partake, but your heart isnt into it.

Eventually, the four of them leave. Just after they leave, Friend-kun comes in. He was probably waiting. His eyes show signs that he has been crying. He walks over to your bed, kneels down next to it, and hugs you as well as he can.

"Im sorry. I know I must have caused this." He doesnt start crying again, but you can tell he is on the verge of tears.

"... this isnt your fault..."

"No, I know that something so sudden like my announcment must cause you a lot of trouble. And I tried to take preparations and everything. I introduced you to Waitress-chan, and the two of you hit it off. I figured you wouldnt be alone. I even went and made these..."

He reaches behind his back, pulling out a bag. From it he extracts a framed picture. It looks well done, but at the same time, home made. The picture is one the six people in your group took a while back. It is probably the only picture that has all six of you.

"I was going to give everyone one of them right after my announcment, but you kind of stopped that idea." He chuckles a bit, then sobers off. "This brings me back to a time a long time ago..."

"It was before I met you. I was just about to start school when my sister got into a terrible accident. You probably didnt know I had a sister, huh? Yeah well, I dont really talk about her too much anymore.

Anyway, the two of use, we used to be inseperable. I was worried about going to school because I wouldnt get to spend as much time with her. I loved my sister with all of my heart. One day, while I was in first grade, I got called down to the office.

I didnt know what was going on, so I didnt rush. When I got there, the secratery was crying and holding up the phone for me.

I answered it and was greeted by the voice of my mother, though she was in tears. She informed me that she was in a car accident. My sister had been in the backseat, and she was hurt. I didnt understand what was going on.

My mother picked me up. I kept asked where she was. My mother never responded. Eventually, we showed up at the hospital. We went to the hospital room, and my sister was lying on the bed. I remember asking her to wake up.

She was in a coma. It also seems that there were spinal injuries, so she would be paralyzed as well. I still wanted her to wake up.

She never did though. That is the thing, no matter how much you want something as a kid, it doesnt always come true. After a year of waiting, we ended up pulling the plug.

I had been pulled out of school. I was homeschooled, often times from the hospital. I didnt seem able to work unless I was near my sister. After they pulled the plug though, I just stopped responding.

Then I met you. Do you remember that? I was at the park, just sitting on a bench. You were on the other side of that bench, just sitting there. Not reading, not fidgetting. Just sitting there. I was content to sit there too, so we just sat there.

Nobody came to pick you up by the time my mother showed up. She tried to drag me away, but I managed to ask you before I left what you name was."

"... and I just looked at you and said '... shy-chan...'" It was all coming back to you now. That day at the park, the subsequent year at school when you saw the boy from the park again.

"I went back to school soon after that incident. Maybe it was because you were so calm that I started to do better as well. I starting coming back to the world, becoming less distant. I was enrolled at school the next year.

Simic, you lost control of your story. It's over man. You've lost the position of DM.

On the first day of attendance, I heard your name. I turned around, thinking it must be somebody else, but it was not. There you were, right at the back of the classroom. And, as you know, we became fast friends.

But now, you are in the hospital, and I am once more faced with this dilemna. I have things to do. Not school this time, but I am going back to Iraq. But at the same time, I want to stay here and take care of you.

I suppose I should ask your opinion on all of this.

What do I do?"

You tug on his sleeve. He bends over. You whisper in his ear.

"Yeah, I suppose that would work, wouldnt it? We should do that."

>>21243934
And thus, I burn this Trip forever.

>>21243948
Is that it, What did she say?!

>>21245092
I dunno, what did you say?

>>21243948

That...that was the ending I needed, but not the one I wanted. Or thereabouts.

My continuation is not needed here. Thank you, Simic Writer. May you still remember and learn from your original bad ending, but may this ending temper--perhaps negate--the bitter taste.

Au revoir, Simic Writer.

>>21245185
"Take me with you."
"Come back safely."
"Get discharged."
Really up to the reader I guess.

Anyway, this is a much better ending. Thanks for not leaving it at that, Simic.

>>21246451
That is the great thing about second person You should know what you would say, so it is easy to leave it up to the reader.

Oh, what about shy-chans parents and how'd she get so crippling shy?

my last questions for this quest

>>21248200
Her parents were lost in an avalanche during a skiing trip.

She became cripplingly shy because she didnt socialize much growing up, then she went into relapse when Friend-kun left.