“Then I’ll make that Converter again, and—”
“Naomi.”
“I won’t do it!” he shouted, more fiercely than before. How many times did he have to repeat himself? He was kind of busy at the moment, he didn’t have time for irrelevant arguments.
But irrelevant thoughts just kept coming.
“I know what you’re thinking... You want a girlfriend.”
“You and Ichigyou Ruri will be dating three months from today.”
“You can call me Sensei, then.”
“Your romance is just getting started.”
“Tell yourself you’re a wizard from a fantasy novel.”
“You’re going to do the same.”
“Don’t be an idiot!”
“I’ll give that a passing grade.”
“I know you, Naomi.”
“You can do this.”
Tears streamed down Naomi’s face. Three months’ worth of memories played on a loop inside his head, the three months they’d spent together, working toward the same goal.
“I won’t do it…”
He couldn’t stop crying. His face was a total mess, but there was still strength in his arms. He remembered everything Sensei had taught him.
“You’re the one who told me I can do anything, Sensei! You’re the one who taught me to believe I can!”
He’d turned back to look Sensei in the eyes and scream his heart out, “I’m going to beat this thing! We’re both going to survive!”
“Nao—”
Sensei’s voice cut off abruptly. Naomi turned back, following his gaze into the sky.
Suddenly, there were small flashes somewhere very far away, and something headed toward him almost faster than his eyes could follow. He couldn’t tell what it was at first, but then he recognized it as the fox-monster’s nine “tails,” all rushing right toward him.
In less than a second, they were going to pierce right through him, and he was going to die. He didn’t have time to move—
Blood splattered into the air, confirming his death. More and more rained down to the ground like water pouring from an open faucet. But something was wrong...Naomi raised his head.
Sensei was in standing of him. All nine tails had skewered him.
He had shielded Naomi with his body.
“Ah…” Naomi shook his head. “Aah…” He didn’t understand. How was Sensei standing there? How had he even gotten to his feet?
“It’s…true,” Sensei said, smiling that familiar fearless smile. “You can do anything…you believe you can.”
He gave Naomi one more lesson. Like a mentor. Like a teacher.
“Sensei…” Naomi called out his title. “Sensei!” It was all he could think of to do, even if, in that moment, he felt like the world’s most useless, incompetent student.
His teacher reached out his trembling right hand. Naomi understood. He wasn’t much of a pupil, but he knew how to respond to this, at least.
He took Sensei’s hand in his own and squeezed it tightly.
This was a ritual, the same one they’d performed at the very beginning. It was an echo of the promise they’d made each other on that rooftop, all those months ago.
Back then, they hadn’t been able to touch each other, so they’d gone through the motions awkwardly, as a formality. But now, at long last…Naomi could take his hand.
Through that hand, everything flowed into him. Sensei’s feelings were his own. For just a moment, they were a single person, with a single answer.
This was the end.
“Katagaki…” Sensei choked out, “Naomi.” He spoke his pupil’s name, one last time, then he smiled more gently than he ever had before.
“Go live a happy life.”
Naomi simply squeezed his hand. They’d made their decision, together.
His glove let out a burst of brilliant rainbow light and opened the path that led to God.
For the first time, he could feel the boy’s warmth against his hand. Even through the glove, he could still feel it clearly. He idly thought that maybe the kid’s body temperature was higher than his, but that didn’t make much sense, did it?
His body grew lighter. The pain had disappeared; he was breathing much easier now. It was a big relief. His only real regret was that he couldn’t say thanks.
He didn’t fight the feeling—he just relaxed and let it wash over him. The power coursing into him through his right hand spread across his body and out his back. He couldn’t see it happening, but he was probably vanishing from back to front.
He had a little time before his head disappeared, then. Not much, but a little. He used it to reminisce.
He saw her face.
Memories from ten years ago flitted through his mind. He’d told her how he felt a few weeks after the fire. When she agreed to go out with him, he’d nearly passed out on the spot.
He’d always been an indecisive person. But for the first time, he chose someone.
On the day of her accident, he’d lost his future. She was the only one for him. She was everything to him. And so, he’d vowed to do whatever it took to get her back.
He’d vowed to make a future for both of them.
Yes…for both of them.
“I read it there every month, too.”
“I’m not good with heights.”
“Let’s do everything we can.”
“Are you Katagaki-san?”
“You did love me, didn’t you?”
“Uh, not really…”
“If that’s all true, why are you here?”
“So what am I supposed to call you, anyway? I mean, you’re me.”
“What was excellent about that?!”
“But right now, she’s miserable.”
“Thank you so much!”
“I won’t do it!”
“We’re both going to survive!”
“Sensei…”
“Sensei?”
He let himself imagine their future. And at the very end, he murmured to himself, “I’m a happy man.”
The words faded into light…and he disappeared into the heavens.
7.
THE FOX-MASKS BROKE APART and disappeared.
It barely took any time at all. The masked things abruptly stopped moving, then dissolved into dust; the particles quickly grew smaller, then vanished without a trace.
The world’s mass decreased as the weight and volume of thousands upon thousands of real, physical bodies disappeared like they had never existed in the first place.
The first thought that passed through Senko Tsunehisa’s mind was that it would probably take way too much time and effort to develop any coherent, logical explanation for this phenomenon. But as long as he didn’t have to explain it, he already had a pretty good idea of what had happened.