At the end of the manga, it was left unclear whether the main character had married Kurumi as she had blossomed into a woman, or whether he had married somebody else. Is that her, or did she die from her earlier illness?
I know it was meant to be left as "up to the reader", but I would like to reach a consensus.
Personally, I like to think it is Kurumi, but I could understand any naysayers.
It is left up to the reader, but I think we can draw a conclusive answer from the hints given to us.
Towards the end of the manga, she is very ill, more than we have seen in the previous chapters. There's also a lot of dialogue alluding to the fact that death may be near:
As you pointed out, the woman he is with at the end of the manga has a different personality from Kurumi, laughing at the Roman Club and the main character's request, as if she hadn't been around them in that time period:
The title of the manga, Sundome means stopping the moment before. This is significant as in the final few chapters, Kurumi admits to having a dream where she had sex with the main character - the one thing that the main character so desired, but was not allowed. It would be fitting if the manga 'stopped just before' they could do so.
When with the woman in the final chapters, the main characters says "You still exist", but, it sounds more like that character is remembering Kurumi as a fond memory. The orbs of light and the character's expression in the panel before the statement seem to indicate this.
Other information:
Anyway, there's no concrete proof either way, unless the mangaka reveals it. So everyone can believe what they want to believe :)
Since the ending means 'stopping the moment before', I'm gonna assume she died before she came when they were having sex at the end. Especially because when they're looking off into the sky and stuff you can't see her eyes and she appears quite lifeless, especially when he climaxes and he's grabbing her hand and she doesn't hold his firm back.
In the panels where we first see this woman, she asks if the main character want to try some stuff that her and him have never done before. He suggests a "golden shower" and she shoots him down saying it's gross. That right there is a good indicator that she isn't Kurumi. They've done a lot of different acts involving pee.
It's a sad moment reading through the ending and thinking she's alive, getting that feeling that everything worked out for the best, then rereading it moments later and realizing that woman isn't Kurumi...
She has leukaemia which is Cancer and not AIDs... Also all of her symptoms also indicate that it is leukaemia. Not to mention that the doctors mentions it too. The disease Symptoms may include bleeding and bruising problems, feeling very tired, fever and an increased risk of infections. These symptoms occur due to a lack of normal blood cells. Having sex would kill her and in this case I am pretty sure that's what happen. Still really sad about the fact that the woman at the end isn't her.. ''You Still Exist'' means what you carved into my heart/body is still there. (explaining why he can't have a boner like a normal person anymore.)
What happened towards the last couple of episodes: there was a girl going to a house with two kids and a lady, I think it was the orphanage she was raised at.
She said she had sisters so it could be her twin sister, because when she was going into the house as the train was going by when the main characters stole the girl from the hospital, the train was going by.
She said "I smell Kurumi" which was the sick girl he broke out of the hospital so after they did what they did and then had sex later on down the line, the main character girl ends up dying and the girl with the mole in the long hair and the big boobs I didn't know nothing about the OB club her twin sister went to visit in.
They could have worked it out for her dying wish to marry the guy that she loves so he will always be happy and you know and she dies without him knowing then they end up getting married. That's why she has the ring on her finger and she doesn't remember anything about before the golden shower and other stuff, because remember she did say she lives in an orphanage with her kids brothers and sisters, he could have had a twin sister.
Does nobody remember the scene where the narration goes something like "Little did I know, that was the last summer that we would ever spend together." (not word-for-word)
This points to her death.. I was already prepared for heartbreak of that nature when I read that way back. I think the lights at the end are to symbolise him slipping into a dream; as was characteristic of him, to fulfil certain fantasies. This time, a dream in which the mystery girl is the still-living Kurumi and not some other boring full-breasted creep.
God I hate that ending. Great manga otherwise.
