Disclaimer: Me, Koge-Donbo? Haha… right, whatever.

Warnings: n/a

A/N: Implications of the end/the aftermath. You know, the usual one where everyone goes mad. Except that won't happen, because this is a shoujo manga, but that doesn't mean I can't write about it. Hrm… this one seems a little strange to me.

Locked in a Cage
27
(Cycle Down)

He wanted to run; needed to, even. But there was no escape, no matter which way he turned. He was not wanted, and had been touched by an experience that would gnaw in his mind forever, until the day of his death.

It was a cruel fact, but he knew that there was no way to change the past.

Rika had returned to her time (which meant the Kujyou's son – Suzune, wasn't it? – was gone as well) and everyone close to him was lost. The crowds outside meant nothing to him: they seemed like dark shadows that floated past him, never bothering to glance in his direction.

How had it ended up like this? Shingen wanted to scream the words, in hope for an answer, but knew he would never get one. For him, it had begun as an adventure; a game, if anything. He had done everything he could to help, and where had it led him to?

Destruction.

Death.

Guilt.

He had been a fool: even when he had realised what was to come, he never thought once of breaking ties and living his own life. Shingen had never wanted to live a boring life (with nothing more than school and homework and a job in the future), and the situation with Rika had been the opportunity for him.

Yet he seemed to be tied down now. No matter how hard he tried, he could not turn away and walk back into the crowds and mingle with them – become one of them. There was no way out for him.

Shingen was trapped.

In his guilt – in the knowledge he had come to possess – in what he had seen and heard (the screams, the stench of blood that hung around him, the desperation to be saved… saved…) – what he had become and the lessons learnt – the consequences – consequences…

He was trapped.

He was trapped, spiralling down into nothing.

Tsutsumi. Shingen. Was. Trapped.