Lament, if you wanted me to live.

Day three: I want to make amends with my parents.

School was much more bearable for Yua now than before. Ayumi and her friends avoided her for the entire time.

Just one look from her and Ayumi would immediately look away, slightly cowering in fear.

Ayumi’s friends were confused, but they followed her orders not to bother her and Tsubasa.

It made Yua smile.

The bell rang. Yua and Tsubasa made their way up the stairs to where they first met.

Hida High School is prestigious for having amazing facilities, but Yua did not like being around other people, so she preferred staying on the rooftop by herself. The school itself was hard to get into, but through her grades back in middle school, she was fortunately able to get a full scholarship with even financial aid.

The problem was that her mother always used that allowance up almost immediately, so it didn’t really matter in the long run.

Tsubasa and Yua were now sitting on the rooftop of their school for lunch. No one really came upstairs to eat because there were no seats, so they sat down on the floor without a care in the world.

“You should be happy now that you technically were able to cut ties with your mother! Isn’t that going to immediately cross the third wish from your bucket list?”

It partly is, but I still have my dad. I haven’t talked to him in years.

Tsubasa realized that Yua refers to her mother formally, but her father is just called “dad”. It seems like her father must’ve been closer to Yua than her mother.

Tsubasa didn’t know how to respond, so he just quietly eyed her from the side while she put her bento down on the floor.

Yua has never experienced eating a handmade bento before because her mother never bothered to make one for her.

She would usually just buy a sandwich from the cafeteria.

The bento was packed in a narrow metal container with a napkin tied around it.

The contents of the bento consisted of rice, two small egg rolls, chicken karaage, lettuce, tomato, and half of an egg.

Yua took a bit of the karaage, which was juicy, as she followed it up with rice. The food was surprisingly still very warm and delicious. She used to think that the bentos that she would usually see in anime or in dramas were just made to look good, but she was proven wrong.

“How is it?”

Yua nodded aggressively to show that it was delicious as she scarfed down more food like it was going to disappear.

Tsubasa wanted to ask Yua about her father, but it seems like he’ll just ask her another time, when she’s more comfortable telling him.

——

The school bell for the last period rang.

Just before Yua could get up, her homeroom teacher walked inside the classroom and spotted her from the door.

“Ah. Suzuki-san, please come to the faculty room. Someone is waiting for you there.”

Yua tilted her head in confusion. She had no idea who it was and shrugged at Tsubasa as he shot a glance at her.

Either way, she walked towards the faculty room in silence with her homeroom teacher.

He opened the door to reveal who the man standing in the faculty room was.

It was her father.

What is her dad doing in Japan?

“Yua, long time no see. Your teachers contacted me about what happened.”

Yua made a soft noise from her bewilderment right in front of her teacher. It sounded like a surprised yelp and a grunt mixed into one.

Yua signed using her hands to talk to her father.

I thought you were busy with work in China! You said you would never come back again after what mom did to big sis! What are you even doing back here in Hida?!

“Although I may have been a horrible husband. You are still my daughter. I had to come back to say my condolences, especially to Ichika.”

It’s too late for that! You made your decision when you left mother and me for Guangzhou with big sis! Go back to your real family!

Yua aggressively pointed to the door behind her, signaling him to leave. Her father just softly shook his head.

“I won’t. I came here to pick you up.”

Yua’s hand dropped to her sides. She did not know how to respond.

“Come to China to live with us. I already booked your flight for next week. You don’t have to go to school either, for the time being. It’s for you to adjust to your new environment. Your sister has been very busy since she got a new job, but she wanted to meet you. She’s eagerly waiting for your arrival.”

Her homeroom teacher looked as confused as she was.

“Uhm, Mr. Sheng? I am very sorry to interrupt, but…we were not made aware of the switching of schools-”

Yua’s dad dropped a huge stack of papers on her homeroom teacher’s desk.

“There you go. All the documents have already been filed. Yua will not be attending school from now on.”

Yua’s world was spiraling.

This was getting too out of hand. She was not expecting all of this to happen four days before her death. All of this would be too much for her to handle.

She would be dead even before they get to China.

“Before we leave for China, I will be staying in Hida with you for two days, then we will leave. I rented a house near the station, and I also called a company to move all of your things a while ago. We are going to Tokyo for the funeral and then changing to the Haneda airport next week.”

Why Tokyo? Is there someone we have to meet there?!

“Ichika’s family lives there. They have to be part of the funeral after all.”

She did not even know her mother was from Tokyo. This was all new information to her.

Yua did not even know if she wanted to do this after all. Her dad put in this much effort to bring her to China and to even do a funeral in Tokyo, but she will die in four days.

All of the effort her dad put in would be useless if she were to die right after her mother. He would be sad. Her big sis would be affected as well. They sent this much money, an amount that she has never seen in their life for a walking corpse of a human being. They don’t know anything. But should she tell them? She can’t tell her dad or sister anything. They won’t believe her. They would probably look at her weirdly and abandon her again.

Her dad would cancel the flight again, and he would be stuck in Tokyo to mourn another death right after his former wife. He will lose two people at once. Her big sis would lose a sister she truly cared for. Her big sis never really cared about their mother anyway, but two consecutive deaths at once would be a huge inconvenience for both of them.

Was this even worth it?

Was she even worth all of this?

Has the life she has lived so far been worthy enough for her to leave Hida and everything she experienced in it all behind?

Why was a sliver of hope and opportunity only shown to her before she dies?

It was as if God was punishing her before her own death.

Maybe she deserved it for the way she reacted to her mother’s death and for Ayumi’s mental torture.

Ever since this God of death has shown up before her, her life has been nothing but a constant spiral of ups and downs.

Yua wonders what Tsubasa was even doing now.

The door slides behind them.

As if on cue, a smiling boy enters the faculty room.

“Good afternoon to you! I assume you’re Mr. Suzuki, right?”

“F-Fushihara-kun?! What are you doing here?” the homeroom teacher stutters.

“I’m Yua’s best friend. I’m sorry, but I have overheard your conversation as I was snooping in the hallways this entire time! I only knew Yua and Miss Suzuki for a short while, but I have been very close to both of them. I just can’t accept that Yua has to suddenly move outside of the country! I want to come to Tokyo to pay respects to Miss Suzuki, too!”

Her dad looked surprised at the boldness of this random boy. Yua can only sigh in response.

He casually lied about paying respects to her mom. There is no way in hell that he would ever even pray for her soul. They were both responsible for her earlier death after all. He just wanted to go with her.

“Are you perhaps close with this young man here, Yua?”

Yua can only nod in embarrassment. She can’t tell him that they literally just met three days ago, though. Knowing her dad, he would go ballistic.

Her dad ponders for a while while looking at the ground below him. After a few seconds, he makes direct eye contact with Tsubasa.

“Well, I don’t see a problem in that. You are leaving for another country after all. I wouldn’t mind if your friend here tagged along.”

“Really, sir?! I would be honored!” Tsubasa beamed with excitement.

“Before that, may I ask a question?”

“You can ask me anything. I don’t mind!”

Yua’s dad closed in the distance with him and Tsubasa so that Yua couldn’t hear them.

The father leaned in just close to Tsubasa’s side as he grabbed his shoulder in a firm grip.

“You aren’t my beloved daughter’s boyfriend, right? Young man, if you have any other ulterior motives to associating with us on this trip, I swear I wi-”

“No need to worry about that at all! I’m just concerned about her well-being, and I want to pay my respects at your late wife’s funeral as her best friend before she leaves for another country!”

An immediate reply for Tsubasa. The father’s eyes narrowed just slightly as the boy stood completely still. He was still prolonging direct eye contact with him despite his provocation.

The older man released his hand from the younger boy’s shoulder.

“Great answer. Alright. You can come with us, but you have to ask permission from your parents first. I’ll handle the cost as well.”

“You are too kind sir! Thank you for the opportunity! I will tell my grandma and my parents about this. Teacher, can I please skip school for a week?”

Their homeroom teacher shot a glare at Tsubasa, but he overall understood their situation and just sighed heavily.

“Fushihara-kun, I would usually not allow you to not show up physically, but just for this occasion only, you can just attend the classes online. We have some students who have had hybrid classes anyway, but I would need your parents to put in a notice and approval first! Got it?!”

“Thank you! I’ll inform them immediately!”

This was an obvious lie to Yua. He would probably use his reaper powers to forge a letter himself or something.

——

It was an awkward taxi ride to the new location for the three of them. Yua sat next to Tsubasa in the back seat while texting responses to him as per usual. Her dad did not try to pry into their conversation at all.

He was insistent on not making the kids walk, so he booked a taxi.

Tsubasa pretended to be on the phone with his parents. He put the phone down and looked at Yua’s dad in the rearview mirror and struck up a conversation with him.

“I asked permission sir! My parents are actually from Tokyo, so they agreed. I don’t need to pick up any of my stuff either because they have it there!”

Tsubasa’s bright enthusiasm seems to be slowly creeping into her dad. Her dad was weirded out by this reaper at first, but she could see the slight smile on his face whenever he spoke. Tsubasa’s eccentric personality entertained him.

It seems like this trip would be more interesting than her dad anticipated.

But the only thing Yua could lament on was the creeping feeling of dread and guilt slowly consuming her.

All Yua could do was smile as Tsubasa and her dad cheerfully conversed with one another, trying to hide the fact that an inevitable end was waiting for her at the end of a tunnel.

Before Yua had even more time to delve into darker thoughts, the taxi finally stopped in front of the house.

In four days, all of this will come to an end.