Epilogue

I look into the mirror. The wound on my side has healed almost completely.

It's been almost six months since Ellie and I went missing for a week.

The authorities assumed that we were abducted by a new and inexperienced gang of criminals who were staying in the city. The news that spread nationwide made no sense. Abducted, but no one asked for a reward.

Some experts speculated that we left for a week of love. That Ellie wanted to take some money from his father and escape far away with her lover. But the way the police found us in the Tokyo Eras bathroom didn't match the scam theories. We were injured, burned, beaten, and I was catatonic.

Ellie went along with the abduction story.

The police figured out that the abductors panicked after injuring me so badly and decided to leave Ellie and me back in the bathroom. Yet no camera captured anyone running away.

Internet forums went crazy all over the world, speculating on a possible alien abduction. Alien NGOs came all the way from America and Europe to interview us. After a few months, the case went under the archive for both police and alien conspiracists.

I woke up in a hospital bed the day after police found us in the bathroom.

Ellie told me how Ignis healed my wound, but it'll take time to close completely.

How we barely made it back home on time. Without Adhair's plan, we wouldn't have made it.

I was a little sad that I wasn't able to say goodbye, but I was glad to be back home. I was discharged from the hospital a couple of days later.

My family treated me like a king for a week. Then everything went back to normal.

I keep working at the conbini, but today I had a great job interview at an anime licensing company. I hope I get the job. Matching my schedule with Ellie’s is a little complicated with the night shift.

I dress in a tailored suit Aki got for me. I knot my tie. And button my coat, getting ready for the snowy weather outside.

I style my hair following a TocTic video, but i give it a twist like Jern taught me.

I'm very excited about having a date at Christmas.

I take a little box wrapped with Christmas paper, go down the stairs, and say bye to my family.

"Say hi to Ellie from me," Mom says before I close the door.

I take the metro and get down at Ginza station. I’m a bit late, so I rush through the escalator.

Ellie is waiting for me in front of the clock tower. Her beautiful skin glows under the street lights, her long hair lying over her right shoulder. She’s wearing a beautiful pink dress under a fluffy white coat.

“Sorry, I’m late,” I say after crossing the street to meet Ellie.

“This is unforgivable!” Ellie mocks. “You made me wait one and a half minutes. You should totally be imprisoned for such offense.”

“I beg your pardon, my lady,” I say, smiling and trying to stay in character.

“You’re lucky that we have a reservation in a few minutes,” Ellie says, looking over her shoulder. “I’ll be indulgent this time.”

We laugh, unable to keep on with the act.

“You’re looking good tonight,” Ellie says, making me blush. “I smell some of Aki’s magic in this outfit, am I right?”

“Ha! Yes. Aki helped a lot,” I say. She smiles when she sees me blushing and raises an eyebrow, waiting for my compliment. “You look quite… very good… I mean… You look beautiful.”

Ellie giggles and grabs my hand, “Let’s go. I don’t want to miss our reservation. I’ve heard wonders about that restaurant.”

I blush.

"Oh, come on, Rin!" Ellie exclaims. "This is like our twentieth date. You're not going to tell me that you're still ashamed of holding hands in public."

"It's actually our twenty-fourth date," I say, trying to sound a little offended. "And I'm not ashamed of holding your hand in public!"

"Then why do you blush?" Ellie asks mischievously.

"Maybe because it thrills my heart to have such a cool girlfriend!" I say, blushing even more if it's possible. "And I'm also a chronic blusher!"

"Well. I think I'm chronically in love with you," Ellie teases me, smiling.

We keep walking down the street until we get to a cozy Italian restaurant. Our table is in a corner, perfect for me.

"Your waiter will be here at any moment," says the manager and leaves.

"Oh my!" Ellie says, taking her phone out to take some pictures. "This place is so pretty!"

"Yeah… I love the architecture of it…" I say, trying to sound cool.

Ellie giggles, "Wait for the food, you'll love it"

I hear steps getting closer. I guess it's our waiter.

Ellie turns to look.

"Nanami-senpai?!?" Ellie squeaks.

"Hey, Ellie!" she exclaims happily.

I quickly turn at the familiar voice.

"Drunk girl number one?" The words come out of my mouth without thinking.

"What?!??" Ellie and Nanami exclaim.

"Noth… nothing," I say, scratching the back of my head.

I look again at our waitress. She's definitely the girl who was with Ellie that night we met again at the conbini. The flirty one that wanted to go to the bathroom.

"Oh my! Senpai, what are you doing here?" Ellie asks, standing up and hugging Nanami. "I just saw you today at the office. Is this a part-time job or something?"

"It's not a part-time job. I just wanted to work specifically here tonight," Nanami says, turning to me. "Hello, cutie-pie."

She winks at me.

"And why exactly did you want to work here tonight?" Ellie asks, crossing her arms.

"Well," Nanami says, taking a chair and bringing it to our table. "I had to give a more proper thank you to my brave paladins."

I look confused at Ellie. She looks as clueless as I do.

"Oh, come on, guys!" Nanami says, taking a glass of wine and sitting on her chair. "I'm Ignis."

"What?!?" Ellie and I say as low as we can to not create a scene in the restaurant.

"I told you back at my cavern," Ignis says, satisfyingly taking a sip of her drink. "I was watching you."

We laugh with incredulity.

"And what did you do with my senpai?" Ellie asks, worried.

"Don't worry. She stays unconscious while I take her body borrowed. It's like she's asleep," Ignis says.

We spend the rest of the night catching up. Ignis tells us about how they brought the rest of the dragons back to life. Nowadays, the dragons enjoy a great relationship with the kingdoms of Roagua.

Ignis gets so excited when Ellie tells her about us. And the rest of the night is just chitchat about random things.

It's definitely not the romantic date I was expecting with Ignis here, but we have a great time together.

Once we're finished with the dessert, Ignis stands up.

"Well," Ignis says. "Now that I've ruined your romantic date, I hope this pays off."

Ignis puts a couple of tickets on top of the table.

"Are those for the Shibuya sky?" Ellie asks, surprised.

"A little payoff for all that you did for us," Ignis says. "I reserved the whole place just for you?"

We look at her stupefied.

"I hope you didn't bankrupt my friend," Ellie says with disbelief.

"Of course not!" Ignis says, offended. "A dragon has their means."

"Now go! I'll see you later." Ignis urges. "Enjoy the place."

Before we leave, Ignis says something to Ellie's ear, at which she laughs.

We take the Ginza Line to Shibuya.

"Do you really think she was actually able to reserve the whole place?!" I ask Ellie with incredulity.

"I wouldn't believe it from anyone else," Ellie says. "But Ignis is Ignis."

…

We pass the guard at the entrance with no problems. Once inside the Shibuya sky, the place is deserted.

"She actually did!" I say and laugh with disbelief.

We start walking down the escalator. The views are jaw-dropping.

As if we were pretending to be surrounded by people, we stay in silence, keeping our distance.

Now is the moment.

"I wanted to give you something," We both say at the same time.

We laugh.

"You first," I say.

Ellie takes out of her pocket a rectangular piece of paper and gives it to me. It's a shinkansen ticket to Tottori.

"I remembered what you said about wanting to travel," Ellie says. "And the postcard you had in your high-school locker with the dunes of Tottori, so I thought it'd be a good place to start."

"And I'm going alone?" I ask naively.

"Of course, I can come with you if you want to," Ellie says, flustered. "But we'll have to stay in separate rooms! We're no longer the other world."

"Sounds like a great idea," I say, giggling.

I take the little box wrapped in Christmas paper out of my pocket and give it to Ellie.

She gives me an inquisitive look and opens it. It's an invisible necklace that holds a tiny shiny gem.

"Rin… it is really pretty, I love it," Ellie says. "Are you sure?"

"I mean… It's not a real diamond. My conbini salary can't afford that…" I stammer. "But its shine reminded me of you, so I bought it."

"I love it," Ellie says, smiling.

"Watch out!" I say as we jump out of the escalator.

"Would you help me?" Ellie says, taking the necklace out of the box and I help her put it on.

"It's perfect," Ellie says, touching the gem on her neck.

We stay still for a second, looking at each other.

"Oh! Look at those views!" I say, walking away. But I couldn't ignore the views more. My heart is throbbing.

We spend some time awkwardly walking all around the deck, pinpointing different places.

Ellie walks to the corner of the deck and stays there, contemplating the city.

I go and stand next to her.

"Doesn’t it make you feel small?" Ellie says, turning to face me.

“All the time,” I say, looking at her eyes that glisten like a precious moment instead of millions.

And for the first time. I kiss her.

The city is infinite, like time and possibilities, and that honestly used to make me anxious. I used to try to understand it, to fear it. But after our crazy adventure in the other world…

“This moment is more than enough.”