Chapter 109: Chapter 109

When I thought of Nehcor, it was usually with annoyance. Even to myself I talked as though I could have done better without him.

But seeing him in person and hearing his words, full of affection, I flung myself over or through the kotatsu--it didn't matter which when one's body was spirit--and threw my arms around his neck. Something like tears, but without the feeling of wetness, flowed from my eyes.

I didn't realize until then how much I had missed him. My big brother. My family in a world of strangers.

His arms wrapped about me, able to fully hold me despite my incorporeal form.

"You've done so well," he said, patting my back as though I were a child. "You've been through so much."

I didn't feel like I had. I had been through so much worse before my death. What I really had been was a whiny baby saying I had been expecting a vacation and got a fantasy adventure instead. But his words comforted me nonetheless.