Chapter 9 - What I Never Said or Did

✧ Yumi ✧

So this is it.This is where I die.

"Dad… Mama Louisa, Karlie, Annelise, Mina…""...Ikiryo."

Those names echo inside me as I fall—Swallowed by shadows, faster than thought.

I can't see the bottom.I can't feel anything except the wind screaming past my ears.It pulls at my body, like invisible claws trying to tear me apart.

I reach for something—anything—but there's nothing but empty air.My lungs are burning.The silence is deafening.

And yet…A memory breaks through the dark.

—Flashback: We were eight—

"Hey! Come back here! I'm not done with you!""Yumi, you're killing me!"

I chased him, laughing—A card in my hand, war in my eyes.

"You lost the game! That means... tickle punishment!"

He giggled like sunlight. "You'll never catch meee!"Then—he froze in a ridiculous stance."Flamingo defense mode!"

I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe."You know," he said between gasps, "I love hearing you laugh."

My heart paused."You… do?""Yup."

Silence.My cheeks flushed."Why?"He stuck out his tongue. "Bluh. I'm not telling. Just… if you're happy and smiling, I'm happy."

—End of memory—

I don't know why I'm remembering this now.Maybe it's because I never told him how I felt.Maybe it's because I thought we had time.

But now?

Now I'm falling.And regret is louder than fear.

I never changed the parts of myself I hated.I never chased my dreams.I never said the words that burned in my chest.

And now those words...Are the only warmth I have left.

I close my eyes.Maybe it'll hurt less that way.Maybe if I surrender, it'll be fast—

...

Wait.

A light.A blue light.

It's getting closer.Burning through the dark like a star.

Then—Snap.

Arms.

Arms wrap around me—tight, safe, warm.My fall stops.I'm floating.

I gasp.I'm not dead.

I blink, dazed.

"...I… Ikiryo?"

He's holding me.

Alive.But different.

His eyes—

They're glowing. Blue!