Agito Epilogue

One year later.

A beautiful blue color spread across the sky that day, showing not even a hint of rain. 

The sun, peeking its face out for the first time in a week, illuminated the roof of the Midorigaoka Academy school building. 

The usual girl that hung out there during lunchtime was nowhere to be seen. 

Down in classroom 3-A, the students had their desks scooted together with their friends as they joked around and chatted while having lunch.  

Mana could be seen among those students. 

She was sitting with the two girls that had invited her to join the tennis club previously. 

“You’re wide open!” 

“Geez… I can’t believe you got me again, Risa…” 

Risa giggled as she bit into the pumpkin croquette she snatched from Mana’s lunchbox. 

“Hmm… 75 points! Your cooking’s actually gotten pretty decent, Mana~” 

“Can I try some, too? Here, I’ll give you a cheese chikuwa.” 

“Sure, Kana.” 

“I’ll be taking this, then.” 

After taking a bite of the sautéed asparagus, Kana let out a “Buono” with a smile. “Wait, why Italian?” 

Mana smiled back while making a jab at Kana’s reaction. 

The three of them then started chatting about the tennis club. 

Ever since that day one year ago, Mana had changed her outlook.  

Even though she had special powers, that didn’t mean she had to let them hold herself back from living a normal life. She was going to follow Shouichi’s example. 

One day Mana made a decision. 

She decided to take down the walls she put up against other people and live on with an open heart. 

I’m going to be reborn as a normal person. 

For some reason, my powers have conveniently decided to suddenly disappear today.  

Yeah, that sounds good. How about I just leave it at that. 

And then from that day forward, Mana began to live her life with energy. 

 

After school. 

A single sedan was parked on the roadside in front of the school gate. 

Seeing Mana coming out of the gate being reflected on the rearview mirror, Hikawa got out of the car and called out to her. 

Hikawa had taken some time off and was going to take Mana to the restaurant. 

Mana lightly jogged up to the car. 

“Are you sure you want to go this early? The main star should probably be the last one there.” 

“It’s fine, I want to help out, too. But your clothes, though…” 

Mana took a good look at Hikawa’s outfit. 

A black single-breasted suit, black slacks, and a black bow tie.  

He was wearing a tuxedo. 

“What do you think? Looks pretty good on me, right?” 

He tugged on his bow tie, filled with confidence. 

“Y-Yes, very much so…” 

But Mana felt like he was getting too serious about the occasion. 

After letting Mana into the passenger seat, Hikawa started the engine and set off. 

Mana recalled something as she fastened her seatbelt. 

“Hey, I saw what you did on the news earlier. You protected the families of the Unsolvable Crime victims from the Unknowns, huh?” 

“It wasn’t all just me. I had the G3 Team to support me.” 

Hikawa wasn’t speaking out of modesty, he truly felt grateful towards his team members. 

In response to the ever-increasing rate of the Unsolvable Crimes occurring, the G3 System was mass-produced and an organization was formed around them, thanks to Houjou’s proposal.  

Hikawa proved to be the ace of the G3 operators with over 30 Unknown kills under his belt. 

Houjou’s fervent wish to become a G3 operator was granted as well and he contributed greatly to the Unknown extermination efforts. 

Sumiko and Houjou would often butt heads nearly every chance they got, but Hikawa learned to accept it just as typical conduct and didn’t let it bother him too much. 

But with the increased stress, the number of times Sumiko went out to eat barbeque and the amount of draft beer she drank effectively tripled. 

“Um… have you heard anything from Ashihara yet?” 

Mana turned her face to Hikawa and asked worryingly. 

“We’ve been trying our best to contact him, but nothing yet…” 

Hikawa responded apologetically. 

“I see…” 

Mana cast her face down. 

“Cheer up, you can count on me to track down where he’s at.” 

As he tried to encourage her, a voice could be heard from the police radio. 

“Hikawa, sorry to bother you on your day off, but a corpse suspected to belong to a victim of an Unknown was discovered at Inokashira Park in Mitaka. Head over to the scene as soon as you can.” 

Hikawa dropped Mana off and made a U-turn. 

“Sorry, Mana. I promise I’ll be there at the restaurant later.” 

After rolling down his window to tell her that, he turned on the police lights and slammed the accelerator. 

“Good luck out there!” 

Hikawa waved his hand outside the window in acknowledgment of Mana’s encouragement. 

 

Mana looked at her pinky as she walked towards the restaurant. 

The pinky that made a promise with Ryou. 

The promise to give her a ride on his bike every once in a while. 

Mana last saw Ryou at that embankment where she was protecting Shouichi. 

She tried visiting his apartment after resolving the misunderstanding she had about Shouichi, but Ryou had moved somewhere else. 

Where did you go, Ashihara…?  

Do you hate me now…? 

Mana tottered her way through an underpass. 

Watching her from behind in the darkness of the tunnel were eyes gleaming with bloodlust. 

It was an Unknown, the Snake Lord. 

It had been slowly approaching her ever since she separated from Hikawa. 

But a man’s voice stopped it in its tracks. 

“Don’t you dare touch that girl.” 

The Snake Lord turned in response to the voice. 

A person could be seen at the entrance to the tunnel with the light at his back. 

His eyes were covered with the hood of his sweat jacket, but there was no doubt that it was Ryou Ashihara. 

Ryou knew what had happened to Mana. 

He knew who the true culprit behind the Akatsuki Village incident was, and he knew about her feelings towards Shouichi. 

Ever since he saw Mana’s memories when he touched her back then, Ryou’s heart had always been connected to Mana’s. 

No matter how far apart they were, Mana’s feelings would reverberate in his heart. 

Ryou wished for Mana to be happy together with Shouichi. 

And there was only one thing he could do to make that happen. 

Having determined that, he decided to disappear without leaving a trace. 

Ryou looked at his pinky. 

I’m sorry I couldn’t keep our promise… 

He glared at the Snake Lord with a sharp gaze and ran towards it. 

Ryou had been fighting Unknowns away from others’ eyes for the sake of protecting Mana. As a result of transforming in battle again and again, his body had been warped hideously with his numerous scars and heavy cellular decay.  

It was likely that Mana would not even recognize him if she saw him now. 

As long as I know that she’s happy…  

I can live on… 

“The only reason I am who I am is so that I can protect Mana!” 

The transformed Ryou’s roar echoed throughout the tunnel. 

 

The restaurant was far away from the shopping district and lied in the middle of a quiet residential district. 

It was a small place that couldn’t be considered spacious under any standard whatsoever. 

The owner of the restaurant, who specialized in creative cooking, was happily humming to himself on a ladder while decorating the place. 

The ceiling and walls were covered with flower and paper decorations, and hanging from the entrance was a sign saying “Happy Birthday, Mana” 

Is it just me or is it a little slanted? 

As he tilted his head while thinking about that, Mana happened to come in. 

“Don’t you think you’re going a little too far with this, Shouichi…?” 

Mana muttered as she looked around the decoration-covered restaurant dumbfounded. 

“Oh, Mana…!” 

Shouichi turned around his still tilted head in surprise to see that the main star had arrived earlier than expected. 

After recovering his memories, Shouichi left the Misugi household and began living by himself, as well as becoming the chef he had always dreamed to be and opening up a restaurant that focused on his creative cooking. 

It was Shouichi who decided to reserve the restaurant for Mana’s birthday party. 

Misugi and Mana’s friends from the tennis club would be coming by later as well. 

Shouichi ended up being hospitalized due to his severe wounds last year so he wasn’t able to celebrate her birthday back then. 

That’s why he was thinking that he’d celebrate extra this year to make up for missing out on last year. 

“Why not? The grander the better. You only get to celebrate this once a year, after all.’ 

Shouichi responded with his usual smile. 

“I suppose so. Anyway, I’ll help out, too.” 

Mana picked up the flower decorations laying on a table and began putting them on the walls. 

Shouichi smiled as he watched her and returned to adjusting the hanging sign. 

The two of them worked together to decorate the small restaurant. 

A wooden sign with the name of the restaurant hung at the front door. 

Written on it was: 

MANNA 

It referred to the blessed food that was granted from the heavens. 

Mana felt that she wouldn’t have to fold those empty origami boxes ever again. 

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