Saburo Tanaka, Pt. 2

Desperate to escape the goblin zombies, I ran through the riverbed without stopping until I reached a large forest, where I slumped against a tree, exhausted.

The forest was shrouded in darkness and completely silent, as though all sound had disappeared from the world. I breathed a sigh of relief.

When was the last time I’d run this much?

I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with fresh air before exhaling again, grateful that I was still alive.

“Phew.”

Something else escaped me as I sighed. It took a while for me to realize I was crying.

Why the hell was I crying? I didn’t get it.

Because I’d abandoned my friends?

Because I didn’t want to die?

I thought I didn’t give a damn about any of those things.

I finally realized that I’d been fooling myself all along.

I was a fake emo who pretended to despair at the state of the world when, in reality, I was just lonely.

“*sob* Waaaah!!”

I began to weep ugly, heaving sobs.

I got separated from Chika and Kyoya on the way, but I never looked back once. I didn’t want to face the fact that I’d abandoned Shizuka and Hironobu.

We’d only been together for a few days, but that was the first time I’d ever spent any time with friends.

What an idiot I was to realize how much something meant to me only after losing it.

Why didn’t I realize until it was too late?

“Hgh, *sob* *gasp*...”

“My, aren’t you a big cry-baby?”

I looked up at the sound of someone’s voice.

Charlotte stood before me, a small grin plastered on her face as always.

“Y-you came back?”

“Mhm. I was asked to. I didn’t want to, but here we are.”

How did she come and go so fast? Although that puzzled me, that wasn’t what I wanted to ask her.

“Why did you come back?”

“Mirai predicted Shizuka and Hironobu’s deaths. I was asked to rescue them.”

“C-can they...?”

Can they still be saved? I meant to ask, but the look on Charlotte’s face gave me pause.

It didn’t seem like the kind of smile you’d expect from someone who intended to help somebody.

“Hmm, depends. I’m not sure if we’ll make it in time anyway. I have other things to do, so I can’t exactly risk my life either.”

Charlotte said, walking past me as I continued to sob in a ball on the ground.

“Still. Better than a scaredy-cat who ran away without doing anything.”

Charlotte began to go back the way I came from.

“Oh?”

Before I knew it, I was running after Charlotte.

“You’re coming? You might die if you come with me.”

I continued to follow her wordlessly.

“You’re an idiot. A loveable idiot, that is. The odds of those two surviving have increased just a bit.”

It wasn’t from the guilt of abandoning them.

I simply wanted to see my friends again.

That desire flooded my heart and spurred me on.

After lying to myself all this time, I was finally being honest about my feelings.