It's raining as if to lament the loss of a great person, a person who would be missed by many. There is a reason for this. Minato Arisato is dead. He's been dead for a while and this is the day of his funeral. Maybe not so surprisingly there aren't many at his funeral. A few came and went to say their piece... most of them people he'd helped the previous year. Not many relatives showed... as if they hadn't cared. The Members of Sees all showed, as well as the Bookstore couple, and every friend he'd made at Gekkokhan High... But the one who stayed the longest, and is still there in the rain, is the one who misses him the most. Her name is Maiko Oohashi, and she's been crying at his grave since she got there this morning.
"Maiko, we should go. It's been raining all day... You'll catch a cold."
She sniffled. "B-but, I-I-I don't want to leave h-him." Maiko barely managed.
The mother looks at her daughter sadly and sighs. She's been like this sense she heard he died earlier this year... I wish I knew how to help her... Her mother looks at the Headstone and reads the name again Minato Arisato...you have no idea how much my ex-husband and I appreciate you being there when we weren't...Maiko just can't stand you not being there... I wish you hadn't died... She was planning on going to your graduation... Maiko's mother looks back at Maiko's sobbing and shivering form.
"Maiko we'll stay for a few more minutes but then we have to go...You're already shivering"
Maiko looked at her mother with rain running down her face, mirroring her mood. "O-okay, Mom.."
A few minutes pass and Maiko felt a cold but somehow comforting breeze blow by, and she swears she can hear Minato's voice being blown with it.
Don't cry Maiko, We'll see each other again. I promised, remember?
Just the sound of his "Voice" is enough to make her stop crying. Maiko looks up at the sky and starts to smile; she whispers to the passing wind, "Okay. Till we meet again... You did promise after all..."
Maiko's mother looks at her daughter to say it's time to go when she see's her daughter smiling to the sky... A sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Are you okay Maiko? Why are you smiling?"
Maiko looks at her mother and says, "I just remembered something Minato once said is all."
Maiko's mother thinks to ask her what it was, but decides against it. She'd rather not upset Maiko anymore by bringing up Minato. Maiko and her mother head for before driving off. Half way to their house, Maiko asks her mother if they can visit Minato's grave every year, on the anniversary of his funeral.
Maiko's mother, with her eyes on the road, says, "Of course dear, we'll be sure to visit every year."
Before falling asleep in the car Maiko gives a quiet "Thank you mom... See you next year... Minato..." Afterwards, Maiko was seen with a smile.