Ao Haru Ride Ending Novels & Stories

I nodded and let him pull me away, not even glancing at the mopey shadow trailing behind us. The carousel spun, music soft and dreamy. Rainbow horses danced up and down. Sunlight kissed Archie's grinning face. This? This is happiness. He's everything.

God, I could feel the unhappy vibe emanating from him and wondered what was bothering him. His eyes on me, he said, “Enough about this bar job. Are you done, Haru? Let’s go. And I’m picking you up tonight after work. No argument.” I could only stare at him, flabbergasted. Reo chuckled. “Give it up already, Haru. Just let him drive you, otherwise Daddy Aiden will be worried sick.” I sighed in resignation and then got up from my seat. I said, “Itte kimasu,” as Aiden and I headed out the door, indicating that we were leaving the house—our Japanese habit stuck with me from childhood, and I found it hard to change.

**Mia:** “Proof we didn’t burn the school down.” **Haru (laughing):** “Yet.” She leans her head against the window, watching the lake roll by. **Mia (soft):** “Today was… really good.” **Haru:** “Yeah. It was.” Bus hits my stop first. I stand, board under arm. **Haru:** “Text me later?” **Mia (smiling small):** “Count on it.” I step off, drop the board, push toward home. Sun’s setting now—gold bleeding into fire across the water.

"Now breathe out. Two... three... four..." The breath left my lungs in a shaky rush. "Again." Another breath. Then another. Little by little, the crushing pressure around my chest began to ease. The pounding in my ears faded, and the room slowly came back into focus. "There you go," Gloria whispered. "I've got you." The last bit of strength left my body. My body sagged forward, completely exhausted. Gloria caught me before I could slide off the bed and wrapped her arms around me. "It's okay."

She was beaming, her eyes full of dreams for the future. "Let's have a destination wedding, alright? We'll get married in Southpoint, then have another ceremony in Eastwind. I heard the Lumians are very romantic, too… What about having another ceremony in the Lumian capital of Lumiere? I want to wear lots and lots of beautiful wedding dresses and take all kinds of wedding photos, fill up a whole wall with them…" Zach just looked at her, his eyes emotionless. "Annie's dead."