A/N: Unlike my other story, which I have carefully sculpted (and still have much to learn with) for months, I wrote this quickly to a) try to determine how much editing is overkill, and b) get it out of my head. And maybe c) stop being afraid of 'pushing the stupid button." So therefore, there are probably some inconsistencies or implausibilities.

This story starts sometime after Kokomi and Kusuo have established a relationship. I'm sure you can find a nice story here leading up to that point that suits your fancy.

Kokomi looked down at her paper. Ms. Shima had, once again, asked them to write down their top three choices for a future career, and their top three choices of colleges or other education to get there.

"College application deadlines are coming up, just after New Year. If you haven't given this any thought, it's time to start," the teacher had announced, at the start of class right after lunch. At least she had let them do this activity on a full stomach, even if half the class was now in a "food coma".

She was satisfied with her results, and was confident in her ability to make it into any of those schools. She had chosen colleges that were excellent schools, the University of Tokyo which was closeby, Kyoto University which was just away, and Osaka University for about the same reason. Why those schools? They were known for their reputation across many programs. She hadn't quite figured out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life yet.

Looking back to April, she was laser-focused on meeting one goal: getting together with Saiki Kusuo. Kokomi had done that, and they were happy being wherever they were as a couple. She had been taken aback when he shared with her that he was a psychic, and everything that meant. They spent most of their Summer break together. Kokomi had even invested a lot of energy in helping him control his psychic powers, so that he didn't need his limiters and glasses, and enabling him to be in public without having a nervous breakdown.

Coming into the school year, he had been laser-focused on his own goals, which were much more simple than hers: save Japan and avoid another time loop. As Kokomi looked over at his paper now, it appeared he hadn't made any significant consideration to the future, as there were only doodles on his paper. She smiled as she saw one of herself, hair blowing in the breeze.

Kokomi knew she wanted to help people. She knew she did have some ability to help people smile, help people feel better about themselves, inspire them, or mediate conflicts, but she didn't know if those were actual skills or if they were just results of people wanting to impress her, and therefore wondered whether her actions would have lasting value. At the moment, she was thinking a profession in nursing would let her not have to worry about that - she would only have to help them while they were recovering.

That, and she wanted to leave this town. She felt like she needed to spread her wings to develop as a person - to make it out there on her own, and to see a little of the world along the way. Part of her also needed to know if she and Kusuo really had long-term potential, or if he was all she could see because he was the first and only person she had wanted romantically up to this point.

But that was a lot more than what Kusuo had thought about the future - the most he had thought of was that he wanted to "help people". He did genuinely enjoy helping solve people's problems or saving them from physical harm, but he had told her that he couldn't make a career out of using his powers - that would at best make him a target and at worst make him be a lab rat. He also didn't want to be a superhero stereotype - somebody who had a low-paying job that didn't quite pay the bills while he spent most of his energy saving people in secret.

Kokomi noticed his pencil move out of the corner of her eye. He made a dubious expression as he wrote, "Police Officer", "Fire Fighter", and "?". Finally, some thought into his future. She supposed he could use some of his powers to help out with those without drawing too much attention. She wasn't sure whether the question marks were something specific he didn't want to write down, or just if that's all he thought of.

Kokomi returned her gaze to the front of the room, and suddenly her face went flush, her jaw dropping just a tad. What if their futures didn't align? What if she couldn't make her goals line up with his? Was she supposed to compromise? Was he? Could they both be truly happy if one was forced to sacrifice for the other? If not, then, was their best option, to not be together?

Seven months later

Their senior year had flown by. With graduation came the usual laughs and tears, as friends promised to keep in contact as they prepared to go their separate ways. Some of the promises were emptier than others.

By this time, Kokomi had not only been Kusuo's girlfriend for some time, but had established good relationships with Chiyo, Chisato, Mikoto, Riki, Aren, Shun, and Kineshi. Nobody knew what the future would hold, but she vowed to keep in touch.

However, there was one farewell she dreaded above all the others.

After a fabulous graduation party at Kusuo's house, she led him down the street to the park, hand in hand.

Kusuo had managed to twist his brother's arm into getting him into an internship with whatever government agency he did contract work for, and after that, decided to go to a firefighter training program near their home.

She hadn't yet told him she was leaving.

She sat on a swing, and he sat on the other one.

"I have to tell you something," Kokomi said, staring at the spots of missing wood chips under the swings. Her mouth started to quiver. Kusuo only looked at her.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm going to Kyoto University."

It was his turn to look down. "I thought you were going to stay here and go to the University of Tokyo."* Although he said the words, they both knew he hadn't meant them - they both knew he had used telepathy to know what she was really up to. He had been getting better at not making assumptions based on things he learned telepathically.

"No, I never said that I was, I only never said I wasn't."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I wasn't positive until a couple weeks ago, when I had to send my acceptance letter. Then I just wanted to enjoy what time we have left."

"So what happens now?" he asked. He turned to make eye contact, but his face was still inclined toward the ground. He held his breath in anticipation.

"I think we need to break up." Kokomi said. Not even she was ready to say it, and burst into tears.

He looked back at the ground, and waited for a few minutes. "Can't we do a distance relationship? Or visit on the weekends or something?"

"No. Part of what I need is to know what life without you is like."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, tears started to trickle down his cheeks.

She was unable to speak as her breath was shaky, so she nodded gravely.

He let out a disappointed sigh, and sat quietly on his swing with his hands clasped in his lap for a minute. Then he got up, held out his hands, and helped her up. He put his hands on her shoulders, and looked deeply into her eyes, and gave her a chance to catch her breath. Then without warning, he put a hand around her neck, enjoying the feeling of her hair between his fingers for the last time, and gave her a gentle but firm kiss on the lips. After only a few seconds, since this was a breakup after all, he gave her a tight embrace, and his own shoulders started heaving. "Goodbye, Teruhashi Kokomi. Go take the world." He looked at her eyes one last time, and said, "I'll always remember you."

Then he turned and walked away. She watched him go, with her hand over her lips. She stayed and watched the spot where he disappeared down the street, and then eventually walked home and cried the rest of the night.

One day after breakup (AB)

True to her word, she did leave bound for Kyoto the next day. Her parents drove her to the train station, gave her a warm embrace, and waited until her train pulled out of the station.

For the first time in her life, she felt truly alone.

The train ride took up a large portion of the day, but she spent the time watching the landscape pass by, thinking about her last moments with Kusuo. Had she done the right thing? They wouldn't survive a distance relationship, would they? She needed to discover herself. Didn't she?

Eventually her eyes dried, but they were still red and her cheeks puffy when they pulled into the station.

As she disembarked, she barely noticed as several people offered to carry her luggage to a cab that was waiting for her. The cab driver tried to chat her up, but she was in no mood for conversation, so she simply smiled once before returning her attention to the window.

Her apartment was on the third floor of a tall building that was about a 15-minute walk from campus. Again, several helpful people brought her luggage upstairs. She opened the door with a key she got from somebody downstairs, and they set it down in the bedroom marked with her name. There was one more bedroom off the main room. One of the people carrying her bags walked away hunched over and holding his lower back. She said thanks and sat down on her bed.

Okay. Today's for unpacking, tomorrow's for unwinding, the next day for figuring out the city, and the next day for figuring out campus, she thought. She started unloading her things, and placed two framed pictures at a place of honor on her nightstand, one of her family, and one of her and her friends on their senior trip to Osaka. She kissed her index finger and placed it on the picture of Kusuo's head.

Did I do the right thing? she wondered again, and not for the last time.

Her parents had hired out the furnishing of her apartment - so there was already a bed, a nightstand, a desk with two chairs, a mirror hanging over the desk, and a dresser. They must have also provided the couch and the tv in the common room. She looked at the other room - it had a bedframe and some basic furniture, and the nameplate on the wall said "Sofia".

Kokomi had forgotten, with the breakup and all, that she had wanted the full college experience, and that that came with a roommate. She sat down and watched some tv for a few moments, trying to take that in, when she heard a key in the door. The door opened, and in walked who must be Sofia.

"Hi-eeee! Like, it's totally fabulous to -" an excited voice came from the door. Kokomi stood up, smiling, but Sofia frowned and changed her tone. "Oh, you gotta be shitting me." She crossed her arms and scowled.

Kokomi took a step back, and a bead of sweat formed on the side of her face. Her smile faded but gestured for her to go on.

"I know I never get to be the pretty roommate, but I have to deal with this?"

Kokomi had, of course, dealt with this before, but she had hoped that the person she had to live with for months would be able to deal, and even be able to make a friend. "I see." She didn't try to cover the fact that she was upset and went to her room and softly shut the door.

She sat down on the bed, and sniffled for a minute, and tried to distract herself with unpacking. Kokomi had only actually brought a few outfits, since most of what she wore to school before was a uniform, and she wanted to reinvent her look here in Kyoto. Which meant shopping.

She sat down at her desk and looked at herself in the mirror. She could do something with her hair, and totally change her outfit style… But she thought of all the Sofias in the world, and collapsed onto her arms, forehead down. Oh, what's the point? She started to make plans involving figuring out when Sofia would be coming and going, eating in the kitchen, watching tv, and avoiding the door or common room whenever Sofia would be there...

There was a knock, and Sofia came into her room. Kokomi didn't look up.

"Listen, I can see that you're not like the others - the ones who are pretty and have to remind everybody that they are. I … I'm really insecure and I got jealous," Sofia said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Kokomi sniffed. She lifted her head to rest her chin on her arms, and then slowly sat up. "Trust me, give me a month, and we'll see who the jealous one is."

One month AB

It didn't take long for Sofia and Kokomi to become good friends. Sofia was from Brazil, and spoke fluent Portuguese, English, and Japanese. She had short-cropped hair and it was dyed pink. She had been at the university for a year already, and had moved several times and had several roommates, some worse than others.

She had about two weeks to get accustomed to campus life. Sure, she had been to the freshman orientation a few months ago, but she had to really get used to it. Sofia showed her all the great hangout spots, and they went shopping for clothes together.

Classes started. The ones she had registered for were general classes to allow her for a variety of options, including nursing, teaching, business, and so forth. It might be some time before she settled on a course to stick to.

As she expected, over the last month she had been asked out more times than she could count, starting on her first day in town. It certainly picked up after classes started. Some of them she would have considered good looking, but most were average. Like Kusuo. Well, before we got together anyway.

She decided she should give all of them an equal chance, since Kusuo wasn't exactly supermodel material, but they fit perfectly. Therefore, she figured that just about anybody had potential to be a match.

However, she had just broken up with Kusuo, and she was still upset, so she figured that one month would be enough time to get over him. She told everybody that, and they still happily started scheduling dates one month away, and her calendar filled quickly, despite it being so far out.

The time passed quickly, and she had gotten adjusted to classes, homework, laundry and dishes, and learning how much space to give her roommate.

It was time for her first date after Kusuo. He was cute, but the date was awful. They went to a cheap dinner, quickly ran out of small talk, had no common interests, and then they went to a movie. The movie was great, but the date was not.

Finally it was over. He had walked her to her door, and asked, "Would you like me to come inside?"

She wasn't entirely positive what he wanted to do inside, but she simply said, "no", went inside and shut the door. She told Sofia about the experience, and she gasped at the last part, and had to explain to Kokomi what he wanted, and finally Kokomi reacted appropriately.

Two months AB

She had decided to give them a chance, but she discovered a pattern being formed: Guy thought she was hot, guy asked her out, they went out, they didn't have much to talk about, they went their separate ways. All 45 in the last month - sometimes more than one per day - seemed to go that way. She had her calendar scheduled out for at least two more weeks.

Kokomi came home from one such date, closed the door behind her, and leaned back on it, and let out a sigh, totally exhausted.

Sofia was eating popcorn on the couch. "Did that one ask you to invite him in, too?" Sofia was no longer surprised by this. Kokomi nodded. About 20% of them would ask that, even when she knew they clearly hadn't had a good time.

Kokomi was getting a little tired of this pattern. How was she supposed to go out with somebody interesting if she said no to everybody. Or anybody? What if a person she rejected had good potential?

"It doesn't work that way," said Sofia. She patted the seat on the other side of the popcorn bowl. "Seriously, how did you survive high school?" Kokomi sat down, and they both started chowing down on the popcorn.

"Oh, I didn't go out with them. I only went out with one..."

"The pink haired one? He's not bad looking." Kokomi raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, you can tell from the picture poses that he's the one. So? Why is it different now? Why go out at all?"

Kokomi looked down. What was she doing? It had only been two months, and she had been on countless meaningless dates already. Was she just trying to fill the void created when she broke up with Kusuo? She clearly wasn't over him yet.

She tried to explain this to Sofia, but it came out stammering.

"Okay, so it sounds like you're on the rebound. But you don't want just anybody. But you also want to give everybody a chance. But everybody wants to ask you out, and they're all dweebs. You're right, I'm not jealous anymore; this is a disaster."

Kokomi chuckled. It all sounded kind of messed up to hear somebody else say it.

"You have a type, right?"

"Hmmm?"

"Okay, wow. What kind of person are you interested in?"

She put a finger to the corner of their mouth and thought for a second. "It isn't so much what they look like, well, it kinda is, but it's more how they act, how they present themselves, and what they're interested in…"

"So you can't tell immediately by looking at them. That's good. So how long does it take you to know you're not interested in any of these bozos?"

"About ten minutes."

"Teruhashi Kokomi!" Sofia stretched her arms out wide. "So you hold your entire evening or lunch break hostage for something you know in ten minutes?!" Sofia said incredulously. "Haven't you heard of 'let's meet for coffee or drinks'? That's why they do that, you know."

Kokomi nodded thoughtfully.

"Also, haven't there been any that you want to ask out?"

"Yeah, but I'm too busy…"

Sofia facepalmed.

Three months AB

Kokomi came home. It was early this time. She found Sofia and gave her a hug. "Ohh, you have saved me sooo much time and energy."

She had turned each of her previously scheduled dates into meeting for desserts, or coffee, or soda or even taking laps around the university gym (she still wasn't of drinking age). She called these "weeder dates".

She also decided that, given her success rate so far, she would only allow for about eight of these a week, and save one or two for people she wanted to ask out, and save one or two nights a week to not go out at all. Except maybe catch up on homework or hang out with Sofia.

Four months AB

Kokomi discovered an interesting fact around this time of her life - not everybody that she was interested in was interested in her, despite the initial attraction. Wow, how do people find each other, and stay together?

She gasped and remembered something. Kusuo… She reminded herself that that was over, and went to class, and sighed.

After zoning out the lecture about the various tendons in human legs, Kokomi found herself staring at a guy in her anatomy class, and it was the same guy she had noticed for the last few days.

She looked at her calendar on her phone - she could meet him for a weeder date on Friday, and if that went well, she could go on a real date in a week and a half.

After class, she walked up to him. "Hi," she said.

"Umm, hi," he responded, blushing, barely making eye contact.

"My name's Teruhashi Kokomi. What's yours?"

"Akiyama, um, Kaori."

"Do you want to meet at the soda club off campus after class on Friday?"

"Excuse me?"

"Drinks. Friday."

"Are you pranking me?"

"Huh?"

"Someone like you, and somebody like me."

"I don't follow."

"Seriously? Ok. Sure. Friday."

Five months AB

Summer break started, and Kokomi decided not to go home, she had gotten a job, and she wanting some time to figure out where things went with the one guy she had something in common with.

"I had a nice time tonight," she told Kaori, after their third date, and meant it. She waited by her door with her hands clasped in front of her. He was clearly too intimidated to try anything. She didn't want to wait anymore, so she put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a soft, short but not too short, kiss. He was about her height, so she didn't have to reach up or anything.

"Good night," she said, and shut the door behind her. It was nice. Not Kusuo "my insides melt and my knees lose the strength to stand" nice, but nice. I better stop that, or I'll end up saying 'Oh, Kusuo' next time we kiss.

Sofia must have seen her face. "Things are on the up, huh?" Kokomi looked over and she saw her give Kokomi a nod of approval from the couch. Her arm was wrapped around somebody Kokomi didn't recognize. She had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. "Oh, this is my girlfriend, Gabriella."

Gabriella, though, must not have been as excited about the news, and bolted for the door.

"Shit," said Sofia. A few minutes later, she came back, alone. "She's gone. This is all your -" but she couldn't finish her sentence after she saw Kokomi in distress - she had fallen to her knees and had started chewing her nails. "I'm sorry. I hope you understand a little better now, though."

"Tell me how to find her," Kokomi said softly.

The next day, Kokomi had skipped her writing class to wait for Gabriella outside one of the buildings on the other side of campus. She checked the clock on her phone and waited.

People started leaving the building, and after about forty people had filed out, she recognized Gabriella, and fell in beside her.

"Hi," Kokomi said, tentatively but cheerfully.

Gabriella made an overexaggerated sigh, looking around to see if there was a way out without drawing attention. "What do you want?"

"Tell me why you ran off last night," she said in the way that made you want to confide in her.

"What do you think?!"

"I need to hear you say it."

"Oh for the love …, coming home everyday to see you! How can I compete?!"

Kokomi rolled her eyes. "Do you know how many dates I've been on since I've gotten to Kyoto?"

"What?" Gabriella said, not expecting this line of questioning.

"Over 200. Now how many of those do you think were my type, and I was theirs?"

"50?"

"No, just one so far. Now what do you think that means?"

Gabriella exhaled sharply and threw up her hands. "I have no idea."

"It means THIS," she said, gesturing to herself vigorously, "means nothing. It only means I have to sift through a lot more crap before I can find what I want."

Kokomi let her process that before she continued, "Now listen. I have never seen Sofia that way. And I'm pretty sure she has never seen me that way."

"Would you know if she did?" she responded, with a small grin.

"Probably not," she said with a chuckle.

"You better be right about this."

Six months AB

Kokomi, Kaori, Sofia, and Gabriella were all watching a movie on the couch. They had made dinner together, appreciating each others' various home cuisines - Japanese, Brazilian, and German. Kaori had finally gotten used to his status with Kokomi, and could almost say he was an equal in their relationship. Kokomi had finally gotten used to not comparing him to Kusuo.

Summer vacation had ended, and it was the start of fall term. Kokomi had chosen similar classes, and had gotten a job at the soda club.

She was resting her head on Kaori's shoulder, and Gabriella's arm was around Sofia. Kaori made a joke about the movie and everybody laughed.

Kokomi started getting messages on her phone. She ignored the first few, but after several in a row, she took a peek, and went as white as a ghost.

Kusuo:
hey
sorry to bug u
my mom died
on the news
i couldn't stop it or fix it
funeral saturday
can u come

"Guys? Can I see something really quick?" Hearing the panic in her voice caused Gabriella to yield the remote. Kokomi quickly flicked it to the news.

After a few minutes of local stories, they watched, as the news showed the story of a medium earthquake that caused a small bridge out in the countryside to collapse, and heavy pieces had landed on one vehicle, and it killed the driver, Saiki Kurumi.

"Oh, oh, oh," she stood up, dropping the phone and raising her hands to her mouth, "that's his mom!" Her hands moved to her stomach, and then she quickly ran to the bathroom, and didn't come out for a minute.

"What? Who's mom?" Kaori asked.

"Her ex," Sofia replied. She showed him the phone.

They heard the toilet flush, and the sink going for a minute, and Kokomi came back in, her face now a shade of green. She saw Kaori start balling his hands into fists and going a little red, and said, "I need to lay down. Do you mind if I call it a night?" she said.

Kaori, after seeing her expression, started softening his expression, nodded, and headed for the door.

After he was good and gone, Kokomi called, "Sof, Gabi! I need you!"

They popped into her room, each claiming a desk chair.

Before Kokomi said anything, Sofia handed her back the phone and asked, "What did he mean when he said he couldn't stop it or fix it?"

"I dunno. What am I supposed to do now?"

Gabriella, perhaps because she was the most removed from the situation, took stock. "Let's see. You go visit and comfort your ex-boyfriend, your new boyfriend's going to get jealous. Real jealous. Unless he's real secure with your relationship." Kokomi had to furrow an eyebrow at that one.

Sofia continued, "And it depends on whether you still have feelings for him." She waited. "Do you? Your ex, that is."

Kokomi pursed her lips, shook her head slightly, and shrugged, eyebrows raised.

"That's an 'I do but I'm ashamed that I'm not over it by now'. Well, do you have feelings for this new guy?"

She gave a shrug, showing a little emotion.

"When you kiss him, how do you feel compared to how you felt when you kissed your ex?" Gabriella added.

She shook her head. There was no comparison.

"Then why the hell are you still questioning it?"

Six months, Four days AB

Kokomi, Sofi, and Gabi were in a cab on the way to the chapel where the wake would be. The train ride back home had been uneventful, except for Kokomi to complain about the Freshman Fifteen (weight gain, after having been on so many dates, most of which involved food). She was able to spend the nights with her parents, who appropriately chastised her for not coming home for the summer.

Her friends had come with her for support, and a little to watch the drama unfold. Her parents had let them stay in their extra rooms.

She started chewing her nails. What would she do when she saw him? What about Kaori?

"Is chewing your nails your thing? I mean, I'll wrap my hair tightly around one finger till it hurts, and Gabi will just stomp her foot around, even if she's sitting still," Sofia said. Suddenly Gabriella stopped moving her feet, and the other two looked at her.

"What?" she asked. "This could be a rekindled flame! But what if he's moved on? This could get good!"

"Hey! I thought you were on Team Kaori!" Sofia whined.

Kokomi looked back and forth between them, and started laughing out of control. The others, even the cabbie, joined in.

Sofia and Gabriella felt uncomfortable going to a funeral service for somebody they didn't know, so they waited on a bench outside, and wished Kokomi luck as she filed into the chapel.*

Kusuo was sitting between his brother and father on the stand, and there was a fancy wooden casket on the ground level, covered with floral arrangements. Kokomi guessed the casket was mahogany. There was a giant picture of Kurumi smiling broadly with her eyes closed set up on an easel next to it.

Kusuo's other friends were gathered in the second-to-back row of the main section. Kokomi took a place behind them. They nodded grave smiles as she sat down.

Kurumi. She had come originally for Kusuo, but she had had a relationship with Kurumi, too. She had invited her into her home numerous times, was like a second mother to her, and even taught her how to cook. She started sobbing again.

The service opened with a few songs, and then the family started to speak. Her father, Kusuo's grandfather, spoke about how no parent should have to bury their child. Her mother spoke about the joys and terrors of Kurumi growing up. There were moments that the audience was raising the roof with laughter.

Then Kusuke got up, and turned on a projector they hadn't noticed. He had a powerpoint presentation demonstrating how, given the space, freedom to pursue their ambitions, love, time, humor, and devotion "made her the best mother, neighbor, friend, daughter, ever. QED."

"But mom, you left us too soon. We're not finished yet; we're all a mess. Even Dad."

Kusuo's turn. He looked out at the audience, with a grieved look on his face. He made eye contact with Kokomi for the first time, and his grief seemed to intensify. He couldn't speak for several minutes, his entire body seemed to be shaking. Finally, he had a controlled moment, and said softly, "You couldn't have asked for a better mom than Saiki Kurumi," and sat down.

His dad got up, and was a little more contained than his children. Through teary eyes, he told of how they had met, how she made him the happiest man on earth, how he could have been better to her, and ended with how Kusuo said their love meter exceeded 38,000. "Honey, our love is over 38000. It won't be the same without you."

There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd; even Kusuo's hardened grandfather wiped a tear out of his eye.

A person she recognized from the nearby temple got up and said a few religious words, and she found herself thinking, God bring you back home.

The family took a few moments to speak with their guests before they would be ushered off to take care of Kurumi's final preparations. Kusuo came down and gave each of his friends a hug. Just like he was when he was on the stand, he wasn't able to speak. He came to her last, and gave her a tight squeeze, just like he had on the last time they were together, but this time, she could feel him crying.

He wouldn't let go for an eternity, until his dad came and tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "It's time."

He looked at her gravely in the eyes, and she watched him leave again. Then she looked for the others, and noticed they had gone.

Sofia and Gabriella, seeming to notice it was over, were suddenly by her side. "Where did my other friends go?" she asked her companions.

"Well, after they hugged the pink-haired guy, they watched him huggin' you, and they each scowled at you for a moment, and then they left as a group," Sofia said, and put a hand on her shoulder. She pointed toward the side door with the other hand.

"Yeah, this is totally intense. I need some popcorn," Gabriella said. Sofia smacked her again.

Kokomi ran out the side door, and found her friends talking in the parking lot. "Here she comes," Aren said. They all turned to face her, scowling again.

She gasped and took a step back when they saw their reaction. These were her friends! "What gives, guys?" she asked after a few minutes.

Nobody wanted to say anything, but Riki finally spoke, "Um, Kokomi, you left him heartbroken. You left us, too. You never called, you never texted. The rest of us stayed here to be together, except for Aren, who went to Osaka, but he texts all the time and came to visit at least once a month. You made new friends," he gestured to Sofia and Gabriella, "but you forgot your old friends."

Kokomi looked down in shame, realizing he was right. Sofia put her arm around her, earning the glares of the group, and then took it off again.

Gabriella spoke up. "Well, what about you? Did you ever call? Did you ever text? Listen, Aren, Riki, Chiyo, Shun, Miko, Chisato, and Kineshi - that's right, I know your names - she talks about you all the time!"

Chiyo's phone buzzed. She looked at it.
Kokomi: I'm sorry, Chiyo. I got caught up. It won't happen again.

Chiyo looked over at Kokomi, whose head was inclined, eyes softened, and lips pouty. The group slowly realized that Gabriella was right, and they nodded toward her, and Chiyo went to give her a hug.

"I'm sorry, too. I should have tried to keep in touch, too."

"Friends?"

"Yeah."

They knew the family would be busy for the rest of the day, so they went to dinner as a group at a "classy" ramen joint. They would meet up with Kusuo again the next day at a gathering at his house.

Chiyo told her how she had Shun had just gotten together the week before. Neither had the guts to tell the other their feelings, until Riki pushed them into it. Riki had been on one date with just about everybody in the city, and hadn't been able to hold a relationship. Aren told her how Kusuo had been absolutely devastated when she left, moped at home for about a month, and finally got a job at a restaurant for a couple months, and finally started a summer internship with his brother. "He's just not the same though."

Miko explained that they all tried to get him to date again, but he wouldn't. Chisato teased, "Even his soulmate couldn't get a date with him." Miko slugged her playfully.

They all filled her in on their various career aspirations, and they started gabbing with Sofia and Gabriella, and they quickly became included in the group.

It got late, and they all looked forward to meeting again at Kusuo's the next day.

Six months, five days AB

She woke up in the morning, pondering about Kusuo's sadness on the way to his house. He hadn't seemed all that devastated when they broke up - sure, he was sad, but he just let her go. He never tried to come get her, or fight for her, or anything like that.

Would it have been any different? She had wanted something she felt he couldn't offer, so he let her go...

She rang the doorbell, and Kusuke ushered her and her friends in. They were the last to arrive.

The family gathered and there was a brief ceremony with the urn and the family shrine.

"Is that him?" Gabriella asked, pointing to Kusuke. "He's pretty cute."

"Gabi, you've seen the picture. That's clearly the brother," Sofia said, slugging her. Kokomi smiled.

Then Kusuke walked to his room and shut the door, and Kusuo invited his friends to go outside with him, while his dad would entertain everybody else in the front room.

There were portable tables set up outside with quick decorations. They were covered with snacks, drinks, sandwiches, and other potluck-style courses.

Kokomi didn't dare face him one-on-one, so she sat on a step with Chiyo, and started talking about her and Shun.

Sofia was mingling with the others. Gabriella materialized from the corner of the house, came over and grabbed Kokomi by the arm, and dragged her back around the same corner, and shoved her about a meter, and walked away.

Shoved her toward Kusuo, who was alone, sitting on a bench. Who looked like he had been shoved there recently.

What do you say to somebody whose mom just died? She put her hand gently on his leg to comfort him, and gave him a small smile. She was not surprised to discover, in fact, she did still have feelings for him, and that one small touch brought them all back. "How you holding up?" she asked.

He was still looking down, hands clasped on his lap. But he eventually started chewing his bottom lip and looked over at her. "It's been rough since you left, but this last week has been …" and he started crying. She put her arm around him, and he tipped over a little, and let her awkwardly hug him from behind, sitting there on a bench.

She let him cry it out.

"I … I know I'll get over Mom dying, but I don't think I'll ever get over you."

"Then why didn't you come after me?"

"Would it have worked?"

"I don't know; yeah, maybe."

He started chuckling under his breath. "I've watched a lot of tv lately. It seems there are two camps in the soap opera world: 'go after her', and 'if you love her, let her go', and you only get to choose once. I thought I made the right choice."

Kokomi lifted up her head with words she'd never heard before coming from him. She raised the corner of her lips into a half-smile and asked coyly, "So you chose…?"

Kusuo looked at her skeptically. "If you love her…", he started, but he seemed to come to a realization, and he blushed. But instead of playing along, he turned on her. "Well, what about you? You could have come back, instead of dating all of Japan."

She finally had better words to explain what she couldn't five months ago. "No, Kusuo. You've seen the world. You've seen what humanity has to offer. You've accepted your role in it. I've been stuck in the same city, living in my brother's shadow, being trapped in one high school cliche after another, and I needed to get out and see what was out there! To see if the world had anything else to offer! To make my own person, and not be known for what's on the surface.

"If I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have been happy, and I would have dragged you down.

"But I've had my experience, and I'm glad for it."

She started to get up. She knew going any further on a day like this would be insensitive.

"Wait! We need to finish talking about this!"

She looked at him gently. "Saiki Kusuo! You just buried your mother. I can't ask you to make any decisions today."

He stood up and grabbed her hand. "But I can, because I know what I would have wanted last week. Besides, if we don't, you're just going to leave again, right?"

Kokomi thought about it, and she knew he was right - she had classes the next day.

She looked at him earnestly, hoping he would ask her to stay, to 'come after her', as it were. She looked in his eyes, and saw that he wished she would ask him if he wanted her to.

On the other hand, it was Kokomi who had left him, broken up with him, and shattered his heart. "Okay..., so you were saying about soap operas..."

He perked up a little. "'If you love her, let her go'?"

"Can I hear you say it?" She grabbed his other hand and turned to face him.

He started sweating, but let out a deep breath as he said, "I love you, Teruhashi Kokomi." Seeing her smile in response apparently gave him more gumption, and he continued. "I love you like the sun is bright and the ocean is deep. I could never love another like I love you."

Kokomi put a hand on her heart and felt her face soften. "Nice speech," she whispered, leaning in to put their foreheads together.

"When everybody saw that I wasn't getting out of bed, they made me take a community poetry class with them."

"Good for them. You must have hated it." Kokomi chuckled. Then she looked earnestly into his eyes. "And I love you. I'm sorry I left. But I've seen that I can't just replace what you mean to me." Then they kissed. They kissed like they had never been apart.

They heard a "YES!" from around the corner along with the sound of a vigorous high five. Kokomi and Kusuo giggled.

"I'm sorry about your mom. She truly was great." She clasped his hands.

"Yeah." He looked sad, but it looked like a manageable sad now. He squeezed her hands back.

"Are you ... sure you're not trying to fill your emptiness after losing her with me?" Kokomi wanted to be sure.

"Yeah. Look, I had lost two people I love. Now there's only one. In fact, now I think I can more healthily process ... it, you know, not being dead inside all the time."

She nodded.

He had a question: "So..., what about your boyfriend?"

"Right… he actually got gutsy enough to say that if I came to see you, he was going to break it off. Quite a step up for him."

"And what about college… you can't 'just stay', can you?"

She hadn't really thought this through. "Hmmm, I could drop out, and start here next year, or I could go back and finish the year, and then transfer to Tokyo."

"How bout you finish the year, come back to visit once a month, and I'll come visit you … as often as I have the power to do so?" he said arching his eyebrows at the end.

They went back around the yard, holding hands, and mingled with the others for a bit, and went back inside to pay proper respects to his mother.

Kokomi saw Kusuo's grandma slap his grandpa 100 yen.

One month later

Kokomi went back to Kyoto. She and her roommates all put in transfer applications to Tokyo for next spring. Her friends and her adventure seemed to have had quite the impact on them. They had told her, "it would be easier than the events that you got back in touch with your other friends." And so she had made a concerted effort to keep in contact with her high school friends.

She officially broke things off with Kaori. She thanked him for being the only decent guy she knew in Kyoto, and he thanked her for pulling him out of his shell.

Kokomi had asked what he meant when he said he couldn't save his mom. He told her that he never had a premonition about it, and that restoration wouldn't work. Then again, he had never tried restoring somebody who had died before.

Kokomi met Kusuo for lunch every day. He teleported in and out, and they tried to meet in secret. He would "officially visit" her one weekend, then she would officially visit him, her family and friends one weekend (which really meant he teleported to Kyoto and teleported back with her), and then they would take a break for one weekend.

He was still mourning his mother, but she was a part of helping all of the Saikis move on, in a way that they could honor her.

Gabriella and Sofia started to suspect something weird going on, so they followed Kokomi one day to see where she went everyday for lunch. They saw Kusuo on a non-weekend and nearly tripped over the fake potted trees. Then they watched him make eye contact with them, wink, and simply vanish.

Kokomi rushed over as they collapsed to the ground.

"You got some explaining to do," Gabriella said.

A/N: Could this story have ended properly without the tragedy? Probably. I'm sorry. A little.

Ok, after sleeping on it, I am never doing that again. There have already been a number of "That would never happen"s that I now get to try to fix.

Ack! Too many holes. Maybe it would have been better as longer story.

Edit 1: Trying to explain establishing a romance right after your mom's funeral

Edit 2: Give Teruhashi a little time to start dating after dumping Saiki. And explaining her naivety with the dating world.

* According to the map presented in Episode 1-12, the arrow between "wherever Saiki's home is" and "Okinawa" looks close to Tokyo, to me anyway. Thus, we'll assume that the University of Tokyo is within commuting distance. If I'm completely mistaken, then we can call it "some other university within commuting distance."

* I did do some research, but probably not enough, regarding what went on with Japanese funeral services, and I tried to combine that with what we know about the characters' belief in God, and I'm 100% sure I totally butchered it. Sorry, everybody.