Live as if you were to die tomorrow.

Day 7: I want to ???

The end is coming.

“What do you think is going to happen?”

Tsubasa asks as he stares at you.

“Are you amused?”

….

His voice sounds calm. Too calm. Like he already knows the answer.

“I see.”

The boy tilts his head.

“So you really aren’t going to answer unless this is all over huh?”

He chuckles.

“Well, I’ll see you on the other side then.”

The morning light bleeds weakly through the curtains of the guest room. The sky outside is gray. Rain clouds. Tokyo looks dull today.

Fitting.

One day left. No, less than one day now.

Yua’s body feels strangely light this morning. It felt like something inside her already detached itself overnight.

Tsubasa sits across from her on the floor beside the low table. He’s watching her carefully again. Not suspiciously. He was worried. That same unbearable gentleness.

“You barely slept.”

Yua doesn’t answer immediately because she spent the entire night thinking about murder.

Thinking about knives. Thinking about timing. Thinking about whether she could physically overpower an adult woman. Thinking about whether she would panic afterward. Thinking about whether Tsubasa would hate her.

The thoughts looped until sunrise.

Yua slowly types onto her phone.

Neither did you.

Tsubasa smiles faintly.

“…Guess not.”

Silence settles again. It feels different today. The both of them unconsciously understand this is the last day.

Yua stares at his hands resting loosely in his lap.

Those same hands that held her when she cried. Those same hands that killed monsters. Those same hands that trembled while talking about his childhood yesterday.

Tsubasa suddenly tilts his head slightly.

“…You’ve been acting strange since yesterday.”

Yua freezes. His eyes stay on her.

“You look like you’re trying to convince yourself of something.”

Her pulse spikes instantly. He notices too much.

Yua quickly types:

You’re imagining things.

Tsubasa reads the message. Then laughs softly.

“That’s usually your line.”

The joke lands badly. Yua looks away again. Downstairs, she hears movement in the kitchen.

Haruki’s mother. The sound immediately changes something inside her. Like a switch flipping. Tsubasa notices.

Of course he notices.

His expression slowly falters.

“…Yua.”

Warning. That tone was warning. Yua’s stomach twists.

Does he know?

No.

Impossible.

But suddenly she feels transparent around him. Like he can already see the violence sitting inside her thoughts. Tsubasa lowers his voice quietly.

“Don’t do anything stupid today.”

Her heartbeat stops. She genuinely thinks he somehow read her mind. Yua stares at him. Tsubasa looks tired suddenly. More tired than usual.

“…Please.”

The word comes out softly and that terrifies her more than if he yelled. Because it means he senses something wrong already. Yua grips her phone tighter.

I won’t.

Another lie. The easiest lie she has ever typed.

Tsubasa studies her face silently afterward. Then smiles again, but the smile looks weaker today.

Like he doesn’t fully believe her.

——

Breakfast feels unbearable. Haruki complains sleepily about the rain while scrolling through his phone. His father reads the news quietly. Haruki’s mother pours tea beside the stove. Her dad was talking to someone in another room due to business related stuff.

Totally normal family morning.

Normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal. It feels too normal.

Yua feels like she’s losing her mind sitting here. Nobody else can see it. Nobody else can see the horrifying thing underneath this family. Tsubasa sits beside her silently eating toast. Every once in a while, Yua catches him glancing toward his mother unconsciously.

Not lovingly, not angrily but it looked like some part of him still revolves around her despite everything. The sight hurts to look at.

“Man, today’s weather sucks.”

Haruki groaned dramatically as he pushed his food around with his chopsticks. Rain tapped steadily against the windows outside.

His mother laughed lightly from the kitchen.

“You said you wanted rain yesterday.”

“Yeah, but not this type of ‘depressing funeral’ rain. Why does this always have to happen once I want to walk outside?!”

Haruki’s father snorted quietly into his coffee.

“That’s your punishment for complaining.”

Haruki rolled his eyes.

“Mom was already planning to make us clean storage today anyway.”

His mother smiled.

“Well, someone has to organize all the old family stuff eventually.”

The moment she said family, Tsubasa visibly flinched. Tiny. Barely there, but Yua notices. She always notices. His fingers paused briefly around his cup before moving again.

Haruki’s mother notices too. Something uncomfortable passes across her face.

Guilt. Gone immediately afterward, but Yua saw it.

And suddenly, that tiny expression becomes enough.

Enough confirmation. Enough proof. Enough justification.

She knows something.

Her appetite disappears instantly. Tsubasa quietly notices her untouched food.

“…Yua?”

She stands up too quickly. The chair scrapes loudly against the floor. Everyone looks at her immediately. Yua quickly types onto her phone.

Sorry. Feeling sick.

Haruki’s mother immediately steps forward.

“Oh no, are you alright?”

The concern in her voice sounds genuine. That’s the problem. People like her always sound genuine.

Yua steps backward instinctively when the woman reaches toward her shoulder. The reaction happens too fast to hide. The woman freezes awkwardly. Tsubasa’s eyes sharpen instantly.

The room becomes quiet. Yua realizes too late what she just did.

Because for a brief second, she reacted to Haruki’s mother touching her the same way Tsubasa probably used to. The realization makes something crack inside her chest.

Haruki’s mother slowly lowers her hand.

“…I’m sorry.”

Yua can’t breathe properly. Tsubasa is staring at her now. Yua immediately leaves the dining room before anyone can stop her.

——

The bathroom door locks behind her. Yua grips the sink hard enough her knuckles ache.

Her reflection looks wrong again. Too pale. Eyes too wide.

She looks like someone already halfway dead.

Rain taps softly against the window outside.

One day left. Only one.

Her breathing shakes unevenly. She almost killed someone yesterday. Actually almost killed someone and instead of horrifying her, the memory keeps replaying like unfinished business.

Yua slowly opens the cabinet beneath the sink.

Cleaning products. Medicine. Extra soap.

Her thoughts begin spiraling again instantly.

Poison? No.

Too unreliable. Too slow.

A knife? That seemed fast enough.

Its too messy, but she doesn’t care anymore.

She is going to die anyway.

Yua squeezes her eyes shut hard.

What am I doing?

The question finally surfaces properly.

What am I actually becoming?

Then another thought answers immediately.

Someone trying to save him.

Yua stares at herself in the mirror again.

Tsubasa loved her completely.

Without hesitation. Without conditions. He protected her. Stayed beside her. Understood her loneliness without asking for anything back.

And now, she understands him too. The horror of him. The sadness of him. The child still trapped somewhere inside him..

Nobody saved him. So she would.

Even if he hated her afterward. Even if she destroyed herself doing it.

“…If you feel sick, you should probably lie down for a bit.”

He was worrying about her instead of himself. The bathroom suddenly feels too small. Too hot and suffocating. Her eyes drift downward again.

Cleaning supplies. Medicine.

A pair of scissors inside a small plastic container. Not enough. Too small. Too uncertain.

Yua quietly unlocks the bathroom door. Tsubasa is standing outside when she opens it. His expression softens immediately.

“…You look pale.”

Yua avoids his eyes. Because if she looks at him directly right now, she might lose her resolve again. Tsubasa hesitates slightly before reaching toward her forehead. The moment his fingers brush lightly against her skin, something inside her almost breaks apart completely.

So gentle. He was always so gentle. Even after everything done to him. Yua suddenly understands why she cannot stop herself anymore. That was because Tsubasa would never hurt his so called “family”. Even if they deserved it. Someone had to.

Tsubasa lowers his hand slowly.

“…Maybe you should sleep.”

Yua nods once. She lied again. The lies keep piling up.

Tsubasa studies her face for another second like he wants to say something else.

“…Okay. Go get some rest. You can come watch a movie with us downstairs if you want.”

He steps aside for her quietly. Yua walks past him down to the hallway and towards the guest room. She waits until his footsteps disappear downstairs again before stopping.

Then slowly, she turns around. Her heartbeat pounds violently now. Every sound inside the house feels painfully loud.

The rain outside. The television downstairs. Haruki laughing faintly at something. A cabinet closing.

Yua descends the staircase slowly.

One step at a time, the wooden floor creaks softly beneath her feet. Nobody notices her at first.

Haruki and his father are focused on the television. Tsubasa sits beside them quietly scrolling through his phone. Haruki’s mother stands alone in the kitchen again preparing tea. Her back turned toward the room.

Yua’s breathing becomes uneven immediately. This is it.

Her fingers curl tightly against her sleeves.

One day left.

No consequences. No future. No tomorrow after tomorrow.

The thought stabilizes her strangely.

Yua walks into the kitchen. Haruki’s mother glances over her shoulder.

“Oh? Are you feeling any better?”

That voice again. Yua feels nauseous.

The woman smiles softly at her.

“I was just making tea. Do you want–”

Yua’s eyes drift toward the knife beside the cutting board.

Large enough. Sharp enough.

One movement.

That was all.

The kitchen suddenly sounds muted. Like the world itself lowered its volume.

Haruki’s mother notices her staring.

“…Yua-chan?”

Yua steps closer. The woman blinks in confusion.

“…Is something wrong?”

Tsubasa as a child flashes through her mind again.

Small. Quiet. Trying not to inconvenience anyone. Trying to survive.

He was trying his best to live.

Yet he ended up that way.

Dead. Abandoned, then left to die a horrible death.

The image hits so hard Yua’s vision blurs slightly.

Her hand moves. Fast. She grabs the knife.

Haruki’s mother freezes instantly. Nobody moves.

The woman stares at the knife in Yua’s shaking hand.

Confusion first, then fear.

“…Yua?”

Her voice trembles slightly. Yua’s heartbeat becomes deafening.

This is it.

Do it.

DO IT.

DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.DO IT.

The thought screams through her head violently now. Her grip tightens harder around the knife. Haruki’s mother slowly steps backward.

“…Please calm down!”

The words make something ugly twist inside Yua’s chest.

Calm down? Was Tsubasa calm when he cried as a child? Was he calm when nobody came back for him?

Yua steps forward again. The woman’s face pales completely now.

Movement suddenly erupts behind her.

“Yua?!”

Haruki’s voice. A chair crashes loudly behind him. Tsubasa stands up instantly.

The moment Yua looks toward him, everything shatters.

Because he doesn’t look angry. He looks horrified. Not for himself, but for her.

That expression destroys her resolve instantly. Yua suddenly sees herself clearly through his eyes. A terrified girl holding a knife with shaking hands.

Not a savior, not justice. Just another broken person about to spread the pain further.

Her breathing collapses unevenly. The knife trembles violently in her hand now.

Tsubasa takes one careful step closer.

“…Yua.”

Soft, terrified, and gentle. Like he’s approaching someone standing at the edge of a building.

The knife slips from her fingers. It hits the floor with a deafening clang. Nobody moves. Nobody dares to breathe.

Yua stares at the knife on the ground. Then slowly toward Tsubasa again.

He understood her. Not the violence. Not the rage. Her.

That same devastated expression on his face said it clearly. He knew why she did this.

“...Tsubasa?”

Haruki’s voice shakes beside him. The kitchen feels frozen in place. Rain taps softly against the windows. The television still murmurs faintly in the living room.

Tsubasa takes another careful step toward her.

“…Yua.”

His voice sounds terrified now.

“Please.”

The word breaks apart halfway through. Yua’s chest aches so violently she thinks she might collapse.

Because even now, no matter what, he is trying to save her from herself.

Haruki’s mother trembles near the counter, one hand gripping the edge hard enough her knuckles turn white.

“…I-I don’t understand…”

Yua looks at her. Really looks at her.

And suddenly all she can see is Tsubasa as a child. Waiting. Crying. Learning how to become quieter. Learning how to survive. Learning how to accept being abandoned.

Something inside Yua twists beyond repair.

Nobody saved him.

Nobody.

Her vision blurs through tears.

“...You still don’t get it…”

The words escape her mouth before she realizes she spoke aloud. The room goes completely silent. Because Yua almost never speaks.

Haruki stares at her in shock. Tsubasa freezes.

Yua’s voice trembles violently.

“He was just a child.”

Haruki’s mother pales instantly. The knife still lies on the floor between them. Tsubasa’s expression changes.

“…Yua, don’t.”

Too late.

Yua lunges forward. Haruki’s mother screams. The knife flashes upward from the floor into Yua’s shaking hand.

Then, a wet sound.

The woman gasps violently.

The kitchen erupts into chaos.

Haruki screams:

“MOM–?!”

His father rushes in immediately from the living room.

“What?!”

A sound of the door opening loudly crashes behind him.

Yua’s father stumbles into the kitchen seconds later, confusion instantly transforming into horror.

“YUA?!”

Blood spills across the woman’s shirt. Bright red. Too bright. A pool of blood forming underneath her.

Yua’s breathing collapses.

The knife is still in her hand. Still inside her.

Haruki’s mother looks down at the wound like she can’t understand it. Then slowly back toward Yua. Her lips tremble.

“…Why…?”

The question shatters something inside Yua instantly because she doesn’t have an answer anymore.

Not one that sounds human.

Haruki grabs his mother desperately as she collapses against him. Blood stains his hands immediately.

“Oh my god— Mom— MOM—”

His father is yelling something. Yua’s father too. The room becomes noise.

Screaming. Panic. Movement. Blood.

Yua stares at her own trembling hands. Then at Tsubasa. And everything stops.

He isn’t looking at the blood.

He’s looking at her.

Completely broken.

Like watching someone walk willingly into hell.

“…Why would you do this for me?”

The sentence comes out quietly.

Destroyed.

Because the answer is simple.

Because I love you.

But before she can say anything, the lights go out.

Darkness swallows the kitchen instantly.

Everyone screams. The world tears apart. The floor disappears beneath them.

The walls distort violently like wet paint melting downward.

And suddenly–

silence.

The void returns. Endless black. Infinite. Cold.

Haruki’s screams vanish. Her father vanishes. The blood vanishes.

Only Yua and Tsubasa remain standing in the darkness together.

Yua stumbles backward violently. The knife clatters uselessly somewhere into the abyss.

Tsubasa stands several feet away now.

His eyes glow faintly white inside the dark.

No smile anymore. No mask. Just grief. Pure grief.

“…I told you not to become like me.”

His voice echoes endlessly through the void. Yua starts crying immediately.

“I couldn’t-”

Her voice breaks apart.

“I couldn’t leave you with them-”

Tsubasa’s expression crumples.

“You think this saves me?”

He sounds devastated. Yua can barely breathe.

“She hurt you-”

“So you destroyed yourself?!”

The words echo sharply across the void. Yua flinches hard. Tsubasa covers his face briefly with one trembling hand. Like he physically cannot bear looking at her right now.

“I never wanted this for you.”

His voice sounds smaller now.

“You were supposed to stay human.”

The sentence completely destroys her.

Yua now understands the true horror of Tsubasa.

Not that he kills monsters, but that somewhere along the way, he stopped believing he was allowed to be loved by people who remained innocent. Yua collapses to her knees sobbing.

“I didn’t know how else to save you…”

The void trembles softly around them. Tsubasa lowers his hand slowly from his face. His eyes look unbearably sad now.

And when he finally speaks again, his voice sounds almost human.

“…You already did.”

Silence. The darkness around them stretches endlessly in every direction. Just that infinite black swallowing everything beyond the two of them.

Yua’s breathing shakes violently.

“I stabbed someone…”

The words come out broken. Like she still cannot fully understand what her own hands have done.

“There was so much blood…”

Tsubasa closes his eyes briefly. Like the sentence physically hurts him.

“…I know. I remember now.”

Yua freezes. Tsubasa stands motionless in the dark.

For a long moment, he says nothing.

Then finally,

“I was seventeen.”

Yua slowly looks up. Tsubasa’s expression remains distant now.

“That night, she cornered me in the kitchen again.”

His voice sounds frighteningly calm. Like something repeated too many times inside his head.

“I remember thinking the knife looked smaller than I expected.”

Yua’s stomach drops instantly.

No.

No no no.

Tsubasa laughs softly. A horrible sound.

“I didn’t plan it beforehand like you did.”

His eyes lower toward his own hands.

“I think that actually makes it worse.”

The void around them flickers faintly. And suddenly, a kitchen appears. Not the Shirogane house. Another one. Older. Smaller. Dim yellow lighting. The smell of cigarettes and stale food.

She recognizes this place. It was the same house she was in a few days ago.

Yua stops breathing.

A younger Tsubasa stands there. Seventeen, too thin, too quiet.

A woman stands across from him yelling. His grandmother. Her voice distorts strangely in the void, words overlapping too heavily to fully understand, but Yua doesn’t need the words.

She recognizes the fear in his posture immediately. The way he shrinks instinctively. The way he keeps apologizing. The way his eyes never rise above her shoulders.

Yua feels sick.

“She was angry because I came home late,” Tsubasa says quietly beside her.

The memory continues moving in front of them like a nightmare projected onto darkness.

“She thought I was avoiding her.”

A pause.

“I was.”

The older Tsubasa watches silently as his younger self gets grabbed harshly by the wrist.

Yua flinches instinctively.

The younger Tsubasa freezes immediately at the contact.

Not fighting back. Never fighting back.

“She kept saying I belonged to her.”

His voice cracks slightly this time. Very slightly.

“Like I was an object she spent too much money raising.”

The younger Tsubasa’s breathing becomes visibly uneven. The woman keeps yelling.

Keeps grabbing him. Keeps cornering him against the kitchen counter.

And then, she touches his face. Not gently, but possessively.

Yua suddenly understands.

Not fully, but enough.

Enough to feel horror crawl through her entire body. Tsubasa looks away from the memory.

“I remember realizing something.”

His voice grows quieter.

“That she was never going to stop.”

The younger version of him is crying now. Silently and terrified. Apologizing over and over again. The woman grabs his chin harder.

And then, the knife.

Yua physically recoils.

The younger Tsubasa grabs it suddenly from the counter beside him. With no plan or coordination at all, he lunged at her. Desperately.

The woman freezes.

For one fraction of a second, she actually looks afraid.

Yua’s stomach twists violently because it mirrors the kitchen from earlier perfectly.

The same realization too late.

Then, blood.

The memory shatters instantly afterward. The void swallows everything again. Silence yet again.

Yua can’t breathe properly. Tsubasa stands motionless beside her.

“…I didn’t even realize I stabbed her at first.”

His voice sounds empty now.

“I just wanted her away from me.”

Yua’s vision blurs completely.

Because suddenly, she understands him perfectly. Too perfectly. The panic. The adrenaline. The unbearable feeling afterward. The immediate horror. The blood.

Tsubasa smiles faintly, but it looks broken.

“When I saw her on the floor…”

His voice shakes slightly.

“…I remember thinking she suddenly looked old.”

Yua covers her mouth immediately. Tsubasa stares into the darkness.

“She stopped looking scary.”

That sentence destroys her completely because no child should ever think something like that. No child should ever reach a point where violence becomes the only escape their body understands.

“I killed her,” Tsubasa whispers softly.

No smile now, no mask. Only grief.

“And afterward…”

The void shifts faintly around them again. Shapes move far away in the darkness.

Other reapers.

Countless silhouettes wandering endlessly.

“I was told people like me become reapers.”

Yua’s tears fall harder. Tsubasa finally looks directly at her again. His eyes look exhausted beyond words.

“We kill monsters after becoming one ourselves.”

The sentence echoes endlessly through the void. Yua shakes her head violently.

“No…”

“You stabbed someone because you loved me.”

His voice breaks slightly.

“And that’s exactly why I never wanted you to know.”

Yua’s chest aches so badly it feels unbearable.

Because he’s wrong. He has to be wrong.

Tsubasa was never a monster. He was a child pushed beyond what any human being should survive.

Yua stumbles toward him desperately.

“You were trying to survive–”

“So were you.”

The response comes instantly. Yua freezes.

Tsubasa looks at her like he’s mourning something already gone.

“You understand me now, don’t you?”

The question terrifies her.

Because yes. She does.

Tsubasa’s eyes lower slightly.

“That’s the real curse.”

His voice barely rises above a whisper. His eyes now looked like the abyss.

“Not becoming a reaper.”

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

“It’s realizing how easy it actually is.”

Silence follows.

Yua stares at him through blurred vision. Tsubasa stands impossibly close now. Close enough for her to see how exhausted he truly looks beneath everything else. He has been carrying death for too long.

The darkness around them pulses faintly. Far away, reapers drift silently through the abyss like wandering ghosts, watching them.

Yua suddenly remembers the diary.

Day one, I want to be friends with someone nice in school.

Day two, I want to have a nice meal.

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

Day four, I want to go to the city. Day five, I want to have a full weekend just to myself.

Day six, I want to love someone and be loved back.

Every stupid little wish she wrote while believing death still felt distant.

Tsubasa’s eyes lower slightly toward her hands.

“…What was today again?”

Yua blinks. He continues softly.

“The last wish.”

Her breathing catches. Tsubasa’s voice sounds strangely gentle again now. Almost warm.

“What did you want on Day 7?”

Yua’s throat tightens painfully because she never finished writing it properly. Tsubasa kneels slowly in front of her. Their eye levels meet.

“You can tell me.”

The kindness in his voice nearly destroys her. Yua looks away immediately. She suddenly the answer feels unbearable.

Not because she doesn’t know it, because she does. She always did.

Tsubasa waits patiently. Like he already understands. Yua’s lips tremble slightly.

“…I didn’t know which one to choose.”

Her voice sounds small. Tsubasa’s expression softens faintly.

“Choose what?”

Yua feels tears burn hotter down her face. The words hurt to say aloud.

“…Whether I wanted to live…”

A shaky breath.

“…or die.”

Tsubasa stops breathing for a second. Yua immediately regrets saying it. Something inside his expression breaks apart instantly. She just confessed the same thing he once felt himself.

Yua laughs weakly through tears.

“I think I confused them.”

Her chest aches violently now.

“Because meeting you made me want to live for the first time…”

Another breath.

“And loving you made me stop caring if I died.”

Tsubasa lowers his head slightly. His hands tremble once. Yua stares at him desperately.

“I don’t regret it.”

The sentence echoes softly through the void. Tsubasa closes his eyes. Like hearing that physically hurts him.

When he opens them again, they look unbearably sad.

“…You should.”

Yua shakes her head immediately.

“No.”

The answer comes instantly. Certain. Because even now, even after the blood, even after everything, meeting him still feels like the most important thing that ever happened to her.

Tsubasa leans closer slowly. Close enough now that Yua can feel his breathing. Cold. The way reapers always feel cold.

His forehead gently presses against hers. And suddenly, he looks seventeen again.

Not the terrifying reaper. Just a broken boy who survived too much.

“I tried so hard not to let this happen to you.”

His voice cracks quietly.

She knows. Of course she knows.

Everything he did, every smile, every warning, every lie, was him trying desperately to keep her innocent.

Tsubasa’s hand slowly rises toward her face. Gentle. Careful. His thumb brushes trembling tears from beneath her eye.

“I wanted at least one person to leave me without becoming ruined too.”

The sentence shatters her completely. Yua grabs his sleeve desperately.

“Tsubasa-”

“I love you.”

The words come out softly. Naturally. Like they’ve existed inside him for a very long time.

Yua stops breathing. Tsubasa smiles faintly. A real smile this time.

“And that’s exactly why I can’t let you continue living like this.”

The void begins trembling harder around them. Yua suddenly realizes something is wrong. The darkness behind Tsubasa distorts softly. Like the world itself is pulling apart.

Yua’s pulse spikes violently.

“Tsubasa…?”

He gently cups her face in both hands. His expression looks unbearably tender now. The way someone looks at a person they already lost.

“You know what the cruelest part is?”

His voice barely rises above a whisper.

“When someone finally gives you a reason to live…”

His thumb trembles slightly against her cheek.

“…sometimes it’s already too late.”

Yua shakes her head desperately.

“No…”

“I wanted you to have a future.”

The void screams around them now. Shapes move in the darkness. Reapers gathering silently. Watching.

Yua suddenly understands. Too late.

“Tsubasa please–”

“I’m sorry.”

His voice breaks completely. And then, his hand moves.

Fast. Mercifully fast.

Pain blooms sharply through Yua’s chest.

Warm, strangely warm.

Yua gasps silently. Her eyes lower slowly.

Tsubasa’s blade is buried through her heart. Not a kitchen knife. A reaper’s blade.

Tsubasa catches her immediately before she collapses.

Yua stares up at him in horror. Not because she’s dying, but because he’s crying. Silent tears falling endlessly down his face.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers again.

Over and over. Like prayer. Like punishment.

Yua’s body feels strangely light already. Cold spreads through her slowly, but the pain barely matters anymore. Because Tsubasa is holding her so carefully.

Like she’s precious. Like she always was.

Yua’s trembling hand weakly reaches toward his face. Tsubasa immediately leans into the touch instinctively. The same way starving people lean toward warmth. Yua smiles weakly through blood.

“…I think…”

Her voice barely exists now. Tsubasa’s breathing shatters.

“…I wanted to live after all.”

The sentence destroys him completely. Tsubasa buries his face against her shoulder with a broken sound Yua has never heard from him before.

The void begins swallowing her vision slowly afterward. Darkness spreads softly at the edges of her eyes.

Tsubasa clings to her tighter. Like if he lets go, she’ll disappear immediately.

Maybe she already is. Her body grows lighter.

Quieter. Further away.

And the last thing Yua feels before everything finally fades is Tsubasa trembling violently in her arms like a child who has lost someone all over again.

——

Sound returns slowly. Sirens. Footsteps. People shouting over each other.

Bright lights flash violently through the rain-streaked windows outside. Red and blue reflections pulse across the walls. Paramedics rush through the house carrying medical equipment while police officers try to control the chaos.

Someone is crying hysterically. No, multiple people.

The girl blinks slowly. The world feels distant. Muted. Like she’s underwater somehow.

A stretcher is being pushed through the hallway. A woman lies on it clutching her bleeding abdomen while paramedics desperately try to stop the blood loss.

A boy runs beside her sobbing. Her son perhaps.

“MOM?! MOM PLEASE–”

His father is yelling something at the emergency responders.

“She’s still conscious! Please just save her-”

The woman weakly opens her eyes again.

“…Haru…”

Her voice sounds thin. Barely alive. A paramedic immediately leans closer.

“Yuuki-san, stay with us.”

Another voice cuts through sharply:

“Yuuki Shirogane, female, abdominal stab wound, severe blood loss—”

Yuuki Shirogane. The name echoes strangely inside the girl’s head. Yuuki. That was her name.

The boy’s mother disappears through the front door moments later as the stretcher vanishes into the rain outside. The house falls into disarray afterward.

Police. Questions. Movement everywhere.

And in the middle of the kitchen floor, a body.

A girl lying motionless in spreading darkness. She stares blankly at it.

Black hair. A long dress. Bloodless skin. Dead eyes.

Who is this?

The girl tilts her head slightly. The sight should horrify her.

Instead, she feels strangely disconnected from it. Like looking at a photograph of someone she vaguely resembles.

A broken sound suddenly reaches her. A man kneels near the body sobbing uncontrollably.

“…Yua… please…wake up….”

His shoulders shake violently. The boy nearby is crying too. His hands are covered in blood. His father stands behind him looking utterly shattered.

The girl watches them silently. She does not know who they are, yet their faces feel familiar somehow. Important maybe, but distant.

Like names she forgot years ago.

Then, she notices him.

Standing quietly inside the kitchen shadows. Watching her. A boy in black. Dark uniform. Brown hair. Silver eyes reflecting faintly beneath the flashing ambulance lights outside. Beautiful.

Something about him immediately feels familiar in a way she cannot explain. The girl stares at him instinctively.

And suddenly, everything else around her starts fading into background noise.

The sirens. The crying. The police radios. All of it becomes distant compared to him.

The boy slowly walks toward her.

Nobody notices them standing in between all this chaos. It was like they doesn’t belong to the living world standing around them anymore.

The girl watches him approach.

For some reason, her chest hurts looking at him.

A strange ache she doesn’t understand. The boy stops directly in front of her. Close enough now that she notices his expression.

He looks calm, but his eyes…his eyes look devastated. Like he was mourning completely.

The girl stares at him silently for several seconds. Then quietly asks,

“…Who are you?”

His lips part slightly. His eyes lower.

Then slowly, very gently, he smiles.

“…My name is Tsubasa.”

The name means nothing to her. And yet, something inside her chest tightens hearing it anyway.

Tsubasa glances once toward her body lying on the floor. Then back toward her. The ambulance lights flicker across his face softly.

“You died.”

The sentence is spoken gently.

The girl blinks slowly.

Dead. She’s dead.

The word feels strange.

Tsubasa extends one hand toward her. His hand trembles slightly. Behind him, the kitchen slowly begins darkening unnaturally. The corners of reality peeling apart into endless black. Shadows stretch too far.

The gitl stares at his hand wordlessly. Tsubasa’s voice softens.

“Your name is Yua. Suzuki Yua.”

The darkness behind him opens wider. An infinite void waiting patiently beyond the kitchen walls.

Far away inside it, silhouettes move. Watching silently.

Tsubasa keeps his hand extended toward her. And despite not remembering why, Yua feels overwhelmingly certain of one thing. 

If she lets go of this hand, she will lose him forever.

So slowly and hesitantly, Yua reaches back.

“Yua, you are a reaper now.”

“Welcome to the beginning of the end.”

Day 7: I want to live.