Epilogue

Epilogue

 

KATAGAKI NAOMI opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a stark white ceiling. It looked like one you’d find in a laboratory, or maybe a hospital.

“The contents needed to fit their vessel perfectly.”

A woman was speaking to him in a steady voice that reminded him of a voicemail menu. He recognized it immediately—it was the same voice he’d heard from the boy’s glove.

His foggy, sluggish thoughts turned back to those final moments. He remembered the one thing he’d been worried about at the very end.

Did the kid get a happy ending, or what?

“You gave everything you had to save the people you loved. As a result, we were finally able to synchronize your consciousness with its vessel.”

The words slowly percolated through his mind. Gradually, his eyes and thoughts grew more focused.

He was lying in a bed, and there was someone standing next to it. There was some kind of machinery behind her.

The woman looked a bit different from the girl he’d known.

He still recognized her instantly. She was the person he loved more than any other, after all.

“Katagaki-san…”

She was smiling. That smile had always been his greatest treasure.

“We did it.”

Tears rolling freely down her face, Ichigyou Ruri dropped down and threw her arms around Naomi.

He reached out, his hands trembling weakly. His arms were terribly thin, and it was hard to move.

He had no idea how many years had passed. But that didn’t matter. Not even a little. Slowly, carefully, he wrapped his arms around the girl he’d never expected to see again.

The vast, empty pages of a new world quietly awaited his next line.