After Story: Conclusion

A world of white...

A reality of white...

White as snow, but not snow, for as far as the eye could see...

I felt myself tumbling through the whiteness, feeling like I was going backward and forward at the same time, seeing memories...or were they dreams...? Of school and work and love and loss and family...family...?

Was I curled up in a ball or standing upright? Was I upside-down or right-side-up? Which way was up? Which way was down? Was there an up or down?

I felt myself tumbling through this whiteness, feeling like I was going backward and forward at the same time...

My feet touched what felt like solid ground – feet...? – and when I pushed against the white surface it did not give. I looked down to see...feet? I had feet? And legs! Legs covered with some kind of cloth. A faint memory...a uniform? 'Electrician'?

Memories or delusions, thoughts coursed through my mind, of school and work and love and loss and family...

"Family: a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household."

But...there was more, wasn't there? More than just biology; there's a connection, right? Right?

I remembered my body, and looked down to see clothes covering pink flesh; where had the junk gone? A pinch...OUCH! Pain! I felt pain! I almost laughed in relief, except that I couldn't remember what 'laugh' or 'relief' meant. As other thoughts became more real to me, I realized that these must be memories, returning to their owner, and if I gave them enough time they would all come back.

To distract myself from the intensity of these thoughts and feelings I looked around me, studying the stark whiteness that surrounded me. I felt like I had stopped...something. Going home? Where was I going?

Out of the corner of my eye – Ah! I had eyes, too! – I saw movement, and whipped my head around to better focus on...it.

At first, it appeared as a dark blob...no, several dark blobs; a tall one, and a slightly shorter one. A family of blobs...family? The word 'dango' came to mind.

I watched as the taller one resolved itself into a man, as tall as me and wearing a light-brown suit, and he somehow looked familiar, like someone I'd seen in a past I still struggled to recall. "Who are you?" I demanded, then gasped at the sound of my own voice. My voice!

He saw me, too, and his eyes widened and he looked down at the young, brown-haired woman next to him, now fully...formed? "Fuuko? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

She looked around before her eyes settled on me, and she gasped. "Tomo-kun...it's...it's you!"

"Me?" I croaked, still not used to having a voice. "I'm me!"

"But...you look...just like me," he said as he and the girl slowly walked up to me. "But how...?"

"Maybe you're both 'you'?" the girl suggested as she looked around. "This isn't Hikarizaka, but it seems...familiar."

I started to say something but was interrupted with a "What the hell?!" from behind, and I spun to find...another me, this one wearing a basketball uniform. Wait, where did the word 'basketball' come from? With him was a young woman with long, purple hair, carrying a baby.

"Who are you?" I heard the 'me' in the brown suit demand.

The purple-haired girl looked at us, and; "Oh my god...Tomoya, it's you! Two of you!"

Another me suddenly appeared, this one with a girl wearing a long, white lab coat. Something about her face called to me from...so long ago...another life? "Tomoya-kun, I am sorry; I think I miscalculated the settings."