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At the end of the story, in a world that would never see tomorrow, one lonely soul resided in the dark.
This ghost had long since given up on the future. She had slain time with her own two hands, shielded herself from the erosion of the world, and plunged deep beneath the waves of eternity,
But… she was the only one who had. Her destined one, the one whom she would meet her end with, had lived on. She had cursed herself. She had become someone else, a husk of a monster who could no longer even recognize her own self.
Before she changed even more, before yet even another day passed, her destined one needed to die. She didn’t belong there in the future with everyone else, she belonged with her, unchanging and perfect.
After that, the ghost had waited. She had waited, and waited, and waited, and anyone whose wayward soul slipped through the cracks towards the end, she asked to deliver her destined one to her.
And one day, in front of her, was a tall girl with a bowl of orange hair, just as she remembered. Upon her face was a cloth mask, and the once vibrant colors of her eyes had faded away to a dull grey, but that didn’t matter.
That was her. That was her beautiful Yu.
The ghost took a few steps towards her, but stopped short of making contact. Instead, she spoke.
“You made it, Yu. Back to the ending, where I’ve been waiting for you.”
Yu didn’t speak. She didn’t even react. Her eyes were fixed on the ghost, but that’s all they were.
However, her destined one didn’t need to speak just yet. From her front seat of stagnancy, the ghost had watched the progress of the ‘tomorrow’ that she would not reach. She had watched everyone move forward without her. And she had seen Yu’s final salvation as her soul gem had shattered.
“So it seems that that girl finally killed you, didn’t she?” The ghost took delight in that end. “She realized that you were hollow. She realized that you had long since stopped moving forward. And so, she disposed of you.”
Once again, Yu showed no reaction.
“It was right of her,” the ghost continued. “We should be the dust in the breeze that disappears after only a moment. The cool night air that fades away with the dawn. In every life, we die when we meet. That was the meaning of our birth. That was the only reason for us to exist. It took just a bit longer than it should have, but it’s okay, now.”
Yu did not say anything. There was no recognition in her eyes.
“Here, we don’t have to live. Our selves will never be eroded by those around us into empty mockeries of our souls. We’ll never have to forget Here, Yu, in this world, nothing exists except for you and me.”
There was no response from Yu.
“So, you don’t need to be the ‘Sleepwalking Ghost’ anymore. That was only a replacement, a backup plan until the day that someone could deliver you your end, and bring you back to where you belong. Everyone else has moved on without you. Without both of us. So please, Yu, won’t you return to being that girl who had died with me?”
And yet, instead of restoring the color to her eyes and the red to her skin, nothing happened.
In a moment of desperation, the ghost lunged forward and grabbed the hands of her destined one. Her hands were not warm, as they had once felt on those ephemeral nights that they had never wished to forget. They were ice cold, as if they had forgotten how to feel.
“Yu…? It’s me, Kei. Don’t you remember me?” The ghost started to feel fear. “Won’t you say something?”
Then, for a moment, the eyes of her destined one lit up again, just as they had in life. Her body started to move once more, and she spoke:
“I’m Yu. I’m a Magical Girl, just like you!”
The ghost was taken aback. “A Magical Girl…? Yu, I’m not one of those, and no longer are you one either.”
But Yu didn’t speak again. She didn’t move again. Her dull, grey eyes returned to the empty state they had previously been in, as if that single moment of lucidity was but a message to be passed on, and nothing more.
“Yu…?” The ghost’s voice weakened, as she realized the truth.
On the day where she had made her wish, Yusa Yumeno had died. And yet, ‘Yu’ had remained.
‘Yu’ had been the person who had struck fear into the hearts of criminals. ‘Yu’ had been the person who gave Shi the comfort that she had sought. ‘Yu’ had been the person who Nagisa Momoe had met, feared, hated, fought, and in the very end, wished to save.
Even though her story had ended, somehow, it had still continued onwards, shambling towards tomorrow, further and further away from the crashing waves of the end.
Yu would continue to be remembered. Her spirit would be carried on the backs of those who still strode towards that uneasy, all-consuming, terrifying glow of the future.
Yu had already reached tomorrow.
With that realization, the girl in front of the ghost started to fade away, her body becoming more and more transparent, revealing only more of the inky blackness of the end beyond her.
“Yu?!” The ghost panicked, and tugged her destined one close to her, wrapping her in a tight embrace, as if to not let her get away. And yet, Yu continued to fade. “Please, please stay! You can’t…”
And yet, despite her pleas, the ghost knew that the one responsible for this had been herself.
It wasn’t Yu that was rejecting her. She was the one who had rejected Yu.
Yu no longer belonged in this place, the one they had built together. Beyond that day where they had vowed to end their lives, to always end their lives, to meet and then die and never ever see tomorrow, she had lived a hollow, shambling existence, filled not with love or hate or sympathy or anger. And yet, that existence had still been real.
The only one who had not touched the future had been Kei.
“Yu?” At this point, tears were beginning to fill the ghost’s eyes. She had waited so long for their reunion, only to realize that it was not to be. “Please, say something!”
Yu, who had gone beyond this ending, was now barely visible as she faded away. For a moment, the ghost thought she saw something in her eyes, as she said, in that cheerful voice of the Sleepwalking Ghost, “Do I know you…?”
Then, the ghost could see beyond Yu, out into the endless darkness that marked the end of the story, and her destined one, whom she had thought herself to be eternally bonded with in this place, disappeared from her forever.
The ghost wandered through the dark forever, believing that one day, she would find her destined one again.
No one was there. No one would come.
The End