This letter will be my final goodbye to you, dear Setsuna. I know you will understand what I am feeling right now, because you have once experienced death. Probably, you know what it feels like to die without saying goodbye to your loved ones. This is why I am writing this letter, because I did not want to die in the same way.

Though we have not been close to each other, I found it in my heart to share something with you. I was not able to share it with you earlier, probably, since I was too shy to tell you, and you were always gone. But now, just as I have told the others what I have been holding back, I'll tell you as well.

You might not have any idea about it, but we are kindred souls, dear Setsuna. We might be different in every way, in our looks to our fighting prowess and techniques, but there is one thing we have in common. We have known what it is to live a solitary life, a life without companionship, a lonely existence.

I was a very shy child. Even if I had the fresh enthusiasm and friendliness of a typical child, I found it very hard to meet playmates. It was not because I was lacking friendliness. It was mainly because I was afraid of rejection, and my enthusiasm was usually attuned to something else. This is why I never had any friends when I was little.

When I think of you, however, I seem to have done such a great injustice to myself. I've always wondered how you could stand such loneliness that even I have never heard of, guarding the gates of time, watching your life pass by before your very eyes. How does it feel, dear Setsuna, to see people frolicking and laughing, and while you yearn to join them, the shackles of your duty keep you in place? How do you console yourself from the thought that you would never experience a normal life, never have any other friends besides the senshi, never experience romantic love? And if you were to love a man, which would you choose, him, or your job of keeping the past, present and future away from each other, to avoid global chaos?

I think you have no choice really. I can never imagine being in your position.

Every time I look back at my childhood, I regret being too shy. I regret sentencing myself to loneliness. You, Setsuna-san, had no choice but to follow your destiny, while I had the choice of having friends or being lonely. And because I was too afraid, I chose to be lonely. Little have I known just how much you would have loved to be in my place, how much you would have loved to have a choice, just as I had. I had not known that I was abusing my blessings, until I met you.

Thanks to you, I had learned to come out of my shell and make the most of my existence. Thanks to you, I have learned that I was blessed to have been destined to make friends, and enjoy my life with them as much as I want.

It's just a pity that I would never have a child, if you're reading this right now. But that's beside the point. What I've always wanted to say was…

Thank you, dear Setsuna.

Love always,

Ami-chan

PS. Please try to be happy… for me.