Publisher's Synopsis
This book picks up where volume 5 left off with Kotarou still trapped in the past. Taro takes Shima to see the apple tree. The apples are just now beginning to show from their flowers. Shima is still plagued by the thought that she is the one causing everyone pain. In order to cheer her up, he sings the very song that Shino sang in volume 5. Shima wants to learn the song so she can sing it to Taro in the future. Taro and Shima also make a promise to watch the Obon Week fireworks together. Taro finds a little sparrow that he and Shima took care of dead inside of the apple tree's birdhouse. He looks down from the tree and sees other birds scattered at the foot of the tree also in bloody dead masses. Just as Kotarou goes in to examine the dead bird scene, he is thrust into darkness only to reappear later in the future. The Rice Merchant's shop has been destroyed in a riot and Shima is long gone. Taro is heartbroken that they missed not only the fireworks, but also the chance for her to try a fully ripened apple from the tree.;Kotarou finally puts two-and-two together that Taro and his great-grandfather are the same person and he awakens in the show just feet away from where Misha, Shia and Nya are still bickering. Nya offers up Kotarou's life force to help replenish Shia. Shia hesitates and Misha sweeps in and flies Kotarou away. Misha is trying to mother Kotarou by literally licking his wounds...she spots some blood on his mouth and then the two kiss! The next morning Kotarou awakens to find Misha stayed watch all night. The two hatch a plan to find out more so they can find a way to save Shia. They decide to journey back into the past...but things don't go quite as expected. They end up in Tokyo with Taro in his late teens/early twenties and in college. As luck would have it, he comes across Shima after trying to hide from some man chasing him. Shia has barely aged a single day since he last saw her and she is now practicing the fine art of being a geisha girl! Taro and Shima get together often to reminisce and so he can give Shima emotional support and feedback as she practices her dance steps. Taro learns that Shima somehow knew about the dead sparrow.;Several months pass, until one rainy night, Taro and his girlfriend come across Shima who has come looking for Taro. Taro's girlfriend promptly belittles Shima for her lowly job. She turns to run and Taro follows. He comforts her and learns that she has been freed from her geisha apprenticeship only to become someone's concubine! [Ironically that someone is Nya]. Shima promises to meet Taro on her first day off (the first of the following month) at a shrine in Tokyo. Just as they are to meet a massive earthquake rocks the city. [Historical background: This is the Great Kanto Quack that occurred on September 1, 1923]. Taro goes out to find Shima and finds her buried in some rubble. As he tries to free her, the structure starts to collapse and injures him. Shima cries out, transforming into her demon form, and blasts the rocks into dust (and probably caused Tokyo to be set on fire). Shima's appearance has changed and she now has the older appearance that she and Shia share. Taro tells her that he wants to be with her. Flash forward to a few years down the line, we learn that Shima and Taro had two kids, Kotaroh and Shino, and are living a quiet life away from everything...and then Ny;He reveals Shima is a demon and Kotarou deduces that Shima/Shia is actually his great-grandmother. Kotarou is then thrown into the future without Misha-san and ends up meeting Kotaroh by a lake. He is in his early-teens now, but he can see Kotarou...just like he can angels. Kotaroh is also hypersensitive to other forces as well. Kotarou rushes off to find Kotaroh's house to only find that Shima has been gone for years. He also learns Kotaroh is an outcast and feared by the villagers because of his bizarre gifts. As night falls, Kotarou finds Kotaroh by the pond and an angel appears before him. Though not mentioned by name, the angel seems to be Misha. Kotaroh asks the angel if she will go out with him (know we know where Misha got that idea from). The real Misha-san shows up and tells Kotarou that they have to escape because the world is collapsing. The entire timeline that we have seen is actually a manifestation of great-grandfather's memories. Great-grandpa draws his last breath and passes away in his sleep. After they wake, Kotarou and Misha go out and discover Shia at the apple tree with Nya and Kotarou makes her remember Taro.;Its a flashback of the very day that Shima disappeared. On this day, Shima has been ill because she hasn't drained a life force in ages. She struggles to keep from sucking out Kotaroh's and rushes off...right into the hands of Nya. Taro discovers his wife out of bed and has words with Nya. He agrees to let her go, but not before he is able to show her one last good memory together. He takers her to the apple tree and they talk. Nya grows impatient and wipe's Shima's mind transforming her into Shia. Taro makes promise that he will be waiting for her beneath the apple tree for her return. Shia was too late. Taro never got to keep his promise...or did he? Kotarou realizes that something is buried beneath the tree...it's a photograph. Kotarou comforts the heartbroken Shia and tells her that she is always welcome and they can be a family again. Everyone is together again and happy...or are they?
