Oh, this one was SO GOOD. The characterization was perfect. The way you wrote this, you really got a good sense of the tension in the air, the grief surrounding Mitsuru, and Aki's uncertainty. You're always so good at making me FEEL exactly what's going on.

Also. Love the fact that referenced Aki's book in here. ;)

Absolutely beautiful, and the characterization is magnificent. Well done.

This is a great piece. Seriously.

I always give thorough critiques, so let me get the crit out of the way.

1. For the most part, the writing mechanics are excellent, but I caught a few slips.

"a flurry of paperwork". Flurry suggests rapidly falling snow, but she doesn't appear to be dropping the papers, so the image doesn't quite work for me.

""Need some help?" [H]e finally decides to interrupt, and she doesn't say anything." Since his decision is separate from actually interrupting her, it's a separate sentence. If you just put "he finally interrupts", then you wouldn't capitalize the h.

"But he was Akihiko. She was Mitsuru Kirijo...He wasn't Shinji. He wasn't that impulsive." - inappropriate verb tense.

2. I feel that this story's a little too long. I don't think any one paragraph should be cut out, because they're all strong, but I think the paragraphs as a whole could be tightened.

Okay, enough of that. Now for what I liked.

Excellent, excellent characterization. You've packed a lot of nuance into this scene. There's some great stuff here. I like the idea of Mitsuru compartmentalizing her grief as she clears out the office, the way she looks at the books instead of Akihiko. She copes by keeping everything systematic. Akihiko's line about Aigis nails it - Aigis wants human emotions, Mitsuru tries to temporarily part from them.

I really liked the reflections about how Mitsuru is a link to Akihiko's old life, and even Shinjiro. It was interesting how Mitsuru used the nickname "Aki" at the end, which was usually Shinjiro's name for him.

Akihiko was also done well, especially in the details - "He did things the way that made the most sense at the time, so long as his goals were met. And what made sense to Akihiko would be to just throw Ikutsuki's crap away." I think you do a great job of highlighting their various differences and similarities.

Added to this, there's a lot of good indirect communication - the way Akihiko keeps moving, Mitsuru's fidgeting, their slightly changing moods. It subtly helps build the characters.

Finally, I really liked the end. I'm glad you didn't have them kiss or passionately declare their love, or anything like that, because it just would have felt cheap considering the rest of the story. Having them simply hold each other feels much more natural and authentic. I like that there's a romantic undercurrent, but the story seems to be more about grief, comfort and coping. It works beautifully.

Nice! I like how Aki feels Mitsuru's the only thing that reminds him of life with Shinji and at the same time, isn't so sure of his feelings about her as well. I'm always a sucker for Mitsuru/Aki hugging (more than kissing... no idea why... XD) so yay that you included that little bit in there. =D