Soul can't see ghosts anymore. His supernatural abilities are as dead as he used to be, according to Stein; he's glad for it, because he has seen enough to fuel his nightmares for the rest of his life, but it fills him with melancholy sometimes, too.
It's hard to feel secure in his new life after what happened the first time. He goes to sleep every night thinking he's going to wake up in the morning with the hunger grinding away at him again, but it doesn't, and after two weeks, he begins to think he can trust that he really is alive.
A few days after the destruction of the Rift, he spent most of a morning stuck in the DWMA, answering their questions. His explanation of the light leaves the three silent when he finishes recounting his story.
Stein was the one to break the silence. "Well, it seems death didn't want you, yet."
It makes Soul laugh for the first time in his new life; when he looked in the aura mirror as he left, he'd seen the blue of his soul filling the outline of his body.
Maka spends four days stuck in bed at Spirit's insistence, which he can tell drives her up a wall when he visits during the day, sometimes with Black Star and Tsubaki. He would have stayed well into the night, but the visiting hours Spirit imposed ended strictly at dinnertime.
It does give him time to adjust; he moves into the room that used to be Masamune's at Tsubaki's insistence, something that made him feel strange after his encounter with the demon, although the sensation is gradually fading. Black Star claims Soul as a distant cousin he knew before Sid adopted him when he introduces Soul to new people, even though they look nothing alike.
Building an identity is the next thing on his list; he knows Maka has ideas, but is waiting for him to come to her. He's grateful for it, and eventually does. She approaches him one day with a birth certificate and driver's license with his name on it, and only divulges that it came from Stein, which he accepts with no questions. It makes him happy and a little wistful to see that, save the year, his birthday is the same.
In September, Soul enrolls in home school with Sid's wife, Nygus, as his teacher. She squints in near-recognition at his last name, but thankfully doesn't ask about it. Soul is shocked that he remembers enough of the basics to qualify as a high school senior, given his records were 'destroyed'. It's a foundation for a new life, constructed from his old one. It's good, but being alive can turn overwhelming, can make his head feel like a tomb crawling with ghosts-something he'd forgotten. The nightmares of potions being stuffed down his throat and Crona cleaving his soul from his body don't help, either.
When he can't escape the ghosts, he visits his old grave. Seeing his name etched on the stone is grounding, and reminds Soul that he is human. Sometimes, he goes alone, but most times Maka is with him. She knows him best, even with their bond gone, and knows when he becomes too stuck in his head. Her touch quiets the ghosts when he's unable to put his thoughts into words. Meanwhile, he kisses her hand when her grip on his turns too tight, or her expression suddenly becomes closed, which always brings a smile to her lips.
They don't avoid talking about when he was a ghost and everything else that came with it, but he likes thinking and talking about the future more, something he tells her one day while they're studying in her room, months after the Rift's destruction.
A happy surprise lights up Maka's eyes as Soul tells her. When he asks about it, she's quiet for a moment. "I know how hard everything can be," she says finally. "I was worried you might be afraid of the future."
He takes Maka's hand, reflecting her smile. "Not when I'm with you."