I work as a teacher at a girls' school in Tokyo

Chapter 249 Finally, the story of Yu Gongye comes to an end (End)

Everything is back to normal, just like before the real night came.

If there is any change, it is probably that her mother was worried, left her work and returned home.

Otherwise nothing has changed.

Kotori Yumahiru and Uwano separated and no longer approached.

Perhaps it should be said that it has never been close, because it is always Maya who comes forward.

With Maya gone, such a restoration is so natural.

Going to school, lunch break, after school, physical education class, home economics class... In all kinds of things, the two of them have returned to the beginning.

There is no one else around Kotori Yumahiru, just like he was alone in the beginning.

……

This situation continued until one day after school.

The bell rang, and Yu Mahiru, who had already silently packed her schoolbag, got up and just walked out of the classroom.

"Mahiru."

"..."

The familiar voice behind him made Yu Mahiru, who had half a foot out of the classroom, stop.

She glanced back.

"Mahiru, I thought, could you go somewhere with me this weekend?" Uwano was behind her, smiling as hard as he could, inviting her.

"I……"

"I invited Mahiru." As if he had expected what she would say, Uwano blocked her refusal.

"..."

"Can it be, this weekend, just once."

"..."

Uwano spoke sincerely.

Kotori Yumahiru stood at the door, froze and didn't know how to respond.

She's never been good at this.

"……And me?"

"That's right, Kazumahiru." Uwano Kiri Hotaru nodded seriously.

……

The appointed time is up.

"Mahiru, you're here."

From far away, Kotori Yumahiru saw Uwano who was waving to welcome her.

"..."

Amidst her greeting, Kotori Yumahiru walked over while clutching the hem of her skirt in a state of bewilderment.

"It's been so long, but Mahiru is still so embarrassed after seeing me."

"……No."

"Ok?"

"Not long."

After retorting in a low voice, he raised the volume amidst Uwano's inquiry.

"The one with Uwano-san is Maya, not me. 1"

"That's it... good." Uwano nodded with a smile, and then skipped the topic.

"Okay, anyway, today, I want to go to a place with Mahiru."

"……Where?"

"Mahiru will find out later."

Uwano walked up to Kotori Yumahiru, and took her hand.

"..."

Kotori Yumahiru, who froze completely, was led away just like that.

……

"here is……?"

Kotori Yumahiru looked at the shop in front of her.

All kinds of strange things, of course, the most conspicuous, of course, are the gorgeous dresses of various styles.

The style is Lolita.

"The skirt on Maya is Lolita, right?"

Uwano glanced over the various Lolita skirts in the store with amazed eyes.

Then, he turned his gaze to the side face of Kotori Yumahiru who was also looking at the shop.

"I searched for a long time on the Internet, and finally found the dress that Maya wore that I had glimpsed before in this store."

Uwano pointed to the doll in the cupboard wearing a black Gothic Lolita dress.

"That's the one, right?"

"..."

In fact, before Uwano pointed it out, Kotori Yumahiru saw that long skirt at a glance, the long skirt that Maya wore most often.

When it first appeared, Maya was wearing this one.

"So it's still here..."

"what?"

Uwano vaguely heard Kotori Yumahiru muttering.

"No, no."

Kotori Yumahiru immediately shook his head in denial.

"Uwano-san...why did you bring me here?"

"Just call me Kirie Ying." Uwano said with a smile, and then, "Actually, this is not the ultimate goal, but, I thought, if it was Maya, she would definitely like it here, right?"

"..." Kotori Yumahiru acquiesced to this statement.

"So before going to the final destination, I stopped here to have a look. By the way, I still have a doubt..."

Uwano seemed to have suddenly remembered a question, and asked Yumahiru Kotori.

"Mahiru, did you buy the long dress on Maya here?"

"..."

"Ok."

Kotori Yumahiru didn't know how to answer, but in her silence, Uwano nodded easily as if he had already got the answer.

I don't know what the answer is.

"Okay, let's go, to the final destination."

……

This is a shrine, a... slightly dilapidated shrine.

Small and perhaps deserted, untended, overgrown and lost in the branches of the woods.

Walking through the old gray stone torii gate, and walking through the stone slab approach that is only a few meters long, you will arrive at the main hall of the shrine.

"Here..." Kotori Mahiru looked around hesitantly.

"Shrine." Uwano replied, "It took me a long time to find this place. It should be deserted, and I can't even find it on the map. Look, the money box is gone."

"Maybe a cat hid in the money box and was carried away." Xiaotori Yumahiru suddenly said something inexplicable.

"—Huh?" Uwano looked at Kotori Yumahiru without knowing why.

"...It's nothing." Kotori Yumahiru denied in a low voice, and then asked, "Uwano-san, what are you doing here?"

"This..." Uwano soon stopped being obsessed with Kotori Yumahiru's inexplicable words, "Because——"

She glanced at the shrine here, and finally said the answer.

"This place, Zhenye told me about it."

"……yes?"

"Ah."

"..."

"..."

This deserted shrine hidden in the woods, with dense tree shadows covering everything here, looks very quiet.

The two people who were originally talking to each other may have also been affected by the atmosphere here, and became extraordinarily quiet.

Uwano quietly waited for Kotori Yumahiru's reaction.

Kotori Yumahiru silently looked at everything in the shrine.

It was Mahiru who broke the silence.

"I think... I've already said..."

"What did you say?"

As if Uwano didn't know anything, he was still smiling at Kotori Yumahiru's words.

Mahiru's voice seemed a little muffled in the environment here.

"Student Uwano, as I have already said, the Maya you are looking for has disappeared. Why do you keep mentioning her today?"

"Ah...so that's what I meant..." Uwano seemed to be belatedly aware.

Kotori Yumahiru lowered her head.

"If you want to find Maya, I'll go first."

She took a step.

but……

"No, I'm looking for Mahiru."

Uwano grabbed her hand.

"..."

"That's right, don't doubt it, I'm looking for Mahiru."

Kotori Yumahiru turned around again.

"Then why do you always say Maya?" she asked.

"If you want to say this..."

"answer me."

"Okay, okay...Since Mahiru insists on asking." Uwano nodded, "But, please Mahiru answer me a few questions first."

"..."

Uwano turned against the guest, and did not wait for Mahiru to refuse.

"The first question is what I just asked, did you buy the long skirts on Mayu and Maya from that store?"

"..."

"Why didn't Mahiru answer me?"

"—how would I know."

"No." Uwano shook his head, "This answer is wrong."

"..."

"It should be said, how could Mahiru not know."

"...Why do you say that?" In front of him, Kotori Yumahiru's face showed no ups and downs.

Uwano did not respond to Kotori Yumahiru's rhetorical question, but continued to ask the next question.

"Second question, why does Zhen Ye appear?"

"……I have no idea."

"It's still not right, Mahiru knows." Uwano quite accurately denied Kotori Yumahiru's statement.

"..."

However, after the negation, there was no further explanation, but continued to ask.

"The third question, why is Maya exactly the same as Maya?"

"..."

"Why does Maya know Mahiru so well?"

"Why is Maya always accompanying Maya, and can't act alone?"

"why--"

"—That's enough, Uwano-san!"

Uwano stopped, and she looked at Yumahiru, who lowered her head and finally couldn't help shouting out amidst her questions one after another.

"Huh? What's wrong? Mahiru?"

"How would I know about Zhenye?"

"—no, you know."

"I don't know!" Kotori Yumahiru suddenly raised his head, for the first time, he stared at a person with an expressionless but icy expression.

Uwano met this look directly.

She nodded.

"Well, Mahiru doesn't know. Then... let me tell Mahiru."

"Mayue's long dress, was that store bought? ——No, but Mahiru saw it in that store, right?"

"Why did Maya appear—because it was Mahiru's wish, right?"

"Why is Maya the same as Maya—because..."

Uwano paused, stepped forward, and grabbed the face of Kotori Yumahiru who was trying to escape.

"Mayake is Mayday, right?"

"..."

"Perhaps it should be said that Maya is another form of Mahiru, the Mahiru in Mahiru's imagination, and the Mahiru in Mahiru's expectation."

"..."

"That's why Maya knows Mahiru so well, so Maya cannot be separated from Mahiru."

"..."

"In the final analysis, Mahiru and Maya are one."

"..."

Amidst Uwano's approaching words step by step, Kotori Yumahiru, who could not refute, fell into a long silence.

After waiting for a long time, the sound of the wind blowing through the woods passed by my ears, and in the shadowy shrine, the light spots that penetrated the shade of the trees were shaken by the wind.

Kotori Yumahiru spoke.

"So what if it is?—Maya has disappeared, Uwano." Kotori Yumahiru shouted to Uwano in front of him.

"It caused troubles for the family, so Mayu disappeared. So what? It's meaningless to talk about it now. The Maya you were looking for is no longer there. I am Mahiru, Kotori Yumahiru—"

"No, how could it be meaningless." Uwano shook his head.

"What's the point?" Mahiru asked quickly.

"Because—" Uwano kept looking straight into Mahiru's eyes, as if seeing through her.

"Maye hasn't disappeared."

"How could it be? It's already—" Kotori Yumahiru subconsciously wanted to refute.

However, Uwano smiled and looked away, his eyes seemed to lock on to something.

"Maiya is there, always beside Mahiru, but Mahiru didn't notice it."

"..."

Kotori Yumahiru looked over, but saw nothing except the dilapidated shrine.

Uwano continued talking on his own.

"Because Mahiru has lost hope for Mahiru, so I can't see it. But, as I said, Maiya and Mahiru are one, how could Maiya just disappear like this?"

"..."

"As long as Mahiru is here, Maya will not disappear."

"..."

"Of course I can understand Mahiru, because my mother hid Maiya because of my mother's worry, but oh, I can't hide it, I understand Mahiru, and I understand Maya, I can see it."

"..."

"Actually, for today's agreement, Maya entrusted me. Whether it's that store or this shrine, it's all Maya told me."

Saying that, Uwano waved his hand towards the empty space over there.

After greeting Maya, she turned around again, facing Maya.

"Mahiru, Mayu is you."

"Because I want to communicate with others, but I am afraid to communicate with others, because I want to show myself but I am afraid of being seen by others, because of the separation between the expected self and the actual self, so there is Zhenye."

"The real night that was born from your wish."

"Although Maya's character looks completely different from Maya's, this is only the surface."

"Mayue is the Mahiru that Mahiru hides in his heart, the most authentic, unreserved, and unaffected by anyone's eyes."

"Maya will not disappear so simply."

"Compared to disappearing, I think, accepting her... No, it should be said, accepting yourself. Accepting yourself is the right thing to do."

"As for Mahiru's mother's worries..."

Uwano stared at Kotori Yumahiru, as if staring at somewhere other than the movie screen.

"Mahiru, have you opened your heart and talked to your mother?"

"..."

Kotori Yumahiru was deeply silent.

"When people at home are troubled, have you tried to communicate?"

"..."

"Maya told me that you didn't."

"It wasn't even considered a confession at all."

"So, instead of saying that Maya disappeared, it's better to say that it was Maya who rejected Maya on her own initiative."

"but--"

"I can't refuse, because Maya is part of you, Mayu."

"So, don't cut Maya out again, okay?"

"I've been worried about Mahiru these days, I'm worried about your self-separation, self-denial, self-loathing..."

"Mahiru, don't run away anymore, please face Maya, at least, try to learn how to communicate with others, right?"

"Start by talking clearly with your mother."

"..."

Uwano walked out of the shrine, leaving Kotori Yumahiru alone.

In her mind, Uwano's words echoed over and over again.

Her gaze swept over the shrine she was in over and over again.

'Mayue is the true day that Mahiru hides in her heart, the most authentic, unreserved, and unaffected by anyone's eyes. '

'It was Mahiru's expectation. '

'It's... Mahiru who came to hear her wish. '

'...'

Yes, that's right.

Maya is her, the one she longed for.

Kotori Yumahiru stepped forward and walked to the main hall where she prayed to the gods.

In this deserted shrine not far from the school, she once stood here, made a wish to the gods, and poured out her expectations without reservation.

It was Maya who responded to her.

"Finally figured it out?"

Kotori Yumahiru turned around, and a few steps behind her, Maiya, who was wearing a black Lolita and looked exactly like her, suddenly appeared out of nowhere, standing there calmly.

"..."

Kotori Yumahiru looked at her, as if he was looking at himself.

"You don't need this body to help you explain to your mother, right?" Maya asked.

"...No need, I will do it myself." Mahiru replied.

"That's fine."

Maya nodded, then suddenly disappeared again.

……

When Uwano re-entered the shrine, he saw a girl in black Lolita.

"came back?"

"En." Kotoriyu nodded to Uwano who came in front of her.

"Is it true day or true night?"

"It's Bird Swimming."

"laugh."

Uwano laughed at the statement.

(End of this chapter)