I wasn't there at that moment. I was flying, falling away from the world I knew and loved so much.
I woke up in a gazebo. I looked up at the white wood, far above my head. There was a note next to me. I almost forgot about it. It was Giroro's note, the one I lost shortly before I was killed.
I opened it, and began to read.
Natsumi, I know that you are in love with that Saburo boy, and I don't care if you disregard my message, but I just wanted to get this off my chest, so here goes: I love you. I always have, ever since we met. Ever since I realized how strong you were, how you wouldn't give up on saving this planet, how determined you were. Giroro
I dropped the note, and stared into space. Giroro loved me? Since I slugged him with the suitcase all those years ago? He never told me. Knowing that I couldn't thank him for the courage to tell me this made me cry even harder.
I gently took one of the supports of the gazebo, and held onto it. Suddenly, I was in a different place.
The platoon was in the meeting room. They halfheartedly went over certain invasion schemes. Each and every one I knew would fail miserably. In fact, the more that I saw, it seemed that they were trying NOT to find working invasion plans.
Suddenly, there was a small knock on the door. Keroro gently looked up, and said, sighing, "Come in."
In came a Pekoponian girl. Anana Yamamoto. I knew that if I were still alive, they would be screaming, begging her not to turn them in. But, since I was gone, it seemed like they didn't even care.
"I am from Planet Keron, Staff Sergeant Anana. I was sent here many years ago to watch your progress. I just want to say that I am very, very sorry for your loss."
Heh. SO I was right. She WAS a stupid frog. I wished I was there to meet her in person, instead of watching this sad little scene.
Anana turned to the platoon, and said, "You know, when I was young, my mama used to say that when we died, we were sleeping, or we left where we were for someone else."
"She's gone," GIroro spoke up. I couldn't believe this was the Giroro I came to know. His shoulders shook with tears, tears trickled down his cheeks, and his voice shook.
Anana looked at Giroro, her eyes tearing up as well. "What if she isn't?"
Ghost-chan came up, then, and said, "I sense that there's a fellow spirit among us."
That sent the platoon looking. Eyes gazed across the room, hoping for a sound, or a sign from me. Only Anana got their wish. Her eyes fell on me, and they widened. "She's there! I can see her!"
Suddenly, I was being pulled back from my vision. The first thing I remembered hearing afterwards was, "You're not allowed to do that." It was a girl's voice, about seven or eight years old. I turned around, and I realized that this girl was a Keronian. She was purple, with a halo as a symbol. I recognized her as Giroro's late sister, but I forgot her name.
"You let her see you," the girl said. She glared at me. "You TOUCHED her! That's not allowed! You're not supposed to look back! You're supposed to keep moving forward! Come on!"
I followed close behind her, which was hard, because, even if she was a Keronian, she could walk fast. "Who are you?"
"I'm Ginny!"
"That doesn't sound like a Keronian name."
"I borrowed it! You can do stuff like that here!" And then, she was silent, as if that all cleared it up.
"You said to keep moving forward," I said. "Where are we? Heaven?"
"Not yet. We're in In-Between. I think that you people in the Land of the Living call it Limbo."
"Where are we going?"
"Where you thought we were in the first place," Ginny said to me. "Heaven! I can't wait to get there! You know, that I've been trying to get there the past ten years! If you've been especially good, you can work to get into Heaven by escorting someone special to you into there. That was how my friend, Myajaja got there! She escorted me!"
Ginny explained that Heaven was a land of no suffering, no pain, no sorrow, no memories. Happiness, love, joy, caring, beauty. That's all there was in Heaven.
I looked at the gazebo for a moment, and asked Ginny, "You said that Heaven is a land of no memory."
"Yes. Well, no bad memories. Once I get there, I'll forget about Mama and Papa beating me to death, but I'll remember my big brothers! I loved them so!"
"But you can't go back and see them?" I asked.
"No one can contact you once you go to Heaven, but that's as it should be. You can still watch your family, friends and their descendents grow, live their lives, but you cannot communicate with them. It will be like looking at a television screen. So, are you coming with me to Heaven, or not?"
I looked at the gazebo for a moment, and then I remembered Giroro's letter, saying that he loved me. I couldn't let a letter that strong go without an answer. I turned to Ginny, and said, "No."