Chapter 25. He Never Wanted the Moon
"Sorry.
I lost my composure just now.
Let's continue."
Pressing her lips together, Sirin looked at the viewers with reddened eyes and apologized.
The viewers understood, of course.
She wasn't the only one.
The scene resumed.
Johnny pointed at the stars in the sky.
"Then what do you think those stars really are?"
"I've never told anyone this…
I always thought they were lighthouses."
River looked up at the sky.
In this moment, because of Johnny, she seemed to become an ordinary person and naturally expressed her heart.
"Wow, then it must be lively up there!"
"No."
River shook her head, a hint of sorrow in her eyes.
"They can see the other lighthouses.
They want to talk with each other."
"But they can't.
They're too far apart, so far they can't hear one another at all."
"All they can do is strive to shine as hard as they can.
And they really do.
They light up the other lighthouses.
They light up me."
"Why you?"
"Because one day, I will become friends with him."
Stars, lighthouses…
Sirin felt her vision blur again.
It looked like River was talking about stars.
It looked like she was talking about lighthouses.
But what River wanted to talk about had always been herself.
Afflicted by illness, she was like a lighthouse by the sea, standing there quietly, gazing at the other lighthouses from afar—yearning, yet unable to touch.
Until one lighthouse strove to send its light toward her.
That beam illuminated her.
It warmed her.
It allowed her to receive an embrace.
But because of an unexpected accident, that light became very dim.
Not wanting to lose that warmth, River could only burn herself with all her might.
At any cost, she tried to increase her own brightness and reconnect with that beam.
She succeeded, and she failed.
She did connect with that beam.
But that warmth which once touched the heart directly—she could no longer find it.
So she never saw Anya as a child.
She saw Anya as herself.
Even if she left.
Even if she was no longer here.
She could become Anya, burn the last embers of herself, and quietly shine upon and warm the one she loved.
Sirin felt she was already holding back.
But tears still overflowed, little by little, beyond her control.
They had thought Johnny was the one always taking care of River.
But it turned out that the one who had suddenly gone lost and needed care had always been Johnny.
This love was too long, so long that only when the game was about to end could they finally understand.
"What's in that bag…?"
River asked on screen.
"Oh, it's a prize I got from Whack-a-Mole."
"Have you played Whack-a-Mole before?"
"No, I've always been clumsy…"
Hearing this, Johnny jumped down from the tree trunk, picked up the schoolbag, and opened it.
"I got something…
But I don't know what's inside."
Then, a platypus plush appeared before their eyes.
"It's a strange kind of duck… or a beaver?"
Johnny couldn't quite make sense of it.
But he picked up the platypus and handed it to River.
River took the platypus plush into her arms.
Looking at it with some curiosity, she said, "It looks really weird.
But I really hope that one day I can win one myself."
"Johnny!!!"
At that moment, Johnny's mother called from the foot of the hill.
"It's Mom.
I should go."
"…For you."
River suddenly grew a bit quiet.
She handed the platypus back to Johnny, but Johnny pushed it back to her.
"Mm…
Keep it.
It's yours."
"Mine?"
"Mm.
I'm sure I can win another one!"
River didn't speak, but her hands closing around it showed her answer.
The instant the platypus appeared, Sirin already couldn't hold it in.
That childhood gift was treasured by River like a jewel.
Whether in high school, adulthood, marriage, maturity, or old age, this platypus was always by her side.
Within it gathered the wish she cherished most as a child.
It was the only direction by which she felt that warmth.
That rabbit-shaped constellation they drew together under the starry sky as if by telepathy—
that wondrous imagining of lighthouses among the stars—
all of it converged into this small, ugly platypus, making her unwilling to part for even a moment.
"Will you still come here next year?"
River called out to Johnny, who was about to leave, and asked nervously.
"Of course.
You?"
"Yes."
"Same place, same time?"
"Yes."
Having made the promise to meet again, while Johnny walked away happily to find his mom, the still-worried River hugged the platypus plush and chased after him.
Under the gentle piano, the moonlight shone upon the two who had just made their promise.
Mustering her courage, River asked Johnny once more, "Then what if you forget… or get lost?"
Johnny stopped, turned back to the nervous River, and suddenly smiled.
The breeze carried the moonlight and bore this vow into the distance.
"Then we'll always meet on the Moon, silly!"
"Right at the little rabbit's belly!"
In that moment, Sirin couldn't hold back anymore.
She lay on the table, and even with all her restraint, the sobbing was unmistakable.
Everyone recalled the very beginning of the game, when old Johnny looked at them with that bewildered yet earnest voice: "I just… have to go!"
If the earlier story spoke of River's deep, unreserved love for Johnny, then this one short line at the end revealed old Johnny's heart outright.
He had to go!!!
River was still there, waiting for him!!!
Even if the blockers made him forget.
Even if time had buried the past.
Even if he had lived into someone else.
But—
but, that promise made beneath the stars was carried by that breeze from long ago and carved deep into his heart.
No matter how the world moved on.
No matter how we changed.
Johnny always remembered that promise, that commitment he made to River.
Time and memory can block almost everything—
except love.
By now, from the start of the game to this moment, every fog had cleared.
The truth, moving enough to bring tears, lay bare before them.
"Uuuuuuuuuuu…"
By this point, Elysia was crying so hard she could hardly hold herself together.
Eden could only hug her helplessly, gently patting her back.
Looking at those two children on the screen who believed they would meet again at the same place next year, Eden sighed silently.
If you looked closely, even her eyes were a little red.
Lowering her head, she heard Elysia's murmuring through her sobs.
"Uu… S-so it turns out Johnny never wanted the Moon."
"W-what he always wanted was the place where River is…"
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