A Bid Farewell

I open my eyes and I am in Shinichi’s Apartment.

Whew, made it back ok.

Shinichi is standing in a yukata fastening his obi.

Isn’t it a little early in the year for festivals?

He’ll be really cold in that.

I take a peek outside and see the trees and plants already in full bloom.

The dominant sound of cicadas permeates outside.

People are walking around in summer clothes.

What the?

I leave for a short trip to another world and I lose six months.

I mean it has to be about six months.

It was almost spring and now it’s probably Obon.

At the minimum it should be summer festival time.

Wait a minute.

If it’s been six or however many months since I was here last, what happened to their relationship?

I guess it’s going ok but, I don’t see Yoko around though.

Maybe she’d be too embarrassed to see him changing clothes.

Well, she’s probably not like me though.

I’d probably be right next to him helping him put the Yukata on.

I shake my head.

Snap out of it, Michiru.

I can’t go down this path just like Vitan said.

Or does he go by ninety or Environmental Repair Cyborg?

Whatever he goes by, the point is I could become a vengeful spirit and that’s not good for anyone at all.

For now, I should just follow him and see what’s going on.

Yeah, that’s the best idea right now.

Just as I finish my thoughts, I see him bend over to grab his things from the table and put them in his sleeve.

Once he is situated, he heads out the door and I follow him.

We head to the train station and I wait for him to get off at his destination.

A couple of stops down he gets out.

That’s odd I don’t remember the festival being in this area.

What I do remember being in this area is my family’s grave site.

Why is he heading this way?

As we exit the train station sure enough, we are heading to the gravesite.

Well, I guess I’ll go see why he’s going there.

Just before he gets to the gravesite, he stops off at a vending machine that sells pastries as offerings.

He buys two things, a chocolate croissant and a red bean bun.

After collecting the bread items, he goes to the drink vending machine and gets a bottle of milk tea.

Once he has those things, we go over to our family marker.

I have a feeling that he won’t be saying anything out loud so I should access his thoughts.

Man, haven’t done this in a while.

He bends down and puts the chocolate croissant in front of the marker.

I put my hands on his back and start to hear his voice.

“…you go. I haven’t seen any signs of you giving me messages for a while so I figured I should come here to talk to you.”

Well, I was away for a few months apparently, sorry.

“I guess you’re probably wondering why I’m here.”

Yeah, pretty much.

He opens up the red bean bun, takes a bite and then opens up the tea and takes a sip.

“It took me a while to come to terms with my emotions but, I think I’m ready to go forward with my life.”

I knew this was gonna come eventually.

“This doesn’t mean I will forget you or I don’t love you. I mean who could forget let alone compete with your larger-than-life personality.”

Larger-than-life? Me?

You’re making me blush.

“I know you had to have sent Yoko my way. She’s a wonderful woman. I haven’t felt so relaxed around anyone since I was with you.”

Well, I was worried she wasn’t going to be up to the task of keeping up with you really.

I know how you can be.

He again takes another bite of his bun followed by a sip of tea.

“After you died, I couldn’t really envision a future without you. Now, I feel that the future is really endless right now.”

I…don’t know what to say.

I guess I did a good job.

No, wait, I did a GREAT job.

He finishes up the last bite of his bun, follows up that with another swig of tea and then sets the bottle down next to the chocolate croissant.

“So, I have decided.”

He reaches into his sleeve and gets something.

It’s a small box.

“I going to ask her to marry me. I am not asking her to take the place of you or to be you. No one can be you. I am asking her to join me on this journey to the endless future.”

Um, I need to compose myself a bit.

My emotions are conflicted.

I take a deep breath.

I gotta be careful not to let my emotions run away from me but, how can I not be emotional?

It’s a huge step and he’s leaving me behind.

“I keep telling myself that I’m not leaving you behind. You’ll always be with me no matter what.”

That’s probably what I wanted to hear.

It’s just like the story Vitan’s told me.

No matter what happens to him I’ll always be in his heart and memories.

“I don’t know what I’m really saying here, other than letting you know I’m doing my best to continue living without you. You how bad I am with these things.”

Yeah, that’s true.

I mean you always let me know you loved me but your other emotions were guarded.

I hope you will be able to let her know how you feel about anything.

“Well, I shouldn’t keep Yoko waiting.”

Yeah, don’t keep her waiting for her big day.

“I love you, Michiru.”

Tears run down my face.

I love you too, Shinichi.

Go and be happy together.

He reaches out and touches the marker and then leaves.

I think everything is going to be ok.

There’s not much left to do except figure out what to do with this last coin.

Either way I think it’s time to go.

I reach down and grab the chocolate croissant and milk tea.

As I start eating, I try to figure out what I should do next.

If it’s time to go I should probably say goodbye to at least Hiroko and Peter.

Right, I’ll go visit Hiroko first.

I go over to the trash can and then finish off the food and drink.

The bottle and wrapper drop to the ground and I scramble to pick them back up.

Once I drop them in to the respective bins, I close my eyes and then think of Hiroko.

I open my eyes and I see her sitting on the floor with Hiroki reading one of the books I gave her.

“Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt you.”

“That is fine. We were just about to pause so that he can have a drink.”

“Hello, nice lady.”

“Why hello there Hiroki. I hope you have been enjoying these books I gave your mom?”

“Yes, I have. Thank you very much.”

He stands up and gives me a bow.

“You’re welcome very much. I’m glad you’re enjoying them.”

“Hideki, go ahead and get yourself some barley tea and a couple of cookies.”

“Okay, thank you, mother.”

He turns and heads downstairs to get himself a drink.

“So, what do I owe this visit?”

“I wanted to say bye. It’s time for me to go.”

“Oh my, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope everything went well.”

“Yeah, it did. There’s really not much else for me to do. He’s got a new job and has his life back on track.”

“That is good to hear. I am also glad that you have finally come to terms with your situation.”

“Well, it was pretty rough until recently but, I went to this other planet and met someone there who helped me find my way and come to terms with my fate.”

“That is very good. They must have been very wise.”

“Well, it seemed he had a number of years of living so it seemed that way to me. He did warn me of having my emotions control me of I’d run the risk of becoming a vengeful spirit.”

“That does not sound very good at all.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if it would happen but he made it sound scary enough I didn’t wanna risk it.”

“Yes, that does seem prudent. I should be careful as well. Thank you for that knowledge.”

“No worries, glad to help.”

In comes Hideki with a tray with three small glasses, and a plate with a few cookies on them.

“Mother, I brought you and our guest some refreshments as well.”

“He’s such a polite boy.”

“Yes, he is. Hideki and I were blessed with such a great boy.”

He goes to put two glasses and a few cookies in front of the picture of Hiroko.

“Thank you very much for the refreshments but, that’ll only work for your mom.”

“Oh, I am sorry nice lady. I did not know that.”

“Don’t worry, It’s ok. I need to go anyways.”

“Oh my, If you must.”

“Yeah, I just wanted to see how you were doing and say bye.”

I turn to Hiroki, who is having a sip of barley tea, and tell him.

“You’re a good boy, keep listening to your mom. She’s a very wise woman. Oh, and keep reading those books. You never know what might inspire you in the future.”

“Thank you, nice lady.”

I stand up and turn to Hiroko.

“Hiroko, thank you for all you did for me.”

“Oh my, I did not do very much really.”

“You helped me find my way before and that’s more than enough.”

“I should be saying that to you. You did so much for me as well. And these books have been a huge help to me.”

“You’re welcome. Good luck on your mission.”

“Thank you very much. We will miss you.”

“Thanks. Good bye, Hiroko and Hiroki.”

“Good bye, nice lady.”

“Good bye, Miss Michiru.”

We wave to each other as I close my eyes and think of Yoko’s apartment.

Once I open my eyes, I notice Peter eating some grass.

He suddenly stops and comes running over to me.

“I can’t believe it! You’re still here!”

“Hi, Peter. Yeah, I’m still here for now.”

“You’ve been gone for so long I thought you went back to your forever hole.”

“Oh, you’re just as cute as always. I’m sorry I was gone for so long.”

“What happened? Why were you gone for so long?”

“Well, after I made that accident, I decided to visit somewhere very far away.”

“Wow, was it Maine?”

“What? How do know about that place?”

“I saw it on that TV thing my master was watching. There were so many delicious plants on there.”

“Oh, you’re so funny. Always thinking with your belly.”

“Well, I am a rabbit after all.”

“Yeah, yeah you are. A very cute one too.”

“Thanks. So, you’re back for now, right?”

“Actually, that’s why I’m here. I am done with my mission so I will be going back to see God.”

“Oh, I see. I knew that time would come eventually and I was scared I wasn’t going to be able to see you one last time.”

I bend down and start petting him.

“I know how you feel. I didn’t get to say good-bye to Shinichi and my family but, I’m here now.”

‘Yeah, you are. Thanks for that.”

“Of course, I’d see you before I left. You’re one of the very few I’ve been able to talk to since I came back and I have always enjoyed our talks together.”

“I did too. I mean you were the only one who could hear me.”

“You know it was like I was some magical girl with a talking rabbit companion.”

“I don’t really understand what that is but it sounds pretty cool.”

“It was just something from the TV I saw when I was a little girl.”

“Sounds crazy that there’s something on that TV thing that has talking rabbits.”

“Yeah, there’s all sorts of things on there but you’re under the whims of what ever Yoko decides to watch.”

“It’s not a big thing for me. I’m just happy being with my master getting delicious food.”

“That’s a good thing though. How has Shinichi been to you?”

“Oh, him? He’s been good to me. He gives me snacks and pets me. He doesn’t pick me up so that’s a great thing.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him. I’m glad you two are getting along well.”

“He is a good human. He is very kind to my master too.”

“He really is. Now you know why the next step I’m going to take will by hardest.”

“Oh? What are you going to do?”

“Silly, I told you I have to go back to see God.”

“Oh yeah, Well I’ll be there not long from now.”

“What? You? You’re still young, aren’t you?”

“Nah, I’ve been here for over ten of your humans’ years. We don’t live much longer than that.”

“Oh, I didn’t know. Well, it’s good that Shinichi is here.”

“Why’s that so?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure will be very sad when you die.”

“But everyone goes to their forever hole eventually.”

“Sure, everyone knows that but, that doesn’t she won’t miss you being with her.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“But it’ll be ok. Shinichi will be right by her to comfort her pain.”

“I guess that’s a good thing.”

“You bet your fluffy little tail it is. Do you mind if I just sit and pet you for a while?”

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“Thanks, I have a few things I need to think about.”

I sit down and start petting him.

Through the balcony door I see the fireworks go off in the distance.

Although it’s not really loud since it seems to be pretty far away, I check Peter and he doesn’t seem to notice the fireworks and is just eating some grass.

I continue petting Peter until the fireworks come to a conclusion.

“They will be home soon, Peter, it’s time for me to go.”

“Oh, it was very nice to be able to talk with you.”

“Yes, it was for me as well.”

“I won’t say good-bye because, we will see each other soon.”

I reach down, pick him up and give him a hug.

“Yeah, we’ll see each other soon. Sorry I picked you up.”

“It’s ok, I understand.”

I put him back down and then go through the wall into Shinichi’s apartment.

Once I get there, I head over to his table in the living room, get my last coin out.

I make my wish and then the coin falls to the table.

A piece of paper appears on the table with the words, “Be Happy” on it as my vision goes black.