“What happened to Natsumi-san?” Naru asked when she first saw Usagi as school on Monday. “I heard from Umino that she and Seijuro-san aren’t coming back to school anymore.”
Usagi blinked. “Really?” she asked, affecting surprise. She had to hand it to him; Umino was very good at finding things out. But she didn’t expect anyone to find out so quickly. After all, Ami and Ryoku had only just finished loading those false transfer documents into the school’s computer system yesterday evening.
“Yeah,” Naru continued. “Didn’t you hear? Umino said that the apartment complex that they lived in had some kind of gas leak and somehow their apartment was totally destroyed in an explosion! Luckily, they weren’t in it at the time, according to the police, but no one knows where they went.”
“That’s funny; from what they told me the last time I saw them, they said that they were going back home.”
“You saw them? When?”
“Just before the weekend. When did you say their apartment exploded?”
“Saturday,” Naru replied, frowning in confusion. “Say, Usagi-chan, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about what happened, do you?”
“Who me?” she asked, laughing as she put a hand behind her head. “What makes you think I know anything?”
“I don’t know…,” she replied, then shrugged. “They transferred here so suddenly and they leave just as suddenly. I wonder why they had to leave….”
Usagi shrugged noncommittally. “Well, wherever they are, I hope that they’re happy. In a way, I think that I’ll miss them.” She laughed quietly. “Even Natsumi-san, I guess.”
Naru gave her a considering look, then grinned. “Only you could honestly miss someone who was always so cold toward you, Usagi.”
“Maybe, but we became friends in the end.”
Naru laughed. “And only you could make friends with that same person.”
Usagi laughed as well. “And what’s wrong with that? I can’t help it if I’m so lovable.”
“Now I’m gonna be sick,” Naru said jokingly as both girls began to laugh in earnest just as the bell for class rang. “Come on, Usgai-chan. We’d better get back to class.”
Once again, they were wanderers. However, this time, they had a new goal to search for: a new home to call their own. No longer would they need to search for life to suck the energy from like vampires. No longer would they have to resort to ruthlessness, duplicity and force. They were changed; born anew. Now, they would live as their creator wanted them to live; a life filled with kindness, compassion and love.
With these thoughts in mind, the dark, endless void wasn’t as hauntingly cold and empty as it once had been.
As they traveled onward, a sudden sensation tickled the back of his neck as a streak of blue flashed past his peripheral vision. With curiosity building up in him, he began to slow their forward motion. His companion gave him a questioning look, but he returned it with a reassuring smile. She smiled back, showing him complete trust and love in that one smile.
Slowly – as if by moving quickly, he would scare whatever he had thought he had seen away into the darkness – he turned them toward the direction he had seen the blue streak.
And there it was.
A planet.
He could feel his companion’s anticipation bubbling up beside him, but he wanted to be sure. He quickly moved them closer toward the planet, while reaching out toward it, giving the planet the same testing probe that he had given Earth what had seemed like a whole other lifetime ago. It was another lifetime, he realized. That cold, unfeeling person was dead, and he was reborn in his place. He would not make the same mistake as his ancestors made and neither would his companion. They had learned their lesson the hardest way possible.
There was no life there that he could sense, the world was covered in water almost like the world that the Makaiju had shown him, and the atmosphere was inhabitable, but that wasn’t enough. Could they really live there? They would be the proverbial Adam and Eve of this planet with only the Makaiju as the only other life-form on the planet.
He shared a look with his companion. Her expression was mixed; she seemed anxious, eager, scared, but above all, she was filled with love for him. That was when he realized that his emotions were mirrored in hers; he felt the exact same way. When she reassuringly tightened her hold on his hand and he unconsciously returned the reassuring squeeze, he made his decision. He didn’t have to tell her; she wordlessly nodded her agreement to his choice as they turned toward the planet and began their descent.
It took a great deal of searching, but miraculously enough, there was some open land on the planet’s surface. Once they settled down on the small island in the middle of nowhere and planted the seedling that they carried down into the earth.
They watched, waited, hoped and prayed. If the seedling couldn’t take to the earth, then they would have to continue their search.
When the seedling began to bury itself into the earth and grow a few inches in height, sprouting its first few leaves and buds, they both let out the breath that they hadn’t realized they were holding. It was a success. The Makaiju could live here.
And that meant that they could live here, too.
As one, they turned toward each other and gathered each other up in a loving embrace.
“Welcome home, Ail,” she whispered softly in his ear.
Ail pulled back slightly as he looked into her eyes and smiled.
“Welcome home, Ann,” he replied as they came together in a long, deep kiss. After so long, they could finally end their lifelong journey.
They had come home at last.