Epilogue - Another Summer Night

There’s very few things that are certain in life. One of them is that the time will keep coming and going. There was no present, just past and future.

The tragic summer passed leaving scars that would probably never heal. Parents without heir kids, brothers and sisters torn apart, friends we would never see again.

Naoto’s arrest appeared in national television and the case was soon resolved. After having confessed all murders, Naoto would stay until the last day of his life inside a cell.

I tried to visit him one day but he refused to speak with me and just asked me to never return again.

Arata left the police and on that same day he visited me, and he was surprised when he saw that my parents had returned home. But they would travel again in some weeks.

One day I even encountered the other detective, Issei, but he still don’t like me.

And days continued to pass while I carried with me the regret of never trying to speak with Mei. Something that would torment me for the rest of my life.

But I can’t just stay still, I need to continue with my life.

I continued to study, I made new friends, I started to move forward.

And then, summer arrived once again.

The anniversary of Mei’s death came and everyone mourned for her and all the victims of the tragedy that happened. The rooftop of the first building was full with flowers, candles and other things.

And during the night, I returned to school to leave flowers for Mei too. I wanted to visit that place at the same time of that fateful day.

When I opened the door leading to the rooftop, I saw a girl kneeling in front of all the flowers.

Is she a friend of Mei?

Respecting her prayer, I stayed silent and went to put my flowers together with the others, without getting too close to the girl. The flowers I chose were the same ones Mei had planted on top of the letter she buried.

I offered a silent prayer to Mei and the others. After that, when I was about to leave, I gave a look to the girl kneeling in the dark rooftop.

“Hey, are you a friend of Mei?”, I finally asked.

“...”

No answer came and I got a bad feeling.

“It can’t be...”

I approached the girl and touched her.

“Hey, are you…!”

Blood. Just like Mei that day, the girl had a terrible cut in her belly. She was dead.

A repetition of the past tragedy.

But different of that time, I wouldn’t fall in despair.