Final Chapter: Beyond the Poison
At the end of June, the sunlight already carried the scent of summer. Several weeks had passed since the incident, and the school had gradually regained its usual calmas if nothing had happened.
The biology club, however, remained temporarily suspended, and the science prep room stayed locked. Posters warning about “chemical safety” now filled the hallway bulletin boards, and everyone had begun perhaps unconsciously to glance warily at the shelves of chemicals.
But for Ao Kamizawa, nothing had truly returned to “normal.”
More classmates had started talking to him. Rumors circulated about how he’d been involved in something major, having spent so much time with Hisui. He neither confirmed nor denied any of it. Only one person truly knew what had happened from start to finish.
After school, Ao made his way to his usual spot in the back of the library. Past the pharmacology shelves, in the deepest corner, stood the same worn wooden desk and weathered chair.
“…I knew you’d be here,” a voice said behind him.
Turning, he saw Hisui. She had taken off her blazer, her white shirt sleeves rolled neatly to her elbows. She wore a gentle, relaxed smile.
“And you? Haven’t you gotten tired of the library?”
“No. For me, this place feels like where it all started.”
She sat beside him. Several books were stacked on the deskones Ao had checked out: Mechanisms of Neurotoxic Agents, The Critical Threshold Between Drug and Poison, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. To them, these weren’t just remnants of the past, they had become textbooks for their future.
“Fuyukawa-sensei… I heard he officially submitted his resignation,” Ao said.
“I know. He sent a letter of apology to my mother through a lawyer. She said, ‘It’s fine. I’ve moved on.’ Just like that.”
“I see…”
Hisui gazed out the window. The hydrangeas outside were fading gently, their colors pale but still clinging to life.
“I may still be the ‘daughter of poison,’” she said. “But I’m no longer afraid of that label. Because you were there with me.”
“…I don’t think I was all that brave. I was scared the whole time. I just… couldn’t ignore it.”
“Maybe that’s what made it your ‘medicine.’”
Ao blushed slightly at her words.
“Medicine is strange. Even the most lethal poison can save someone if used correctly. Maybe human emotions are like that too.”
“Yeah. Anger, sadness, misunderstanding if you know how to handle them, they can become strength to understand someone else.”
Only the quiet sound of turning pages filled the library. Between them, no more words were needed, just the calm of shared time and a gaze toward what lay ahead.
“Ao,” she said suddenly.
“Hm?”
“You’re going to become a pharmacist one day, right?”
“…That’s the plan. Though I’ve still got a lot to learn.”
“I want to learn with you. About poison, about medicine. I want to help people like my mother once tried to.”
“Then…”
Ao, slightly embarrassed, reached over and gently placed a notebook on her side of the desk.
“This is my ‘research notebook.’ What if we combine it with your ‘memories of poison’? I think… people can be saved when both poison and medicine are understood together.”
Hisui picked it up and opened it. Inside were pages full of chemical structures, symptom charts, and handwritten notes all in Ao’s script. On the final page, it read:
“May this story, which began with poison, continue as a cure for someone, somewhere.”
Hisui quietly closed the notebook.
“…Thank you, Ao.”
Her voice was soft, but it reached straight to Ao’s heart.
The evening sun streamed in through the library windows, casting long shadows across the stacks of books. Outside the door, laughter from other students echoed through the halls. Time was moving gently toward tomorrow.
There are things you can see only because you’ve known poison.
There are futures you can reach only because you’ve overcome them.
And so, in the corner of the library, Ao and Hisui continued reading quietly.
Studying poison and medicine, side by side.
It was a sound of both ending and beginning.
A quiet, rain-washed afternoon in June.
The End
