Kiss

Haru’s request for a kiss completely caught her off guard. She grew flustered and could barely look at him.

“That’s not what I really had in mind… Ok I’ll give you a farewell kiss but just on the cheek.”

“That’s more than enough for me.”

She reaches over and gives him a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“You know I’m quite surprised by you Haru.”

“Why is that?”

“I expected you to fight with me a bit for a real kiss.”

“There’s no need to. You’ve already opened up so much to me since we met just a few weeks ago. I wouldn’t want to spoil our final moments together by arguing over a kiss.”

“Haru, I must admit that you’ve given me many fond memories in such a short time. And you’ve certainly kept me entertained just like you promised you would. It’s been an amazing few weeks. I wish we could have had more time together.”

A puff smoke appeared at her feet, transforming them back to normal.

“It’s about time they turned back.”

“So Minori… can we teleport to one more place before our love pact ends?”

She looks over to him with sadness in her eyes.

“Yes. Where do you want us to go?”

“It may sound a bit weird, but I’d like for us to go to the rooftop where we first met. I think it would be a poetic end to our time together”.

“Sure Haru, if that’s what you want.”

She pulls out her kanzashi and transforms it into her brush as her clothes change back to her normal outfit. She writes out the hospital rooftop’s location. The smoke wisps around them and they appear under the moonlight, just the same as when they first met.

“So is it going to hurt at all when you reap my soul?”

“No... it won't hurt at all. I'll be swinging my scythe through you but it's only going to pull out your soul so you won’t feel a thing... You can just close your eyes and it'll be over in an instant... I’m really glad I met you Haru.”

“I’m glad I met you too.”

He turns away from her, sits on the ground and shuts his eyes.

“Ok Minori, I'm ready... Make sure that you never forget the memories we made together.”

“I promise I’ll never forget them... Look up at the sky Haru. The moon is beautiful isn’t it?”

She lifts her scythe and positions it behind her in preparation to swing.

“Yes it is, I can die happy.”

Just as she gets ready to swing, she drops her scythe onto the ground and hugs him from behind. She squeezes him tightly as tears cascade down her face.

“I can’t do this. I don't want what we have to be over. There has to be some way for us to extend your life. I didn't think it would happen when I first met you but…. I've fallen deeply in love with you during the time we've spent together.”

She suddenly felt tears falling onto her hands that were up against Haru’s chest.

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. I’m in love with you too Minori. I’ve been in love with you far before we even made this love pact of ours and now we can finally be together again.”

Minori sniffled as she slowly continued to cry.

“What do you mean?”

“There was a time before we met on this rooftop when you loved me too, it just took you a while to remember.”

A large cloud of black smoke appeared in front of them. As the smoke fell to the ground and vanished, it revealed a large pink daruma doll. It smiled at Haru and began to speak.

“It looks like congratulations are in order huh. I really didn’t think you’d be able to pull this off but it looks like I was totally wrong.”

“Does this mean what I think it does?”

“Yes indeed. So you two don’t have to keep on looking so damn gloomy.”

Minori continued to sniffle and tear as she stood there confused over the situation.

“Hey there I told you that you could turn off the water works so why are you still crying? You don’t have to reap his soul anymore honey.”

“Just because I don’t have to reap his soul doesn't mean that another shinigami won’t make their way here to try and take it! His heart is still going to cause him to die.”

“Minori, you don’t have to worry about my heart anymore.”

“What do you mean Haru? You’ve been sick and coming to this hospital for months. Heart problems don’t just vanish even if I’d want nothing more than that to be true.”

“But Minori, my heart isn’t going to be the death of me. I was never at the hospital for my own illness. I was here so often because I was visiting someone very dear to me.”

Minori suddenly starts to glow a faint red color as her hair slowly turns from a bright white into a deep lustrous black. The faint red glow then lightened to a vibrant pink before her whole body became incandescent.

“What’s happening to me?”

The daruma let out a chuckle.

“I’m just giving Haru his prize, he's certainly earned it.”

A blinding flash of light glimmered from deep in her chest. She looked over at Haru and wisped away into a magical breeze of cherry blossom petals. The petals twirled around Haru before crashing through the hospital roof door.

“Go get her tiger, she's waiting for you.”

He jumps up and darts for the door.