13 Life after death
Liyue City, to be precise in a building called Yansheng Teahouse.
"Life after death?" A man is sitting reading a manga in his hands. The man's name was Zhongli, a consultant with the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. He wore clothes that were similar to a black suit with gray and orange motifs that looked beautiful, he also wore black trousers and black shoes that matched the suit.
He had actually just bought this so-called manga from the Feiyun Commerce Guild. At first he thought this manga was some kind of novel, but it wasn't just that. The author of this manga mixes illustrations and text together. That means each page of the manga contains an image as well as text to tell the story in it.
He had to admit that this style of manga writing was new to him, as most of the books he read contained only text, and maybe a few pictures, but not to the point where all the pages contained pictures and text like manga.
The quality of the pictures in the manga is also not the same as in other books, he can see that the author of this manga has a talent for painting, because every page has a beautiful and colorful picture.
The manga he was reading was titled "Angel Beats". He bought this manga because he was attracted by the cover, the manga cover depicted a silver-haired girl with white wings on her back, and beside her was an orange-haired boy who was staring at the silver-haired girl.
After reading a few pages of the manga, he saw that he more or less understood the story. This manga tells of people's lives after death, where those people will gather in a building called a school. He looked at many of the building designs depicted in the manga, with interest in his eyes.
He thought the author of this manga had a good imagination as it depicted a whole new world. He wondered if the images of buildings and technology in the manga were just the author's imagination? Or has the author seen the building and technology with his own eyes?
Zhongli wasn't sure, but he decided to think about it later, and continued reading.
The main character is an orange-haired boy named Otonashi, who experiences memory loss about his past life after he dies. Unlike other people who had died, and still had memories of past lives. Otonashi couldn't remember his past life.
Zhongli who was reading the manga smiled faintly, he felt more and more interested in the story he was reading. He took a sip of his tea which was still warm on the table and said. "This manga is good..."
Time passed, he had read almost all the manga pages. He had arrived at a page that displayed a picture of Otonashi and the silver-haired girl named Kanade. The two of them were facing each other under afternoon sky.
Zhongli smiled bitterly, he had a bad feeling about the manga page he was currently looking at. He knew Otonashi and the silver-haired girl named Kanade had romantic feelings for each other, but after reading a few pages of the manga beforehand. He had a feeling the two of them would not end well.
He had seen the many breakups from the other characters who were Otonashi's classmates, and knew how pathetic all of those scenes were.
Although Zhongli's expression was still stoic while reading the manga. In his heart he felt emotional seeing the many farewell scenes in the manga.
Actually other than a consultant from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. His true identity was an Archon who had lived for thousands of years in Teyvat.
Of course he had experienced many bitter and sad experiences in his life over the millennia. He was used to the moment of separation where the people he knew left him first.
He sighed after recalling various memories from thousands of years ago. Then he continued reading the manga pages where Otonashi and Kanade expressed their love for each other.
The moment looked sad because after that Kanade disappeared while Otonashi was hugging her. He saw Otonashi who kept trying to hug the empty air, where Kanade had just disappeared.
Otonashi looked confused, he kept saying that he must be dreaming. Seeing Kanade who had already disappeared before his eyes, he felt sad, and tears started to flow from his eyes. She fell to the ground and kept sobbing. All of the friends he had made in the world after death disappeared, and the girl he loved disappeared too. He had been left in that world alone.
"..." Zhongli felt sorry for Otonashi who was abandoned by his loved ones.
He suddenly felt something warm escape his eyes. He groped her face and she was dumbfounded.
"I cry?" Zhongli didn't expect a person like him who had thousands of years of life experience to cry after reading the manga in his hands.
Maybe because he remembers his breakup with his first love in the past? When he saw Otonashi and Kanade's farewell scene? He smiled wryly.
"At least Otonashi can express his love for Kanade. As for me?"
Zhongli wiped her tears. He then stared blankly at his teacup, and he recalled the face of a woman in his mind. The woman who was his first friend and his first love in the past. "I can't even say it, in your last moments Guizhong..."
---
Just like the eldest Archon who shed tears after reading the Angel Beats manga. Other people in Liyue also felt very emotional after reading the manga for the first time.
For example like a boy with light blue hair who has been reading manga in his room.
"*Sniff* Kanade! Uwaaaah!"
He had seen the manga page that featured an image of Otonashi and Kanade embracing each other under afternoon sky. But at that moment Kanade suddenly disappeared, and Otonashi could only hug the empty air. He felt sadness fill his heart when he saw the scene of the sad parting of the two of them.
Tears flowed freely from his eyes. He wondered why the manga writer was so cruel to make a manga with an ending like this.
---
The same situation is experienced by a purple-haired girl who reads manga. She was a beautiful girl wearing a purple qipao, black stockings that covered her thighs, and black medium heels.
"*Sniff* *Sniff* Why is the ending so sad..."
"I didn't think that Kanade's heart belonged to Otonashi. *Sniff* So the regret is not thanking Otonashi who was the owner of her heart before she died?"
The purple-haired girl felt her heart constrict just from reading the manga in her hands. Tears continued to flow from her eyes after seeing Otonashi and Kanade's farewell scene.
She had also seen other characters' breakup scenes in the manga's previous few pages, but Otonashi and Kanade's breakup was even more sad for her. Until she could not hold back tears after seeing the separation of the two of them.
She couldn't accept the ending of the Angel Beats manga, wondering if she should meet the manga writer in her arms to complain about the manga ending?
---
Meanwhile in the city of Monstadt, or more precisely at the Happy Heaven bookstore.
"Uwaahh! Ren, why did you make the ending like this?!"
"Right, Ren Ren you're cruel!"
"....." Ren sighed looking at the two beautiful girls who were complaining about the ending of Angel Beats to him. The two beautiful girls were Amber and Barbara. They both came to his bookstore in the afternoon, when he had already closed his bookstore.
So right now inside the bookstore there were only the three of them.
"Calm down you two, it's just a fictional story after all."
"No Ren! You have to tell us what happened next to Otonashi and Kanade!" Amber said shaking his collar, her eyes were red from crying too much before.
"Ren Ren at least tell us if Otonashi and Kanade will meet again?" Barbara is also not much different from Amber.
Seeing the two girls being so stubborn, Ren relented and said. "Okay, I'll tell you guys."
"Yes!"
"Quickly tell me what happened to Otonashi and Kanade, Ren-Ren!"
The faces of the two girls were so close to him, he could even smell the fragrance from their bodies at this moment. Ren's gaze fell on the lips of the two girls, wondering should he kiss both of them on the lips?
'Calm...'
Ren calmed himself down first before saying. "Otonashi and Kanade will meet again after the two of them are reincarnated."
"Reincarnated?" Amber and Barbara were confused. It seemed the two of them didn't know what "Reincarnation" was, he sighed and continued. "Reincarnation is when a dead person is reborn in a new form of life. It means that Otonashi and Kanade will have a new life."
Amber and Barbara still don't understand the explanation. He continued again with a simpler explanation. "The two of them will be reborn as babies, and in the future the two of them will meet again. Even though the two of them won't have any memories from their previous lives, but at least the two of them will meet again due to the so-called destiny."
Ren felt like he had tricked the two beautiful girls in front of him by saying that. 'No, wait. It is true that in the last episode of Angel Beats there is a scene where Otonashi and Kanade meet again, although there is no explanation as to whether the two of them are actually reincarnated. So I'm not 100% lying, am I?'
Actually, it's also his fault for not adding the scene that shows Otonashi and Kanade meeting again in the world of the living. he deliberately deleted that part in the manga, to make the readers feel the sad ending of Angel Beats more. Sometimes he wonders, does he have a fetish for making his readers cry?
Expressions of understanding began to appear on Amber and Barbara's faces. It seemed the answer he gave was enough to satisfy both of them.
"I see... The two of them will meet again in the next life." Amber said.
"Thankfully, at least I can sleep well now." Barbara said.
Ren sighed, finally the dissatisfaction of the two of them was resolved. After Amber and Barbara were satisfied with his answer. They both said goodbye to his before leaving the bookstore.
Seeing Amber and Barbara had already left. Ren then locked the bookstore first, before he went to his room.
In the room, he sat down while drinking a bottle of Coca-Cola he bought from the system. Then he opened the system notification that he hadn't checked after publishing his new manga.
And the system notifications did not disappoint him, he saw that there were 3000+ recent notifications that he had gotten.
Ren smiled widely and said. "It's harvest time."
---
(Author's Note)
Grrraourrr! I've tried DeepL to translate this chapter. And the result? I ended up using Google Translate and DeepL at the same time!
Hey listen! Compliment me and pat my head muahahahaha!
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