Later that night, while everyone sleeps, Hikigaya tosses in his bed. In his dream, he sits on the edge of a tall building, so tall you cannot see the ground and only a few other buildings come up around it. He is half dressed like Watchdog as he looks at his hands.
His eyes have bags around them as if he has been crying. He looks up from his hands slowly to see a figure that vaguely looks like his sister, floating in the air in front of him.
"How could you have failed so miserably?"
The figure asks plainly. Hikigaya stares at her expressionless.
"You were right there and still couldn't save your sister. It really is all your fault. You failure."
It says again. Hikigaya stands up on the edge still staring at the figure.
"Why do you hate me?"
"Why do I hate me?"
It says in response. Hikigaya looks down over the edge as tears start to drop into the clouds below.
"I didn't… I just wanted to help… I just wanted to save her…"
He sobs. The figure in his dream now looks something closer resembling himself but still with features of his sister.
"Help. All I do is help hurt people. Everyone."
It says plainly. As he cries he looks back up at the figure.
"There is one way I can help…"
Hikigaya says as he lifts his leg as if to walk forward over the edge. The figure simply stares at him.
"No more hurting anyone."
It says. The figure opens its arms to him as if encouraging him to come. He leans forward before stepping over the edge.
Suddenly, Hikigaya wakes up in his bed, panting and sweating. He stares intently at nothing as he thinks of his dream. Tears begin to fill his eyes as he begins to sob quietly to himself.
"i'm sorry… i'm sorry… i'm sorry…"
He whispers to himself while just outside his door, Shiori sits against it, listening to him. She lowers herself with tears in her eyes.
"What do I do?.." She whispers and stays leaning against his door for the night.
During a different day, Hikigaya gets up out of his room and goes to the bathroom. He splashes his face with water and looks in the mirror. He looks tired and worn out. He leaves the bathroom to see Shiori standing in the hall looking somewhere else.
"Hey." He calls out.
"Hey."
Shiori responds while turning to look at him and giving him a soft smile. Her smile then fades a little as she looks down.
"They're uh… They're cleaning out her room."
She says softly. Hikigaya's eyes widen a bit.
"What?"
He walks to her and looks down the hall to see Asami watching as Takanou and Hamasaki move boxes from Amber's room. He approaches his mother.
"What are you guys doing?"
He asks softly. Asami turns and looks at him with a smile.
"It's been a few months now. I figured it was time we clean out her room and move her stuff into a safer place, not taking up so much space."
She says with a smile. They stare for a moment as Asami begins to shake a little. Hikigaya looks at her then his eyes widen when he sees her crying.
"I just want… her stuff to be safe…"
He stares intensely as Hamasaki comes over and comforts her. Riku then comes up the stairs.
"What you guys doing?"
Riku asks. They look at Asami as she composes herself. She clears her throat and kneels in front of him.
"We're cleaning out Amber's room, sweetheart."
"But why? Doesn't she need it when she gets back?" Riku asks innocently.
"She's… not coming back, dear…"
Riku looks confused by her words, not quite understanding.
"How come? We love her so why won't she come back?"
He asks, looking at his mother. Asami begins to shake and cry again. Hamasaki takes Riku's hand before picking him up.
"Riku baby, we shouldn't talk about this right now, okay?" She says.
"I just want to know. She was so nice to me, why would big sis come back?"
Hamasaki takes him back downstairs as tears come from Takanou too as he continues to move boxes. Asami sobs on the floor a bit, holding her head in her hands as Hikigaya watches everything.
His eyes shake as he clenches his fists. Shiori feels him freaking out and gently places her hand on his back.
"Hikigaya..? Are you okay?"
He stops for a moment and looks up before turning around with a big smile on his face.
"I'm fine. I'm gonna help your dad with Amber's stuff. She was my sister after all, right?"
He walks away from her and into Amber's room as Shiori stares with a concerned look.
Later that day, the parents collect Amber's stuff and prepare to move it.
"Okay, we're gonna take her stuff and put it away now. We'll be right back." Asami says as cheerfully as she can.
"Okay mom! Don't worry about a thing, love you!"
Hikigaya says with a big smile on his face. She smiles back warmly as Takanou and Hamasaki leave with her. Hikigaya stares at the door as Riku comes up behind him and tugs at his leg.
"Hey, why won't big sis Amber come back?"
Hikigaya turns and crouches in front of him smiling.
"Because… I killed her."
Riku gets a shocked expression, taking a step back from Hikigaya.
"W-what?.."
"That's right. I know it was horrible, but-"
He says with a smile. Riku trembles a bit with fear of his words. Shiori comes down the stairs as Riku runs from Hikigaya into another room. Shiori looks at him confused.
"What happened?" She asks.
"Oh nothing happened. I just told him not to worry about Amber." He says while standing up.
"Hikigaya, he's too young to really understand that yet." She says softly. He's still smiling while Shiori looks at him concerned. "Hikigaya, it's okay for it to hurt.-"
"Yeahhh, I know he may be a little young but hey! I was only 14 when I had to hold my sister as she died in my arms!"
He says with a big smile. Shiori just stares at him with concern and slight shock on her face. He waves his hand a little before walking past her.
"Anyway, I'm going to my room."
He says, still smiling then marches straight up to his room but Shiori tries to follow him.
"Wait, Hikigaya. This doesn't seem right. We need to-"
She follows him but he manages to slam the door shut behind him. She immediately grabs the handle but he locks the door behind him. She stands there for a moment before sighing and walking away.
He spends the rest of the night in his room and doesn't even come out when his parents return. Eventually, the day comes to an end and everyone heads upstairs to bed.
"Are you sure Hikigaya is okay? I haven't seen him since we left…" Hamasaki asks, a little worried.
"He's never been one to talk about what he's feeling. Maybe he just needs some space."
Asami says with a slight smile. Hamasaki nods as they head to bed. Shiori goes to her door but stops and looks at Hikigaya's door for a moment. She sighs then goes into her room and closes her door behind her.
Shiori opens her eyes in the flat desert world again. There are many clouds covering the sky, leaving little view of the sky beyond them and a dark shadow cast over the land.
As she stands up, she realizes that this time there is a heavy wind blowing dust everywhere. Not so hard as to knock her over but enough for it to be very noticeable. She lowers her head a bit before she hears something.
"Shiori."
She turns around to see the boy from before back again.
"It's you again."
She says. The boy nods before looking down. They stand in silence for a moment.
"You said before you couldn't give me an answer on what to do. So how about a different question?" Shiori asks. The boy looks at her. "If you had a friend who was hurting, how would you help them?"
Shiori asks with an gentle tone. The boy stares at her for a moment before looking away.
"I'm not sure. I suppose I'd just listen to them until I could figure it out on my own."
He says plainly. Shiori smiles a bit at him.
"You seem pretty smart for someone your age."
She says. The boy doesn't respond. He stares at her in silence for a moment.
"Shiori…" She is surprised by him suddenly saying her name. "Please… I don't want to be alone…"
The boy starts crying as the light covering his eyes slowly fades. Shiori's eyes grow wide as she sees a young Hikigaya standing before her with tears in his eyes.
"Help me…"
He says while crying. Shiori rushes to him and gets on her knees and grabs his arms gently as he rubs his eyes.
"Hey! Hey, it's okay! I'm here! Tell me what's wrong." She says, frantically trying to offer support now.
"It hurts… I can't stop seeing it… It's so loud…"
"It's okay. I'm right here.."
She says with tears forming in her eyes as well. She pulls him in close for a hug but as she does he starts to glow and fade away, the wind taking the light energy with it. Shiori is surprised and falls back onto her butt as she looks up.
"Hikigaya..?"
She then sits up in her bed, awake. She is not sweating or panting as if she had a nightmare but something had abruptly awoken her. She stares off for a moment with a confused look before her eyes grow wide.
She quickly gets out of bed and rushes out of her room. She tries to open Hikigaya's door but it's still locked. She gets frustrated before running back into her room and going outside on her balcony. She then hops over the small barrier separating her large one from the small, thin balcony Hikigaya has. She then opens the door leading to his room only to find his room empty. She looks around for a moment.
"Oh no…"
She turns around and looks out before running back into her room for a moment to put on socks and shoes and then jumping off of her balcony and landing in front of the house. She looks up then starts running down the street with worry all across her face.
'Where did you go, Hikigaya?'