Had the girl... stopped coming?
She hadn't come yesterday, even though the weather had been so nice.
She hadn't come before it started raining, either.
Now that the rain was pouring down, the girl definitely wouldn't come, would she?
Tomb Ghost hunched over, letting the leaves above its head shield it better from the rain.
The flame atop its head had dimmed somewhat.
Hey, she isn't coming, is she?
At last, Tomb Ghost seemed to give up and looked at the woman's photograph on the gravestone.
No humans had come up the mountain since yesterday.
It knew that the grave-visiting season was over.
And now, even today, the girl still hadn't come.
Though it was reluctant to accept it, it had no choice but to admit the truth... the girl wasn't coming.
Why?
Hadn't she come every year?
Had something happened to the girl...?
Tomb Ghost didn't know.
What it did know was... it would never see the girl again.
This grave had also become overgrown with weeds after being neglected for so long.
A thin layer of dust covered the photograph on the gravestone.
The woman's gentle smile had grown somewhat blurry.
It reached out and brushed the dust off the photograph.
The woman's features became clear again.
Her kind eyes and gentle smile were just as they had been in its first impression.
Tomb Ghost tilted its head.
Hey, did she forget you?
Did she... forget me, too?
And that was where the story ended.
Tomb Ghost never saw the girl again.
It had thought that after all these years, it would have forgotten the girl, too.
The girl had unilaterally severed the connection between them.
Why should it keep remembering her?
When it came to coldheartedness, monsters had never lost to humans.
It had