Life from the perspective of ghosts.

Afterword

There are different ways in which either a reader or writer can interpret this piece of text.

What I mean to say is my impressions of each character. Be it their drive, flaws or mental state constantly changed as they were shown new situations. You could think that the primary narrator is in fact Kyoko. Her tendency to over describe everything related to Katsumi due to her hidden 'yandere' side being a driving force in the descriptive nature of this manuscript. However, one could also think of Katsumi as the primary narrator in the first section of the book. His seemingly robotic chain of thought causes him to over think and over describe certain situations. His development can be seen later on as he becomes more self-aware, depicted through meta humour, at his own self flaws. It's hard to really give one definitive answer on who the narrator truly is but I feel as if it could be both of them. Each of the two main characters flesh out their feelings towards the middle and end of the book so it is possible that the narrator could be constantly changing. After all, Katsumi, especially in the latter half of the book, isn't that reliable. He is broken up into pieces and imagines that Hana is there when she really isn't. It could pose the morale question as to if ghosts are truly real or just a figment of a fragmented mind. The image of someone in others minds after they are lost.

These characters aren't especially special or creative in any way. They could probably, while still complex, be cut down and attributed to different main character archetypes within the media. However, it's not what they seem to be that makes them special. It's how they related to the story of the main protagonist and his conflicting feelings. For me Hana was always meant to represent the past. How Katsumi couldn't keep his eyes off it even though he knew that was the one thing he desperately needed to. The idea of her being dead fully reflects the idea that they will eventually move on. Being stuck in the past, while something needed to be done shouldn't be one's sole dependency.

Akari, Katsumi's love interest in the primary half of the book represents the future. His drive to break his now established social norms with the help of the past. Or in other words Hana's guidance. He saw Akari as something he needed to strive towards to satisfy the past and make himself whole again yet ultimately as we have seen this backfired. He relied too much on something that wasn't truly there to begin with and went past the fine line of only looking back to influence moving forward. If only he had used his own intuition things could have worked out differently.

And finally comes Kyoko. Seeming to be an antagonist, which shouldn't really be the case as she never did anything intentionally 'evil' she represented the present. What Katsumi had now. She seemed to be docile and kind at the start of the story. A reflection as to how Katsumi was satisfied with his bland way of lining. How he was barely keeping balance in a life he felt he knew so well. However, as we learn this isn't the case. Kyoko represents how foolishly naive Katsumi is, taking many things at face value even though he is clearly established to be a keen analyser of situations. She represents the true chaos in his life and how he must confront the present without the guidance of a failed past and hopeful future. Even if the outcome leaves one broken. It can be chalked down as a metaphor for living in the moment. In the case of Katsumi, he didn't do that soon enough, leading to his eventual demise. But who knows? Maybe he can reach the future he wants. Only time can really tell.

But you know what..? This is all just a constant stream of unrefined thoughts that I've been having while writing this book/project/novel. The nature of a book is to be nice and ambiguous; to let the reader dictate what they understand.

So if you're sitting here reading this completely disagreeing with what i'm saying in this afterword then just do something simple. Think about what you have gained from this book... And then ignore this afterwork because that is what really matters.

Just take your own strides into a realm of deeper understanding and you will then, and only then, become truly satisfied with this book.

To leave off and end this tentative tale there is a quote that I want to share with you from our constantly reference man of meta-reference Oshino Meme and it goes like this:

"No person exists that is just virtuous, and kindness is only something piled on the outside. There are no humans with just virtue and fairness. Rather, they try to be that and just build up stress".

I thank you for finishing this from the bottom of my heart.

Dylan