I’m definitely going to give all of these a go but it may take some time.
---
Sometime he wonders if she’ll ever come back. It is a bad day when that thought crosses his mind. It makes him wonder if Maru and Moro don’t think she’s coming back either, if Dōmeki visits him out of pity, the girl with bouncing curls in his memory exist only in his imagination. When the thoughts gather and tumble and barrel into each other it is not a good day for Watanuki at all. Sometimes he even starts to wonder if he dreamed up the Dimension Witch too. Maybe none of it is real, maybe he’s a madman raving inside his own skull?
Usually those moods pass with a particularly well-cooked batch of sweets or a cup of warm, sweet. foreign tea. Sometimes Maru and Moro will cartwheel across the room in front of him and the sheer absurdity will make him laugh. Sometimes Dōmeki will stop by to bring him a poorly made homemade lunch or more likely to ask Watanuki to make something for him instead of his roughly filled bento.
It is a good day when Watanuki sweeps autumn leaves into a pile in the courtyard. He has made a large enough selection of lunch dishes that he could feed company were he to have any, there is even sake warming carefully in the kitchen. He has dusted inside and his favourite room, the room with the elegant couch upon which rest his memories has even been vacuumed. He can’t help himself from looking up, towards the gate as if waiting for someone.
Nobody arrives while he is sweeping but he goes inside to set an elaborate lunch out on the table anyway. The low table is laden with fine dishes, the sake is ready to be poured, a second cushion set down for a guest opposite him.
He has finally seated himself and has pressed his hands together before the meal, the traditional words on the tip of his tongue when a shadow falls across the table. Watanauki doesn’t look up “You’re late.” His voice is soft, without accusation. Yūko smiles gently: “I’m home.”
---
That may not be entirely accurate to the end of the manga but from what I know if it that’s probably reasonably close to canon.
Yūko/Watanuki – many years later
---
Sometime he wonders if she’ll ever come back. It is a bad day when that thought crosses his mind. It makes him wonder if Maru and Moro don’t think she’s coming back either, if Dōmeki visits him out of pity, the girl with bouncing curls in his memory exist only in his imagination. When the thoughts gather and tumble and barrel into each other it is not a good day for Watanuki at all. Sometimes he even starts to wonder if he dreamed up the Dimension Witch too. Maybe none of it is real, maybe he’s a madman raving inside his own skull?
Usually those moods pass with a particularly well-cooked batch of sweets or a cup of warm, sweet. foreign tea. Sometimes Maru and Moro will cartwheel across the room in front of him and the sheer absurdity will make him laugh. Sometimes Dōmeki will stop by to bring him a poorly made homemade lunch or more likely to ask Watanuki to make something for him instead of his roughly filled bento.
It is a good day when Watanuki sweeps autumn leaves into a pile in the courtyard. He has made a large enough selection of lunch dishes that he could feed company were he to have any, there is even sake warming carefully in the kitchen. He has dusted inside and his favourite room, the room with the elegant couch upon which rest his memories has even been vacuumed. He can’t help himself from looking up, towards the gate as if waiting for someone.
Nobody arrives while he is sweeping but he goes inside to set an elaborate lunch out on the table anyway. The low table is laden with fine dishes, the sake is ready to be poured, a second cushion set down for a guest opposite him.
He has finally seated himself and has pressed his hands together before the meal, the traditional words on the tip of his tongue when a shadow falls across the table. Watanauki doesn’t look up “You’re late.” His voice is soft, without accusation.
Yūko smiles gently: “I’m home.”
---
That may not be entirely accurate to the end of the manga but from what I know if it that’s probably reasonably close to canon.