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pg. 169

Picture of Subaru.

Text: X
Subaru Sumeragi

pg. 170

View of an apartment building from outside. Spring rain falls as sakura trees bloom in the foreground.

Inside the apartment, a young man is sitting. He holds a cigarette in one hand as he listens to a message on his answering machine, his face expressionless.

Machine: I'm unable to come to the phone right now. If you'd like to speak with me, please leave a message after the tone...

Voice [Lady Sumeragi]: ...Subaru-san. I received a formal request from the party whose case I called you about last week. I'll send you the location after this.

Outside, the rain pours down.

Lady Sumeragi: ...Subaru-san, I know you're there.

pg. 171

We see Lady Sumeragi herself, speaking into a telephone.

Lady Sumeragi: Are you... searching for the Sakurazukamori once again?

Something flickers in Subaru's eyes.

Lady Sumeragi: I will not stand in the way of what you've... what the head of the Sumeragi family has chosen to do. I will not, but...

Tears trickle down the old woman's cheek.

Lady Sumeragi: Please... care for yourself...

Subaru stares forward, his face shadowed with pain.

pg. 172

Some time later, at a large, traditional-style house surrounded by blooming sakura trees.

A woman dressed in kimono bows to Subaru in the front hallway.

Woman: I have awaited your coming.

She leads Subaru to a room in the house. Sliding the door aside, she reveals a young woman within who appears to be talking with a young man. The two are sitting near to each other and smiling. Subaru's eyes widen.

pg. 173

He turns to the woman who brought him.

Subaru: ...Are you sure it's all right?

Woman: Yes.

She smiles faintly. Subaru looks at her for a moment, then places his hands together and closes his eyes.

Subaru [chanting]: ...On kakaka bisanmaei sowaka

pg. 174

The young man's flesh begins to melt away as the young woman looks on in shock.

Subaru [chanting]: On kakaka bisanmaei sowaka

The young woman reaches out desperately, tears filling her eyes, but she cannot keep the young man's body from dissolving, revealing only a dry, bare skeleton beneath.

The older woman approaches her and lays a hand on her shoulder.

Woman: My daughter loved that man enough to be able to bring him back from the dead. Enough to be able to set her own spirit free from this world.

pg. 175

Woman: But perhaps she was happy that way. Within her heart, she could continue to think only of that man, only of the one she loved. That is something that none but the heartsick can do.

She cradles the young woman in her arms. From the garden door, a few sakura petals flutter into the room.

pg. 176

Subaru stands in the doorway, watching the woman hold her daughter next to the fallen skeleton. Turning to go, he pauses and looks over his shoulder at them, frowning slightly.

Subaru: ...Why did you summon me? Even though he may have been a ghost, if she was happy...

The woman smiles at him over her daughter's tears.

Woman: But I didn't want to give her to anyone... not even to someone who was dead...

pg. 177

Woman: You see... I am sick at heart as well...

Subaru walks out into the garden, surrounded by blowing sakura petals. The wind tugs at his coat, making it billow. He closes his eyes.

Subaru: To keep thinking only of one person... is something only a heart that is sick can do...

pg. 178

He reaches out and clasps his hand around a drifting petal, clenching it in his fist.

Among the whirling blossoms, he seems to see a vision of a dark-suited man who is smiling slightly, looking back at him with one dark eye, one pale.

Subaru: ...Seishirou-san...

END

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