Implying a relationship is one thing, but I read that ending. There is nothing implied there. Sure, admittedly it is in the realm of "who else would take either of us" (*coughchildhoodfriendgirlwasstillinlovewithhimcough*), but without any sort of concrete development it is completely open to interpretation. Additionally, with how the epilogue played out, with no mention of the male MC whatsoever that I can recall... there is nothing to go on that implies they had a relationship. Clearly the childhood friend girl (now a grandmother) has been protecting Rea in the forest for years, so she's fine, but the MC is never mentioned again. The ending doesn't explain anything about their relationship, and with the way the story went, an open ending with an interpreted implied relationship between the two was VASTLY insufficient to make up for what they went through as characters. Sorry, but the Sankarea ending was bad and completely not worth the effort in getting through the rest of the books.