She doesn't know why she stayed a ghost after she committed suicide, but the hints are that she did kill herself because she was desperately lonely. Now that she's found Daikichi, she will have "fulfilled" the reason for her having been stuck on earth as a ghost. By the end of the series, she not only says she has lost her fear of the living, but also that she has lost her fear of living. Significantly, Daikichi is wondering to himself if there is any way he could make Kana alive again when she looks over at him and says "It's great to be alive, isn't it." When Daikichi finally dies, she will be able to go with him. (I certainly hope so anyway because the alternative - that Kana will remain on earth as a ghost without her most beloved - is too heartbreaking to think about.)
- While talking about the end of the series in the afternote of volume 3, Tanaka Yutaka explains that he didn't make Kana "move on" at the end because "there is no need for her to", implying that there wasn't any specific "unfulfilled" reason for her staying on earth. The main purpose of the scene where the subject is brought up was probably to show how Daikichi was scared that she could one day disappear. Now, you may be thinking: "So she will eventually remain on earth without him? Nooooo!" BUT, still in the afternote, Tanaka drives his point home about the ending by adding that "there is no need to separate her and Daikichi as 'alive' and 'dead'". Sure, he's not specifically referring to what could happen after Daikichi's death, but come on, the author himself wants these two to stay together! This WMG entry and the one beneath are much more likely to happen than any heartbreaking separation that would just be at odd with the Heartwarming tone of the series!
- On a side note, when did the story say or imply that Kana was scared of living? She's a bit scared in chapter 9 at finding herself in a crowd for the first time in years (her "fear of the living"), but I don't recall anything about her being scared of "living" itself. Quite the contrary, actually: she expresses her love for life as soon as chapter 1 ("This is how it feels to be alive!"), not to mention she loves to eat, drink and laugh, making her quite the "bon vivant"...
- It's never directly spelled out, but Kana's suicide, and suggested loneliness and fear of the dark suggest that she did not have a particularly happy life before. It's only after she became a ghost and met Daikichi that she seems to have become the outgoing, cheerful person we meet. Not so much the fear of living, as the fear left over from her old life.
A reverse of the previous WMG. Instead of Kana moving on when Daikichi dies, he becomes a ghost and together they haunt the apartment, which may or may not have gotten some new residents by then.
- Just like the previous WMG, this is actually very plausible, as Word of God has stated that ghosts didn't necessarily have to move on in this universe, and basically wants them to stay together as much as the readers.
- Or, he didn't like Utako's rendition of his favourite song. In which case, he's an horrible old man and he has bad tastes, as Utako sung so well that it gathered a small crowd behind him. At least she got a 10,000 yen bill out of it.
- Or, if The Other Wiki is right and the manga was really supposed to be more than 3 volumes, he's an important character whose motivations will never be made clear.
- Also, the purpose of the scene could have been to show how Utako didn't let that affect her in the slightest. As if to say: "No matter how nice you are, there will always be mean people who don't realize the weight of their words; so don't let that get to you and keep looking at the bright side of life."
Now, some people have theorized that she could be the body, while others think it was someone related to her. I lean towards the second interpretation as, 1) Yaguchi didn't have the "ghostly glow" that Kana and the dog ghost have been shown to have around them; 2) if she had become a ghost, she would have known that people don't disappear after they die (while Inagawa is confident in his answer because he knows that ghosts exist); 3) we don't know for how many days she had been absent from work, but when Daikichi's team broke into the room, the body had been there for long enough for the whole place to stink badly; 4) this would explain the line "Will all the things that you love also disappear?", of which an alternate translation could be "Will the fact I loved and was loved also disappear?".
- Though it could have been a way to explain the oddity of this chapter, they not only have different names, but also different personalities and clearly a different dynamic as a couple... The real answer is apparently more simple than that: on his personal website, Tanaka Yutaka refers to it as a stand-alone oneshot he drew as a last-page bonus for the Tankobon release of volume 2, and in the chapter list of said volume, it doesn't bear the usual Idiosyncratic Episode Naming "Life" (unlike "Life 21.5" that was also drawn specifically for the Tankobon release of volume 3). Much of the misunderstanding might come from the fact that at least one fantrad calls it "Life 15.5", although it isn't called this in the Japanese version. Still a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment for anyone not knowing this, though.
