Epilogue

I don't know how long I stayed down there. I just sat there, crying for what felt like hours on end. When I got up, I looked around and found that I was inside the abandoned house's basement. The night sky was still outside, pale moonlight streaming through the window. Yutaka's body was nowhere to be found, and neither was the hole to the Abyss. I picked up the flashlight I had thrown on the ground and turned it on.

I unlocked the deadbolt and climbed out the window, closing it behind me. I walked to my house under the stars, melancholy clouding my mind. When I got back I quietly opened the door and snuck up to my room. Ayako was still snoring in her room.

My alarm clock said it was one o'clock in the morning. It was Monday, and in five hours I would be on my way to being harassed by my peers at school once more, coming home to Ayako's loud mouth, doing my homework, eating Ayako's food that she gave to me because she was legally obliged to do so, reading manga, and going to sleep wishing I would never wake up.

I lay down on my bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas. I set my alarm clock for six, closed my eyes and tried to relax even though I wasn't tired. Maybe Kagami's world would have been more fun, but it wasn't real. This was the reality I was living in. There was no hope for true happiness. That's just the way some people's lives go.

Then I remembered. There was at least one thing that could put my mind at ease.

I sat down on my bed, crossed my legs, clasped my fingers, and closed my eyes. Spectacular images of my final encounter with Kagami were spinning through my mind, but I focused on my breathing. As the images left me, I noticed my breathing change. I wasn't consciously breathing anymore, but the breathing was happening by itself.

Soon the images were completely gone, and I had no thoughts. I only observed my thinned but comfortable breath. There, in that state of idleness, I found solace. I had no thoughts.

I lay down, slowly so as not to break my subtle state of mind. I remained thoughtless for about half an hour. Then, when I decided I was finished, I rolled over and went right to sleep.

I slept dreamlessly that night.