L.S.Produ had finalized a new animation project, but since Lin Zhiyan wouldn't be personally supervising it, they still needed to brainstorm another one.
Fortunately, this wasn't an urgent matter. Lin Zhiyan's current focus remained on promoting the final two episodes of Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day.
Time passed. On June 12th, at 0:45 AM, the tenth episode of Anohana aired.
The episode was titled "Fireworks."
The audience had already learned about the Main Character and suspected her wish might be to create and launch fireworks together. After working hard and overcoming various obstacles, they finally succeeded in making the fireworks.
Now, they just had to wait for the fireworks display.
The day before the scheduled fireworks display, the Male Lead arrived at the Honma family's doorstep early in the morning and delivered an invitation to the family to watch the fireworks.
However, the Main Character's mother was furious. When her husband asked what to do, she replied with a grim expression: "How could we possibly go? How much longer do they plan to toy with us..."
Before she could finish, her younger son interrupted: "I'll go."
"Why? Why would you do this, Satoshi?" The mother was utterly baffled. She rushed to her son's side, knelt down, and grabbed his shoulders, demanding an explanation.
Her younger brother, however, retorted, "Mom, do you even know how tall I am?"
The Main Character's mother was taken aback.
"I've grown a lot this year," he continued, then turned and walked away.
The mother burst into tears. Soon, her husband stepped forward, offering her a handkerchief. "You and Satoshi are both lonely," he said. "You'll never forget Meiko, and that's okay. But we have to be lonely together—you, Satoshi, and I."
Hearing this, the mother sobbed even harder.
Her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her lean against him, offering silent comfort.
Meanwhile, in a McDonald's restaurant...
Anjou Naruko looked troubled. "What happens now?"
"After the fireworks go off?" Atsumu Matsuyuki asked.
"I used to think it would be better if Menma were gone," Naruko said. "I thought Jinta and I would become the closest of friends. But I was wrong. After Menma truly disappeared, the distance between Jinta and me grew wider and wider. It's only recently that we've grown closer again, and only because Menma came back."
Just then, Atsumu's phone rang. It was Tsurumi Chiriko, asking if he wanted to go to the secret base and if he was with Naruko.
She didn't hold back: "Coward! You were so loud about wanting to help her achieve Buddhahood before, but now you're scared? How embarrassing. Because you were afraid, you ran away from Menma and got together with Anjou. You just didn't want to admit that you're the only one who's miserable, did you?"
While Atsumu Matsuyuki and Anjou Naruko sat in a McDonald's, drinking cola and talking, Tsurumi Chiriko watched from just outside the restaurant.
After scolding Atsumu for a while, she added, "I remember now. When Menma called me and asked me to come out, she said, 'For Jinta, there's something I want to ask you.'"
This referred to an event that happened five years earlier.
On that day, the Male Lead was asked if he liked Menma—a request that seemed to come from Menma herself. After Chiriko hung up the phone, Atsumu asked Naruko to help him with something.
That evening, everyone gathered at the secret base.
Midway through their conversation, Atsumu suddenly suggested they "re-enact what happened that day."
The events of five years ago were re-enacted. Naruko asked the Male Lead if he liked Menma, and Atsumu urged him to speak up. Poppo joined in the teasing.
The Main Character remained silent, saying nothing.
After a long internal struggle, the Male Lead finally gave an answer different from the one he'd given five years ago: "I do... I do love Menma..."
As he spoke, he tried to flee.
But soon, Poppo's voice rang out: "If you run away now, you'll just repeat the same mistake!"
The Male Lead had already stepped out of the cabin, but he stopped at these words and turned back to face the Main Character inside.
This time, she showed no smile and remained silent, letting tears fall freely.
Later, on the way home, Anjou Naruko wept bitterly.
Tsurumi Chiriko walked ahead of her, asking if she had cried enough and if this was Atsumu Matsuyuki's idea.
Naruko sobbed, "Tsuruko, you don't understand... the feeling of never getting a response from the one you love."
Before she could finish, Chiriko replied, "I do understand... because I love Atsumu."
She looked up at the night sky, her expression complex. "Atsumu has always been chasing Menma. I've always... no one knows... after Menma ascended, Yadomi... but Atsumu... he would never choose me. Even if Menma ascended, he would only see you as a replacement."
Anjou Naruko quickly denied it, saying, "No matter how much I suffer, I'll never be with Atsumu. I love Jinta. No one can replace him."
She grabbed Tsurumi Chiriko's shoulders and spoke through tears.
Chiriko replied with a sigh, "That's right. No one can replace anyone. That's why we must help Menma ascend to heaven."
After reliving the events of that year, not only Chiriko wanted the Main Character to ascend, but Atsumu Matsuyuki, despite his loneliness and pain, also wanted her to ascend.
In contrast, the Male Lead seemed regretful. He even told the Main Character, "You don't have to ascend. You can stay here forever."
But her response was, "I will ascend. You know, if you don't ascend, you can't be reborn. And then I won't be able to talk to everyone anymore."
It was the day they had promised to set off fireworks.
The friends had all gathered, and the Main Character's brother came to help.
Her parents sat in their car at the foot of the mountain, watching.
Although the friends seemed to have grown closer through the process of making the fireworks together, during the actual fireworks display, their thoughts were varied, even conflicting.
Just as the Male Lead was agonizing over whether to intervene, the fuse of the fireworks was lit.
The fireworks they had all made together soared into the sky and exploded in a burst of light.
But to everyone's surprise, Menma, the Main Character, did not ascend to Buddha-hood.
It seemed that making fireworks together, and even setting them off together, wasn't her true wish after all.
With only one episode left, Menma's real wish still seemed unfulfilled. Yet she might soon disappear, as episode 10 contained this scene:
The morning of the fireworks display, Menma dreamed of what the Male Lead's mother had told her about reincarnation. When she woke up, her body seemed to have become more transparent.
She murmured, "Auntie, please wait a little longer. Everyone's going to set off fireworks for me. Just wait a little longer."
By this point, viewers had long anticipated Menma's disappearance. But disappearing after her wish was fulfilled was very different from disappearing before it could be granted.
Given the direction of episode 10, it seemed likely that Menma's wish would never be granted. Yet even without fulfilling her wish, she would still have to disappear.
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