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“You know, it’s still not too late to change your mind. Are you sure about this?”
“...”
Her grandmother’s question was a very reasonable one. After all, uprooting your life and giving away the one home you’d lived in for the last 21 years was not an inconsequential decision. However, it was a well thought-out one.
Outside the hospital’s entrance, a pleasant gust of wind brought forth a few stray petals, some of which landing on a long bed of well-kempt white hair. Kanade had grown the slightest bit taller since her teenage years, and she sported a healthier, meatier complexion compared to those days. She was still on the thinner, smaller side of things, but the very energy she radiated had changed. She was no longer the sickly girl who could hardly go outside. She was 3 years into a college degree, was a semi-regular at on-campus social functions, and overall held a much more positive outlook on life.
...
In the last few years, a lot had changed for her, good and bad. On a rather positive note, as things with her and Mafuyu developed, they had entered into a relationship. They certainly had their occasional arguments and fights, but this ended up saving the both of them when everything else around them seemed to darken.
Following an unforeseen worsening of his condition, Kanade’s father had sadly passed away in his hospital bed. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to say her goodbyes, but part of her thought it didn’t matter. He would never have seen his daughter in her. To say that the weeks and months after were hard would be an understatement. Kanade felt utterly shattered, one of her sole pillars having crumbled from under her, leaving her with nothing but her own frail legs to attempt to carve out a path into the future.
But that wasn’t quite right either, because Mafuyu was there. Despite Kanade having once promised to save her, once she had fallen into that dark abyss, it was Mafuyu who became her savior. Whenever Kanade would neglect to eat, she would be there to feed her. Whenever Kanade would try to overwork herself, she would hold her in her arms, carrying her into her own bed and letting her tightly cling unto her as Kanade let out her tears. And when Kanade fell into even deeper shadows, into increasingly worse ways to cope with the grief and pain, Mafuyu would be right there, illuminating the way forward with her own wounded heart.
It took some time, but Kanade got back on her feet. She earnestly, genuinely wanted to become better, stronger, to shed the wounds of her past and be the girlfriend Mafuyu deserved to have in her life. She ate more, she exercised with Ena regularly, she let Mizuki take her on more shopping trips in order to get herself a less stagnant wardrobe.
By the time Mafuyu and her were graduating from high school, Kanade’s ghosts had begun to subside. She decided to opt into a public university’s Musicology program, in part thanks to the money she had accumulated over time from commissions as well as her family’s assets.
Still, when it came time for Mafuyu, Ena and Mizuki to leave the nest for their own future paths, Kanade…couldn’t do it.
Her university wasn’t all that far, so she had decided to keep this house, so full of memories both good and bad. In truth, however, this wasn’t a choice she had consciously made, but rather the very absence of one. It felt terrifying, the mere prospect of leaving behind so much of her childhood, of her life, of her roots. And like a flower ripped from its soil, she feared she would shrivel up and die without everything this house gave her.
Even in spite of all the bad memories, she treasured far too much within these four walls to let go. Even as she took a bold, frightened step towards the horizon, she still looked back.
Meanwhile, Mafuyu, Ena and Mizuki had pooled in together to find a common accommodation, in an effort to save on cost and not have to deal with the prospect of screening roommates. They had, kind as they were, kept an empty room in case Kanade would ever change her mind.
This had made her heart weep, but in what way, she couldn’t know.
Later on, as her grandmother’s health also started failing, the time to make a choice would come sooner than later. Even 3 years into her adult life, it still felt too soon, like playing catch-up with the darkness of her past and always losing. Her feet never carried her far enough before another tragedy held onto her shoulders and pulled her back. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t be.
That was when something peculiar happened…Kanade had a dream.
She had fallen asleep on her childhood bed, dried tears leaving red trails on her cheeks as she once more reminisced on what could be, on what hadn’t been. Her depressive episodes had gotten rarer as she stepped into adulthood, but they would still occasionally peek back in through the darkness of her trauma-laden heart. Wishing her mother was still there, hearing her father accuse her of killing him, many, many other awful visions and nightmares. These episodes could get very creative, and their cast was always at the top of their game.
This time however, she had managed to fall asleep without issue.
And then, she woke up…
“H-Huh..? It’s so…bright?”
Before her lay endless fields of bright, green grass, the likes of which she had never seen in her entire life. Not that she had a particularly extensive experience going outside, by all means, but this view still defied any notion of reality she’d come to know. If anything, it felt more akin to something the SEKAI might create.
“Kanade..?”
As her musings got louder in her own head, Kanade was jolted awake by a presence she had failed to notice right beside her.
“M-Mafuyu?! What are you…doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing…but I believe the real mystery is where we are.”
She spoke with detached coolness, as was usual for her. Mafuyu had, even compared to Kanade, gained a lot from growing into her adult years and becoming independent. While she still did keep in touch with her parents, the bridge between her mother and her had been frozen solid, and to cross it would always risk awakening old wounds and causing concussions all around. Nevertheless, Mafuyu had managed to pursue her dreams of attending nursing school and every step taken along that path only emboldened her further. She made an effort to not use her mask nearly as often, and succeeded at making friends that way. She had also gotten a good deal more emotionally intelligent over time, now being capable of describing her own feelings much more accurately. Ena’s sarcasm had stopped being lost on her, but sometimes she liked to pretend it still was – only further proof that she was growing.
Kanade couldn’t help but admire her. This lonely girl who had been through so much, whose ego had been shattered under the weight of the expectations pushed on her, had managed to come out on top, and was finally on her way to healing.
Kanade admired her. She envied her.
“Kanade. My face is up here.”
Her face was indeed up there, looking rather annoyed, and not on the blades of grass Kanade had been staring down upon during her internal bit of reminiscing.
“A-Ah, sorry. But yeah, I don’t know where we are either…”
“This feels like the SEKAI, but also it doesn’t…”
Mafuyu would know best, considering the Empty SEKAI – a name that had become obsolete since that place was now a lot more vibrant than it used to be – was the product of her mental landscape. In which case, a thought occurred within Kanade’s mind.
“What if…this place comes from…me?”
She didn’t quite know how she came to that conclusion, but the strange, warm feeling in her chest led her to believe that she was on the right track. Even though this sight was unfamiliar, something close to nostalgia radiated within her, giving her mild goosebumps. She wanted to go…forward. She wanted to find something here. She had to.
Wordlessly, she took light, careful steps on the soft grass below. Mafuyu followed in her wake, questioning neither her reasoning nor her intent. And so, they started walking.
The sun shined bright above them, but it didn’t feel needlessly hot. In fact, once Kanade had gotten used to the luminosity, she found the sunlight quite pleasant on her skin. One look at Mafuyu confirmed they shared this feeling. It felt nice, like walking in a nice park around early spring, where it wasn’t hot enough to warrant removing layers, but not cold enough that they were completely necessary. It felt right. It felt just right.
As their steps took them further and further towards the horizon, the morning sun rose to its zenith, and then progressively started shifting down, joining them in their walk towards the end of things. And that was when Kanade saw it.
A single tree on a lonely hill, surrounded by nothing but empty fields. It felt important, and so they walked up to it.
The closer they got, the more they realized this tree was much, much greater than they had first anticipated. It was hard to make estimates within this dreamscape, but the tree looked large enough that if it happened to fall, the earth beneath would crack and shake in its wake. Its leaves were also rather strange. At first, Kanade thought they were green, but upon closer inspection, they were translucid, only reflecting the colors surrounding them, like hundreds, thousands of tiny glass shards illuminated by the radiance of the sun above, and the vibrancy of the grass below.
“Beautiful…”
The word left Kanade’s lips on its own, but it perfectly conveyed her feelings. This was a beautiful, beautiful apparition, and it made her want to approach it even further…
“Wait. Be careful, Kanade.”
Or she would have, if Mafuyu hadn’t put her arm in front of her girlfriend before she could take a single step further. One look at her face was enough to realize she felt…threatened? It wasn’t completely a scowl, but it wasn’t anything nicer either. Mafuyu had a bad feeling about something, and Kanade had learned throughout their relationship that it was usually a good idea to trust those feelings.
What did surprise Kanade however, was when Mafuyu spoke…to someone else.
“Who are you? Show yourselves!”
Kanade stared dumbfoundedly ahead of her, towards where Mafuyu had talked to but–
“Who…are you talking to, Mafuyu?”
“Wait, you cannot see them? There are these two…shadows. In the shade of the tree.”
Upon further inspection, the white-haired girl felt like she could vaguely distinguish some unnatural shadows where Mafuyu was pointing at. But it was clear she still couldn’t fully see them, whatever they were.
And so, she gently brushed off Mafuyu’s arm, and stepped towards them.
“Kanade, wait!”
“It’s okay. I…can’t quite explain it, but…I think it’s okay…to get closer.”
Her voice was shaky but her smile remained unyielding. It was enough to make Mafuyu back down, although she still followed very closely in her girlfriend’s steps. It felt warm, to have someone so willing to protect her, no matter the stakes. She didn’t feel as though she was in danger, but it felt nice.
Slowly, the two girls approached the unnatural shadows under the tree of light. With each step taken, the shadows seemed to unravel further and further, until Kanade could finally see them as silhouettes, humanoid figures with their backs turned.
She gulped down the saliva that had pooled in her mouth. Something about the situation was making her more nervous by the minute, and Mafuyu had realized that.
“You don’t have to do this. I can look for you–”
“No.” Kanade didn’t understand why her voice had come off so blunt, so frantic. What she did know was that she had to do this. She had to take the next step. She had to see what they were. Who they were.
No more words were needed. Mafuyu had also come to realize her girlfriend’s resolve was unshakeable now. And so they walked the last of the distance they had left before being right in front of those shadows.
Kanade’s heart stopped.
Those shadows were, in truth, two human silhouettes, whose features were finally perceivable from Kanade’s naked eye. The first one sported a long bed of silver hair, the same as the girl standing there, her open mouth drying up, her eyes fully widened in disbelief. An adult woman, likely in her 30s, potentially 40s – although her traits certainly belied that. In Kanade’s memories, she had always seemed so tall, but now, she stood shorter than her. A testament to the passage of a time long gone.
The other figure stood taller, ashen brown locks lazily flapping in the spring breeze, bad posture, unshaven facial hair… This was him alright. Although Kanade had not seen this piercing gaze of his since before his coma. He seemed as lucid as he had once been. For some reason, this only made her heart ache even further.
“M-...Mom..? Dad..?”
She could barely get these loose words out of her system before choked sobs caught up with her. Kanade was unable to contain the sheer flood of emotions building up inside her heart, and her legs soon lost the strength to hold her, making her crumple to the ground like a house of cards.
“KANA–”
Right as Mafuyu was about to support her however, the shadows moved. The darkness now fully removed from their figures, they looked like two normal people. They looked like nothing more than two parents hunched over their crying child, consoling her.
They looked nothing more than Kanade’s parents, right here, hugging her tenderly beneath Mafuyu’s soft gaze. Having realized the girl was not in any danger, she took this opportunity to take a few steps back, leaving some space for this impossible family reunion. Whether this was merely a dream or some form of SEKAI-related phenomenon, Kanade deserved this much at least. Thus, Mafuyu softly walked away, leaving behind the three Yoisaki to talk…
By the time Kanade had recovered back a sliver of emotional stability, she was surprised to find herself on the ground. She was even more surprised to find two pairs of arms embracing her tenderly. It felt nostalgic, familiar. It felt happy, joyful. It felt horrible, so strangely sad. Wiping away the tears that had invaded her sight, she looked up, seeing the same two figures she had seen earlier. They were still here. They had not disappeared yet.
Her lips quivered as she started talking, unsure of what exactly to say.
“H-How..? This is a dream…right?”
Her mother, still looking at her with all the tenderness she could muster, gently wiped another stray tear from her cheek before speaking, her voice just as soft as Kanade once remembered.
“Yes, it’s just a dream my dear, but it gave us the chance to speak with you again.”
“I, for one, am quite glad! I always wanted to see my darling daughter grow up to be her own adult, hehe.” Her father had now chimed in, his voice oozing with warmth she hadn’t heard in so, so many years. It threatened to shatter her whole again, but Kanade’s heart was now filled with another emotion.
She was…happy. Genuinely, earnestly happy to have been given this opportunity, this chance to speak to her parents again.
“I…have so many things I want to tell you about.”
“Go right ahead sweetie, your father and I are all ears~”
…
The strange prismatic tree offered a truly wonderful shade where the three family members could sit down and chat. To be able to relax in-between her parents and tell them about everything she had been through, everything she had done, everything she had built, was such a joy for Kanade, and before long, her words flowed out naturally, without having to even think of topics.
She told them about Nightcord at 25:00, about Mafuyu, Ena and Mizuki, about Honami, who had helped her so much, about all the other nice people she had met throughout high school, such as the Tenma siblings, Ichika Hoshino, the idols of More More Jump, Mizuki’s sister, and so on, and so forth…
All these wonderful, beautiful notes in the troubled music sheet of her life that she had been unable to share with the two people who mattered most were finally being unraveled, played on an impossibly high quality mp3 player, just so her parents could hear them from beyond the grave. She smiled, a child-like grin adorning her traits. Soon, she even forgot the fantastical nature of this talk, and hopeful bliss filled her heart from all sides. Kanade wished they could keep talking like this forever…
…
“So, are you and this Mafuyu girl in a…relationship?” Her dad’s voice felt rather troubled as he asked this, but Kanade paid it no mind.
“Yes. She is…the single most important person in my life. Someone I swore to save, once, but who protected me in equal parts. I owe her so much. Some days, I even think she’s the one who ended up saving me, hehe…”
It felt as though her father still wanted to raise a mild objection, but his wife read the room and silently gestured for him to be a little more indulgent.
“V-Very well then. If you love this girl so much, and if this girl treasures you as well, I suppose she earns my respect, hmph.”
“Oh darling, you’re always so protective of our baby, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am! My little Kanade deserves the best of the best! But…” His eyes briefly glimpsed towards the woman who was sitting a good distance away, under the sun. For a quick moment, their stares met, and while ordinarily this would not have been enough to judge anyone’s character, the man simply smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Fine…she seems reliable. I’m happy you’ve found someone who makes you feel loved, Kanade.”
“Yeah, she…really does.”
A tiny blush adorned Kanade’s features, earning her a few more pats on the head from her mother.
…
“Shinei Shinonome’s daughter?! Kanade, that's incredible! I can still remember when your father and I had gone to one of his expositions, it was truly awe-inspiring.”
“Hmhm, I got home that day and was itching to compose just from all the inspiration it gave me! Something about art inspiring art I suppose, hehe.”
“Yeah… Ena is…also like that. She always inspires me to create with more passion, and every time I see her drawings it fills me with warmth. I just wish she was able to see this herself too, she’s her own harshest critic.”
…
“Oh this Mizuki girl seems absolutely adorable! Seeing how pretty you are now, I’m sure she’s had a hard time holding herself back from making you her mannequin~”
“Ah haha…you’re, um, pretty much right about that. She’s such a sweet person, and so pretty and fashionable too. Her energy is contagious and makes all of us feel a little happier for it. Especially Ena, hihi.
“Oh my, do I hear gossip? You have got to tell your mother right now, sweetie!”
“Honey please, give the girl some slack, she can’t possibly give us all the details at once. Though your father is also very curious, so please do indulge us.”
…
As the sun lowered further from its zenith, the once blue skies soon got colored in a beautiful orange hue. The foretelling of the end.
“...and then I– I actually talked directly with her mother, alone. It was…terrifying. She was such an intense person. But I knew that I needed to do it, otherwise Mafuyu would have kept being pressured into doing things she didn’t want to…”
Hearing the story of how Kanade stood up to Mafuyu’s overbearing mother, both her parents looked at her with the proudest, most tender smiles they could possibly have on their faces.
“Honey?”
“Yes dear?”
“We really have a wonderful daughter, don’t we? One who is not only kind, selfless and devoted, but strong, independent and brave. Even though I– I haven’t managed to be there for her when she needed me most.”
The smiles faded into melancholic sighs. While her father’s lips had remained unmoved, his eyes drooped down, obvious sadness written therein.
“N-No! Dad, no, that…that was my fault, I– if I hadn’t…if I hadn’t composed that melody, you wouldn’t have–!”
But before she could finish her sentence, Kanade felt her father’s arms embrace her strongly. They were shaking. He was shaking. His arms felt so powerful yet so fragile around her in that instant, like he was about to be shattered by the wind itself.
“Kanade, don’t ever think that. Please…don’t ever blame yourself for what happened to me.”
Her eyes widened in shock. If this had been a dream, purely the fuel of her own imagination, she could never have heard her own father say these words. These words that she had longed for ever since that day. Ever since he fell in his own study. Even though she wasn’t sure she could fully believe them, she wanted to hear this so, so much and now that she had, it completely tore her emotional walls anew.
She cried. A loud, ugly cry that one could show to no one but their closest family members. And together with her, her father cried too, still embracing her tightly in his arms. Soon enough, their third member joined in, her eyes dewy from her own oncoming tears, gently rubbing her husband’s back and her daughter’s hair. They all hugged, embracing one another in the light of the sunset, the prismatic tree having become like a lantern that shone its rays unto the past, into the future.
“T-Thank you…thank you so much…”
Kanade sniffled and cried, but still let the tender feelings of gratitude blooming within her heart out into the open. She felt so blessed. She felt so loved.
“Thank you…for raising me. For being there with me. For having loved me…”
“Of course Kanade…we’ve always loved you, and we always will…”
“Hmhm, you won’t have to worry about that! And someday, once you come back around, we can go have a picnic or something.”
The crying girl nodded, the simple prospect of another meeting with her parents warming her heart enough to almost evaporate the tears. But she understood now that this was the end. That ultimately, this beautiful sunset shining in the reflections of her eyes, of the leaves, was nothing more than the alarm clock ready to wake her up from her long dream.
She slowly stood up, her limbs feeling a bit shaky from all the emotional fatigue. When her parents did the same, she stifled the brief urge to cry again, realizing this might well be the last time she could look them in the eyes like this.
“Mom, dad, I…”
“You need to go, don’t you? Don’t worry about us, sweetie.”
“Yeah, you still have so much more on your plate right? Go find more cute clothes with that Mizuki girl, tell Shinei’s daughter to worry a little less about those around her, and treasure Mafuyu, y’hear?”
“Hmhm, yes! It’s just…I’m still scared of moving forward, I think.”
A solid hand came to grasp her right shoulder, while a softer one held onto her left. Her parents, with smiles that had been strong enough to transcend the very barriers of life and death, looked at her with gazes so gentle Kanade thought she would cry again.
“No matter where you go…”
“And no matter how lost you feel…”
““...we will always be there for you, Kanade.””
Before she could answer back, the hands on her shoulders were no more. Before her, only the orange hues of the sunset, far into the horizon. A feeling of emptiness broke through her heart, threatening to spill out into the open.
And yet, her final sight of them, smiling, happy, tender…
She wanted to treasure it, frame it in the album of her own mind, so as to never forget again just how much her parents truly loved her, even when Kanade could hardly bring to love herself.
“Kanade..?”
That lovingly taciturn yet soft voice echoed from behind her, and illuminated by the light of the falling sun, Kanade saw Mafuyu standing right before her.
“Mafuyu…”
“Are you okay?”
“Hm…yeah. Or maybe not. But I think I will be, now.”
Kanade could tell her rather indecisive answer had slightly confused Mafuyu, but her girlfriend seemed to accept it regardless as soon as she saw the kind smile that appeared on the white-haired girl’s face.
Kanade took a few, gentle steps forward, and cupped her lover’s face in her hands. Under the prismatic lights of the tree of her own life, of her many lives across many different possibilities, she looked deep, deep into Mafuyu’s purples, and they stared right back into her blues.
Their lips met, tender, passionate, soft. Like it was their first kiss. Like it was their last kiss.
The tree behind them illuminated from the passion of their hearts, and many scattered memories flew past them, coloring bright the darkening skies.
A pantomime of heroes and villains.
A battle of swords and knights.
A fall into the abyss she could never have recovered from alone.
A tender conversation at the edge of life and death.
A more intimate, savory relationship.
A simple outing to the movies.
There were many, many worlds inscribed upon that tree’s existence, each leaf representing yet another possibility in the grander scheme of Kanade’s lives.
But she had seen none of it, and she didn’t care much for any of them either.
In the end, there was only one thing she wanted to do, one path she wanted to walk on.
From now on, Kanade would proudly walk towards the future; her future.
And then, she woke up.
…
“You know, it’s still not too late to change your mind. Are you sure about this?”
“I am. I think it’s best if…I start walking on my own path. I love this house and all the memories in it. The sad ones, the happy ones, the bittersweet ones. But…I feel like if I keep looking back, I’ll miss my chance at going forward.”
Her grandmother’s traits softened, having been overtaken by her worry before then. She had always had a very kind demeanor towards her granddaughter, and today was no different. But when Kanade had come to bring up her plans for leaving the house behind, she had naturally grown very worried.
Kanade’s confidence had assuaged those worries remarkably well.
“I understand. Kanade…sweetheart, I want you to know that, no matter what path you choose, no matter where your steps take you, I will always, always support you to the best of my ability. I’m sure if…your parents were still here, they would think the same as I do.”
“Yeah…I know they would.”
Kanade’s heart briefly warmed up, remembering the last, tender sight she had been gifted of her parents. She still had no real idea what that dream was really about, and asking the Virtual Singers had yielded no real results – although Luka alone had giggled instead of answering anything. Nevertheless, whenever she felt the darkness close in on her again, or doubts creep into her next step, she would conjure her parents’ loving smiles like a torchlight against her own fears, and create a new path of light through the dark.
As she kissed her grandmother goodbye and left the hospital, her steps felt light, and her heart lighter. She was finally starting to truly move forward in life. And she knew that her parents would feel proud of her for it…
…
“Tada!! Welcome to your new home, princess~!”
“Oi, I thought I was your princess, what the hell Mizuki?!”
“Aw come on, multiple girls can be princesses now, can’t they?”
“Guys, you two are distracting Kanade. Come, let me show you to your room.”
A few weeks had passed since that strange dream of Kanade’s, and since then, the white-haired girl had been rather busy with emptying her house and deciding what to keep in her new home, and what to toss out. Fortunately for her, the three other girls who made up her circle had greatly shortened this process by helping her out every step of the way.
“You guys really don’t have to do th–”
“Oh shush, of course we’re gonna help you.”
“Hmhm! Our precious little composer might just break her tiny widdle arms if she tries to shoulder too much on her own~”
“Kanade, let us help you. There’s no need to be stubborn about this."
Frankly, she had never stood a chance before the kindness of her friends.
After all had been packed and readied, Kanade was finally able to see her new accommodations. While she had visited their conjoined apartment plenty of times before, this would mark the first time that the elusive fourth room would be hers for the taking.
Ena and Mizuki briefly ran ahead, speedily guiding her along all their other rooms. A rather spacious living room, a pretty well equipped kitchen with a shockingly high amount of ketchup bottles – 4 was too much, right? – a comfortable looking bathroom and a hallway that led to four closed doors.
Upon further inspection, every room was exactly as she had expected:
Mizuki’s was pink, garishly pink, almost offensively pink. If pink as a concept had a deity, this room would be her temple. However, the room also sported mannequins, a dressing table, a very well equipped wardrobe and a PC setup that seemed less tailored to working than to watch anime with the highest quality possible.
“So, like my humble abode?”
“It’s very…you, hehe.”
“That didn’t sound like a compliment! Hmph!”
Next in line was Ena’s.
It was…a mess. Scattered easels and canvases, as well as large amounts of paint covering the walls and flooring immediately gave off the kind of things Ena used this room for. A very small corner deeper inside seemed to be the only safe haven, where her computer desk stood valiantly, barely avoiding the deluge of artistic madness enveloping everything else.
“I know…it’s a mess, isn’t it?”
“It is, and it’s beautiful too.”
“Sheesh…way to flatter a girl…”
The third one made Kanade’s heart briefly skip a beat. It was the only room she had been in before, after all. Whenever she had come by, she would sleep here…with her girlfriend.
She opened the door and it was extremely orderly. A desk with a computer and synthesizer on one side, a small array of bookshelves on another with many complicated looking books within. What attracted Kanade’s eye however, was what stood at the furthest end of the room, the one thing that had changed since she’d last been here.
“The aquarium…there is a turtle.”
“Her name is Teto. See the red little birthmark on her chin? That’s why.”
“That’s…adorable.”
Kanade blushed a little, and so did Mafuyu. The other two girls simply stared silently, giggling at the sheer cuteness of this exchange.
Finally, it was time to open that fourth door. Boxes littered the entrance, so she would likely have to unpack all that, but for the time being, Kanade simply wished to see the space she was given to work with.
And as she opened the door…
“W-Woah…”
A large, spacious room with a balcony that showed the beautiful sunset far into the horizon. The room itself had next to nothing in terms of furniture beside a blank desk and a bed, but Kanade’s mind could already imagine exactly how she could arrange her work setup, as well as her study books. What fascinated her much more was…how illuminated it was.
For so many years she had gotten used to living and working in the darkness of that cramped room she could barely take care of, and now she would constantly greet the setting sun…it was enough to make her teary-eyed, somehow.
“This is…so beautiful.”
“Hehe, you have no idea how long we waited for you to finally see it, y’know.”
“Back when we got this place, we all agreed that this room should be yours, when the time came for you to live with us.”
“It felt right for Nightcord at 25:00’s composer to have a view of the horizon…”
Kanade couldn’t believe it. As the orange hued lights further delved into her eyes, bouncing off of the prism-like tears that had begun to form, she found herself filled with warmth so bright, so pure, it threatened to break her at her core.
All this time, the future she had been so scared of taking a step towards had been waiting for her. The irreplaceable friends she had made along the way had extended their hands in the hopes that they would, one day, be able to reach her through the darkness. Kanade felt so lucky, so happy to see just how many people truly treasured and loved her.
Perhaps, the her in her own memories, the traumatised middle schooler, or the wounded high schooler, would have believed that she didn’t deserve such happiness. That she was unworthy of the love bequeathed unto her by her friends, by her lover, by her family. But Kanade Yoisaki was not that same girl who nearly fainted from overworking herself without eating. She wasn’t the same girl who cried herself to sleep nearly every night yearning for someone, anyone’s warmth. She wasn’t alone. She wasn’t broken.
And even if some nights, darkness would seep back into the scarred remains of her past wounds, she knew the light within her heart would shine much, much brighter, banishing those shadows to the dead of night.
Kanade knew what she had to do now; step boldly towards her new future, alongside everyone else. Alongside Mizuki and Ena, alongside the warmth her family left her.
And alongside Mafuyu, who had never left her side from the very beginning.
The time had come for Kanade to leave behind the ghosts of her past, and with bold steps, face the bright future ahead of her...