I was in hell, looking at heaven.

Seven days.

That’s the amount of time Yua gave herself left to live.

She wondered…what exactly can she do in a week?

If it weren't for school, Yua would be able to do a lot more things. She decided to write a bucket list of what to do, so the girl meekly opened her sketchbook and started scribbling away in her tiny corner of the classroom.

She sighed in relief when she saw her classmates walk out of the room for lunch in the corner of her eye, and she was about to finish writing the rest of her wishes on her bucket list when —

BAM!

The girl flinched as she felt a strong force slam onto her desk. A hand was on top of her tattered sketchbook, slightly crumpling the page she was writing on.

“Oh, what’s this? I didn’t know you were a writer now, Yua-chan! What did you write here, hmm?”

Yua stayed silent as always. Not being able to say a word, as if there was something stuck in her throat. All she could let out from her mouth was air.

“Hah, why do I even ask you these questions if you’re never gonna speak to me anyway. Why do I ever bother, I wonder?”

Yua kept her head hung low as she dropped the pen she had in her left hand out of fear. Not daring to pick up the pen or look up at the face that was glaring down at her.

Before she realized it, the girl before her snatched her sketchbook from the desk. The only thing she could do was stay still and grip the hem of her skirt.

The girl before her is Ayumi Watanabe. She’s the typical run of the mill popular girl. With her medium length, straight jet black hair, she was a girl any man or woman would fawn over.

Her hair slightly cascades down as she tilts her head while reading the contents of Yua’s sketchbook, as if the book before her was written in a foreign language.

As Yua was silently hoping for it to end, she unfortunately heard 2 more sets of footsteps steadily approaching her. As expected, Ayumi’s friends Hana and Nao came too.

“Watcha reading there Ayumi?” Hana said, as a carton of juice was hanging from her mouth by the straw. Next to her was Nao. The short haired girl was merely crossing her arms while curiously staring at what Ayumi was reading.

“Oh, it’s just a bunch of random stuff she wrote down. Seems like Yua-chan here actually has dreams and ambitions for the future! I really thought you were gonna kick the bucket soon or something, but it seems like I was wrong!”

“What was written there Ayu-tan?”

“Here.”

Nao leaned back as Ayumi handed her the sketchbook. She sits on the table right in front of Yua and crosses her legs as she reads:

“I want to be friends with someone nice in school. I want to have a nice meal. I want to make amends with my parents. I want to go to the city. I want to have a full weekend just to myself. I want to love someone and be loved back. I want to- hm? What’s this last one? It’s scribbled in black.” Nao finished reciting her wishes written on paper as if she were announcing it to the whole class.

“It’s really corny right? Sounds like something a middle schooler would write.” Hana scoffs.

“Nah, I get it. But that’s a disgrace to middle schoolers y’know? Yua-san can’t even speak on the level of a middle schooler.” Ayumi drops the sketchbook in front of Yua, the paper has been crumpled to oblivion, but the writing was still legible.

“Anyway, I’m hungry, let’s just bother her later, ‘kay?” Hana laughs and throws her juice carton at Yua. “Can you throw this for me? Thanks.”

Yua sat eerily still in her seat.

No reaction, no response, all she did was grip the hem of her skirt harder. The girls got bored after their provocation did not get a reaction out of her, so they left.

Yua stared at the three girls as they were finally leaving the room. Hana didn’t finish even half of her drink. The juice from the carton dripped from the straw to her sketchbook, blurring the ink on the paper.

Before Yua realized it another droplet stained her sketchbook again. Except this time it was not the juice, but her tears. Yua leaned down and grabbed her pen from the floor to finish what she was writing.

The girl paused in her seat, unsure what to do. The pen stayed on the paper, unmoving. Her hand then shook violently, up and down, left then right, scribbling over the list, redacting everything, faster, harder, as it ripped the paper and folded it even more, her tears smudging the pen ink even further.

She stood up, ripped the paper from her sketchbook, then crumpled it into a ball in her hands. She raised her fist in the air as she let out nothing but air

Yua has a mouth, but no scream came out of it.

The girl’s frail arm stopped mid-air before she threw that paper against the wall. Her arm fell and swayed backwards then forward as she felt her energy drain from her body.

I’m tired. I give up. I’m just…so tired. I don’t want to think anymore. Why does this have to happen to me? Did I even do anything wrong? Is it because I can’t speak normally like other people? Was I broken from the start? Mom and Dad don’t even care about me. They surely wouldn’t miss me even a bit. Then what was the point of even staying alive for this long?

——

One step. Two steps. Three steps. Yua slowly ascended the stairs to the balcony of the school building. Twelve steps. Thirteen steps. Fourteen steps. She reached the door.

The wind was strong today, but she didn’t mind. Yua took her indoor shoes off and left them behind the short wall in front of her. Schools in the countryside don't bother to place a guardrail on their balconies after all.

She looked at the vast scenery before her for the last time, nothing but mountains, houses, a few convenience stores, a small hospital, and pastures spread throughout her hometown of Hida. Her grip loosened on the wall as the paper she crumpled in her hand flew away. She didn’t even bother to catch it, she just watched it fly away in the wind.

Yua stood at the edge of the wall.

There were a lot of things she wished for in her life, but it was never anything lavish or complicated. She just wanted to have the basic needs and necessities a teenager was supposed to have. She watched as, down below her classmates were chatting with one another. Yua was jealous of them.

She wanted something as simple as that, yet God had dealt her a wrong hand, and she had to live with nothing but suffering for seventeen years.

She couldn’t even speak either. Words were always forming in her mind, yet they never came out.

She closed her eyes and made one last prayer to God, even if it may never be fulfilled.

Anyone, I’m fine with whoever. I just want someone to listen to me, to know I’m here, to help me.

The girl opened her eyes and sighed at her last wish. She laughed at herself as if she had gone crazy. Nothing would happen, no one would save her, and no matter how hard she tried, she would always lead herself to the self-deprecating conclusion that she would be more of a burden to her family, to society, and to everyone else if she was still breathing, so she braced herself. Asking for someone to help at this moment was impossible. She was a complete loner after all.

She let go, slowly allowing the central force of gravity to pull her forward. But she got the opposite of what she was expecting.

Someone grabbed her arm and she fell backwards with a loud thud. The larger figure behind her caught her fall and hit the ground harder than her.

“Ow…safe! I made it just in time!”

She stared at the blue sky above her; it was incredibly bright now. The wind wasn’t blowing anymore.

The person behind her shifted upwards and leaned forward to meet her gaze below, covering her view of the sky entirely.

A pair of silver eyes met hers from above. The young boy’s hair tickled her cheeks. Their faces were merely inches apart, but she was unfazed. This was because this boy didn’t look real. Not a single word was exchanged between them.

He must be a subject of her hallucination or something. Plus, there’s no way someone just saved her! She didn’t hear or see anyone before she stood up on the wall.

They were both unmoving, locked in that position. She closed her eyes in response. She must be dead already. Yeah, that’s right. That’s the only logical conclusion to this weird turn of events. She’s dead, and her head is on a random guy’s lap right now. might an angel have come to pick her up? Who knows?

Yua felt the warmth of his face leave her proximity while her eyes were still glued shut, but the man did not move from his spot. She kept her eyes closed in fear.

She could hear his clothes rustle, and before she could react, the boy’s hand was caressing her hair. He was gently patting her head. She slowly opened her eyes in confusion. The man was still staring at her with a soft smile on his face.

“Good morning, Yua.”

She looked at him in a daze. It was clearly the afternoon, but more importantly-

The girl staggered up and grabbed her phone from the inside of her pocket.

She backed up to the wall behind her and started texting on her phone swiftly, her face slightly tinged with red. She brought her phone up to his eye level and made him read the text.

Who are you and how do you know my name?!

The boy read the text and softly replied.

“I’m here to help you, Yua! I’m also going to be one of your classmates, so I looked around and found you here. I just transferred here. I’m sorry if I startled you.”

Yua raised her eyebrow in suspicion and looked the boy up and down, and realized that he was wearing their school uniform. She deleted some of the text from her phone and showed it to him again.

How do you know my name?!

The boy leaned forward to read the text better. He nodded and grabbed something from his school bag right next to him.

“Before I explain any further, I’m sure you would want this back.”

Yua’s eyes widened in shock, staring down at the paper that was handed to her. The boy scooted in a little closer to see her reaction.

It was the paper she crumpled up earlier. It was now completely straight, with no tears, no smudges or blots, and in perfect condition, with the seven goals on her bucket list perfectly legible, exactly the same as she wrote earlier. It was utterly impossible that the paper she destroyed a few seconds ago was suddenly back in perfect condition in her hands.

“I’ve known you for a long time, Yua. You’ve just never met me before. You crumpled this and threw it away earlier. It was such a shame, so I had to retrieve it again.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about. Did she secretly have a stalker this entire time?

All she understood was that her instincts were telling her to get up and run, but she couldn’t move at all. All she could do was tilt her head upwards as her eyes met with his once again.

“I know what you’re going to ask next just from the look on your face. Something along the lines of ‘how is this even possible?!’, but well, that’s because I can perform miracles after all.”

The only thing the girl could do was stare at the smiling boy in confusion, with her back glued even further to the wall. The boy inched a little bit closer, invading her personal space. She tried to back further into the wall, but to no avail. She was trapped.

“My name is Tsubasa. I’m an entity that’s not bound to this world.”

The boy named Tsubasa gently cupped her hands in his. His hands were cold to the touch. It was as if he were a living corpse. She did not have the strength within her to pull out of his grasp.

“Rejoice! God has heard your prayer. For you see, God has brought you an angel of death to accompany you. In simpler terms, I’m pretty sure you humans refer to me as a reaper!”

Yua’s hands were shaking. She did not know if it was out of fear or out of astonishment, but one thing is for sure.

This person wasn't lying. He is not human.

It was as if she were in hell looking at heaven.

“Yua…I’m here to accompany you on the last seven days you have left to live.”