Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina in any form. What I own, however, is this fanfic.

Authors Notes:

This is the final chapter. At long last. I decided to finish it before I take my exams so it won't bug me anymore. In any case, R&R guys!

Wonderbee31: Always look at the bright side, that's Keitaro's personality.

Abel Nightcross: Well, here is the last chapter.

Zeroeye: Study hard!

YoungKonoha: Kei hopes the past will not come back to haunt him.

windybreeze: And so it is done!

Squire of Gothos: Oh yes please, I would really love an update on that. Highlander is one of my favorite movies.

Now for the story indicators:

"Word" Spoken out loud

"Word" Thoughts

"WORD" Scream/Shouts

***** Change in location, or in some cases time (as in flashbacks)

This fanfic is rated Mature for the use of cigarettes, alcohol consumption, profanity, and other mature elements and themes.

Reader discretion is advised.

Now on with the story!

Chapter 20: Maybe Tomorrow Is A Better Day

A funeral was being held.

What made that particular event rare, or perhaps strange to some, was that it was a Catholic funeral. The presence of that Western religion was known, still it was a rarity in Buddhist populated Japan. Another aspect that was worth noting was the practice of cremation in that country. Plots of land were notoriously difficult and expensive to purchase; whether it was for a residence or a grave. Thus the the need of burning corpses into ashes, putting them to funeral jars, and burying it in a very small and enclosed area. Sometimes, the families just bring the ashes to their homes in order to spare themselves of the financial troubles.

And in that particular practice, the funeral at present was very strange indeed. Outside the church a grave was already dug up, ready to contain the coffin after the final rites had been given. Perhaps it was because of the fact that the Catholic Church had managed to outlive the Roman Empire that it held considerable wealth and power. With enough resources to buy a large plot of land to build a church; and the space was large enough to accommodate a graveyard for foreigners.

But with all the noticeable peculiarities, no Japanese citizen would have even cared. After all, the church and the graveyard themselves were located on the outskirts of Hinata City. The resident priest rarely went out of his sanctuary, and there were only a few Catholics who resided in that city in the Kanagawa prefecture—and they were coffee shop Catholics at most.

Despite the awful state of religion in the place, the funeral at present was a solemn one. Angelic voices could be heard dancing with the wind. Said music was not supernatural in nature, it came out from an old but well-maintained cassette player. Still, the music was so forlorn that it would have moved an ordinary person to tears. But the three men present in that particular funeral were not ordinary in any sense at all.

Of the three men, two of them were mourners—who did not even weep. There was no sadness in their eyes, but they were not that joyful either. It could be said that there was only resignation in their faces or the begrudging acceptance that what has come to pass can never be undone. They seemed to be a strange pair, those two mourners. The shorter and older man wore a charcoal gray suit with a white shirt underneath, snaked by a brown silk tie. His rugged face, his jet black eyes that was shielded by glasses and the hair that was parted on the left indicated the he was a man matured by the hard passing of the years; even though he seemed to be only in his late twenties to early thirties. On the other hand, his companion who was taller and younger, wore a dark blue suit, typical in the legal or commercial profession. His light blue shirt was accented by a monochrome yellow silk tie that bordered to black. If there was something else that made them a yin-yang pair, the older man had black hair and wore autumn brown leather gloves and shoes, while his younger counterpart had hazelnut brown hair and was donned in black dress shoes and gloves.

Lastly there was the priest. He was like any average, day-to-day, man of the cloth. A simple black cassock, a sash that was worn on funerals, and necklace with a cross, those were the things that made him ordinary amongst those men. With his vow of poverty, expensive suit like what the mourners wore were of out of the question. Nonetheless, he was still far from being ordinary. After all, he was Father Kotomine Kirei; an enigmatic man who possesses arctic eyes not befitting a priest, yet has extensive knowledge of theology.

The mass inside the church was a surprisingly quick affair, but it still maintained its solemnity. Both mourners were deathly silent during the time that Father Kotomine administered the absolution for the dead, with the Libera Me, Domine as the background music. It was only the slight grunts of the two mourners when they hoisted up the mahogany coffin that could have otherwise undone such atmosphere. Still, silence reigned supreme. Only interrupted by the almost inaudible clicks from the cassette player when a change of music had to be done. Their procession from the church to outside where the grave was dug was accompanied by In Paradisum.

Stopping near the open grave, both mourners gently placed the coffin on the soft, grass covered ground. A sigh of relief came out of them, but they had no time to rest. They quickly gained their bearings and prepared for the final prayers of the ceremony.

With the coffin accounted for, Father Kotomine did his part. Opening his small, leather bible to where a string bookmarked the passage for the reading, he then chanted: "Next I saw a large white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence and there was no place for them. I saw the dead, the great, and the lowly standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life. The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls. The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades gave up their dead. All the dead were judged according to their deeds."

More ancient prayers were said, and with the sprinkling of the holy water, and a final petition from the priest, the signs of the cross amongst the three, the funeral was over.

It was at this point, that the man in the charcoal gray suit spoke. "Just a nitpick Father. Aren't we supposed to lay down the coffin six feet under the ground?"

"Jimmy," Father Kotomine, not angry or surprised by the question. He simply stated his reply in a matter-of-fact tone. "I am the sole resident of this parish. I have no helper, whatsoever, except my own. Improvisations on the funeral had to be made."

"Okay, let me guess," the magician took out a Lucky and lighted it with the flame from his Zippo. "You double as the undertaker?"

"That is correct."

"Well, that's cheery."

"If you have no any further business, then I must kindly ask you to leave. More work needs to be done." The priest turned his back on the two and walked away to a nearby shed near the church. He entered and when he emerged outside, he already had a shovel.

Jimmy smirked a little. "C'mon Taro, let's get the fuck out of here."

The man who was called Taro simply nodded, and the two traced their steps away from the grave and the priest. They never saw him lift the coffin with ease, put it on the open grave with a slight thud, and with a quick breath, cover the open ground with soil.

Without any preamble, Taro asked the magician, "So, he's really dead, huh?"

"Well..." Jimmy could not help but raise an eyebrow to his companion's comment. "Yeah. But you know what, it's quite creepy of you. Referring to yourself in the third person, I mean."

"I'm not him anymore. I was born. I died. Lived again. Died again. And lived again."

"One hell of a fucking roller coaster ride, huh?"

"You could say that."

Taro produced a flip-top box of Mild Seven from his jacket, took one, lighted it, and looking at the bleak early afternoon sky, inhaled the deadly nicotine laced vapor. "So, what's the story of that guy?"

"Your story?"

"His story, Jimmy. Don't make it harder for me. I already think this situation of mine totally insane."

Jimmy took another breather from his cigarette. "Well, let me see."

*****

"Urashima Keitaro. What the fuck was up with that guy anyway? Well, Taro, you did ask for a story. So here I fucking go. His father was native Japanese. Worked a lot overseas, barely had time to find a girlfriend. But he did find one and married her. Keitro's mother was a German of Japanese descent. Okay, alright, I know it's fucking lame. Just go with the story, okay?"

"So, they meet up, date up, married up, fucked up, and Urashima Keitaro was born up. Now here's the thing, Keitaro here was an American citizen. Dad and mom, was vacationing in Las Vegas when he popped out of the box."

"Let's fast forward to a few years later. The K-man is eighteen. Then mom and dad figures out in a vehicular accident. They got hit by a speeding truck and the car was thrown off the cliff. The car burst into flames. But it wasn't the fireball that killed them, nope, not at all. You see, they got out before the car went ablaze, and when it did, they found a pack of roasted baby rabbits. Now they didn't have dinner, so they gorged those poor little buggers. Now what they didn't know, that the litter they ate were the cubs of a very vicious vorpal vunny. Of course, the wabbit was pissed, do the math. And that was their story."

"Now, Keitaro here had the benefit of visiting Japan when he was a kid. He visited his grandmother back then a few years ago. So he goes to Japan, land of the rising sun, and decided to become a ninja. But he had no ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, whatever. He was so clumsy he killed one whole village when he was only supposed to kill one guy. So, granny kicks him out and without any options, he becomes a gigolo. On the first day of the job, he tries his luck with a redhead, but that earned him a megaton punch. He flew miles and miles away and landed on a hot spring. Problem was, a lesbian samurai was also bathing. It got bloody. So the redhead suddenly came around, I don't know how, don't ask me, but the samurai and the redhead brought him to this princess. Said princess threw him into an industrial meat grinder where he became Soylent Green and was distributed throughout the world to feed people who didn't really feeding."

"And that is how Urashima Keitaro died. The end."

*****

"Jimmy..."

"A pretty good story, huh? I could win a Pulitzer or Peabody for that."

"Get bent, you son of a bitch."

Jimmy threw his cigarette on the ground and brought a new one. "Lighten up man, for God's sake you're more serious than Charlton Heston when he came down with the Ten Commandments."

"I've been getting calls left and right. Clients here, clients there. Goddammit Jimmy, of all people you could find, a freaking lawyer? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Time was short. Besides, there was a high-schooler in the other room."

"Oh yeah," Taro smirked, letting out his frustrations along with some cigarette smoke. "Who was a freaking girl! Sorry Jimmy, I was born as a guy, died as a guy, and if want to live again, I'd still want to be a guy."

"You got your wish."

That answer made Taro bite his lip. The magician was right. Indeed, he got his wish. Not wanting to delve on that issue on such time, he segued to another. "Alright, fine. This was what I wanted anyway. But seriously, Jimmy. Spare me from those fucked up stories of yours. You know very well, that they would still be looking for me...or rather him."

"The guy we just buried?"

"Yeah."

"Fine. I'll honor that request. It was hard to pull but I managed. The part about your parents? Check. The story I made up was good. Just don't mind the killer rabbit part. Nelson helped me on your American citizenship. The parents were at the American embassy for a visa application, your mom was nine months with you. She scattered on the floor. Instant access to the land of the free and home of the brave. Their accident death, got hit by a truck. The blazing fireball? The truck was carrying gasoline. So I got that one covered. It's only on the last parts that get, well, a little bit tricky."

"What do you mean?" Taro's face was flustered with worry.

"Well, after the funeral you came here. Japan. Granny was already sick and dying, so you took a job to help her. The papers could have a hard time convincing people. You were an American citizen but was totally Japanese. Still, you could be considered as a foreigner. In any case, you managed to land a job. A beef processing plant. After that, it becomes quite easy. You slipped, fell down a meat chopper, and died."

"That's it?"

"I can't go hypnotizing people forever. And the money I used to bribe who needed to be bribed and falsify all those documents? I got that by staring down Yakuza groups. I could have lost my dick or worse. Besides, with that corpse of yours so mangled up, the meat chopper accident was the best I could think of. Now, there you have it, fucking happy?"

"Yeah. But one thing."

"What?"

"You kept connecting me to that guy. You know very well I'm not him...well, not anymore."

Jimmy guffawed, resulting into his cigarette being launched down to the ground. Cursing a little, he took out another one lighted it, savoring the flavor of a newly burned cigarette. "You're thinking that it would be easier if you really forget that man you used to be, huh?"

"Yeah."

With the conversation they had, they failed to notice that they were already near the line that separated the church and the city. And when they did cross it, they stopped talking for a while. They continued walking in silence until they arrived in the city proper. Without any words they decided to have some coffee just outside the coffee shop. They did not mind the noise of the passersby or the vehicles that blared their horns at both pedestrians and fellow drivers alike.

Today was the day that they buried Urashima Keitaro. And try as they might, they could not shake the feeling that they cheated the so called Circle of Life. Jimmy knew that one way or another, someone or something was pissed off when used his powers to bring back to life one that supposed to be dead. On the other side, Taro was worried that the past would relentlessly haunt and eventually catch him.

Amidst the cigarette smoke, the warm and tempting smell of freshly brewed coffee, and the irritating noises that an irritating city could make, they both remembered; they were like two spark plugs that activated on the same time.

Both men, inside their own heads, recollected the events two weeks prior.

*****

"You know," Jimmy mouthed off as he violently chewed on his double cheeseburger, "I never knew you were such a fucking pervert."

Keitaro only murmured in response as he floated low around the floor in order to take a peek under the skirts of some high school girls. "Hey Jimmy!"

"What?"

"About what you said a while ago?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I usually get accused as a pervert back then. When I was still alive. Never true though. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Don't tell me now that you're dead, you're planning to fit that role."

Keitaro's disembodied spirit gave out, something that could be barely called, a low laugh. "Why not?"

"Suit yourself then, Taro." Jimmy turned his attention again to the cheeseburger. It was large one, so large that three people could have split it amongst themselves. But the magician was determined to finish the combination of beef and bread on his own. Never mind the fact, that beside him was his bag that contained a very frightening object. His bag was a simple black sports bag where one could put something as long as tennis racket or several swimsuits without the zipper exploding from the stress. But such things were not inside that bag.

What was inside was the severed left arm of one Urashima Keitaro; injected with healthy amounts of formaldehyde and contained in an air-tight resealable plastic bag. But that was the least of what made it disturbing. The limb in question had numerous post-mortem carvings; letters of ancient times and arcane symbols. They were done by stripping off some skin from the flesh, akin to a peeled fruit. Though it was also sickening for the magician to eat his food while bringing along a torn limb, he knew it was necessary. If the soul of Urashima Keitaro was a ship, then the desecrated arm undoubtedly served as the anchor; in order for Keitaro not to move on to the afterlife.

"Hey Jimmy! Take a look at this!" Keitaro's excited, yet ghostly, voice disturbed the magician's brooding.

Between chewing and swallowing, Jimmy shot back. "What now?"

"These three girls got something in common. You better take a look."

And so the magician did take a look. But found himself snarling at what it seemed to the specter's untruthfulness. There were three girls alright. But except for the fact that they all seemed to be in high school, there was nothing in common in them at all. One girl sported a short blond hair and wore a different uniform. The other two seemed to be in the same school and both had long brown hair. However, the taller of the two wore a single ponytail, while the shorter girl's mane was free of any accessories.

"Look Taro, you're already dead. But that doesn't mean that your powers of observation would get any worse. It should be actually better."

"Actually," Keitaro evilly grinned. "It is! They have one thing in common Jimmy. It's their design theme."

"And that would be?"

"STRAWBERRY PANTIES!" The deceased former kanrinin of Hinata Inn violently circled the whole fast-food chain. No one was disturbed or hurt by his antics, after all, he just passed right through the people or the objects he collided with. But there were exceptions. Some people who were a little bit sensitive to the supernatural could have sworn that a torrent of perverted glee permeated the whole place.

Jimmy had a vague idea of what was to come next.

Keitaro's head suddenly popped halfway through the magician's food tray; still wearing a perverted look with a vengeance. "Hey Jimmy, maybe you could show me some of your magic?"

"And that would be?"

"Remember when you pulled out a coin out of my ear?"

"Let me guess," the magician painfully groaned. "You want their underwear?"

"Your such a good friend!" Keitaro was now out of the table and into the air, dancing a pathetic solo version of the tango.

For his part, Jimmy could only smirk as he put down the cheeseburger and went on with the request. Shaping his right hand into an improvised cylinder, he breathed hard as he inserted his fingers from his left hand; he looked like the usual stage performer who always pulled a rabbit out of a hat. Only this time, no furry rodent came out. Instead, the first object he pulled out was a pair of pink cotton panties, and just what Keitaro had said, it had a strawberry design; in fact, it was littered with numerous tiny strawberry drawings. After pulling that one out, he did the same again. This time, it was a yellow bikini type; it only had two strawberries, one on the front the other on the back. When the third line of underwear magically surfaced on his fingers, Jimmy was not even surprised. The last one spelled "strawberry" all over, even though it did not have any drawings at all. Rather, the design of the cloth itself mimicked that of the innocent fruit; complete from the seed like protrusions to the green leaves.

"There," the magician unenthusiastically threw the intimate apparels on one side of the table. "Happy now?"

"Oh yeah," the specter drooled. "Pity though, I'll never get to touch them."

"I like you better when you were alive."

"Hey I'm just making the best of my situation here."

"Fuck me sideways." Jimmy quickly snapped his fingers in frustration. As soon as the sound emitted from the violent friction of his fingers, a sudden gust of unnatural wind enveloped the premises. Needless to say, the skirts went up and revealed that the girls were lacking the garments that protect modesty.

Pandemonium.

Keitaro, several male patrons, and even the male employees had a collective nosebleed. Jimmy, being the bastard that he was, indiscriminately threw the intimate articles. And as if by magic, it all landed on the heads of some unsuspecting customers.

Hell on earth.

With the three pair of panties out of Jimmy's magical influence, they immediately became noticeable. Management had to call the police and with the quick response time of Hinata's finest, several "invitations" to the precinct were made. If Urashima Keitaro could only die for a second time, perhaps that could have been a possibility; the disembodied soul was laughing so hard that an ordinary person laughing in such a way would have suffered from spontaneous combustion.

All of these things were of no concern for the magician. He just finished his cheeseburger and downed the diet cola he ordered. With his meal done for, he then took a black book that was beside Keitaro's severed arm from inside the black sports bag. Said book was thick in nature and the leaves were definitely old. Flipping and scanning the pages, Jimmy found the thing he was looking for. On that page, numerous arcane texts from an undecipherable language filled the paper. There was also a diagram; a crude drawing of two men. One was lying on a slab of stone, the other floating in the air; facing the former.

"Soul Transfer." Jimmy darkly muttered under his breath.

Closing the book with a violent thud, he put in inside the bag and stood up; ready to leave and ready to finish whatever it was that he began.

"Whoa! Whoa! Jimmy, what the hell are you doing? The fun just started! Where are we going anyway?" Any further protestations were in vain. Keitaro's soul was painfully dragged along to where the magician was going. After all, the deceased former ronin was bound to the severed arm, and that arm was under Jimmy's control.

*****

With no visible legs to speak of, Keitaro floated alongside with Jimmy who was taking his time in walking around the fluorescent bulb lighted hallways of Hinata General Hospital. Though a public hospital in nature, it was a first class medical establishment. Pristine white paint, onyx vinyl tiles, an air conditioning system that was neither too hot nor too cold; all thanks to the healthy helpings of taxpayer money.

Despite that, the security seemed to be wanting. But that could have been understandable. Jimmy was a magician, and anyone asking him what his business was would have been easily hypnotized, or in this particular case, asleep.

"Did you really have to that?" Keitaro was looking left and right, making sure that no one was following them. "I mean, what if some patient on another wing needed some attention?"

"Relax. This floor is specifically for the use of comatose patients. It's not as if somebody is going to get a heart attack or something."

"Well, you're the boss here Jimmy."

"Yeah, yeah." the magician took care not to step on the sleeping doctors and nurses. When the two of them arrived in front of a door that seemed to belong to a rich patient, Jimmy signaled Keitaro to stop.

"Is this it?"

"Just one of your choices Taro. There's another one two rooms ahead."

"Okay," the specter felt uneasy at Jimmy's attitude. "You said this floor houses comatose patients, right? But that doesn't mean that they're dead. They could still be alive."

"I know." Jimmy took out a Lucky and proceeded with his guilty pleasure.

"You shouldn't be really smoking inside this place. It's practically forbidden."

"Looks like you never got to go a hospital that allows smoking inside, did you? Well, in any case, this one is dead. So is your other option."

"Dead?"

"Brain dead. That's why I told you that you only got two options. Some of the patients here got a strong will to live. Their souls have not yet moved on, knowing full well that they're still alive. Those two I mentioned, however, got no souls to speak of. Flesh is willing but the spirit is weak, or rather, moved on."

"Are you sure?"

"Goddamn sure of it."

"Well, what's so special about this one then?"

"Nothing much really. It's just that when I got hold of their records, I thought that maybe you should have a choice. This one," Jimmy pointed at the door. "Still in high school. The other is already a lawyer."

"So that's the only difference?"

"You idiot," Jimmy inhaled the deadly vapor in frustration. "Try thinking two steps ahead, will you. You live again, but then you can't live anymore as the old you. As Urashima Keitaro, that is. Whether you like it or not you have to take the identity of the body you are going to use. You think you can handle the responsibilities and pressures of a lawyer? Or would you rather have another sweet sixteen moment?"

Keitaro's eyes lighted up with understanding. "Of course, that makes sense." Throwing caution to the wind, he boldly declared, "Then, I guess living as a high-schooler for the second time around won't be that bad."

"Only one catch."

"You gonna have a hard time doing the magic?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"She's a girl."

For a brief moment, the deceased kanrinin could have sworn that the Earth stood still. "Would you kindly repeat that?"

"She's a girl. That high-schooler I was talking about."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, if it's finances, you don't have to worry that much. She's not really rich, just your typical middle class. Dad is you everyday salaryman while mom has a flower shop just a few blocks away from their house. Both parents make good income. I'm guessing that you can't buy Victoria's Secret lingerie or Gucci bags, but I think you'll manage."

"That makes sense." the ghost of Hinata Inn's past muttered weakly.

"Also, I think I better tell you this. She's not a virgin anymore. Okay, the medical report said that, not me. I didn't touch her in anyway. But I think you'll do fine. She just broke up with the boyfriend. So I'm guessing that you wouldn't be having troubles about sex."

This time, Keitaro remained silent.

Jimmy, because he was a total bastard, decided to fill the voiceless gap. "For now. She's basically treated as some sort of pop idol. The boys usually report to the clinic due to blood loss. But if you don't want that, well, here's some consolation. Even the girls want her."

Nothing could have prepared the magician from the ghost's reaction.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? A GIRL? YOU WANT TO ME BECOME A GIRL?"

"Calm the fuck down, your voice is too loud."

"As if anybody could hear me."

"I do."

"Is this your fucking idea of a joke? You know that I really want to live again!"

"I was just giving you a choice." Jimmy crushed the spent cigarette and took out another one. "Besides, how would I know that you won't like the idea of becoming a carpet licker or a beaver smasher."

"A what?"

"Never mind."

"So I'm guessing that you're one hundred percent on the lawyer then?"

"Does it look like that I have a choice?"

"Yeah, you do." the magician's thump pointed towards the door.

"Get bent."

"No can do, Taro."

With the minor debate settled, the man and the spirit continued their trek along the halls. Stopping only to read the room number, and once sure that they have the correct one, they walked in without any further fanfare. Once inside, the magician quickly locked the door, he also closed the curtains; leaving the room to be only bathed with electric light. Zipping the sports bag open, he took out two plastic pouches: one contained a reddish powder of sorts and the other was simple table salt. Jimmy tore the one the contained the salt and walked towards the door. He then poured it on the floor, making a line across the wooden portal. The window panes came next. With those things done, he pulled out the book and opened it to the page that he was reading back in the fast-food chain.

While the magician was busy with his arcane preparations, Keitaro floated around the comatose patient. Somehow, he could have sworn that he knew the man on the bed. Keitaro had to admit that the lawyer was quite good-looking and pretty young, probably in his mid-twenties. And even though the face hinted some familiarity, the long uncut hair that was covering most of his facial features made him a stranger. Though his interest was piqued, Keitaro shook it off. What he was concerned right now was the idea that he will become this lawyer, and everything that he was in the past would have to go.

Jimmy looked to and fro from the floor to the book. A sense of doubt crept up his spine. This was the first that he would be doing this spell. What was worse, was that the idea came to his mind when he remembered a past case of a woman who sold her soul to a demon and when the time came when she had to cough it up, transferred it to another body in order to escape damnation. But there was no use in remembering it now. He tore the pouch that contained the reddish powder and pouted it on the floor.

"What's that?" Keitaro asked, seemingly confused at the magician's use of such a thing. Recent memory reminded the spirit that he only saw the magician carry two kinds powders: salt and sulfur. It was his first time seeing Jimmy use the red powder.

"Simple classroom chalk."

"Really now? Why is it red?"

"I grounded it with a virgin's blood."

"You had a hard time?"

"Totally. Now, shut up for a second. I need to concentrate." With all of the red chalk out of the pouch and onto the floor, Jimmy stared hard at the drawing on the book. Said sketch was insanely occult in nature. There was a circle and inside that was another circle. In the empty space between the two, three names were written in the Latin alphabet: Barbas, Morax, and Haagenti. If one had more knowledge, they would recognized that those names belonged to three of the seventy-two demons of Goetia. Inside the smaller circle, was a pentagram and in the empty spaces that surrounded the star, were the alchemical symbols of earth, water, fire, air, and the human spirit.

After what would passed for a lifetime, Jimmy stopped his one-sided glaring contest with the sketch. Closing the book with a satisfied smirk on his face, he looked on the floor and saw that the chalk was now under the bed and resembled the drawing on the book.

"Taro," the magician nearly barked out with his throat. "Go float around the body. Well in front of it actually, as if you're gonna sleep on you stomach."

Keitaro wordlessly complied with Jimmy's order. Still, when he saw the face of the man he was going to be, he could not help but point it out. "Hey Jimmy."

"What the fuck is it now?"

"I just can't help it. Seems like I know this guy."

"Well, he's dead. His soul has gone to some other place. That body you're looking at is just an empty shell. Kept alive with an overdose of sugar-water and medical blow jobs. Any more questions?"

"No."

"Good. Now just keep floating while facing him and stay put." Jimmy walked towards the light switch and turned them off. When his eyes finally adjusted to the dark, the magician walked again near the bed and took a deep breath.

"Now, for the final catalyst." Jimmy took of his jacket and tossed it on the floor. He then proceeded to roll up the sleeves of his short. Sweat formed around his head even though the cooler was not broken; it was not the heat, it was the pressure of the act that he was to do that made him bleed with saltwater.

Quickly reaching inside his pockets, Jimmy pulled out a jackknife, flicked the blade open, and without any hesitations, slashed his right wrist. Though he tried hard not to scream, he failed to stop himself from giving out a pained whimper.

"JIMMY? WHAT THE HELL?"

"Stay put goddammit! Don't mind me!"

Placing the blade on his shaking right hand, Jimmy breathed deep once more, and gave his left wrist the same treatment. Blood poured out slowly, but not for long. The magician knew that once he begins the chant, his body might become dangerously deprived of plasma. Basic knowledge of anatomy reminded him that the human body contains approximately five liters of blood; just enough to fill three to four large cola PET bottles. And he fails to concentrate, he will be in a considerable world of danger.

Nonetheless, he took the risk and began to chant.

Keitaro was worried for Jimmy. Seeing a grown man slash both of his wrists was not something he saw everyday when was still alive. But that did not mean he wanted to see such things. Still, he complied with Jimmy's command and literally stayed still. Not even bothering to look at the magician whose face was becoming pale due to the blood loss.

As with the progress of the spell, it seemed to be working. The dark room was slowly filled with a very unholy green light, furniture and the other embellishments were rattled by an invisible force, and the ground began to shake even though earthquake season was far off.

Jimmy's eyes were beginning to whiten. His voice was firm, but a small trace of shakiness was present. With his knees buckling, it seemed that the cheeseburger meal he had a while ago did not give him much energy. But he soldiered on.

Keitaro felt an immense pull. One that made him feel alive again. He tried looking for the source, and found out that it was the body on the bed. Fear gripped him all over. Jimmy had been deadly silent and secretive of whatever method he was going to use. And the ghost who wanted to live again was not pleased. Still, Jimmy was the only he could trust and rely on. So despite the growing doubts, Keitaro did not even entertain the idea of bolting out of the room.

One final word came out of the magician's lips. Suddenly, a surge of green light enveloped the comatose patient. Keitaro saw that and still stayed his ground, but he was totally unprepared for the tentacle-shaped mist to suddenly grab him and pull him inside the brain-dead man.

Darkness. Total darkness.

"Tell me it worked."

It was Jimmy. He was sure that it was the magician speaking. But the way he heard the voice made him think. It was like the way he heard things before. When he was still alive.

"Goddammit, you might want to talk. Did it work?"

Though his eyes were closed, he felt the stinging sensation of the flickering fluorescent lamp. He opened his eyes, got up in a sitting position, and saw the magician with a satisfied grin on his face.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Taro." Jimmy let out a stifled groan as he saw down. He was pale and breathing hard from the lack of blood.

Sensing that Jimmy was in danger, he leaped out of bed and carried him by the shoulder. "We need to get you to a doctor."

"Get me to the stairs. If I recall, we're on the fourth floor. Get me to the door that connects to the third. I need to break the spell, so I can wake the staff here."

"I can carry you you know." But that was proven incorrect. His body felt stiff and weak. It was not his old body anymore. The one that was used to pain and schooled in martial arts. An ordinary body. An everyman's build. That was the time when he realized that he was no longer Urashima Keitaro.

"Hurry..." Jimmy's weak voice implored.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled the magician and his own weight together. It was an uphill battle, even though the stairs was just a few seconds away. But they were in luck. They managed to reach it in time.

"SORRY!" he yelped when he accidentally dropped Jimmy on the ground.

"Don't be. It's expected. That was a comatose patient. Hell, you might even got entropy or something." Jimmy crawled towards the door and saw a familiar symbol; the same one he used to lullaby a police station. Taking a short breath, he exhaled on the dried cake of blood. Little by little, it was peeled of like an old decal from a shirt.

With the magic ended, one by one the sleepers awoke.

A scream was heard. Followed by frantic orders to get a doctor and some orderlies to carry a new patient. Expected, since there was a man, pale in color, with both wrists slashed off and bleeding to certain death.

"You think you're gonna be okay Taro?" Jimmy asked.

"You keep calling me that. But I'm not Keitaro anymore. I know it. I feel it. I'm not me anymore."

"Better to call you Taro than any other expletive." Jimmy was about to say more but was cut off by the two orderlies who lifted him up into the floor. "I'll be fine." the magician muttered as he was whisked away.

He could only smile a little at Jimmy's assurance. He walked around to the nurse's station and he could not help looking at the mirror there. His features were totally alien to him. His hair, his eyes, the shape of his nose and lips, they did not belong to Urashima Keitaro. Before he could despair on his crisis of identity, a doctor showed up. The man of medicine introduced himself as the resident who was monitoring his case. The usual medical questions and answers followed, and any further self inquiry was postponed.

*****

"Are you worried?" Jimmy asked while sipping his coffee.

"I'm even paranoid of my own shadow. Everyday I'm learning something about the I am supposed to be. At the same time, I try to forget the man who I once was. But I can't."

"But both memories," the magician put down his cup as he lighted a Lucky. "You can remember them both fine? No headaches, no confusions, no nothing?"

"I can remember perfectly. I remember Keitaro's childhood in his family bakery. His promise in the sandbox. The frustration of failing two times and being kicked out by the parents. The day he arrived in his grandmother's inn. The time spent there. The fun that he had, the love he had, the pain he endured, I remember. I remember them all. All of it, I remember."

Jimmy took inhaled a little from his Lucky, savoring the taste that he always found best. "Whether you like it or not, you are Urashima Keitaro. Your soul rightfully bears that name. Your identity right now is nothing but a cover. You live his life but you are not him. You don't have to repeat his mistakes, adopt his personality, or whatever. You can be your own."

"Jimmy," Taro lighted his own cigarette and took a sip from his coffee. "All I have to do is to 'will' what memory I like to remember. This lawyer's childhood? Pampered since birth. He got all the toys he asked for. He's smart. Took the university exams the first time and passed it, same with the bar. Women literally throw themselves at his feet. Who wouldn't want his life? When I remember his memory, the emotions he felt during those times, I feel great. Granted it's not my true memories. But it makes me happy."

"And you never bothered to dig a little bit deeper. Like how 'your father' underwent three divorces because all the women he married were gold diggers. Even 'your own biological mother'. Never mind the fact that the fourth wife was done for convenience. To acquire a large share of stocks from an enemy corporation. And all those flying colors in the academe? Please, he is bright but not that smart. Pretty average guy, really. But letters to certain people along with some 'donations' could help a lot. The women? High class escort girls. The girlfriends were no better. Ravenous wolves after your bank account."

"You gave me no choice Jimmy!"

"I did."

"How the hell am I suppose to live as a girl?"

"That would have been your problem."

"Well if you just took more time---"

"Time was a luxury I didn't have back then. If you had stayed disembodied for so long, even the binding would've failed. An earthbound spirit. That's what you would've been. Trapped in this life when you should have passed on."

"Yeah. I remembered the way you mutilated my arm."

Jimmy had a victorious snicker at Taro's slip of tongue.

"What I meant was, his arm. Keitaro's arm."

"Why are you so adamant in being happy that way? Be honest. Deep inside, you know that you're just borrowing his memories. It was never your to begin with. The Witch of Dimensions just made sure it wouldn't conflict with the true ones."

"Jimmy, I hope you remember what was the price for that..."

Hearing the word "price" made the magician's face crumble. Indeed, the two of them cheated death. But that did not mean that there were no consequences.

"I'm sorry."

Taro looked at Jimmy and saw that his face was etched with regret. "Don't be. You tried your best. I'm alive. That's what matters the most."

"With what kind of life?" Jimmy's question came out with dense cigarette smoke. "Come to think of it, even if we took the other route, it would've ended the same. You being plagued with memories. Memories so innate to the original owner's body, that even my magic would be useless."

"Don't be so hard on yourself Jimmy. Like I said, Yuko did her best. I can remember what I want to remember without any problems."

"But at what price, Taro? I was wrong to admonish you in trying to live that way."

Taro crushed the spent cigarette and downed his cup of coffee. He ordered for another while lighting a new stick. "No, you had a point. I should live my life to the fullest. It's a cliché, but is suits my situation. But not the way I'm doing it right now."

Jimmy finished his own cup and when asked by the server if he wanted more, politely declined. He simply settled with another cancer stick. "Whatever way you look at it, I failed you."

"Yeah. But that's the small details. I lived again. Not perfect. But then again, nothing is."

Cigarette smoke swam in the air around the men. Once again, they remembered.

*****

"Dammit. If I just had more time, I could've prevented this." Jimmy's voice was filled with uncertainty. It had been two days since he transferred Keitaro's soul to a new body. He was already prepared to leave Japan, if it was not for a desperate call from the young man.

Desperate since it was the police that tracked him down. At first he thought it would be about his presence on several crime scenes a week before. If it was only magic, then he could have easily wormed his way through. But it was a different case when it comes to the men with the badge. His magic could only work so much.

"It's getting worse Jimmy," The young man was in undeniable pain. His face was contorted to the point of death.

"I never knew. Dammit, I never knew. The food binging you did was expected. You just woke up from a coma. But these migraines, are you sure that the medicine has no effect?"

"I told you," Another pained groan assailed the air. "It's not just a migraine. I see flashbacks. Lots of them. I can't tell which one is mine or his. I'm getting confused all the time."

Jimmy briskly walked towards the door and made sure that it was locked. "Are you sure no people would be coming to visit?"

"I'm the son of the big boss. People listen when I talk. Besides, I got an intercom if I need anything."

"Not to mention the fucking resources." Jimmy decided to have a smoke inside the posh room he was in. "Calling the cops to bring me to the hospital. That was fucked up. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

"You're the only one I know that I can trust."

"Yeah. Okay, try to relax. Jumping in your head might not me much of a problem. Let me see if I can fix it."

"Whatever you say Jimmy."

Grabbing a chair, the magician sat down on it and grabbed another cigarette stick from his pack. Holding the young man's hair in order for him to get a clear view of the forehead, he muttered darkly before he impaled the cancer stick on the ailing man's skull.

Jimmy never expected what would happen next.

A strong torrent of mental energy made the magician fly towards the door. The wooden portal was undamaged in any way, but Jimmy was another matter.

"The fuck?" This time, Jimmy did not even bother to use a cigarette. He charged forward with his fingers. Only for the same thing to happen once more, when he activated his magic.

"Jimmy, what the hell is wrong with you?"

The magician crossed his arms as he stood near the bed, trying to think hard of a plan. "I wish I knew, Taro. This doesn't happen to me. Never did. Something is wrong. As in fucked up wrong."

"Indeed." two voices agreed in unison.

Both men were surprised at the arrival of the uninvited guests: Ichihara Yuko and Meio Setsuna.

"Oh fuck," Jimmy mouthed off at the sight of the two. "With you being here, it tells me that I really screwed up."

Yuko smiled and walked closer to the two men. "Have you forgotten my request Jimmy?"

"No, I didn't. But it's hard not to cuss around if you're being stared down by two powerful individuals."

"Then please, honor my request."

"We have come here," Setsuna interjected, "For a good reason. Not only did you not do what was expected of you. But you decided to cheat life and death itself."

"With a very taboo spell, notwithstanding." Yuko added.

"Oh," Jimmy tried to put up a brave front. This was not the time to be shaky. "Let me give you a 'when' and 'who'. Five years ago. Kitami Reika."

At hearing the name, both women's faces seemed to have gained a disdainful expression. This did not go unnoticed to Jimmy, who then decided to hammer his point across. "Rings a bell? You know, school nurse, blond hair, blue eyes, and got a thing for purple nails and panties if I recall. Oh wait, the real zinger. She suddenly grows a freaking nine each cock out of her beaver. Ring a bell? I could go on."

"You vulgar magus!" Setsuna's voice was so called that Jimmy and Taro were chilled. "You dare imitate a supplicant of the Black Bible?"

"I modified it Guardian. Or else I would've slit a poor girl's throat. Look, no one was harmed with that spell. Except for me who nearly died because of the blood loss. Let it go."

"As if we can turn a blind eye---"

Jimmy's temper flared at what he perceived as a holier-than-though attitude from Setsuna. "And what the hell are you gonna do? Like the last time, you're too late. That past case was worse! That Kitami woman is alive and well in another person's body. She escaped damnation and an innocent took her place! And you did nothing! You're the freaking Guardian of Time and Space, and you couldn't press the pause button when it's really needed!"

Sailor Pluto responded in kind. "Do not lecture me of my duties, you...you..." she needed to find the right word. "You insufferable bastard! There are laws to be obeyed. Kitami Reika's transgression did not concern my duties, neither was it in my jurisdiction. Urashima Keitaro, however---"

"Tell you what," If Setsuna's enraged face was at an arctic temperature level and going lower, Jimmy was three-hundred kelvin and rising. "That Kitami woman? She had a thing for the ass. Loves anal and definitely loves to give anal. Ever had one, Guardian? Because believe me, the way you're being such a stuck-up, it's as if you got something wedged between your cheeks!"

Setsuna wordlessly responded by summoning the Garnet Rod. Light from the Underworld illuminated her form; a sign of immense power.

"Mind you," Jimmy lighted a cigarette to calm himself down. "I won't go down without a fight." One of his hands took out a pouch of sulfur. There was no need for him to shout, he simply willed it, and his hand became a blazing gauntlet of infernal flame.

Yuko had enough of the pointless banter she was hearing, much more, the unspoken threats that would soon become promises. "Cease this madness, the two of you," she turned to Setsuna and implored of her. "This might be too much to ask Guardian, but ignore his insult. Such filth from his lips are not worthy of your righteous temper."

With that line of reasoning, the Guardian conceded and unsummoned her weapon. "Very well then, after all, Time has now moved on. Especially for you, Witch of Dimensions."

A small understanding smile crept on Yuko's porcelain face. Jimmy, feeling that the threat was over, decided that his hellfire was not needed any longer. But something in his gut told him to ask. "Time has what? Is this why you came here? What's this gotta to do with Taro?"

"Nothing," Yuko calmly responded. "What the Guardian mentioned was solely meant for me."

"That would be?"

"Your curiosity need not be sated magus. As much as I loathe to say this, though I totally detest what you did in order for your friend to return to this world, it is not my duty to exact punishment. But your day will come."

Jimmy turned to the witch for some clarification. "You're the better talker."

"All I can tell Jimmy, is that I am here to grant a wish to the man beside you."

"What?" the magician knew better. All of the her wish granting requires a terrible price to pay. "Then what's up with the Guardian being here then?"

"Jimmy," Yuko's face was a slave to an unseen pain, nonetheless, her serene features did not crack. "The Guardian is with me for as she said, Time has move on for me. You know this very well, Time is jurisdiction." The magician's face was still confused and still wanted to ask, but Yuko answered ahead. "Remember who you are, and how secure you feel in not knowing."

Though perplexed, Jimmy relented. "Alright then, telling you to stop is pointless. Even though I need help, I'd never ask it from you." He turned to Taro and counseled him. "You're going to make a really big judgment call here. Hope you do it right."

"Well, it seems I was remembered." Taro still managed to fool around despite the pain in his head. "What does she wan anyway?"

"No, Urashima Keitaro. It is you, that needs something from me."

"Look, I'm not Urashima Keitaro."

"But you are, now matter how much you deny it from yourself. That is your name."

"All I have is a headache," Taro clenched his teeth as the migraine drilled inside his skull. "You have something for that?"

"What you experience is no ordinary ailment. You see, one component for the spell that Jimmy used was a virginal soul to be sacrificed."

Confusion, wonder, and a little of mirth and irritation filled the room. Setsuna, for all of her ice queen characteristics, had a small smile that was out of character. Jimmy on the other hand, balled his fists and began tapping his foot; as if saying to make quick of the affair.

"No doubt, a virgin's blood was used---"

Jimmy just had to interrupt. "Celibate, alright? It's celibate." He mumbled something more under as he breath as he caught the Guardian's smile getting wider.

"As you wish Jimmy," Yuko did not mind the rude gesture and continued what she was saying. "Celibate blood was used, but that was not enough. A soul was needed for the exchange, but the vessel used had none. Thus, it was only a partial success."

"What's that got to do with the headaches then?" Taro asked.

"Simply put, that was the failure. The mind is a holder of memories, but the mind has a physical manifestation in the brain, and that organ resides in the body. When your soul took over, your memories conflicted with that of the vessel."

"Then what can you do?"

"I can arrange them for you. But know this and understand it well Urashima Keitaro, there is a price."

"How much?"

"I have no need for money. But let me tell you what will I do. It would be inconvenient for you not to have the vessel's memory. You have a need for it in order you to have a smooth life. However, I also feel that you have no desire to forget who you truly are, and that would make the price for your wish a heavy one."

"I don't care, if I need both memories, then do it."

Yuko's eyes stayed passive. "Very well, I shall mend the tears in your memory and at the same time, bestow upon you an ability, though not impressive, which is an absolute necessity."

"Okay."

"Then hear the price," Yuko's voice rolled like a distant tornado. "For the twenty-two years that you have lived in your former body, seventeen of them was gifted with immortality. You have made a promise at the age of five, but you recanted, the reason why you died. What I ask in return for my service is not simple. For the price is the knowledge of your passing."

"The knowledge of my passing?" Taro was totally confused, Jimmy restrained himself from talking, and Setsuna's features returned to her neutral look.

"Yes." Her voice a frightening tone of truthfulness. "The passing of the vessel you have was supposed to be at seventy-four years. Yet you cheated death for countless times because of the promise, and once again, you escaped the cold grasp of the inevitable. For this, the price I ask is seventeen years subtracted from seventy-four."

Jimmy failed to contain himself any longer. "Are you saying that he's gonna get a faster expiration date? Look Yuko, we human beings know that we're gonna bite the dust one day, but nobody wants to know when!"

"Silence yourself Sorcerer," Setsuna held the Garnet Rod just below Jimmy's neck. "For you to know such things, you should know better. What is dead, is supposed to stay dead. You do not have the high ground to speak such things."

With this admonishment, Jimmy decided to behave and leaved the rest to the young man.

"Urashima Keitaro," Yuko asked the sole, ordinary mortal in the room. "Do you agree by my terms?"

He looked at Jimmy, but found no answer. For the magician's eyes simply told him to decide for himself. And so he did. "Very well."

Ichihara Yuko walked closer, when she reached him within arm's length, the Witch of Dimensions placed her palms on the young man's forehead. He flinched, expecting pain, but there was none. Unlike Jimmy's magic where drills were commonplace, Yuko's power was warm and soothing. It only lasted for a few seconds, then the serene atmosphere vanished.

"I have done what you asked. May you live you life to its fullest, Urashima Keitaro."

"Perhaps this is not the last time we will meet Sorcerer. For your sake, hope that it would be cordial."

"Feeling is mutual. I wouldn't want to see you even if you're the last woman alive, Guardian."

A weak flash of light enveloped the room and then the women were gone.

Jimmy took out a cigarette and lighted it up. He walked towards the wisher and asked, "Feeling better?"

"Yes. But the way you look at me, it's as if I made a deal with the devil."

"Perhaps you did."

*****

Taro ordered for another cup of coffee as he crushed the spent Mild Seven on the ashtray. Looking at the magician, he felt a little irritated at the sour face he was wearing. "Stop torturing yourself."

"Fifty-seven is a little bit early to get off, don't you think?"

"I can't do anything about it. Besides, Yuko was right in saying that I cheated life and death so many times. Looks like it finally caught up with me."

"And the only thing you're worried about now is the past?" Jimmy shifted on his seat as he tried to gauge the reaction of the younger man in front of him.

"Even though I remember, I don't want them to be near. I might be tempted to come back, and in the process, hurt myself a lot more. I have to stop being such a masochist."

"That's good to hear." Jimmy tried to look for another cigarette but found out that he was empty. Taro offered him some of his, and the magician gratefully accepted. Between the smoke, Jimmy voiced out his opinion. "It just bugs me, really. We came to this world without our consent, and we'll be soon leaving the same way. But the things with you, is that you know when you're gonna go."

"Isn't it the same with a cancer patient? Or a death row convict? They're also given the dates of their death."

"True, can't argue with you on that one. But sometimes, a convict could get a pardon. And cancer patients usually live longer or shorter than the doctor's approximation."

"Looks like I'm a special case then."

"And you don't despair on that?"

"No Jimmy, I don't despair. Back then, I can say that I took this life of mine for granted. After all, I was immortal. Now, I'm a ticking time bomb. I have no time for disbelief, with all the things I saw for the past week, there's nothing I couldn't believe in anymore. No use to get angry either, it was my decision to make that wish out of Yuko."

"You can accept the fact that you only have, around what? Twenty years to live?"

Taro corrected the magician. "Thirty. I checked the age of my new body, he's already twenty-seven."

"I told you that you that we should have gone for the high school girl."

A small peal of laughter erupted from the younger man. "So I can live longer since she's younger? No thanks Jimmy. I don't think I can take high school again, much more, be a girl. Besides, I had twenty-two years worth of experience, that would be cheating...again. I'm satisfied with this, there's no need to ask for another bargain."

Jimmy looked defeated in his attempt to put some melancholy on his companion. "Seems to be you're being your old self again."

"Meaning?"

"Being so goddamn optimistic."

"With only thirty years to live and ticking, there's no time for me to depressed. This hand of cards I'd been dealt with? I can accept them wholeheartedly."

Jimmy smiled and in that moment, Taro knew that the magician was now beginning the unnecessary burden he placed on himself. "Tell you what, I got one last story for you."

The younger man smiled. He never told Jimmy, but he always appreciated his stories, no matter how depressing or offensive they might be. "Once upon a time..."

*****

"There was a young man. His father and his father's father, well all the men in his family were soldiers. So, out of this tradition, he became a soldier too. Now this guy was a little superstitious. He always carried a rifle bullet necklace. A good luck charm of sorts for a soldier."

"Long story short, he joined a war. He fought in may battles, bagging a decent body count. If that could called decent in anyway. But one time, his squad was ambushed while they were on patrol. His mates got mowed down quickly but he managed to escape. Fighting the enemy had never been so tough for hims since that day. Since he was alone."

"He lost of course, he was only one man against many. Two magazines of extra ammunition could go a long way, but not if you're against ten or twenty guys with the same rifles. He was almost tempted to use his lucky charm as a bullet. It could fit the chamber of his rifle, but he never did. Instead, he made a bayonet charge towards the enemy. I don't have to elaborate what happened next."

*****

"As usual," Taro smiled wryly when the magician finally finished the story. "I'm going to have a hard time getting the lesson. But let me try for once, if the guy never became a soldier, then he would've never been in that situation. Right? Are you telling me that just because I'm a lawyer now, that doesn't mean that I should be one?"

"You're getting smarter," Jimmy's praised his companion. "But you didn't get the story. It wasn't about the soldier."

"What's it about then?" Taro asked, obviously confused.

"It was about the bullet."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No I'm not. You see, a bullet has a definite purpose. Once it's made, it's expected to be chambered in a gun and fired. But that particular bullet never had that opportunity. Instead, it became a necklace, a good luck charm. But what you said was right. You should never be someone because it seems to be dictated by the things around you. Choice, my dear Taro, is something that we have as human beings. Though the bullet never became what it was supposed to be, it did not have a choice. Its status was dictated by the young man. You're no rifle ammunition kid, you're you, a human being. You've got this thing called choice."

Taro bit his lip for a second seemingly perplexed. At surface level, the story was pathetic. But digging a little bit deeper revealed a very complex philosophical lesson. "Quite ironic. The guy who had a choice became a soldier because it was expected of him. But the bullet that did not have the same luxury of choosing what to be, became something else."

With this exposition, Jimmy stood up and looked at the sky. "It's getting dark. Time for me to go."

"Go where Jimmy?"

"Away from here. Away from you." the magician gave him a satisfied smile. "With you being able to point out that irony, it seems you'd be fine by yourself."

Taro stood up, it was evident that he wanted Jimmy to stay a little bit longer. "Do you really have to leave?"

"Yes. After all, I'm a magician. I travel around the world for adventure. This adventure has ended. So it's time for me to pack up and look for another."

"Good luck on your travels, Jimmy."

"Thanks," Jimmy extended his hand towards the younger man. "I guess this is Sayonara, Taro."

Knowing that it was futile to argue, Taro took the magician's hand and shook it tightly. "Well, yeah, I guess this is it. Sayonara, Jimmy."

Breaking the handshake, the magician nodded at him and began to walk away. Jimmy did not vanish in an instant, nor was there any fancy lights that took him away. It was just like the first time they met at McGinty's; nobody seemed to notice the nondescript middle-age man in a gray suit. Slowly and surely, Jimmy mixed with the other pedestrians and in a slow and agonizing moment, was consumed by the maddening crowd.

Taro slowly sat down. Hard as he might, he could not deny that he was sad that the man he treated as friend was gone. What made it more painful for him, was despite all the help he received, he never managed to call him with that word—friend. But he banished those thoughts, he knew Jimmy would have been pissed off at this kind of attitude. He looked up at the sky, and true to what the magician said, it was getting dark.

After paying the bill, Taro decided to walk around. He was in no hurry to meet any clients today. That was why he told the secretary to slash all the appointments. And with the funeral of Urashima Keitaro, his old self, just gave him the perfect excuse.

Passing by a novelty shop, he saw numerous trinkets that echoed of his past. They were like ancient artifacts, "like" since those baubles were actually locally made and had a price tag on them, a telltale sign of an imitation. Nonetheless, it stirred a passion he thought was already buried under all the things he went through.

Grabbing his cellphone, he punched in an office number. When the other line picked up, he did not even give the secretary the time to give out the usual courtesies. "Satonaka-san, tell my father I'm going to quit being a lawyer."

An explosion was visible on the other line. Exasperated questions followed next.

"Look, ever since I was put in a coma, I can't concentrate clearly. I'm sure that he would understand. Besides, my stepmother is young. She could give him a new heir to replace me."

Panic and confusion almost came out of his mobile at that pronouncement. Then there was the question of what he was planning.

"Tell them..."

He swallowed a little. Excitement gripped his heart. Just like the first time when he found himself marooned on an island that unknown to him. But what made his heart pound, was the declaration that he was about to make. For saying his name out loud—the name that he now must live by—along with what he planned to do would hammer the final nail on Urashima Keitaro's coffin.

"Tell them, that Sakata Kentaro wants to become an archaeologist."

*****

FIN

*****

____________________

Author's Notes:

Thus ends Mirrors: Shards of Existence.

It was quite a ride writing this piece. I know that some readers would be able to accept the ending, while other might become pissed off. But that's how things go. The ending with Keitaro becoming someone else was inspired by another fanfiction, Jihi's "A second chance at happiness". I won't spoil it, but let's just say that I borrowed the general idea and added my own twist.

Concerning the cameos, Kitami Reika is from Bible Black. Google and Wikipedia are your best friends if you want to find out more. Yuko mentioning on how time has moved on for her was due to the current happenings on xxxholic, that's the only spoiler I'll give.

Once again, I would like to thank all my readers, the reviewers, and the people who took time to put this story on their alerts and favorites. I'll be gone for a while, for my civil service exams. I'm not sure what I will write about next, perhaps it will be Love Hina fanfiction or something else. But that time around, I'll make sure I have something original.

Cheers!