Chapter 30

When I wake up again I stare at a dark ceiling. A moment later the eerie face of Doctor Itu towers above me.

“Morning.” He grins a bit. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine… yeah, fine, I guess… What the hell happened?”

“Uyeno has brought you here: You were wounded pretty badly. Apparently you were fighting against a Yokai?”

My memories that were foggy up until now return.

“Anyway, Miss Haruka and I patched you back up. Mostly Miss Haruka, so thank her once you see her.” He smiles at me. “Do tell, though… I can not shake off the feeling that this is what you wanted.”

I grin a bit. “Yeah… your guts are pretty good then.

You know, my blessing only activates if I’m hurt… Like, really badly hurt. And thus I let myself be hurt really badly so that Uyeno and I can survive.”

“Oh, how interesting, how paradoxical, how typical for Lady Death.

In order for you to survive you have to dance on the thin line that splits apart life and death. Only if you can dance on this very line can you actually truly live to your fullest… Yes, is it not paradoxical?

After all, our existence in itself is paradoxical: Each one of the Protogoni’s concepts can be found in each and every human being. The only one that actively goes against this simple rule is Death! For the presence of Death is only possible once our presence is gone. In the same way, our presence actively rejects Death. Thus, we are never to truly be one… normally, that is.

I believe that those who can exist between both death and life are those few chosen by Lady Death. Precisely because we can coexist with Lady Death for whatever reason we are blessed by her.”

“I’ve heard it over and over again… That there are a small number of Blessed who were blessed by Death.”

“Indeed, there are quite a small number. To be precise: You must be the 13th. I myself was the 12th. All of the others, those who have danced on the boundaries of life and death before us, have long since perished and are now dancing with Lady Death.”

I stay for a bit longer. We don’t actively talk as Doctor Itu is searching for something it seems. I personally want to wait for Miss Haruka to come back so that I can thank her personally… But she does not come.

“Miss Haruka won’t come for quite some time I suppose. She has just started taking a break and will only come back here if there is an emergency or the like. Thus, you can go… Ah, but one thing: Before you leave, there is just one thing I want to show you.”

He takes out a small notebook. On its front those letters tower:

Poem_of_Death

“This, dear Isuri, is the very notebook that contains each one of Death’s poems. As the oldest current Blessed chosen by Death, it is mine. Once I pass you will be in the possession of it.”

I look at it.

“Why are there underscores?”

“I do not know, actually! Though one thing I did notice: Counting the underscores, there are exactly 13 signs. Eleven of them are letters while the remaining two are the underscores. It was given to me by Lady Death, thus I cannot explain the reasoning behind it. But let me give you a hint regarding the giant mystery that is life: There is no such thing as something meaningless. I am fully convinced that this too has a deeper reason.”

He smiles at me.

“Okay. That is all I wanted to say to you for today… We will probably meet again, won’t we?”

I chuckle. “Hopefully not, but… yeah, possibly. But isn’t that quite the good twist of fate? Two Blessed chosen by Death at the same time… One of them constantly hurts himself to survive while the other one helps this one survive.” I slowly stand up. I don’t feel my wounds at all. Miss Haruka did a really good job.

Once I step outside of his office I realize just how late it is by now. No one is anywhere. I simply sigh and remember the words of Mister Kazuki, the gym teacher.

Thus, I go outside. Even if it is a chore, I actually want to get stronger myself. After all, if I don't get stronger, I will constantly keep hurting myself in order to win… And that is something I do not want. Not only do I not want to make any more trouble for the already pissed Miss Haruka - I don’t really care for Itu, he seems to love speaking anyway - but I also do not want to rely on Lady Death’s blessing that much… After all, she is still my mortal - well, maybe not that mortal - enemy.

I arrive at the track and slowly start running. I should have changed my clothes or taken off my shirt or something but in this season it was simply too cold for such things, especially at night.

I run my first round when I see a small light next to me.

“Yo, Isuri? How long have you been at it already?”

Aomade, Aki and Itoh are next to me. Itoh instantly joins me and runs together with me.

“The two medicals seemed to have pretty much healed you… Luckily! You were in a really bad condition earlier.” Aki grins a bit and sits down.
“Ah… so you know of it.”

“Course I know! Who do you think carried you home from that stinky place?” Her hands were in the pockets of her casual jacket which she also wore when we first met.

“Ah… Thank you.”

“Come on, tell us a bit about the task itself! Uyeno was barely able to speak.” Aomade looks at me while I run around.

“That is, if you can talk while running. Seemed to be impossible earlier.” Itoh snickers a bit while running besides me.