Yuna stood in front of the main entrance and looked out into the city. The sun in the sky promised another beautiful spring day. She was annoyed that she hadn't brought along her cell phone to check her messages. Maybe Yui was already awake and had written to her.
"Masuda-san." Shinji Shiba stepped beside her. "It's time for the Kotsuage."
The girl nodded, took another look at the city and then accompanied the oni back to the crematorium. They didn't say a word to each other during the way through the building. If he read her mind, he didn't let it show.
They reached the waiting room where Haruka and Kazuki were already present.
"Well ... then let us begin."
The undertaker gave a hand signal to his men, whereupon they advanced the steel stretcher, with ash and charred bits of bone on it. One of the employees made the round with a vessel in which long wooden chopsticks were set so that each of the participants could take a couple.
"Masuda-san. You make the beginning. At the bottom ..." Shinji pointed to the area, "with his feet. We start with them. You pick up a piece of bone and pass it on to Narusegawa-sama. She hands the piece to Chigusa-san, before I place it in the urn."
The girl frowned. "Okay." She had already done this at the funeral of her grandmother since she was old enough for her parents to trust her with this task. The blue-haired looked at the bones on the stretcher. "Good." Yuna clutched her chopsticks, lowered them to the pieces of bone and grabbed one of them. Cautiously, she turned her hand so that it lay stiffly on her chopsticks, then she lifted it up and held it to Haruka, who took it with her chopsticks. The other two followed their example and together they collected the bone remnants.
"Hey. Who stole my middle finger?" Kazuki whispered, grinning broadly.
The blue-haired gently chuckled and squinted at the red-scaled oni, who gave the financial adviser a gloomy look. Even Haruka couldn't help smiling.
"I never understood why funerals should be sad ..." Kazuki began.
"Chigusa-san." The undertaker looked angry.
"It's not like someone died, at least not right this instant."
The woman looked at him and shook her head. The high-school girl took the next piece, which slipped from the chopsticks, fell back on the metal and gave a clattering sound. Immediately, she blushed while she looked guiltily at Shinji.
"He is still resisting. Obviously, he doesn't want to be buried," Kazuki commented.
"I give up." The undertaker surely would have ripped out his hair, if he had any.
After they had finished, the remaining ash was divided equally into two more urns. The staff of the funeral home then closed the vessels.
"Why do we distribute his ashes to several urns?" Yuna asked.
"This is common." Shinji blinked at her confused, but then he saw in her mind that she really didn't have the slightest idea. At the same time, he remembered that the company for which her father had worked had not submitted an offer for a place in the corporate grave. Perhaps they had none at all. How poor. "It is a great honor, and honors someone as a very valuable member when his body is buried in several places. Both the Takagi group and the city administration," he glanced at Haruka, "have offered a place."
"All right. If that was what he wanted," the blue-haired agreed.
"I'm sure." Chigusa-san nodded confidently.
"I guess you don't have a shrine in your home, Masuda-san." The girl shook her head. "Well ... then I suggest that the family's urn stays with us for the next forty-nine days, until the funeral. Both the city administration and the Takagi group have shrines for their dead and can take over this task themselves."
"Do what you think is right. I want to go home."
"I'll bet Yoshiro would think so too." Kazuki scratched his beard as he grinned at the blue-haired.
The undertaker raised his voice. "On the contrary. When your family was cremated then I had to convince him that the urns were better off with us than with him. I bet he would have appeared on every anniversary day, if it had been possible for him."
"But it wasn't. You were right. The urns were better off with you than with him." The high-school girl looked at him. "And you condemn me."
Shinji backed away barely noticeable. "Well ..."
"Because I'd rather been with my living sister than with the dead rest of my family on Monday morning." Her eye narrowed. Kazuki glanced between the two.
"Yuna-chan. Nobody condemns anyone here," Haruka interjected.
The high-school girl looked at the mayor with her red eye. "I can't read minds, but I can see and hear enough. I'm sorry I'm not so much attached to the dead as you might like, Shiba-san." She stared at the undertaker hostilely.
"Please. No reason to be aggressive, Masuda-san. I understand your motives. By God, you know I do."
The girl looked down. "I simply believe that I always disappoint everyone." She looked at the urns. "I've disappointed him."
"That's not true, Yuna-chan. You didn't disappoint anyone. And we have the opportunity to create something that will honor Yoshiro for years." Haruka stared at her until the blue-haired looked up.
"What do you mean?"
"Is this really the right place?" Kazuki asked.
The oni gave him a look. "It doesn't really matter where we talk about it, or when. What is important is that we do. He was like that too. A man of action."
"Well ... I must agree with you, Narusegawa-sama."
She looked at the high-school girl again. "As you know, your uncle donated huge amounts each year to support a variety of projects." Yuna nodded. "We think it would be a good idea to think of further engagements."
"I should give his money away?"
Haruka rocked her head back and forth. "Oh well. Not simply give it away. I had thought of a foundation that would be responsible."
"Still, you're thinking about the money that he wanted to inherit to me and my sister." The red eye stared at the oni.
The mayor grimaced. "Well. Yes. I can't deny that. I've already talked about this with Chigusa-san."
First the girl looked at the woman, then she looked over to the financial adviser. "What do you think?"
"Well. At the moment I can't advise you. This could lead to a conflict of interest and jeopardize our possible future cooperation."
"Please, Chigusa-san. I don't think you are the kind of man who can be deterred by such things. Let me know your opinion. As a friend of my uncle. Would he like it, or wouldn't he?"
Kazuki rubbed his beard again. "If you consider how much he donated in his life, I tend to agree with Narusegawa-sama."
"Then we'll do it," the blue-haired decided.
"A good decision." Haruka smiled contentedly.
The financial adviser looked silently as he rotated in his head. The undertaker glanced at Kazuki quietly, but he discovered thoughts that he didn't approve at all. And neither would his boss.
He cleared his throat. "Well ... I suggest we bring the ceremony to a conclusion and postpone the business to another day."
"Oh yeah. I really want to go home," the high-school girl groaned.
Yuna sat in a taxi that drove her home. She was so tired, but she couldn't sleep. Even if Shiba-san was right and it was not Tirr himself, her nightmares were the purest torture.
She heard sirens and startled. The taxi driver drove to the edge of the street and the next moment a hospital car rushed past them. The girl followed with her eye the red lights on the roof of the car. The taxi started again.
"Wait. Please take me to the university hospital," she instructed the driver.
"Of course." He changed the track and went on.
Shortly afterwards they reached the hospital. Yuna paid and got out. She looked down at herself, but at the moment she couldn't change anything on her outfit. She entered the building quickly and went to the reception.
"I want to see Yui Masuda," she said there.
The keyboard clattered while the receptionist was working on her computer. "I'm sorry. She's still in the recovery room."
"Were there any complications?"
The woman smiled. "No. Only a collision with the appointments. That's why she was operated later."
"Hm. Thank you." Disappointed, Yuna turned away.
"Have a nice day."
"Yes. You too."
The blue-haired stepped outside and looked up at the sun. It was early afternoon. What should she do with the rest of the day?
She strolled along the edge of the park when she noticed Midori Omura, who sat on a bench and ate. Startled, Yuna stopped. She had completely forgotten about the nurse. The last few days had been so hectic that she had not thought of calling Midori and inviting her to the ceremony.
In the first moment Yuna wanted to run away, but then she took a deep breath. With her head raised, she entered the park and walked toward the black-haired woman, who poked around in her food absently, until she noticed the visitor.
"Yuna-chan ..." The green eyes studied the black kimono.
"Hello, Midori-san. Can I sit next to you?"
Perplex blinked the black-haired. "Of course." She slipped a few inches to the side to make room for the girl.
The blue-haired nodded gratefully and settled down to the left of the nurse. For a while they just sat there enjoying nature and the beautiful weather. A cool wind pulled at the leaves of the trees. Birds chirped their songs from above. A few other people strolled along the carefully planned paths, or were chatting. "I ... I have to apologize," Yuna started.
The nurse placed her Tupperware container aside and put her hands in the lap. "It was today?"
With a heavy heart, the girl nodded. "I'm really sorry. I forgot."
Absently, Midori nodded. She would never see his face again. A lonely tear slid down her cheek as she looked at the rustling grass caressed by the wind at her feet.
"Really, Midori-san. I'm sorry."
Guilty, the schoolgirl looked over and forced herself to see the weeping woman. This was her fault. She had killed Yoshiro. She had promised Midori to call her. And she'd forgotten.
When more tears began to flow, and as Midori sobbed, Yuna felt even worse. She clung to the seat of the park bench and stared at the ground.
"I know I can't fix this," said the blue-haired.
Midori wiped her hands across her eyes before she pulled out a paper towel from her pocket and brushed her nose. She glanced at the girl next to her, who looked totally depressed. "You don't know why I cry." Yuna nodded. "He had saved my life. Many years ago, I was still a child."
"Oh."
"He was my angel. My hero. Just because of him I'm still alive."
The high-school girl nodded. "Yes, he was a hero. He was also my hero."
Carefully, Midori lifted her left hand and put it on Yuna's head. "How do you hold up, Yuna-chan?"
"Honestly? I don't know." The blue-haired looked up and let her exhausted gaze wander through the park. "I can hardly sleep. All the time someone wants something from me. I can't get any rest. I'm worried about Yui."
"That's hard." Midori gently stroked the girl.
"I don't know what to do." Frustrated Yuna collapsed and put her forehead on her hands. "I don't know how to endure all this."
The nurse moved closer and wrapped her arms around the young woman. "You're not alone, Yuna-chan. As I see it, we both need each other now." The black-haired thought about the girl as she pressed her closer. It had just been a month since this girl had lost her parents and siblings. Less than a month ago she held this girl in her arms. How much can happen in such a short time? "I'm here for you, Yuna-chan."