"Welcome back, folks. Ha ha ha. Sorry, I just love that commercial. They're so cute. I would like to introduce my next guest, Rin Kamishiro, heir to the Kamishiro family. In case you don't know the Kamishiro family is one of the most prestigious families in Japan. Welcome to the show."
"There are no needs for pleasantries, I only came because Shikimori asked me."
"I'm sorry. I'm glad that you came, though. It wouldn't be possible to tell the complete story without you."
'That may have been what Shikimori thought, but mostly I believe he thought it would be fun to be on television."
"Are you enjoying it so far?"
"Not really. I did promise Shikimori, however, and I will not break my promise."
"I see that you are dressed in the traditional Japanese way. Are you a practitioner of Kendo?'
"It is the tradition of the Kamishiro family to do so. As heir I would be expected to do no less."
"Oh, okay. Now lets get to the main subject. You were one of the young women sent by their families to acquire Shikimori-kun as a husband, am I correct?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Who gave the order for you to do so?"
"The Head Family ordered me to take him as my husband."
"What did you think of this?"
"I knew nothing of Shikimori at that time so I wasn't able to form an opinion."
"Well, what did you do?"
"I looked him up in the student register."
"What did you think of what you found?"
"Have you seen his record? If you had you wouldn't have to ask."
"So you were somewhat less than impressed, huh?"
"That would be correct. I decided at that moment that rather than make him my husband I would kill him to regain my freedom."
"Isn't that a little extreme?"
"Perhaps, but from his record I surmised that he was worthless. Bad grades, no athleticism at all, low magic count. Then when I finally laid eyes on him he seemed to be cavorting with two women at the same time. I didn't know that they were future rivals."
"What exactly did you see?"
"Kuriko-san was sitting astride Shikimori while Yuna-chin was trying to pull her off. It was most disgraceful."
"Did you think that he may be a womanizer?"
"From appearances it did look that way."
" So when did you change your mind?"
"About what, exactly?"
"For starters, about him being a womanizer."
"It didn't take long to see that he wasn't that sort of man. He never initiated anything improper. Usually it was Kuriko-san grabbing onto him. I think she did it to get on Yuna-chans nerves. And perhaps mine, also."
"Did it get on your nerves?"
"Of course it did."
"Why? I mean you didn't want to take him as a husband."
"In the beginning it was just the inappropriateness of her actions that I found disturbing. Eventually it was for another reason."
"Are you saying that you ended up having feelings for Shikimori-kun?"
"Yes. Do you find that hard to believe?"
"Not hard to believe, exactly, its just that it took most of my interview with Kazetsubaki-san to get her to admit to having feelings for him, yet here you are readily admitting it. It's just surprising, thats all."
"My brother taught me that in order for one to be honorable one must be honest, not just with others but with ones self. I will admit that for a while I was less than honorable. I denied my feelings to others and to myself. It was only when it came time to return the ash that I carried in my heart that I finally admitted the truth."
"What was the truth that you admitted?"
"The truth was that my heart belonged to Kazuki Shikimori and it always would."
"You admit that freely, for the audience to hear. Why?"
"It would serve no purpose to lie, and it is not something that I am ashamed of. As I came to know him I found that he was more than worthy of my affection."
"How so? With his record and all, he didn't seem to be the type of man you would want for a husband."
"In getting to know him I discovered that he was more than what some words on a sheet of paper could ever convey. He has a kindness and gentleness about him that is hard to describe. He is very patient, more so than anyone I've ever known. On top of that there isn't a selfish bone in his body."
"What do you mean by that?"
"We all can use magic. We all use magic to achieve something we want, or to get something we desire. He never once used magic for his own good. On the contrary, he sacrificed his mortal body for the sake of one of us. Even then, his spirit stayed to be with us, for our sakes, not his. He couldn't leave us to be sad. Could anybody else be so selfless?"
"Did he ever use magic for your sake?"
Blushing, "Yes, he did."
"What were the circumstances?"
"My senpai was transferring to another school and I wanted to do something special for him. I thought that if I could make him a homemade lunch he would appreciate it and perhaps notice me."
"You had a crush on him?"
"I suppose. Anyway, I was working in the dorm kitchen , all the while Shikimori, Yuna-chan and Kuriko-san were watching through the door. Eventually they made a noise and I spotted them. At first I was angry, however I asked them for their help. You see, I'm not a very good cook."
"Uh-huh, so what happened next?"
"They agreed to help and Kuriko-san began dressing me in all sorts of unusual things. Once that was done Yuna-chan began helping me with the cooking. After many long hours we had a proper looking meal to be presented to my senpai."
"Really, then what happened?"
"I tripped."
"You tripped. Oh no, all that work. I'm sorry."
"No need to be. That's when Shikimori used his magic for me. He kept it from falling and returned it to my hands in perfect condition."
"Even though he could only use magic 8 times?"
'By that time he could only use magic 5 times I believe."
"Why did he do that? It was only a lunch."
"Thats true, but to him it was important that something I had put so much work into not be ruined. So it really wasn't the lunch, it was me. Because it was important to me."
"So you gave your senpai the lunch. Did he like it?"
"I didn't give it to him. I gave it to Shikimori."
"Really. How did he like it."
"Well, he didn't. He said it was awful."
"Was it awful?"
"I tasted it. It was horrible. That's when the most amazing thing happened."
"What happened?"
"He ate every bite of it. It was the most vile tasting meal ever made and he finished the entire thing."
"Why do you think he did that?"
"I guess it was because I gave it to him, I don't know. All I know is that no one else would have done that for me. Even now if I give him food he'll honestly tell me how it is but he'll still eat it."
"He obviously cares a great deal for you."
"Indeed, and he has quite a stomach, also."
"That was quite a tale. Lets move on to something else. Tell us about returning his ash. How did you accomplish that?"
"By that time Kuriko-san, Yuna-chan and Chihaya-chan had all returned the ash they were carrying, or so we thought. That left only me standing between Shikimori and his regaining his humanity. However I had been told that if all his ash were returned he would forget all about us and everything up until his ash was returned. It was then that I had to be honest about my feelings."
"What do you mean, Kamishiro-san?"
"The thought of no longer being in Shikimori's heart was something I found hard to deal with. I wanted to be remembered. I wanted all of us to still be in his heart." The camera does a close-up to show the tear running down Rin's cheek. "I wanted him to remember me. I realize that was selfish, but I've never really felt like this about anyone before."
"What made you change your mind, Kamishiro-san?"
"We were walking in the woods, talking about a duel we had been involved in when..."
"A duel. What kind of duel?"
"Thats not really relevant so I don't want to go into it. As I was saying , He asked if he could borrow my katana to practice with. He felt that he hadn't been useful before and wanted to practice in case he needed to duel again when he got his body back. I let him borrow it and he began doing forward sweeps. I made up some excuse to leave, because at that point I had decided not to return his ash. I know it was wrong, but at that moment I would rather have been remembered by the ghost than forgotten by the man. Eventually Yuna-chan and Kuriko-san came upon him doing sweeps. They asked what he was doing and he told them that he promised to practice until I returned. For some reason or other Yuna-chan came looking for me. When she found me I told her to tell him that I had to leave on important business. I meant never to see him again. My heart couldn't take seeing him as a ghost because I was so selfish to want to be remembered."
"So what happened?"
"I couldn't stay away. I had to see him just one last time. Everyone else was looking for me because he wouldn't stop. Once he makes a promise he will follow it through, no matter the consequences to himself. I thought he would stop once his hands began to hurt but he just kept going, ignoring the pain and fatigue. Finally I stepped out and he saw me. Then he collapsed. I rushed to him, cradling his head in my lap. He looked up and smiled, saying he had kept his promise now I had to keep mine. I agreed and asked what he wanted. He wanted to see me smile. He was bothered by the fact I had seemed sad and he just wanted to see me smile. At that moment our hearts opened to each other and his ash returned."
"He didn't forget, though, did he."
"No, he didn't, but that was the beginning of another ordeal."
"Would you care to talk about that, Kamishiro-san?"
"That was when we nearly lost him. I...I'd really rather not talk about that."
"I see. Well, we're about out of time anyway so let me thank you again for coming and for being so open and honest."
"Kazuki asked me to come so I came. To have been less than honest would have brought shame to my family." Rin gets up and leaves the picture.
"We'll be back with another guest after these messages." fade to black.
