12 - Bird Of Paradise

“A set of coordinates?”

Sakuto felt sore. He felt as if he hadn’t moved a muscle for months instead of days. The only thing he could recall from the bittersweet and lingering dream of his were uncertain images melting into one another. He anticipated death to have a much more brutal or sentimental feel to it, unaware that his heart was still beating.

The sun had a melancholic glint to its blinding brightness. Sakuto was still in a state of absolute derealization. He slowly walked along the off-road grassy terrain, close to the coordinates he received from Mukawa. The stray path he followed led to what seemed to be a patch of grassy land. With lone huts around, what matched his area of interest more was a slightly emptier patch of grass, surrounded by lonesome trees in the background. Frantic butterflies were scavenging the place, accompanied by a symphony of cicadas and other insects in the background.

“Should I have stayed dead?”

“It’s not like anyone would care, right?”

“Nobody had ever cared enough to try and get through to me.”

His brain scrambled to reminisce about the many odd things that he experienced in his life before this point. It included the times where he and his friends at school would hang out. There were no worries, no innate thoughts. Just absolute calm with waves of somewhat bitter memories.

“Is it my fault for not showing, or is it their fault for not seeing?”

Before he put the numbers into his phone to find this area, he took a look at the group chat he was in with his newfound friend. The messages conveyed an utter sense of defeat and desperation. Kouta had done something ridiculous and his survival was not confirmed. To him, at least.

“The times when I decided to show ended in mockery stemming from misunderstanding.”

“So I vowed to not show. I vowed to pretend.”

“What felt so nice with the soulfuls was that I didn’t need to pretend to be someone else with them.”

His sentimental daydream was broken apart as something imprisoned his attention.

“Huh? What’s-”

Sakuto approached the gravestone. It was a relatively small limestone cross, its pale shades contrasting with the powerful natural green of the grass surrounding it. His phone showed that this was the exact location he was searching for. Sakuto was instantly caught aback by this realization. He quickly approached the grave...

“Sakuto...Hitori?”

“That’s me...?”

Sakuto expected a chill to run through his body. He daydreamed about this scenario quite a few times, as well as many similar to it. He also liked to imagine who would show up to witness this sight and how exactly they would react. Instead, he felt empty and strangely content at the same time.

“Damn...”

“The last time I saw this last name on a gravestone was during dad’s passing...”

“I was really close to reuniting with him altogether.”

Sakuto looked down, unable to take any actions just yet. It wasn’t every day one got to see their own gravestone. The chilling wind blew over, caressing the gentle plains surrounding him. A pair of ladybugs was slowly climbing the cross, both creatures trying to help one another in the task. Small fragrant flowers bloomed and swayed next to the patch of dirt that acted as the gravestone’s foundation.

Sakuto rubbed his hands together, carefully watching every bit of movement taking place next to it, analyzing every trait of the environment. Finally, he caught sight of a small note placed beneath the gravestone. It was a yellow piece of paper with black ink smeared over it, resembling a message written with a shaking hand.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to NovelBin for the genuine story.

“Ya didn’t have to go, man...wish we could’ve done more stuff as soulfuls. I’ll miss the times we forgot about the bad stuff and just had fun as friends.” Sakuto read the note out loud.

“God damn it, Oskar...what did I tell you about being corny?” He took a deep breath, already feeling moved by the note. Beneath that was hidden a pair of black hand wraps - the ones Kouta used during training and his competitions.

“Kouta never let me wear them.” Sakuto said, gently handling the wraps as if the integrity of the whole world depended on them. “They feel old and poorly looked after...”

He slowly wrapped them around his hands.

“Kouta said he’d only give them to me if he stopped fighting, and that was when he would be...”

He gulped with difficulty, having trouble hiding his emotions.

“There’s a chance he’s out there somewhere.”

“I’ll use these to bash that piece of shit Diego’s skull open and once I’m done I’ll return these to Kouta...hopefully he doesn’t kill me when he finds out I wore them.”

“God, this is fucking awful.”

He clenched his fists a little.

“I let them down, didn’t I?”

“Fucking hell, I hate this...”

He noticed some stems sticking out of the dirt, and he swept the dirt away...

“This is...”

Beneath the lump of dirt there was the head of a flower he knew all too well. It had bright yellow and orange petals, with a pair of sharper azure blue petals in the middle. There was no particular scent, but the flower itself...Sakuto had always found it profoundly beautiful.

“A...strelitzia flower...?”

Crouching down, he gently touched the stem of the flower with his trembling hand. His mind felt absolutely captivated by the sight. He simply stared at the flower.

“You...cared?”

Sakuto had an awful habit of biting on his fingernails whenever he felt like he needed to chew some stress out. With his eyes wide open, he did just that. It took him a while to realize that he was proven wrong - hopefully, at least.

“Damn...”

“I can see her eyes through these flowers. She’s looking at me right now. She did care about me...”

”And I only found that out after my death.”

“What the hell is wrong with me?”

For the first time in a while, a pair of tears escaped his eyes. He just stared at the gravestone.

“You...really cared?”

"Maybe..."

"It is worth it to stay alive."

That dream came back to him again...

“So, it’s all over, huh?”

“It is.” Hayk said, packing bags in the gym. “Kaito himself is gonna run after us. We need to leave.”

“And just like that, huh? Everything’s just...over?” Oskar asked. “There’s gotta be something we can do. About the mints or whatever they were, if I can swipe them from Diego he’ll be in deep shit, right? That was the plan, right?!”

“I appreciate the risk you were willing to take, but it doesn’t matter now. Diego is not the main threat anymore.” Rin said. “Nor is he a possible target for our vengeance.”

“There’s nothing we can do. There isn’t a single thing we can do against Kaito.” Hayk replied, anger surging in his eyes. He hated himself for his weakness, but he really shouldn’t have been comparing himself to the likes of Kaito.

“What about Ichika?” Rin asked.

“I have no idea where she is...” Ausra said, tearing up. “She’s out of control...” she grabbed onto Oskar’s arm and sobbed. Oskar seemed surprised by the gesture. “I couldn’t get her to get herself together, I’m sorry...I failed...”

“Hey, it’s alright. She’ll be fine.” Oskar tried to comfort her.

“The results of the plan to keep the Heisei way was flushed down the toilet.” Hayk said. “I have no idea what was going through Kouta’s head. Nothing but wrath, apparently.”

“He just wanted to get revenge.” Oskar tried to look at the positive side. ”He killed one of them, and there’s no chance of them recruiting anyone anymore, so maybe-”

“And he got us effectively killed in the process.” Hayk sighed. “Come on, hurry up. We’re staying off the net, we're only using cash to pay for things, we’re changing our identities, getting plastic surgery if needed, and every one of us will always conceal their soul presence as much as possible.” He explained, his voice full of bitterness. “All while praying that we don't somehow get hunted down."

“It's over. We’ve lost.”