Vol.2 – Chapter 4 – That day, Before the Dawn of War

From time to time, I kept on dreaming—dreaming about the past that was almost lost in my memory. It's a memory from a very distant place and time, an age before I was reincarnated into this world of magic.

"You're good," Hanami acknowledged my skills as we played. Were we playing Smash Bros? Naruto Ninja Storm? Either way, she couldn't beat me even if she claimed that she had been playing that game for years.

"Of course! Nobody can beat me!"

I was a very cheerful girl in the past... I'm sick though. My head was bald, so I covered it with a blue beanie since I'm very conscious of my appearance. Compared to me, Hanami was indeed beautiful. She's three years older than me, a middle schooler that I adore.

"I'm going to do it! SMASHHHH!" I screamed while I dealt the final blow. My character grabbed her, and buried her character's head in the rubble. Wait... maybe I was playing Mortal Kombat all along... or was it Tekken?

"Kyah❤"

"Don't make that weird sound!"

Seriously, Hanami knows no bounds when it comes to being a pervert. But she always makes my plain old days special. My remaining days without her are just as painful as getting stabbed. I found myself waiting for her every day, and every day she would visit to play with me until night.

Both of us were in the hospital where I was confined. Indeed, I am sick... my days are counted because of it. But one thing anime taught me was to be brave and cheerful even in tough times, so I put up a smile on my face and laughed even if my body was screaming in occasional pain.

Hanami's phone vibrated in her pocket, and I noticed a shock in her eyes that made me afraid.

"Hanami, what's wrong?" I asked.

"N-Nothing..."

But she always hides her problems away from me. Thinking about it, she might be more worried about me than I am worried about her. How much do I regret not pressing her about this issue further? I'm weak, even if I knew, I knew that I couldn't offer help even if I wanted to.

"Oh, look at the time. I still have a part-time job to do."

Lie... She packed her school bag and coiled it around her shoulder. That time, I felt something bad was about to happen, but I couldn't do anything but cheer her up.

"Hanami."

Before she left, I called her name and she looked back at me. Both my hands were on the side of my waist, my hands balled together.

"That form!" Her shock was visible in my eyes. She dropped her bag and mimicked my figure.

"Kameeeehameeeee..." both of us started shouting at each other, mimicking characters from Dragon Ball.

"HAAA!" With the power of our childish imagination, both of us got hurled by its sheer force. I tumbled on the bed, and she laid down on the corner of the door, pretending to be dead. Then we laughed at each other from our own silliness.

The next day, she came too early and caught me with a doctor while he was injecting me with a lot of stuff. Did she got terrified? I hope not. I need that since I started coughing blood just the other day.

The next day, I waited for her and she came. And the next day after that. We played a different game every time. And the next next day she brought me donuts. I love donuts but I have hard time swallowing it. The truth is, it was painful, but I need to show to her than I'm okay.

It's getting harder to breathe... I feel like I am always tired and my bone felt like it's going to snap but I continued to make a front and show my bright side to Hanami. But I think, Hanami knows, my voice after all is ragged and different compared before.

"Rushia."

One day, Hanami called my name in a serious tone. I looked at her in the eyes, I knew that something was wrong but she didn't show it.

"Hm?"

"N-No, it's nothing."

She still refused to tell me anything, and my past self was so weak and oblivious to make a move.

"Don't scare me like that," I complained. That time, I didn't want to hear her in a serious tone because it was kind of painful to me as well. "I'm going to die soon, you know." I don't want to die knowing that my friend is in trouble.

"Have you made more friends already? I don't want to leave you here alone," I said. If she only has another friend than me... she won't get sad even if I disappear.

"It's not like we're going to part ways. I'm still always going to be with you," Hanami confidently remarked.

"What? You have magical tears that could revive the dead?"

"Pfft... what does that even mean? You watched too much TV."

I couldn't help it! It's not like I had a choice anyway but to watch TV and play games. You know, I really love TV shows where they had magical powers and characters miraculously survive after getting beaten into a pulp. It brings me hope and joy, how I wished that reality could be the same for me as well.

"Here..."

Hanami suddenly coiled a necklace around my neck. A green thin stone, a size bigger than a coin. It looked like a giant scale fossil preserved inside a gem, it's beautiful.

"What's this?"

"My grandmother gave this to me when I was a child. She said that it contains a magical power that creates miracles."

Hanami... she's too kind! She really knows the things that I like!

"A magic item!? Thank you!"

My body moved on its own and hugged her. The warmth between us provided solace in my chest. I wanted to remain like this forever, but I knew that was impossible.

"I will always care for you... Rushia. I'm always going to be by your side."

My hands tightly gripped the clothes on her back. I really love her with all my heart. I saw a lot of her—her expression when she's genuinely happy, the face she makes when she's sad, her habit of picking her nose when she's bored, and how red she is when she's angry. But never once did I find her embarrassed. Even just once, I want to see her in that state.

"Hanami..."

"Hm?"

"How are babies made?"

"What!? Where did that come from!? Err..."

Gotcha! SO CUTE! She's flustered beyond hope, and her color is redder than when she's angry. She tried to find words in her mouth; she looked left and right as if trying to find a script in the air. Then she answered...

"I-If you found someone you truly love with all your heart and he truly loves you the same, God will put a baby in your tummy."

Lie! Even I knew how babies are made at eight years old!

Don't tell me something so creepy like romance! I'm getting that cringe on my spine. Oh... Hanami is already at that stage of life huh... She's already the type to get sleep-deprived because of Korean dramas... huh?

I look at the ceiling for a while as I ponder. Hanami is already running out of my reach. I'm never going to experience something like romance; I'm never going to reach the age where I'm excited to fall in love in a romantic way. I will never get to understand such feelings because I'm going to die before all of that...

I wonder how beautiful Hanami will look like as an adult...

Honestly, I don't want to die. I'm scared. I can't be with her anymore.

After that day, Hanami never visited again. I waited for her every day, yet a month has passed but she didn't come. My sickness is getting severe that my limbs became thinner and when I look at the mirror, my eyes are deprived of life. There is no trace of my cheerful self as I think about it; I'm in the last stage of my life.

Hanami disappeared... I wonder where she goes... I wanted to be by her side on my last breath. Nobody visited me anymore, not my parents, not my best friend. I remain alone for the rest of my remaining time... or so I thought.

One day, someone visited me. I don't know her, but she felt familiar somehow. Something about her felt magical, she is emitting a mysterious presence I couldn't put into words. She wore a very extravagant clothing that matches her lustrous hair.

"Hmm! SMAASHH!" Impossible! I was beaten! I was beaten by a crazy woman in a witch cosplay! "You need another thousand years worth of training arc to beat me!" she bragged.

My memories about this person are vague; I couldn't remember her face, but she was there with me in my last weeks.

"What are you!?" I asked this crazy woman who just appeared out of nowhere and meddled with my life forcibly.

"Me? I'm a mage from another world."

"I already knew that! I mean, who could even just appear in my drawer like Doraemon! It's impossible; I don't look like Nobita!"

"Don't worry, Nobita. I'm not a bad person."

"Who're you calling Nobita!?"

Apparently, when I was browsing my drawer to pick up my controller, this girl suddenly popped out of nowhere. She explained that she entered a portal in haste and ended up in my drawer. Of course, I did not believe at first, but it's undeniable that there is really a portal inside my drawer!

Wait... is it the work of this scale stone given by Hanami? It actually performed a miracle!

Hanami...

Remembering her makes me tear up a little, while clasping my hand with the necklace she gave me. I don't want to let anyone know, but the mage noticed it.

"Is there something bothering you? You could talk to this wise old mage."

"You don't look old or wise."

"I may not look like it, but I'm more than two hundred years old."

That's stupid! She fairly looks young for that. I have an idea; I'm going to ask her something she couldn't simply answer.

"Then tell me! How are babies made!?"

How's that? Cat got your tongue? Of course, how could you even answer that without sounding like a pervert? You need to navigate through a complicated web of words that are restricted by society's standards. You need to think carefully about what to say while being accurate and avoiding using explicit words that—

"It's when p*nis enters the vag*na."

"CENSORSHIP!! You're talking to an 11-year-old girl!"

"It's your fault for asking when you already knew the answer. Little pervert."

I gasped... my legs weakened, and I found myself kneeling from being called a pervert. I am not a pervert; it's not my fault that I already knew it. It's social media's fault! I need to say something to defend my dignity...

"Y-you're wrong..." the mage looked at me in the eye and smirked as if challenging me. "I-if you found someone you truly love with all your heart and he truly loves you the same, God will deliver a baby to your tummy."

That's what Hanami...

Suddenly, my eyes were blurry and warm... A drop of this warm water slid through my cheeks, and now I couldn't stop it from overflowing.

"Hanami..."

Then the mage forcibly hugged me, encapsulating me, but her body is cold... like a *corpse*.

"Don't worry... Someday, you'll find someone you truly love."

"W-What are you talking about? I'm not crying because of that."

"Don't worry about your appearance. Someday, you'll get prettier." Seriously, what the hell is she talking about! "You'll become beautiful... Like me!"

Suddenly, I stopped crying. I had no motivation to cry anymore; in fact, all my emotions became numb. I died on the inside.

"Come on, let's continue playing smash!" she urged me to, what choice do I have since I don't have anything better to do anyway. We started playing...

"Ah... Come to think of it... maybe you're right. You make babies by loving somebody else." I looked towards her, and now she didn't look stupid in my eyes anymore, but a flustered maiden in love. "Someday, you'll find someone you love. You might think it's impossible for now, but I assure you, you'll find him."

I don't know. Romance really doesn't interest me like every other girl. Maybe I'm still too young to understand, or maybe I accepted long ago that I won't experience such.

"I have a favor to ask," I asked.

"What is it?"

"You came from another world, right? Can you bring me there with you?"