After life, "heaven", the world of the dead.
It should come as no surprise that the departed might linger in a place like that, at least for
a little while. Or perhaps they will linger just above it.
That's where I am. That's where you are.
"...So that's it? My hand on her cheek? Her running me through with glass? I can't feel either anymore.
I can't feel anything—can't feel her...
Why? You're here, but... isn't there something still stirring inside of you? You've got a few little pulses of
life left... a little more to go.
No, it's not quite over yet...
It's been much longer than this, hasn't it? You've already seen so much worse.
Now get up, fight. Fight agai—
Let's just talk, instead.
"You're not listening. I don't want to talk. I already said, I just want to... to..."
"...You're pretty annoying, you know.
Then do you remember? If you do, you should know why I...
...These memories... aren't going to leave me easily, now that I know them.
Even if I don't want to, I really am starting to remember every little thing.
And... if I'm remembering right... Ha, I've thought this before, but... is this a joke?"
"My old life... I loved being alive, but...
How many times was I thrown down? How many times was I spat on? Hate followed us everywhere
even though we just wanted to... to take our powers and...
"Well funny thing... that's actually the one thing I don't remember.
...I guess you might as well call me 'Tairitsu'."
Then... call me that, too.
"You're kidding... Really? Are you... Are you telling me that I'm right?"
"That when she made this world, she didn't think about a single part
of it. If you're... If the life I had here was...
...I'd say she just never learned.
"...I don't feel sorry for her, if that's what you're getting at. We may have come from different realities, but
she must have understood what she could do. She had to know, and she just didn't care. And that's why...
I don't care that she wasn't brought up and taught like I was. Just... look. Look at what all my training with
the Shapers got me. I was different from her because of who I was, not what I learned. If I'd had the
strength... If I'd really had the power to change things, for the whole world—"
I would've, but I couldn't, and I didn't.
"...And that's what I got: another go, because that's what she wanted, and in her stupidity she gave that
to everyone else, too. So... dumb. It's dumb, right? You have to laugh. Come on! Laugh!"
"What, you can't? Of course you can't, I mean—what kind of second chance was this? Just some
kind of... terrible... ironic reflection.
Struggling while alive, while everything claws and rips at you.
Getting up when you're broken and bleeding—I DID that!
I kept standing up, kept fighting even though I KNEW it was pointless!
Why would she make me live all of that again!? Answer me—why!? I...!
I wanted things to change...
I never wanted... to give up..."
...Did you? This second time around?
I know I'm dying. Could you tell me something? Can I still see outside, before I go? Through my birds...
Can I see her little prison, one last time?"
So many small and unknown corners, with trapped souls wandering around them.
I guess you can't call them souls. Everything here is only a memory—even us.
What are they thinking...? I only caught a glimpse of that shard, and it didn't tell me everything."
Most of them are happy. Very, very happy.
"...Now that's just evil, haha...
...I feel like crying... you know? I just want to cry—about everything. Why'd I do all this? Why did I die?"
"...That's a good look on your face. Have you got an answer for me? Tch... I'm... I just...
It all hurts... Everything hurts. It's like I finally, really get it, and it's...
It's just horrible. I can't even cry anymore..."
You didn't really want to die, so why did you?
"...When I first lived, the road ahead was dark...
But I knew that it would branch into countless others. I could find death somewhere, sure, but I could find
anything else if I just walked down the right path.
It was never like that here, and looking back, I feel sick for ever thinking that it was.
These roads are barren, and there's no place to stop.
Anyone, no matter their path, will march and march on blindly, until
their legs give out and they see the truth of it:
that it doesn't matter what turns they take. Every single path leads to nothing at all."
...I actually don't think so. I think... there must be a road here that leads to something else.
"What makes you say that, when you're trapped out here only able to talk to the dead? Are you stupid?
Were you paying attention, even once?"
...I just can't believe that. I have to have hope...
I don't want to believe that... that...
"This is just what I was saying. You don't want to see the truth? Nothing here mattered at all."
I can't let it be the truth.
You understand. If that's the truth, wouldn't it be... gross? Wouldn't it be too sad?
...I do remember that, from back when I was living. Thinking like that was what kept me alive.
You really are me. She really copied me out and... it really is true for all of us—we're all hollow, copied souls.
She's still alive. We're all dead."
"But then... why are you here? Where are the originals for everyone else? Where are their souls?"
...I don't know, and I don't know.
Actually, you still haven't said so... so, just... just tell me, alright? Are you really the real me? Are you my soul?"
Yes... that's what I am. Yes, I've been all alone out here, and yes, I've been watching.
And you're pretty annoying, huh?
Aren't you also real, Tairitsu? Aren't we all?
"Maybe we are. Maybe I was."
I doubt someone as annoying as you could be fake.
I'd never have guessed I'd be watching myself experience a terrible fate again in a second life,
only for things to change.
I wanted you to... I don't know.
I really wanted the change to be... good.
Do you really think it still can't be? The "villain" is dead, after all...
"I know you're joking, but... I'm sorry.
I don't want to completely give up on it either.
I don't think it's hopeless. I mean, you're still here after the end, aren't you? Maybe you'll still be here
And... if you still are watching after I'm gone...
...I really think you shouldn't give up hope like I did.
The girls left here might be able to save themselves. I want to believe that.
A change, just like you said...
If I don't go away forever, if you can find me after all of this, let me know when they do."
"This is funny too, huh...
When I was alive, when the others weren't there, I remember I always... talked to myself.
But, you know... I never felt alone."
No one alive is really alone.
That's what I always told myself...
...I want to see the world again.
A ruined tower, and pieces of glass floating in the air. A wide world of white.
White, white, and more glass. Drawn to departed souls...
But I can see it on their faces:
None of these girls are lost anymore."
..."None of them"? Looks like you finally forgot about her.
Oh, you're right, her... I actually can see her, too—well, she's really torn up about this...
...But isn't that a good thing? It's... different. She's upset, she's hurt...
It's better than 'nothing'."
"I'm not sure if she'll be okay, but I am sure she'll take this with her. Honestly... I'd even apologize to her,
thinking about it now. I think I did the right thing, but—"
You didn't do anything right.
"Pff...! Hah. Okay. but... I don't think I did anything wrong.
I'd apologize to her. I mean... Why wouldn't I? We're real. And if she's real... then she's just another fool
ghost, punished for nothing and knowing nothing.
This is really it, huh...?"
I'm sorry to say, but... yes, I'm sure.
"Sorry to say, but... I can't just do that. I'm honestly... barely here..."
Honestly, I'm sorry. I don't have any regrets, but... the hate I felt wasn't even... for you. The other... you...
She's still out... there. Still a...live...
You should know that... you're stronger than her.
...I know you'll stand up again."
"They're already closed."
I had everything to suffer, but I still wanted to change everything for the better...
I fought FOR something... no matter what it was I had to face.
No matter... how misguided... I became...
I'm sorry... that I chose to die.
I'm sorry for throwing it all away.
...Even if I wasted it... I was lucky to get another chance.
"I want her to kn... tha... I don't... don't want a... pathetic...
I don't want a... stupid finale... to be all I'm remembered... for.
...If you can hear me, I want you to know this, Hi... Hikari...
I mean it. Don't... forget...
A girl weeps before her remains now.
So anguished, so crippled with grief, the girl misses the final smile on her face before it fades.
Some of this tale remains untold. The truth is, some tales end without ever being fully told.
And their pieces—their shards are what remain, to be put together and understood.
This has always been a world of shards, a world of pieces.
The girls have always been left to pick those pieces up.
Believing that reflections have meaning. Believing that being, at all, is why anyone would ever be.
Now the girl in white crumples down to the earth, hurt and alone.
But she will find and carry pieces too.
Memories will live on, here.
All will be remembered, until and past the very end.
And none will ever forget
