Burning Bright

Memorial

Everyone was waiting for Akira's answer, anxious to hear it, but most of them still had their eyes glued to the wall. Yarai was staring at the picture of Kurusu-sensei that hung on the wall with wide eyes.

"Se... Sensei!?" he said. The vice president was also still looking at pictures, running down the wall.

"N-No way! What is this!?" she asked. "Matsushita-san! Sugimasa-kun... There are even pictures of the people who died!"

"Ko... Kotomi!?" Rei exclaimed, shocked to see her dead friend's face there.

"Ri... Rion-chan!?" Oomori said, disturbed.

"Ah... Ahhh! It's can't be! Isn't that my picture!?" Miyauchi cried, looking at an image of herself that had been taken while she was practicing karate. "Our names are written below, too! And our ages are the same! No doubt about it!!"

"My... My picture is here, too!" the president said, looking pale.

"Mine too!" Tokiwa said, looking frightened.

"Th-Then..." Morita said nervously.

"These are... pictures of all the passengers... on that plane...?" Oomori said.

"..." Torako looked sadly at her own picture.

"Also, this picture on one side of the wall... the Garden of Eden... creation... both are pictures that are related to the book of Genesis. Just what the hell is this!?" Yashiro said.

"E-Everyone! Come here for a moment!" Rei called.

"!?" Miyauchi said. "That's Rei-san's voice... Wh-What is it this time?"

"..." They all looked at each other then followed the sound of Rei's voice. The walked down to the end of the wall in the middle of the room.

"Re... Rei-san, what's...?" Miyauchi asked. "...!" She and everyone else were startled once again when they saw what Rei was looking at. There was a huge, smooth block of stone that had been carved into a rectangle, and it was engraved with letters. "Th... This is a... stone monument!? Wh-What is this?"

"Look at the date," Torako said, pointing to it. At the top of the monument, there was a date.

"20XX. October 4th," Miyauchi read.

"October 4th, 20XX...?" the president said.

"Isn't that the day of the plane crash!?" Morita said. "These English sentences written underneath it... Mariya, what's written on there!?"

"Good father, good husband... good mother, good wife... and good child, good grandchild. The souls of the 334, who boarded NA 2307. May they rest in peace," Mariya read with wide eyes.

"Huh?" Rei said, shocked.

"R-Rest...? Wh-What is this!?" Morita asked.

"..." Miyauchi and the vice president looked at each other, bewildered.

"I see... So they though we died..." Torako said. She felt like crying when she thought of what that meant for her parents. Yarai glanced at her and remembered her theory about time travel.

'Don't tell me... she was right!?' Yarai thought, alarmed.

"I knew it! So that's it," Akira said.

"Eh!?" Rion said, looked at him, surprised. "Akira-kun... Fukui-chan... do you know something?"

"Se-Sengoku...? Y-You..." Mariya said.

"What the hell!?" Miyauchi said. Akira took the photo he had found out of his pocket and held it out so they could see.

"Everyone... take a look at this," Akira said grimly. They all looked and saw it was what appeared to be an old, aged photo of a woman making a peace sign with one hand, while she had her other arm around Akira's neck, holding him in place for the picture.