Epilogue

This month marks seventeen months since Coral left, seventeen, like the age she was when she made the jump, seventeen for mortals, for me, a semi-immortal being, an infinity.

We waited in front of that tunnel for an amount of time that I couldn't count, she wasn't going to come back, not for the moment, that's what she had told us but we didn't want to believe it, or rather we couldn't believe it, despite Yuusuke's explanations from the beginning it was very different to see it, it seemed like our eyes were deceiving us, you went around it and they weren't there, it wasn't a door as we know them.

We set out in the early afternoon, when the sun was unbearable and sunstroke threatened to set in. We returned several more times, that same night it was more difficult to find, the next ones we walked almost without a guide and we gave up on the third night. It was a voluminous white sphere, imposing and beautiful. The tears began at that moment, when we saw it in the distance, shining in the darkness, like a lighthouse that lights up ships in the shadows. Around it there were several more rocks, a self-drilling screw and some papers, the latter we did not take because of the proximity to the light and the fear of what will happen.

It was the time we endured the most, it was our true farewell. The following year we returned, on our anniversary vacation, to show him the newly won trial of Adassa and his parents and to present him with my growing belly. It turns out that I didn't break the curse, I just delayed it a few years. But who can resist those round and cute eyes capable of overthrowing any spiritual barrier.

“Behind you, you imbecile!”

“Don't scare me like that, look, my hands.”

“Bah! Is it that bad? You didn't even scream.”

“I was pretty focused, it's the end... I want to do it well, for Coral… That sentence... are you playing it again?

“That's right, girl, the fourth in the series and the best from Capcom.”

“When did you come in, Adassa?”

“Pretty much since you pressed play on the recorder. Not bad at all.”

“About that… do you still think that self-dictation is better than writing it down? I don't mind writing your parts…”

“Tell that to your Mr. Olympia, between the private lessons he gives, the degree in History and the brat…”

“Speak for yourself, I'm fresh as a rose bush. How's the vegetable-garden today, darling?”

“Ugh. It's too early to see these things, ujjj… don’t kiss in front of me! The cereals are coming back where they enter... Ah, thanks for buying them, mister.”

“Thanks for taking care of the brat, as you said, over the weekend.”

“It was good, we argued with an old man on the bus, he was saying something about his necklace. Anyway, I taught your brat how to defend herself.”

“As long as her first word isn't boring! or Red-eye and Mr. Olympia.”

“Let's wait, darling…”

“Ha! And then you say congratulations on being hired by the bank to test the systems. You want her in the future to earn as much as I do!”

“Yes, Adassa, but now, her godmother work protecting other people's property, teaching her to play the electric bass and using her as a model in photography contests.”

“And I get a seat anywhere thanks to her.”

“Come on guys… let’s get this over with.”

“You'll cut this, I suppose.”

“Yes… don’t worry, it’s an AI, it’s more prepared than you, everything that isn’t necessary, like this, is discarded:

<<ADASSA cuts and selects what is necessary from the reaction, then sends it to the editorial office.>>”

Seventeen months have passed since we last heard from you and for seventeen months we have been thinking every day about whether you arrived safely or if you arrived at all, seventeen months of uncertainty but of growth, acceptance and new goals.

Thank you.