A Warm Place

X What Lies There

Relying on my memories, I tread along the path to my destination. I'd only go there sometimes, and it's been so many years since then. Actually, I'm worried if I'm going the right way, but after wandering about for a while, I find the signboard that I'm searching for. I proceed following the sign, and I finally reach the place.

--A desolate cemetery.

"It should be here, if it exists."

I look around and search. After checking the names one by one, I find the one that I'm too familiar with-carved into the gravestone. I crouch down to read the engraved characters carefully... it seems that I'm at the right place.

(I wonder what to say... this feels strange...)

I trace the engraving with my fingertip, and makes a wry smile. The wind blows, and the trees in the cemetery make rustling sounds.

"Hm?"

Now that I take a look at it, there is a flower placed in front of the gravestone. It hasn't wilted yet, so it must have been placed quite recently. I don't know if it's the priest, or maybe a visitor, but I'm grateful for it. Both the grave and the area have been thoroughly cleaned, as well...

"...I wonder if it's okay for me to give a prayer."

But that'd be somehow ridiculous, so I just stand still as I look at the grave. It seems there's nobody beside me in this quiet cemetery.

"I really died, didn't I?"

Seeing my past name engraved in a gravestone like this makes me realize again that I had departed from this world. Nevertheless, I wouldn't have imagined looking at my own grave like this. It feels a bit painful to be thrust at by the fact of my own death, but it's not as shocking as I thought it would. Maybe it's because I've been hit by a streak of surprises since I came to this town that I'm no longer shaken by most things.

I have been reborn as a different person, Hayase Hinata, and I'm no longer the me who has been dead. But with my memories intact, I am also still [me].

(Why did the memories from my past life linger after I reincarnate?)

Besides, there is only around 1 year difference from when I died until I was reborn. I thought reincarnation normally takes hundreds of years, like how it's told in manga and such.

(Maybe the gods are pulling a prank on me--)

But thanks to that, I'm able to meet the people dear to me again. I'm now living in a world where's she's still alive, as a different person.

(But--)

I close my eyes and I think about those who I think dearly of. After a while, I decide to go home. I turn away, but that is when someone taps on my shoulder.

"Wah!"
"Good afternoon. If I recall, you are Tsubaki's friend, Hinata-chan... right?"
"Y-yes."
"What are you doing here?"

Then, she turns her gaze from me towards the grave. Uh oh, isn't this a bad situation?

"Hinata-chan, why are you visiting my Nee-san?"
"......"

'Nee-san', huh. Even though she would call me Onee-chan in the past.

--Wait, this is not the time to be lost in thought! How should I answer her!

I'm looking for the words to say as I close and open my mouth repeatedly. Rumi makes a troubled smile as she stands in front of the grave.

"It's not possible for you to be acquainted with Nee-san... right? Because, Nee-san had already been gone by the time Hinata-chan was born."

She offers a flower that she's brought with her to the gravestone, then she claps her hands in prayer. Glancing at her sorrowful look from the side makes me really feel like running away.