Epilogue: I Hit My Head, but I Still Love Her

"Hey... would you keep turning to this side if one day I weren't here?"

Haruto opened his eyes to those words. What he saw before them was a woman with pink eyes and hair, demon horns, and a slim tail that she was holding over his mouth.

"Haha! What's this about? It's been years since I've heard that question!"

Although Haruto tried to play it off, Yuurei's pink eyes were dead serious. As a man, he had to take responsibility and give her the answer, so he sighed.

"Yes, I'd turn anyway..."

Hearing his answer, Yuurei's hair started turning blue, but before it could completely change color, Haruto reassured her.

"I'd turn every direction to make sure you're still here."

Pleased by his crafty response, Yuurei got up and started getting dressed. A new ring on her finger reflecting another spring's sun in Haruto's eyes.

"Come on!" she said merrily.

"We're late for the picnic!"

*****

"Ha? So you'd had it all planned?"

"Kenta... lower your voice."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Being put in place by Airi, who had left behind her blonde shortly after being presented with the ring that sealed their fate, Kenta grabbed another sandwich from the basket.

"Long story short, after hearing you two talk outside Haturo's place, I went on a crazy search for this Yuurei ghost."

"And this girl was so crazy that she started doing some weird rituals. She caught me right as I was spying on her, and poof, I came out of a circle in this body. Then we talked about a way to get the two of you to finally make a move, or at least Haruto. With you, you'd already won Airi by then and she wasn't one to wait for the man to act," Yuurei continued Airi's idea.

"Woah... to think we were always pawns in your crazy game," Kenta said, shivers going down his back.

"So you were in kahoots that whole time and are only telling us now? So the whole thing with pretending to be interested in the other was all a fluke to get us to act?"

"Hmm... not all of it," Airi answered. "That time with Haruto, I was really making a move on him. Ehe~"

"But it's not her fault, really," Yuurei took over the explanation.

"It wasn't like she knew about me. Unlike a certain someone..."

As she spoke, Yuurei grabbed a plastic fork and threw it upwards into the pink, blooming sakura tree.

Soon after, an "Ouch" was heard throughout the park, and a man fell from between the flowers.

"Well... what's done is done, right? No use in getting mad at the past... hahaha..."

Thus, the girl's scheme and the boy's dubious choices have all been forgotten by common agreement, letting the two pairs build their own future with no scars to hold them back. Together.

THE END