thank you! || tsurugi || epilogue
When it came to meaningful goodbyes, Tsurugi, like the vast majority of the human race, objectively sucks, words slip away from her as her eyes scan the room and the people on it. There’s so many important and precious people here, she thinks to herself with a little smile. Clearing her throat, she rubs her real arm, a little dazed by… the everything around her. She puts her words of goodbye on hold for a minute, smiling warmly:
“You are all… incredible people. Thank you.”
It’s a simple, sincere feeling. But that’s just the essence of who Tsurugi is as a person, isn’t it? Speeches haven’t ever been her forte anyway but – there is someone in this room she had very unique experiences with.
She takes a few steps towards Takao.
“Especially you, ya know! Yu-chan!” She laughs, thinking back on that experience that, at the most, was a few hours ago. Her voice goes quieter, softter: “I… thank you. So much. Really. Back then at that shrine… you know.”
She reaches for one of Takao’s hands, taking it in both of hers, bowing her head in typical Tsurugi gratitude. The tears gently raining upon Takao’s hand do little to affect Tsurugi’s voice as she continues speaking.
“I hope you will visit, on happier, less busier times. Eve-san an’ Emi-san are both invited, too. I hope I get to see you happy, Takao-san. You still deserve it. Thank you, for everythin’.”
Letting go of his hand, Tsurugi takes a moment to wipe her tears away before straightening her back, stepping back and showing a big smile as she used to, a light of determination shining inside her eyes from her heart.
She approaches her old body from two months and retrieves her ID card from it, quickly she goes over to a certain woman’s pod, opening it up, she takes off both of her moon earrings and places them on the sleeping girl’s palm, before closing her hand gently into a fist and closing the pod once more.
She doesn’t say a word as she stays looking at it, but her actions said everything for her, it is a silent promise that she will be working her hardest along with everyone else to make sure that the cold hands she just felt are once again graced by the warmth of life. Words can come after that.
For now, she’ll let Mayumi borrow those.
Facing the group again, she waves, now this really was it, the actual goodbye, eyes a bit brighter than they should be.
“Well then… bye! Be seein’ y'all soon!”
And she rift hops away to home.
—
She appeared at a small clearing, near a forest, not too far off her hometown, the walk back wouldn’t be longer than 30 minutes, so naturally, she broke into the fastest sprint she’s ever ran in her life, becoming a blur of purple, red and black.
She didn’t know how long she had been gone, it could have been a minute, a day, a month, it could be any amount of time. Maybe the inn isn’t even there anymore…! She has to know, she needs this much peace of mind.
When she slides the door to her home open, she’s greeted by a small gathering and her portrait on a little shrine. It looks like a funeral or some such.
Lots of yelling followed that moment.
Hysterical crying, relentless questioning, celebration, confusion, chaos.
A complicated explanation followed, though not everyone got the full truth, that was reserved for her mother and closest friends – survivors from the cavern. It was those same survivors that made sure Tsurugi rested before anything, as naturally, she would insist on getting back to work as soon as possible. Her stubbornness earned a bat unleashed on her hair, being bonked with rolled newspapers and a ‘stay in your room for a bit, you got shot, dumbass’ order.
She could simply hop away and start working, of course but…
As she looked at those concerned faces, people that offered to bring her tea, adjust pillows even though she wasn’t bedridden, people who offered to work at the inn for a time, people who care and love her – She knows she can’t just worry them all like that.
And for the first time in a very long time, Tsurugi takes it easy. She closes her eyes, lays on her back and smiles softly, whispering an exhausted ‘thank you.’
Time passes, peacefully and slowly, 3 days later, she’s traveling to a cavern holding a mall, some old friends going by her side, though they are not religious, they decide to accompany her anyway.
One of them stands a bit away from the small group, another sits right by her side quietly, yet another stands to her other side, but they all pay their respects differently.
Soon, they leave, stopping at a mid-way point to go their separate ways back home. And once home, Tsurugi immediately departed once again; to a different rift this time. A world she had to go to.
It’s not unlike how her own world used to be five – six years ago. Chaotic, ridden with despair obsessed weirdos, like a piece of hell on earth, truly. But that hadn’t stopped her from running all over Japan before and it sure as hell wouldn’t stop her now, either!
It takes her several long days of non-stop asking, running around, doing odd jobs for people and even fighting to get the information she’s after, but it works. And with renewed energy, she sets off to go to Mayumi Tominaga’s parents’ exact whereabouts, locating the girl’s friends not long after.
She doesn’t speak to them for a time; she shouldn’t after all, Chise had told them not to mess too much– but that isn’t what stops her. It’s rather… the shame of it all. The burden, that heavy feeling weighing her down, that she’s directly responsible. But that is being conceited, isn’t it?
Eventually, she tells them a small white lie. That Mayumi sends her, that they will see her soon, that everything will be okay. Things like that. Not exactly the full truth, but not entirely a lie either, more like… an obscure version of it. She simply omits the crazier details.
She says she has to leave, Mayumi is pretty far away after all, it may take some time to reunite them, but she assures, no, promises, that it will happen sooner rather than later. Perhaps words too bold to be true, but words she definitely believes in.
That things can go okay, that the future can still be bright in spite of everything; no matter how long and dark the night, it is always followed by the morning. She will chase that morning tirelessly for everyone.
Because even with her feelings of guilt, her sadness, her heartbreaks, cries and her past rush to join her friends on the other side, even with all of that and more, Tsurugi will run forward, head held high, towards a brighter tomorrow.
And she will hold the life, the second chance she’s been tightly, remembering the one feeling she’s always loved the most: Gratitude; accepting her life as a treasure because she was able to meet everyone – and she will help them, not out of heroism as some might think: purely because she wants to be able to pay the gratitude she feels in her heart for everyone and everything around her, the many, countless blessings she’s been graced with.
Steps taken fueled by gratitude, to make the worlds just a bit better.
Heartfelt “thank you’s!” that she can’t wait to give,
Her gratitude…
The beating in her chest, that makes her love the world and the people on it.
It is a simple and sincere feeling, the one that’s always been with her.