Moonlight Walk

It was a summer before I started to college. I had spent the past two years studying, taking
test, and applying for admission. Now, for the first time in a while, I had a little downtime. So I
decided to take opportunity to explore America. But, since I was broke, my plans were quickly scaled
down to spending the summer at my aunt and uncle’s house, on a small island known as North Sands
Island.

Being such a small island, there wasn’t all that much to do. But the solitude was nice, and I
found ways to pass the time. One thing I did was to take pictures with my digital camera. On the night
of full moon, I decided that I wanted to capture the moonrise. So I went out to the beach just before
the moon came up, set up my camera on a tripod, and locked in the appropriate shutter speed and f-
stop. Every few seconds as the moon rose, I used the remote that came with my camera to snap
another frame showing the moon and its reflection in the water.

It only took a few minutes for the moon to rise over the horizon, but I kept at it for a while
longer. Finally, I was done. I started packing up my camera and my tripod, get ready to head back to
my aunt and uncle’s house. That’s when I first I saw her. In the distance, I could see someone else
walking down to the beach. I could tell that it was probably a girl or a woman from the long white
dress she wore, but from that distance it was hard to tell anything else about her.

I decided to stay a bit to see who it was. In all the times I’ve gone out stargazing, I’d never
met someone just walking down the beach in the middle of the night. At that late hour, most people
were either at home, or in a town with other people. You hardly ever saw people by themselves. The
only time I’ve seen someone else on the beach at night would be when they are watching the stars or
the satellites go by. But those people stay still and look up at the sky, while this girl was looking down
at the ground in front of her, watching where she was going.

I ran through a number of crazy scenarios in my head. Maybe she had some disease that
meant she couldn’t be out in the sun. Maybe she was looking for buried treasures. It only took me a
few seconds to dismiss these. What was the chance of them actually happening? I waited for a while,
as she slowly made her way down the beach. I didn’t think such a slow walk could be for exercise, but
I had no idea what else she could be doing out there.

Finally, she was close enough that I could get a good look at her, using the telephoto lens on
my camera. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She was around my age, a year or two
younger or older at the most, and in perfect shape. Her skin was flawless, if a bit pale, and her hair
was very light, almost as white as the long dress she was wearing. Together, the combination of pale
skin, light hair, and a white dress made her seem to glow in the moonlight.

She was a fair ways off and I was pretty sure that she hadn’t seen me. I knew what it was I
wanted to do, I knew that I needed to talk to her. As the girl was walking this way, I decided the best
thing to do was to put my camera away and wait for her to come closer. I didn’t want to scare her
away by running towards her, or to have to shout over the ocean waves.

After I had patiently waited for what must have been twenty minutes, she was finally close
enough that I could talk to her in a reasonable voice.

“Hello.”
 Maybe it wasn’t the most eloquent of lines, but it was all I could think of at the time, and it
got the job done.

She stopped, and looked at me, as if waiting for me to say something else.

“It’s a nice night. It’s warm, but not really all that hot.”

She nodded at this, but didn’t say anything. I finally decided to cut to the chase and ask
question on my mind.

“So what are you doing out here?”

“Walking.” Reply the girl.

“Just… walking? In the middle of the night?”

“Yes.” Reply her quick.

“Are you going anywhere in particular?”

“I walk around the island, following the beaches.” Said her.

The island wasn’t that big. I could go around it in a few hours, maybe a little more if I
stopped for a break. I’d have no problems keeping up with her.

“Mind if I walk with you?”

“If that’s what you want.” reply the girl.

I decided that I’d bring my camera with me, but I hid my tripod and bag in the dunes. This
took only a few seconds, and we quickly started walking down the beach. We walked in silence for a
while, until we could no longer see where we started. I looked back anyway, and saw only our
footprints breaking up the sand of the beach. Walking was great, but I needed to try talking to this
girl. I decided to see if I could find out why she was out at night.

“So…”

She stopped, and looked at me.

“Is there a reason why we’re walking down the beach at night?”

“It’s something to do.” Said her with same expression.

“I see. Do you do this often?”

“It seems like I do this every day.”

“Do you always walk alone, or do other people come with you?”

“Usually, I’m walking by myself.” Reply her, “but once in a while, I meet someone, and
sometimes they decide to walk with me. It’s only happened a few times, though, and I don’t think that
anyone has asked as many questions as you.”

I didn’t know how to take this, and we stood in silence for a second. Finally, she let out a
small laugh, smiled, and took the initiative.
 “What were you doing out there?” ask her.

I didn’t think that she was interested in me, and so it took me a second to respond to her
question.

Seeing my hesitation, she elaborated.

“I think we both agree that it’s rare to meet someone else out on the beach this time of night.
So what were you doing there?”

It took me another second to think back to what I was doing, but finally I answered her.

“I’m into astronomy… well, stargazing, really. I was out taking digital photos of the moon as
it rose.”

She looked at me questioningly, as if she didn’t know what I was talking about. I found that a
little odd, as I thought everyone knew what a digital camera was, so I decided to show her the moon.

“I was really into astronomy when I was young. I could look up at the moon and name all of
the seas.”

“Really?” ask her curiously.

“Well, I can’t do it anymore. But I still remember where one of the seas is.”

I point up the moon, and she turns to take a look at it.

“Take a look at the right side of the moon. If you look, you can see what looks like a boy with
a head, body, and two legs. Do you see it?”

“I see it!” said her fast.

She seemed excited by this, as if she had never looked at the moon like this before. Maybe
she hadn’t. People look at the moon in different ways. Some people see a man, others a boy and a girl,
others a rabbit.

“Well, if you look at his body, that’s the sea of tranquility, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz
Aldrin walked.”

“Buzz? Like the sound?” ask her with smile in her face.

“Well, his real name was Edwin. But everyone called him Buzz. I don’t know why.”

She didn’t say anything, for a few seconds, as she took this in.

“So there are people walking around on the moon?”

“Not anymore. We sent the last people in the seventies, and nobody has been back there
since.”

“So we sent them?”

“Yes. Every man on the moon was an American.”

 She smiled at this, as if she had just found out and taken great satisfaction in this fact. I
thought it was odd, though, that she hadn’t heard of the moon landings. I had though everyone learned
about them when they were young. Still, it gave me a sense of satisfaction to be the person that told
her about them. I decided that I would change the topic to something I was sure that she could talk
about.

“Did you grow up around here?”

“I did.” Answer her. “When I was growing up, there weren’t all these houses and buildings on
the island. The only things on the island were farms, and the farms were huge. Only four families
lived here, and between us we owned all the land on the island. My family was one of the four. We
owned the southern end of the island, where we first met we hadn’t cleared all of our land, but we had
a large enough farm that we could grow the food we needed and sell some at market.” Said her
continue the explanation.

I didn’t know that the island’s population was so small, so recently. I knew that tourism could
grow a population… but so quickly?

“Did you go to school on the mainland, then?”

“Once in a while. When we took the ferry over to sell our produce, we would spend a few
days in the school being tested. But most of the time, we were homeschooled. My mom would teach
us reading and writing, and papa would teach us math and things. At least, before they
died…”suddenly, the word stopped from her mouth and her smile went away. It was obvious that this
was a hard subject for her to talk about so I decided to drop the subject. It looked like if I asked her to
continue, she would break out in tears. So I decided to let it go, and instead just started walking down
the beach again.

I don’t know how much time passed until we spoke again. Maybe it was an hour, maybe less,
maybe longer. We slowly made our way around the island, with me walking a few feet behind her. If
it had been someone else, I probably would have taken my leave and headed back for home. But there
was something about this girl that made me want to stay with her. An aura, of some sort. Of beauty?
Of tragedy? Of loneliness? Perhaps some combination of all of them, and more.

And so, we kept silently walking down the moonlit beach. Finally, I couldn’t take it any
mode, and tried once again to strike up a conversation.

“So… is there anything you want to do with your life?”

For a few seconds, she said nothing, as if I had said something wrong. But then, she began to
speak.

“Once, I thought I knew.” Answered her. “When I was younger, it was like my life was
planned out for me already. I would follow in my mother’s footsteps. I’d help out on the farm for a
few years. Even when we were young, we had chores, but when we finished our schooling we could
help out even more. Eventually, I’d meet a nice boy. I didn’t know who, at the time… Thinking back,
it probably would have been one of the Miller boys. They were around my age. We would get
married, and start a farm of our own. We’d raise a family together. A few girls and I always wanted a
boy, because all I had was sisters.” Suddenly her smile faded away. “Now, however…” Her smile
vanished as she let the thought trail off. After a little while, she changed the subject back to me.
 “What about you? What do you plan to do in the future?”

Her question took me a little off guard, both because I wasn’t expecting her to ask me the
same thing, and because I’d never really thought much about my future. She smiled looking into my
obviousness

“Well, I’m spending this summer visiting with my family. When it’s over, I’ll be going to
school.”

“Aren’t you a little old to still be in school?” ask her.

“Well, state school… I’m going to be attending a university in the fall. I don’t know what I’ll
do after that… I don’t even know what classes I’ll be taking, or exactly what my major will be. I
figure that when I’m not at school, I’ll be living with my parents for a while. Eventually, I’ll get a job
and move out. As to settling down and starting a family… well, I have no idea about when that’s
going to happen. I haven’t really thought much about it yet. I don’t think many people have their lives
as well planned as you. I think most people are just sort of winging it”

At this, she let out a quiet laugh.

“Is there something wrong with that?” ask me to her. I’m felt kind of embarrassed when she
laugh like that.

“No, no, nothing at all. In fact, I think I envy you.” Answer her.

“Why?”

“Well, you can do anything you want with your life. You can go anywhere you want. Some
people would think that having too many choices is some sort of curse, or a burden. But I think it’s
just freedom, and that’s a good thing. I think it’s nice to live a life where your future is open, where
you can do anything you want.” Explain her to me. Looks like she satisfied after short lecture she
gave to me. And once again, I didn’t know what to say instead go back to walking in silence. But
instead of letting the conversation falter, she kept it going. “What do you do for fun?”

“Lots of things. I like drawing, listening to music, and watching cartoons and football on
TV.”

“Foot…ball?” repeat her slowly, as if she knew the both words, but had never heard them
together in that way before.

“Yeah, football. You know, the sport… you’ve heard of it, right?”

“She shook her head to indicate that she hadn’t.

“How can I begin to describe it? There are two teams on the field at once, and one of them
has the ball. The center hikes the ball to the quarterback. The quarterback can either throw the ball to
another player, hand it to another guy, or try to run with it.”

Everything I said seemed to confuse her even more. But I didn’t know what else to do, so I
just kept on going.

“The other team tries to stop them by tackling the player with the ball. If they can’t move the
ball 10 yards in 4 downs, then the other team gets it…”
 It was around this part of my explanation that she broke out giggling. Now that I look back on
it, my explanation was sort of absurd. And so, we passed the night talking about things. Mostly, I
talked and she listened. Sometimes she would ask me questions, and I would answer them as best as I
could. Many times, that wouldn’t be good enough, and she would break out laughing as I fumbled
through another explanation.

We spent the rest of the night like this, talking and laughing as we made our way around the
island. By dawn, we had made it almost all the way around the island, to a cliff not far from where we
had first met. The girl started to climb back down to the beach below, but I stopped her.

“I thought we could stay here and watch the sun come up.”

To my surprise, her reaction to my explanation was one of shock.

“It’s sunrise already? I have to be going!” said her hurriedly.

This came as a surprise to me. We had been getting along well, and now she was about to run
off. She must have seen the disappointment on my face, as she changed her tone as she elaborated.

“It… It’s not you, I like… it’s just that I… I can’t.”

“I understand.”

I said, not really understanding anything. As she started walking away, I searched my mind to
see if there was anything I could say to keep her there just a little longer. Suddenly, I realized that
there was something I had forgotten to ask her.

“WHEN CAN I SEE YOU AGAIN?!!!” I realized I didn’t know when I could see her again.
Without knowing that, I’d probably never see her again. But I just know that I was half-screaming so I
was bit embarrassed at that time. After hearing my voice, she paused for a second, thinking, and then
finally told me.

“You can meet me again on the night of the next full moon.”

“The next full moon? That’s not for almost a month. Can’t we meet before then?”

“I’m sorry… that’s just the next time…”

“I understand. I’ll be there, where we first met!”

At a moment, the sun cleared the horizon. Its brilliance blinded me and I reflexively closed
my eyes. I’ve seen the sunrise many times, before and since, but I’ve never seen it as bright as it was
that time. And when I opened my eyes again, the girl was gone. I didn’t know why she went, how she
had left so quickly, or where she had gotten off to. The one thing I did know was that I wanted to
meet her again.

It takes twenty nine days for the moon to go from full to new to full again, and that’s how
long I had to wait before I could see her again. It would have made for a really good story if I could
have said I spent that entire time thinking about her, but that’s not the way life works. I’m sure I did
other things, that month, but looking back I can hardly remember them. I did spend quite a bit of time
thinking about her, remembering her smile and her laugh. Kicking myself for forgetting to ask her
name. Constantly checking and re-checking the exact moment of the full moon, to be sure that I
showed up on the right night.

And finally, it was that night, and I found myself once again standing out on the beach,
looking up at the moon.

“Were you waiting long?” said someone at my back. That voice… I knew, that’s the girl I
waiting for. I turned, and found her standing next to me. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to be here. It’s rare
that I get to see someone a second time.”

“Hey, I said I was going to be her, didn’t I?”

“You did.” Answer her.

‘I’m the type of guy who keeps his word. When I say I’m going to be somewhere, I’ll be
there. Besides, a guy would have to be crazy not to come back to see you again.” Or did you not hear
what I said? You left in awful hurry last time. I didn’t even get a chance to ask your name.”

“Mizuko, its Mizuko Sayumi.”

“Well, Mizuko Sayumi, it’s good to see you again, after almost an entire month.”

“it’s good to see you, too, but for me it feels like we were together only yesterday.”

I didn’t exactly pick up what she was saying here, so I just said I was thinking before.

“I think it was the same way for me. I spent the entire month thinking about you.”

“I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same… but that’s sweet. Um, also… can I ask your name?”

“Oh! I’m forgot to tell you. My name is Rio. Rio Yamada.”

After that, we were remaining silent. I didn’t know what to say after that, so I keep silent.
Instead I simply motioned down the beach, and we started walking together down the shore. It wasn’t
long before Mizuko broke the silence, by asking me a question.

“I told you a little about my family… but I haven’t asked you about yours yet. What’s your
family like?”

“When I’m on the island here, I live with my aunt and uncle, but back home, I live with my
mother, father, and sister.”

“A sister? Is she older or younger?”

“She’s two years younger than me.”

“Do you get along with her well?”

I thought about how to answer this for a second, and decided that honesty was the best policy.

“Not really. We fight light cats and dogs.” At this, she gave a gentle laugh.

“What do you fight about?”

 “Oh, it’s never about the same two things. Put the two of us in a room together for a few
hours, and all of sudden, there’s something… and we’re at it again.”

I was pretty sure I didn’t want to keep going on about how my sister and I fought all the time,
so needed to find a way to get out of talking about it.

“How did you get along with your sisters?”

For second, I regretting asking that question, remembering how she nearly broke down last
time she spoke about her family. But this time, she seemed happy to talk about it.

“My sisters and I… we were the best of friends. We almost had to be, since our house was so
small. Until I was seven, we even slept in the same bed. But we did everything together. When we had
to do our chores, we would all help each other out, and we got it done in half the time.”

“Did you play together often?”

“We did!” said her excited. “Father built us all a dollhouse, and mother made us all dolls, and
we would play with them together. We would play house. Kitami would be father, I would be mother,
and Tsuki would be our daughter. We would sing, and make other laugh. I haven’t laughed like that
since… Well, since we met last month.”

I heard the wistful tone in her voice, and decided to drop the subject. We started off again,
walking down the beach. As the night went by, we talked about many things. To be honest, I don’t
really remember exactly what we said. What stayed with me are the sensations. The smell of the salt
in the sea air. The sound of the waves hitting the sore. The way of moonlight made her skin glow.
And also… the feel of the sand as I tripped on a rock and fell. The warmth of Mizuko’s hand as she
reached out and helped me back up.

“Are you all right?” ask Marry slowly.

“I think so. The sand was soft.”

She smiled after hear my answer. “I’m glad. What did you trip on?”

“I think it was a rock or something.”

I turned to look at where I fell. There were rocks there, enough that it would have been hard
to assign any one sole blame.

“be careful. I wouldn’t wan t you to be hurt.”

I nodded, gave the rocks one last look, and turned to start walking again. But just then, a
golden glint hit my eye. I went over to where I saw the glint, and started digging. After a few seconds,
Mizuko came over to where I was.

“Did you find something?”

“I don’t…” I was going to say I didn’t know, but I stopped myself. For I had found what I
was looking for. In my hands was a gold ring. I held it up for Mizuko to take a look at. “It’s a ring,
Mizuko…”
 I examined it a little more closely. It was far too light to be made of real gold, and there were
scratches where the gold plating was worn off. I held it up so Mizuko could have a better look at it.

“It’s beautiful!” said Mizuko fast.

“It’s not real. Someone took a metal ring and plated gold onto it to make it look nicer.”

“But it’s so pretty.” Said her.

“If you like it, you can have it.”

“Can i?” ask her

“Sure.”

“Can you put it on for me?”

I didn’t need to answer this, as she held out her hand. I tool it, and slid the ring onto her
finger. It was a perfect fit. Somehow, I felt that I just purposed her to become my fiancée. But I try to
erase that imagination from my head.

“Thank you!”

With that, she grabbed onto my arm, and together, we started walking down the beach. Before
we knew it, it was dawn, and we found ourselves in the same place where we parted a month ago.

“Can you stay and watch the sunrise this time?” ask me to her.

“I’m sorry… I can’t.”

“Well, then when can I see you again?”

“I can only see you on the night of the full moon.”

Even though I can predict her answer, in fact it still hurt a little to hear it. I didn’t know how I
could go through a month without seeing her.

“How come? Why can’t I see you before then?”

“Because I’m a ghost.”

She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, as if someone telling you that
she’s a ghost is something that happens every day. Not knowing exactly what to say, I just stood there
in silence. Eventually, Mizuko decided to elaborate on this, to tell me her story.

“I became a ghost, after I died… I died, along with my family, in the epidemic that hit this
island when I was ten. For some reason, I came back on the night of the full moon. I just found myself
here on the island. I came back on the night of the next full moon, and the next, and as far as I know
everyone after that. I always come back on the night of the full moon. I can do whatever I want that
night, but when the sun rises, everything goes dark, and suddenly it’s the next month. It’s been that
way for hundreds of years. It was boring for a while, but eventually people came back to the island.
Once in a while, someone would meet me, like you did. We would talk for a while. But most of them
only interested in talking to me because I was a ghost. They always went away after a while. I guess
there’s only so much I can say about it.”Explain her. “Come to think of it, you never asked me about
it. Didn’t you figure it out?”

“I… had no idea…”

“You didn’t? Usually people figure it out on the first night. That’s the only reason people ever
come back. They would come and talk to the ghost, until they lost interest. ”She let out a small laugh,
and then seemed to realize something. “That means… you aren’t here because I’m a ghost?”

“My mind said that you are most likely a ghost… but, my heart said that you just a normal
girl. And I… more trust to my heart…”

“So… you came back because you chose to be with me?”

Once again, I was speechless, so we stood there for a little while. In my mind, there’s kind of
battle between my heart and my conscious mind. My mind said that she is a ghost and ghost is
dangerous. But heart denied it, saying that Mizuko is the one I must chose because she is my soul
mate. I’m confused with that. But I was suddenly awakened from the battle in my mind after she
broke the silence.

“The sun’s almost up, and I need to be going.”

“Don’t go!”

“But…”

I grabbed her hand, and pulled her to me. I hug her as I won’t be far with her. She just does
the same.

“Please Mizuko, Stay with me and watch the sunrise.”

We didn’t say anything after that. We just stood there, hand in hand, watching the sky slowly
brighten. I could feel her hands hugging me, and I also could fell her warmth at my hug. But as the
sun rose, Mizuko just gone right before my eyes.

“I guess she really is a ghost.”

I said, to no one in particular. She had told me, and I believed her, but until she disappeared,
there was still a little bit of doubt. I spent my time in that cliff, thinking about it and hearing the voice
in my inner soul. And I finally realized. It didn’t matter. I felt in love with her. Even though we are
different, but my time that spent with her was genuine. It wasn’t fake at all.

A month later, I returned to the beach. This time, Mary was waiting for me.

“Hey…”

“Welcome back. I suppose you have a few questions to ask me. Everyone always does.”

“Not me”

This stopped her in her tracks.

“You don’t have any questions? Doesn’t it matter to you what I am?”
 “What you are? What do you mean?”

“You know… a ghost.”

“That’s not what you are to me. To me, you’re the girl I want to be with. The girl that I love. I
have made my mind, and I will be with you. Beyond that, t doesn’t matter if you’re ghost and I’m a
human. All of that is unimportant. What matters is that you’re you, and I’m me, and that we’re
together. Do you think same like me?”

“Y-yes…”

After hearing that, I started walking down to the beach. I was happy that she also loves me.
But, she must have been too stunned to move, as she stood in one place for a while. Finally, I turned
to her, and asked:

“Are you coming, dear?”

“Yes, my love!”

She cried out her response, and started running after me. Together, we set off for another
moonlight walk down the beach.

From that night on, we spent every full moon together. I loved to hear that she always waiting
me and called me ‘dear’ or ‘my love’ at full moon. But as you know, I have a college so I went away
to them, but I would always find time to drive down to the island to spend our night together. My first
job was on the mainland, right across from the island. I would schedule my days off to ensure that I
had enough time to get to beach before Mary appeared.

Eventually, I saved up enough money to buy a house on the beach, near where we first met. I
started a software consulting business out of my house. It paid the bills and then some, but the
important part was I could always take the time off around the full moon. I never missed a night. I
would be there, in clear weather, rainy, once it even snowed, and once I had make my way through a
hurricane. Mary once said that it was nice to live a life where you could do what you want. Well, I
knew what I wanted, and that was to spend my life with her. I remember, sometimes she ask me,

“Rio, would you love me if I getting old?” I remember that she ask me when I was forty.

“I will still love you. And how about you? I will be getting old faster than you, right?”

“I will love you, my dear. Your presence is my happiness. That’s all.”

Also, together, we celebrated my birthday seventy times, and her twice. We never missed a
night together. Never, that is, until tonight. I’m dying. It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’m eighty-eight,
and I guess it’s just my time. My heart is giving out, and I’ve told the doctor not to do anything when
it goes. Do I have any regrets? Well, almost. Some people might think I would regret not having
gotten married and having children. But for me, Mizuko presence and her love were enough, even if
we never actually got married.

Besides, my money I had from my business was used for my sister’s children and her
grandchildren for their needs. And also to make sure they will have a better inheritance. I’ll leave the
rest to charity. I think that taking care of my family and a little donation to the world is the best
contribution to posterity as any. There is one thing I do regret. Today is full moon, and I can’t see
Mizuko for one last time tonight, stuck in this hospital bed because too weak to move on my own.

The end is near. My sense of the world outside myself grows dim, and I focus more and more
on my body as it starts to give out. I felt my heartbeat growing fainter and fainter.

Beat….

…Beat….

………Beat…

…….

And finally, it stops entirely, and I realize that the end is upon me. I was ready to face it
alone, but I felt the presence of Mizuko standing right with me. I don’t know why, but I see her and I
hear her word.

“My dear… what matters is that we’re together, right?”

I nodded, and the worlds become white, also feeling of years leaving me.

“Don’t I say I love you, even you are getting old, my dear?”

“Yes, Mizuko… you said that.”

Then, she begins to come near me. She kisses me, a gentle kiss… a pure-love kiss from the
pure-hearted maiden that loves me so much. After that, she holds my hands and said,

“Are you coming, my lovely husband?”

She now called me husband. I nodded. Holding her hand and said to my lovely wife,

“Yes my love… brings me together with you… to happiness for both of us and the others.”

And together, we step into the light.

FIN
TOGETHER, INTO THE LIGHT

By PyTom, with some change by M. Hafiz Shiddiqi

All credits goes to PyTom and American Bishoujo/ RenPy Visual novel.

“Thanks for making such a great visual novel that inspires me into my novel. And also thanks for
letting me editing the storyline of 4th ending : together, into the light. My thanks for you. Keep up the
good work! I’m your fan! Keep making great, creative, stunning, and also –makes me cry- novel!
ARIGATOU!” by M. Hafiz Shiddiqi