CHANGES

"Sen, y-you killed me like it was nothing." Ren stood frozen, staring at Sen, who glanced over and took a sip of his morning drink.

Ah, my best friend Sen is yet again confronted for an immoral deed, but he has his reasons. I wish he hadn't turned out like this. But there is nothing I can do about it. Come to think of it, it was kinda my fault that we all ended up in this world, not that it matters now. 

And not like Sen knows or will ever know.

Ren stood at the entrance of the verandah. He marched over to the table. He shivered as he neared Sen. Woah, the new guy finally showed some guts; he was only doing everything in his head, Yuzuru chuckled. Everyone was seated, eating their breakfast. Yuzuru looked at Sen, then back at the new guy. He took a bite.

Nami, Mai, Sen, and I were friends for as long as I can remember. Our lives were perfect. But nothing good lasts forever.

I am Yuzuru.

I died when I was 18

And I killed my friends.

.

.

.

There is a fruit called the ackee apple, the national fruit of Jamaica.

My father brought it home for a project

It was kept in the storeroom.

My mother told me not to eat it

but

We were playing a game of trying to guess what we put in each other's drinks

I was losing

So I decided to use that fruit

I took it out

It was pear-shaped and greenish-yellow

peeling it seemed like a hustle

So I popped a bunch into the blender

poured in some water

And presented them with their drinks

Ha, they couldn't guess what it was

I won.

Sen and Nami left for cram school

.

.

I and Mai were watching some television when she said she didn't feel too well.

.

Suddenly she began vomiting uncontrollably. 

.

Luckily, my mom returned home, she suggested we take her to the hospital.

I carried Mai to the car, and my mom went to get her purse from the storeroom.

When she returned

Her face was white as a sheet

"D-did she eat that ackee apple from the store?"

I was about to reply.

She slapped me, crying as she yelled

"That was poisonous fruit..."

Ha, I am such an idiot.

.

.

Everything is blurred from then on

I received many slaps and beatings

Sen and Nami were brought in

They looked as bad as Mai

The doctor diagnosed their condition as

Jamaican vomiting sickness

Unripe ackee fruit is poisonous when ingested

We had unripe ackee.

My parents had told me

But  I never really listened to their stupid lectures

.

I killed all three of them

Everyone was mad

Their gazes pierced me

I couldn't live in a world where they're all gone

So I jumped off our apartment building.

When I came to my senses, we were in a verandah, all four of us.

Though our memory was hazy

But luckily, we all remembered each other

Though none of them remembered how they died, of course, because they were all unconscious

But I remembered it

I never told them

And I will never

Because

Ever since we came to this world

Sen changed

He turned into a totally different guy

He is scary

"So what if I killed you? You can try killing me back." Sen went to Ren, who stood frozen.

Sen put his hand inside his pocket but pulled out nothing. With fingers, he twirled an invisible pen; his movements slowed until his hand posed as if holding an invisible rod. Ren stood dumbfounded.

“Look at the shadow, Ren,” Yuzuru called out.

Ren glanced at Sen before his eyes lingered down to the shadow; his eyes widened with a hitch in his breath. Sen’s shadow was holding something long. Sen pressed his thumb onto that rod, and black colour stretched from his hand to both sides, revealing a scythe.

Ren took a step back and collapsed onto the floor, shivering. Images of that night flashed before his eyes, and he glanced over at the table. No one moved.

“Idiot, this is for you so you can avenge yourself,” Sen snarled. 

Bet he is too scared to move. Yuzuru rested his head on his hand.

Dacoria entered from the verandah. “What are you doing, sen?” he asked blankly.

“I am giving him my scythe so he can take his revenge.”

“Oh, how very thoughtful of you.” Dacoria gleamed and looked at Ren. “Have you ever used a scythe before?”

“N-no,” Ren replied.

“Dac, no one used a scythe in their original worlds,” Yuzuru called out as he got up from his seat. Dacoria opened his mouth. Oh man, now he’ll talk about Damian, and this commotion won’t end. Better mention him on my own, “except for Damian, because he is a creep.”

Yuzuru kneeled over to Ren. “Can you even think of killing Sen?”

Ren stared. “No.”

Yuzuru smiled. “I knew it because you haven’t understood this world yet.” Yuzuru helped Ren up. “Here we star awesome members who can come back to life every time we die.” Ren uttered not a single word, while Yuzuru continued, “To us, dying is just like getting badly injured.”

Yuzuru backed away from Ren. I think I settled all this for now and patted Sen on the shoulder. “Let’s go out for now.”

Dacoria patted Ren. “You will start liking this place soon.” Ren jerked his hand away and ran back to his room.

yuzuru and sen went out of the lounge. 

.

.

“Haha, his face was so stiff, did you see that?” Yuzuru laughed while he took another sip of his cigarette. He blew out the smoke and glanced over at Sen. He stood leaning against the wall, seldom raising the cigarette, only to touch his lips.

“That was nothing compared to the look he gave me last night,” Sen murmured. There was a brief moment of silence. Many bystanders walked past them, frequently glancing over at the teens. There were many food stalls, malls, and restaurants around them, bustling with customers. Many tall buildings stretched to the sky.

Yuzuru’s smile froze, and he stared at the white concrete road. The silence between them was filled by the humming sound of the floating cars along with the monotonous clustered sound of the crowd. Yuzuru gulped, mustering some courage. “S-sen, did you really kill Ren for checking whether our immortality was still intact?”

Sen glanced at Yuzuru. “What do you think?”

He does this a lot; instead of answering, he attacked me with a question. Yuzuru sighed, “I know that batches are the objects that connect us to that special dead land where Cot lives.” Before he could continue, Sen added.

“When that guy died, Dacoria couldn’t find him in the dead land. So we all thought that the batches probably stopped working, right? So when I saw Ren, I decided we could test this hypothesis on him, because he is also a star awesome member, and being new, no one is attached to him, so if he were to never return, no one will really care.”

“Nice,” Yuzuru looked at Sen as if the latter had discovered something extraordinary, “but Ren returned?”

“Exactly, so I think maybe people who commit suicide don’t go to the dead land.” Sen finally took a blow from the cigarette.

“Ahh, so you killed Ren in a way that he would commit suicide because of fear.” Yuzuru threw away his bud and rustled through his jacket for another.

“I didn’t kill him with that in mind, Yuzuru; you think I am a creep.” Yuzuru’s eyes widened; he turned to Sen nervously. Why would I?, But Sen smiled and laughed.

“I did it for only three reasons: one, because of that hypothesis; two, because I wanted to see his expression; and three, because he made Nami cry.”

“Dude, Nami told you she didn’t cry; she was just scared when Ren grabbed her hand.”

“More reasons now”

“Dude, she told you she just overreacted, she didn’t mind, and what expression are you talking about?” He glanced at Sen, who stood staring across the road. “Dude, are you even listening?”

“Yuzuru, do you know that woman?”

Yuzuru followed Sen’s eyes to a woman who stood across the road, leaning against a wall. She wore an oversized hood. The thing that caught both their attention was her eyes.

“No, and what a hungry look she carries.” Yuzuru could only stare.

“She motioned me to come,” Sen spoke as he took a step forward. “Are you really going?”

Sen sighed, “I have my weapons.”

He crossed the road, and the two began talking. While Yuzuru stood with his gaze fixated on Sen.

“Hey, Yuzuru, how have you been?” A familiar voice called out to him. He looked at the black-haired man who stood adjacent to him; Yuzuru’s mouth dropped open. The older man chuckled.

“Alexander, dude, long time; where have you been ever since you left Star Awesome?”