Epilogue 1: And So a New Day Begins

The next day had arrived just like any other. We went to school and brought along Yuuko as usual. The entire day she seemed just on the verge of wanting to ask me something but she was never able to muster enough courage to do so. I assume it had something to do with my so-called education guess that I mentioned the day before. But since I didn't enlighten her on my hunch, Yuuko followed me around more than usual during school hoping that I would. So… Take that, Shizuka. I hope she gets jealous knowing that Yuuko wants to spend more time with me.

Regardless, even if I didn’t tell them about what I had in mind now, they were going to find out later in the day. Though it might be cruel to keep them both in suspense, I also wanted to emphasize my uncertainty. There still was that lingering chance that I might be wrong.

Eventually, the final bell of the day rang and the kids rushed into the halls and started for home or to their respective clubs. Shizuka, Yuuko, and I had a slightly different plan. I had already explained that it would best if we confirmed my guess later in the afternoon, so we needed to kill some time.

In the end, we decide to go to the local shopping center. That isn’t to say that it was without its troubles. When we arrived, Yuuko was too caught up with admiring just how big the building was that she didn't make it past the automatic sliding doors and was trapped outside. If it wasn't for a couple having entered the shopping center, allowing Yuuko to step inside, we probably wouldn't have noticed that we left her behind.

After that debacle, we head for the bookstore. Yuuko had asked Shizuka to take the ghost stories book I had checked out home with them the day I got it. Since Yuuko doesn't sleep, she reads books in order to keep herself entertained while Shizuka sleeps. She finished it this morning and she was telling me all about it during school. She really seemed quite fascinated by all the stories. So I decided to buy for her a book detailing all sorts of Japanese folktales.

Yuuko's eyes also caught sight of a recently released rom-com manga series. I had heard good things about it and so it was on my mind for a few days. Yuuko read the synopsis of the first volume and I could tell she was instantly hooked. When I see such a display of excitement, how can you expect me not to buy it for her? She tried to stop me saying that one book was enough, but I insisted. There was also a buy 2 get 1 free deal, so I just bought the first three volumes for her. It works out for me in the end—after Yuuko finishes reading them, I can just borrow them.

After our shopping spree at the bookstore, Shizuka guided us to another store, one that sold many things but mainly focused on stationary. Shizuka told Yuuko to pick out a notebook and a few pens and pencils of her choosing. She ended up going with a pink notebook with white polka dots along with an assortment of colored pens. I didn’t know exactly why Shizuka wanted to buy those things for her, but I assume she had a reason.

Finally, we traveled to a clothing store. It was an idea that crossed our minds as we made our way through the shopping center. And now we decided to conduct an experiment. The idea being whether or not Yuuko could wear clothes seeing as she has only ever worn a school uniform. It was admittedly a stupid idea with an obvious conclusion. But something about going out with Yuuko and having some fun gave off the vibe of why not. And so Shizuka picked out some clothes for her and pulled Yuuko into the fitting room.

My hypothesis was a pragmatic one. I didn’t think that clothes would be able to stay on Yuuko very well. Shizuka thought that since the weight was distributed over more surface area, it might just work. Regardless, if Yuuko was indeed able to wear clothes, normal people would just see a blouse and a pair of pants floating in the air. So there wasn’t much point to it. But I didn't want to spoil the fun.

A few minutes late, both girls emerged from the dressing room, Yuuko still in her school uniform. Shizuka, though, appeared a bit dispirited. She told me that though Yuuko was able to take off her uniform like regular clothes, any other garment just slipped through her—as I had thought.

"It's a shame, though. I really wanted to see her wearing all sorts of things," Shizuka lamented as she reluctantly put all the clothing back.

Don't start treating Yuuko like a dress up doll. Look, she's starting to get scared of you.

Soon after leaving the clothing store, we strolled through a few other shops and ended our day at the shopping center's food court. We had already spent enough time here. And even though I'd like to spend some more leisure time with both Shizuka and Yuuko, there were more important things to be done.

×     ×     ×

With just a little over a month left until the first day of summer, the breeze outside carried just a bit of warmth to it.

As we walked amidst all the homes in the residential area on our way to our destination, a silence fell over us as we exhausted our topics for discussion. But it wasn't an awkward silence. It was quite a peaceful one.

But amidst the silence, a quiet tune was carried to my ears by the wind, one that gently soothes your mind until it faded into the background and cleared your head. Yuuko's humming made me nothing short of happy, happy that my educated guess was all but surely confirmed. But for the time being, while we walked toward our destination, I let myself be carried away by the song.

And soon enough, we arrived.

"Um, Yuuta. I know you said that we were going to go investigate something, but why are we stopping here? Do you have a quick errand to run?"

I hadn’t told either of the girls about my realization, so I expected Shizuka to be something confused. But there was no point in keeping them in the dark any longer since I was now 99.99% sure that I was right.

"All this time we have been trying to uncover Yuuko's past," I began. "But that was a misjudgment on our part."

"Huh?" It sounds like I have now thoroughly confused Shizuka. And Yuuko doesn't seem to be able to follow along either.

"What I'm saying is that we were wrong to start with that conclusion. Because, Yuuko, you never had a past, to begin with."

"How can that be possible?" Yuuko asked, demanding some sort of reasoning.

"To put it simply, Yuuko technically never existed, to begin with. So she had no path to speak of."

With both girls now looking at me as if I had lectured them on quantum mechanics, I decided that it would probably be easier to explain if I just show you the reason I brought them all the way out here.

I stepped up to the door of the house we were standing outside with the girls not far behind. I rang the doorbell and waited patiently. I was a little nervous, both because of the gravity of the situation and because if I had gotten this all wrong, I would have to make up an excuse for why I came to visit this home. So for the sake of both me and Yuuko, I prayed for the former.

The doorknob turned and we were greeted by a cheery voice. "Yuuta?! What are you doing here?"

"Sorry to drop by so unexpectedly, Mr. Satou. I was just wondering if I could talk to Mrs. Satou for a moment."

He seemed ready to ask why, but I was able to hear footsteps approaching from behind him along with a voice I had heard yesterday.

"Is that Yuuta? I thought I recognized his voice."

But before Mrs. Satou could reach the door, she stopped dead in her tracks as she stared past me with wide eyes.

"B-but I only ever saw her in my dreams. How can she be here…?" Mrs. Satou mumbled as tears streamed down her cheeks. The shock must have been too much for her because she dropped to her as if her legs had given out. Mr. Satou hurried to her aid, but she just continued to gaze at what she had been presented with. "H-how can she be here? How can my Yuuko be here…?"

From over my shoulder, I could hear Shizuka give a little Ohh as she put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Mrs. Satou wiped the tears from her eyes and slowly stood up with help of her husband. She walked over to me and asked "Is this real?"

I nodded and she smiled.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Mrs. Satou approached Yuuko, looked at her fondly through even more tears, and wrapped her arms around her. The moment Mr. Satou saw the interaction, he quietly mumbled in disbelief.

Yuuko looked a bit confused and awkward as she received the unexpected embrace. I doubt she has figured out what is going on. But even so, I suspect that something in her mind is telling her that this is good, that everything would be alright because she was home now.

×     ×     ×

The street was completely empty as I walked to school. A gentle breeze swept through my hair as the rising sun illuminated the cloudless sky. A clear indication that May 15th had arrived without trouble.

After we had reunited Yuuko and Mrs. Satou, we stepped inside so that I could explain things. We didn’t go too into depths but it was enough to where they could understand.

Yuuko had from the very beginning been the daughter Mrs. Satou had lost fifteen years ago. The reason Yuuko manifested without memories was because she was never born, and so she wasn't able to make any.

But Shizuka had brought up something a bit harder to explain. She wondered why Yuuko had manifested now rather than in any year prior. Mrs. Satou answered that using what we had told her. She reasoned that since she mourned about how her daughter would have been at the age of a high school, that extra bit of sadness may have made her want to see Yuuko even. Not only that but she also had a dream where she could only gaze at a forward facing Yuuko as she walked away until she disappeared. It wasn’t unlike the one she had told me about two days ago, though, it was a much sadder one. And when I asked Mrs. Satou what day she had the dream on, she said it had been May 5th, Children’s Day, the same day Yuuko had manifested.

But all that mattered, in the end, was that Yuuko and her parents could now hold each other in their arms.

I mostly felt relieved. Relieved that Yuuko had gotten a happy ending. That a seemingly impossible mystery had been solved. But above all that, I guess I just had to say that I was quite happy we met Yuuko. She was the daughter Mrs. Satou longed to have and the girl I said I'd want to be friends with. Meeting her meant that I would be able to set that in stone.

As my mind mulled over the events that had transpired, I suddenly remembered.

"That's right. She said she would be walking with me today."

I had been so zoned out that I had walked past the Satou household where Yuuko now lived. Yesterday Yuuko had told us she wanted to attend school with us even if she could only interact with Shizuka and me. Her mother agreed, and Yuuko asked if we could walk to school together today. And I told her I would meet her outside her house.

The only problem was that I had completely forgotten.

As I turned back on my way to the Satou household, my ears picked up the sound of hurried footsteps. They only stopped once they were a few meters behind me.

"Sorry I'm late," Yuuko apologized as she tried to catch her breath, something I didn’t think ghosts need to do.

"No, no. I had actually forgotten to come by your house. I was about to head there just now."

Yuuko pouted, looking quite annoyed. "Well, as long as you remembered in the end...I guess it's fine." And just like that, she reverted back to a smile.

We started walking along, our destination being the high school. And it was a Friday no less. Everything about today seemed just right.

"So, how are you liking your new home?"

"It's amazing. After wandering around without an identity for all those days, I'm just glad I have somewhere to call home. Though, I will miss staying at Shizuka's home."

"You can just ask her if the two of you can have a sleepover. I'm sure she won't mind."

"Really?!" It seemed Yuuko found something new to be excited about.

"Has it been awkward?"

"I guess that's to be expected, no? They are my mother and father but I only just met them after all. I'm sure that awkwardness will go away soon. But something that made me really happy today was when mother waved to me goodbye as I was about to leave."

"Did she do it from the stairs?"

"Woah! How'd you know?!"

"Did you also tell her 'I'll be back soon?'"

"Seriously, can you read minds or something?"

Yuuko must now think I have some sort of magical powers. But it was just from a story I had heard. But I decided not to tell her right now.

And so, after laughing off Yuuko's accusation, we started for the school under the spring sun where Shizuka was surely waiting for the both of us.