Pulling Shun towards me and kissing him sounds like something really simple, but let me tell you how hard it actually is. First, I have no idea how to properly initiate a kiss, so I'm just going off my instincts. Second, to pull him towards me I have to use both of my hands, so I basically just let go of the poolside. For some reason, Shun also lets go of the poolside and right away we find ourselves submerged in the orange waters of the school pool.

You'd have thought Shun would be panicking, but no. He is too focused to dwell on small things like drowning. Focused on this kiss (which is, obviously, wet), focused on pushing my hair out of the way (as it keeps floating into our faces), focused on us.

I feel like crying in joy because even though I have no idea how to kiss I'm apparently not bad at it, since if someone forgets he is supposed to be drowning when he is kissing you, especially if this is someone who cannot swim at all, it means that you're probably doing something right.

We stay like that long enough for the English horns and cellos in my head to play a glorious, harmonic refrain, and it sounds better than anything I've ever heard before. I briefly consider selling it on iTunes or something, but I know that I will forget the melody the moment our lips part. It's okay though; the fact that I'm kissing Shun is worth more to me than anything I could have gained by selling songs on iTunes.

We pop out of the surface, drawing in a brief breath together before our lips rejoin each other underwater. The melody whirls in my head and I feel dizzy, either from the lack of oxygen or from the utter surprise this whole thing has caught me in. I mean, I had never expected my first kiss to taste of chlorine, and I had also never expected it to be with Shun.

Shun, who has an arm gently wrapped around my waist. Shun, whose eyes are closed (which makes me feel kind of voyeuristic because I can see him and he can't see me) to the point that crow's feet can be seen around them. I've always found crow's feet cute, but somehow my hand moves forward in an attempt to smooth them out anyway. Perhaps it's because they remind me of how exhausted Shun probably is by now, and how the best thing I can do for him is not to kiss him but to find him a nice, safe place with a mattress that he can collapse upon and sleep the night away. But as we're in a swimming pool and mattresses don't usually exist in swimming pools, trying to smooth away his tiredness is all I can do.

I wish the moment could have lasted forever, but unfortunately we will have to breathe sometime or another, so when Shun finally opens his eyes, blinking hard from whatever chemicals there are in the water, I gesture at the surface and up we go.

Shun claws for the poolside and pulls us both over. The sunset casts a golden glow over him and he looks beautiful while I probably look like a wet chicken, so I pray that he is secretly super nearsighted and doesn't notice.

He indeed doesn't seem to notice. His soft brown eyes are lit with the purest happiness, and as he gets his breath back he declares: "Let's do this again after you teach me to swim."

"Why don't we just do this again now?" I whine.

"I ain't complaining," Shun agrees and we kiss once more as the perpetual sunset in his mind sends orange rays dancing on the rippling waters.

--

I open my eyes to a roomful of my classmates who are staring at us, looking expecting.

I meant expectant; we haven't been gone long enough for everyone to have become pregnant. They are all sitting or standing around in various positions, quietly waiting for an explanation, except for Hiroki who appears to have burst out crying after seeing that we are okay. A quick glance from head to toe tells me that he seems to be as all right as someone who has suffered a bit of blood loss can be, and relief floods my heart. They have survived—every one of them, from battling the dark creatures in Ikoma-san's head, from evading the crazy zombie senpais and teachers. It's like a miracle and I need to know how they did it, but I realize that they're as eager to hear our story as we are to hear theirs from the focused silence and the intense way everyone is staring at us.

Finally, Yukiya speaks. "Thank goodness! I was getting worried there. Your heartbeat rates were ridiculous, but Katsuki wouldn't let me pull you out because he thought it was likely that you were having rampant animal sex."

"We weren't having rampant animal sex!" Shun protests.

"Just animal sex?" Katsuki queries.

I join in the protest. "We weren't having animal—"

"I see, just sex," Katsuki concludes, nodding agreeably.

"Katsuki! There are children in the room!" Natsumi screams in horror as she swiftly covers Ririka's eyes.

"I'm sixteen," Ririka points out indignantly.

Katsuki sighs. "You know, Natsumi, Riri makes all kinds of outfits and her boyfriend plays with fire. I'm pretty sure her experience—"

"Don't give her ideas!" Natsumi cries, looking like she wishes she had four hands so that she could cover Ririka's ears as well.

"What does he mean?" Anna wonders. She's quite the innocent one.

"I can lend you some books on the subject," Izumi whispers to her, and Anna brightens up visibly at the thought of having more books to read.

I exchange a look with Shun, who is trying to comfort a happily sobbing Hiroki, and attempt to steer everyone back on topic.

"Uh, so you guys got out of Ikoma-san's mind safely? What happened after that?"

"Yeah, about that..." Daisuke begins, looking uncomfortable. "We weren't sure how to tell you..."

That is when I notice the lack of the rhythmic beep in the background of Ikoma-san's life-support system.