It was after a few months at the University, that she met Joe. Not exactly handsome to look at, with his lean, stubbly face and nerdy glasses, but she thought him beautiful. There was an intelligence that twinkled in his eyes. He believed in a lot of things, he thought deep thoughts. He lived in his own world.
She knew Ryo wouldn't like him much, but she took him home with him anyway, to show him her city. Ryo didn't react as badly as she had expected him to, but she was so mad in love, she couldn't care any less.
She wasn't daddy's little girl any more. Her life didn't revolve around the graves. She still dropped by the graveyard, every time she came to Shinjuku, she still brought flowers. But she didn't wonder about the people sleeping in there. That bald patch next to her mother's grave didn't make her cry any more. For a man waiting for death, it only seemed inevitable.
Ryo had taught her to live every moment. But she guessed, a part of him had died with Kaori. It was the ghost that was left behind; it was the ghost that she'd known all these years.
A/N: Sorry, this chapter is so short. But I couldn't club it anywhere else. Thanks for reading this far.