- Everything is fine now – said Shinkuu to the other girl – Those monsters won’t make fun of you anymore.

- ………. – The girl in white slowly opened her eyes and, looking at Shinkuu’s eye, smiled – Thank you…

- That was no… Uh?

Shinkuu couldn’t finish her sentence, when noticed that the girl she was holding started to glow of a dim light. Then, her body became transparent, until finally the hanged girl disappeared completely. Shinkuu was left with a mix of happiness and sadness. Nonetheless, she was sure the other girl was now in a better place.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Shinkuu was abruptly back to reality by a loud laugh, and judging by the sound of it, it was the crow who was laughing. The girl turned to the black bird, and indeed it were there, laughing with delight. Shinkuu found this beyond annoying.

- Good job, Shinkuu! You really did well, haha! – said the crow, still laughing – You passed this test as well! I’m reeeally proud of you!

- What are you talking about? – suddenly, Shinkuu started to think the crow wasn’t someone to trust, feeling somehow sarcasm and mockery coming from its tone of voice – Also… how is that you know my name?!

- Oh, that detail. Right, I just couldn’t behave myself this time, even if is not like the first time…

- First time what? What is this all about? WHO the hell are you?! – Shinkuu felt like being playing like a fool, making her angry.

- Ah, now you’re angry? I just love how many feelings you can mix and exchange. It’s… just wonderful.

Saying those words, the crow’s shape changed, and in few seconds, it became a character Shinkuu knew already.

- You… you are the guy from before! – startled to see the crow’s transformation.

- Oh, glad you still remember! I was worried since you have just so baaaaaaad memory, haha!

- You’re starting to annoy me… Tell me already what is going on?!

- Alright, alright! I’m gonna give you answers, but what do you say if we change place first?

The hooded man walked towards the giant tree, from which a big hole opened before him. Without hesitation, the man entered into the tree, disappearing from Shinkuu’s sight. She stood for a while, trying to think about what just happened. She was confuse, not able to understand neither the words and references the hooded man said nor the change of voice and the way he was speaking now. “This is all so strange, doesn’t make sense at all! But he said he would explain if I go with him… I don’t trust him at all now, but considering my position of wandering dead girl, I guess I have no option” With a little of hesitation, Shinkuu entered into the tree, finding herself in a pitch black darkness.

“I wish I would be dead. I wish I would be really alive. I wish it hadn’t be like this. I wish I had a real family that loves me. I wish I had friends”. Until now, I have just wished but not doing nothing to really make those wishes true. I just could sit and watch how everything I cared about was taken away from me. I’m really like that girl, hanged on a tree, wishing to get down the tree but doing nothing about it, receiving the mockery and the offenses of those in a better position than me. I hate myself for that, for not being able to really do something. But, in the end, is it my fault? It was because I didn’t try hard enough, things went this way? Even after passing away, I have this feeling of regret… did I really wish to die? Maybe… I just haven’t the strength to keep wishing to live. I mean, to live for what? Now that I’m immerse in this deep darkness, I feel fear. Fear of the future, fear of whatever awaits me at the other side of this dark tunnel. But now, at least, I will do my best to keep walking, no matter what. In life, I was a weak coward. From now on, I want, and I will, change that!"

Shinkuu walked for countless minutes, until finally, reached the light outside the tunnel.

An indefinitely wide clean blue surrounding the small figure of Shinkuu, an infinite blue sky in which white clouds traveled with ease within it. The girl was perfectly standing on a surface, but everything around her was just the infinite sky: above, below, everywhere. Like walking on a soundless floor of glass. From nowhere, the crow appeared before Shinkuu, still having its humanoid shape behind the dark cloak.

- Where are we? – asked Shinkuu.

- I’ll answer all your questions, but first, let me ask you something: now that we are near to the end, what do you think was the meaning of your life?

- The meaning… of my life? – the girl stopped and thought for a while, staring at the sky below her feet. Slowly, she rose her gaze towards the shadowed man and spoke her feelings and thoughts – It’s simple: my life didn’t have any meaning at all. Or at least, I’d like to think that. Otherwise, I should admit that it lacked of any value. How can a human life be evaluated? I don’t think I know the answer, but I’m sure my life didn’t have any value. Is for that reason that I decided to kill myself, after all. For all my existence I wasn’t able to show any value of my life, I couldn’t feel it neither, I couldn’t achieve nothing because I didn’t wished for anything special. Meaning or not, it doesn’t matter anymore. I chose death because I couldn’t see other possibilities in my life besides the horrible things that happened in this life. I… wanted a place to me, a place to really call ‘Home’, but I’ve only found grief and sorrow, every hope wiped out by the flow of time. It seems you know me, so you should know: I lost half of my face, I lost my family’s love, if it ever was, I lost the only true friend I ever had. If my life has any meaning, it’s just that: a life of suffering!

Shinkuu felt like a weight pulled out from her chest, after the long speech. The hooded man was silent and immobile, so it was impossible to Shinkuu understand what he was thinking. After a while, he laughed again.

- Hahaha! Oh, that was just… perfect! Such drama! Such grief! Such sad story! I bet our guest of honor is also surprised about all these news! Ah! I can feel how his heart is about to cry!

- You… just who the hell are you, and this place, and that person that you’re talking about since the beginning?! – Shinkuu said, losing her patience completely.

- Ah, quite impatient, aren’t we? Don’t worry, I’m about to explain it all, after all, that is the most interesting part! And this time it will be even better, thanks to our guest! So, please, let me first introduce you to “The person that was waiting for you”!

From behind the hooded man, it appeared a golden cage out from nowhere. And, inside the cage, Shinkuu saw someone inside the cage, holding the bars has it was doing his best to escape. It was a young boy, with messy long blond hair, a fierce expression on his face, and at the same time tears running down his cheeks. Shinkuu recognized the boy even if she didn’t know him.

- You… you are the guy of this morning! – said Shinkuu, surprised to find a familiar face in such place.

- Dammit! You demon! Let me out of here! – the boy continued to shout towards the hooded man, until he realized there was also a girl in the middle of the azure sky. The girl he was searching for.

- Ah, let me introduce you to our… annoying guest here. His name is Carlo – said the hooded man, using a tone of sarcasm in his voice.

- Why? Why is he here? Is he also dead? – Shinkuu, had so many questions in her head, that barely she could express those words.

- Now that we are all present, let me also introduce myself properly, since I’m no shadow, no crow, no demon – the hooded man took away his dark cloak, which vanished in the middle of the air – You can refer to me as “Mega”, and this very place in which we are now is my own little world!

- What…? – Shinkuu, this time, was indeed speechless.

- Hahaha! Ah! I really love that expression of yours, girl! – Mega couldn’t stop laughing as he spoke to the confused girl - Even if this is the forty-third time, I just can’t get enough of it! Oh! And to make things clear: you must know that I’ve been deceiving you this whole time. Because, you see, truth is, you are not really dead.