"Yuriko?"
Silence.
"…Yuriko?"
No answer.
Jayce leaned back away from the girl and looked down at the still form of her in his lap, grey eyes still open, but body silent. He shook her, and her head fell to the side. Feeling the terror rise in his chest, he realised there was no emotion from her. The only time he wished he could feel something, anything, rather than nothing from another person.
"Yuriko," He grabbed her shoulder, pulling her forward. "Yuriko, please, wake up," The tears welled in his eyes. "Yuriko!" He cried out, gripping her tightly.
Nothing.
Slowly, the hope that she might still be there faded. Only the crushing reality remained, and he felt an overwhelming numbness. Jayce pulled her into his grip a bit more, leaning into her cold form, sobbing quietly. The blaze behind him from the shrine made his back scorching hot, but the pain meant nothing in comparison to what it was to lose her.
Then, after a burning moment of silence, he opened his mouth and let out a scream.
(¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.-> 🖋 <-.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯)
She was gone.
The funeral came and went quicker than Jayce thought it would. Only four people showed up – Matsuda, Vinhatri, Akari, and himself. Aside from the priest who read some boring paragraph from the book he held, and the people that lowered the pristine black casket into the ground, that was it. Not even the press, after all they had done, dared to show their faces.
Vinhatri was the only one who cried. Matsuda and Akari tried to comfort him, but he blamed himself for it all pretty hard. Jayce simply stared at the freshly dug grave, right then covered in dirt, finding it all hard to believe. Soon enough, the teacher and his two students left, leaving Jayce alone in the cemetery. He stood there in his black coat, as if waiting for her to break through the dirt and come back to him.
She didn't.
He was there for hours, unsure of how much time had passed. It felt like no amount would be enough. After all she had been through, all she had sacrificed, the pain she felt and the agony of it all, she was just… gone. His blue eyes seemed to dull after the sky turned grey, just like her eyes, and the first drops of rain came from above. He still didn't move, stuck in a perpetual state of grief that he knew he would never heal from.
That's when the rain stopped falling – at least, around him. He looked up, seeing a black umbrella raised above his head, and then turned to see the person behind him holding it. An older male, sad brown eyes with brows arched up in sorrow as he stared back at Jayce silently. It took him a moment to realise who he was, but when he did, he gasped.
"Tanaka," He said in surprise.
"Jayce, isn't it?" The man said softly, stepping up beside him. His gaze travelled to the grave. "I'm sorry I couldn't have come earlier. Work held me up… I shouldn't have let it."
Both continued to stare at the grave before the teenager spoke up. "I'm glad you came at all, to be honest."
"I debated on it for a long time," Tanaka sighed. "I knew her as Wakizashi – I even gave her that name before the press did – but I never knew who she really was."
Jayce remained quiet for a moment. "She was kind," He said finally. "She was brave, intelligent, and strong. But… she was also lost. She didn't know many things, and that bothered her. I gave her a lot of firsts – like her first friend, her first smile, her first laugh, her first promise." He suddenly became aware he was speaking in past tense, and his heart hurt. "I miss her."
"All of Japan will miss her," He responded. "Even if they don't understand her, they will miss the girl Yuriko Romanov, and the vigilante hero known as Wakizashi."
Jayce sniffed, his eyes watering, and he rubbed them with a sigh. He looked at the grave for a moment longer, reading the words: Loving Grandchild, Accepting Daughter, and Brave Hero. He pulled his eyes away, finding himself in the stage of acceptance. He saw her body – it was the real deal. There would be no turning back. He would never know her gentle touch again, or hear her beautiful voice, or see her wonderful face.
She was gone.