“I thought… I died.”
Sitting inside a speeding vehicle, Makoto felt relief washing over him. The taxi driver had called an ambulance and now he and Toiro were inside it.
The knife Toiro’s father swung slashed Makoto’s left arm, but it was not a fatal wound. In retaliation, Makoto’s fist met his face. This time, he knocked him unconscious. The police arrived and arrested the man on the spot.
Still, Makoto felt confused. He was not sure if this was the way things should be. He understood perfectly how Toiro might feel, seeing her parent taken away by the police. Just as his mother had been.
He gazed at Toiro, who was lying down on the stretcher. The bruise she had received from the punch was apparently not very serious. She was fully conscious now. He gripped her right hand firmly in his.
“Why did you come, Makoto-kun?” Toiro asked.
“Uh, well, how do I say this… I saw you.”
“Saw me?” she asked.
“I told you before I could see things that couldn’t be seen, right? Hm? Oh, I didn’t tell you? Well, I saw you were in trouble, in a vision. That’s how I was able to save you.”
Makoto fell deep into thought. Meeting with the shinigami girl and being able to rescue Toiro, he figured that this power, which he had never wanted, was actually not such a bad thing. All of it led to this.
“I’m sorry, Makoto-kun, for getting you involved,” Toiro spoke up, breaking the sudden silence.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Makoto said, almost angrily.
Tears suddenly flowed from her eyes.
“S-sorry. I may have said that a little too harshly,” he apologized.
“No, it’s not that. It’s just… Makoto-kun, you showed me your ‘scars’… So I’m going to show you mine…”
The tears were flowing freely now.
“Hiura…”
“This was my mother’s second marriage. I was born from my mother’s first marriage, while my little brother was from my father’s first marriage. But still, we were a family. Until my mother went away…”
After her mother left, her father became an alcoholic. He never used to drink before. But he wanted to escape reality.
He also began to abuse Toiro. He would drink and then beat her up. But when he sobered up, he became the gentle father again. He was usually a kind father, one who wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was her step-father, but Toiro respected him as a true parent and loved him.
It must have been hard for him to look at Toiro, who—as she entered her teen years—began to resemble her mother. In all the times he beat her, he never once hit her in the face until today. Her face, which was just like her mother’s.
She could never disobey her father, even when he drank and transformed into a bully. He would dry up, cry and apologize. But then he would drink again.
“But, it’s okay this way… Now my father has a chance to get back on his feet. I couldn’t do it alone… Thank you… Makoto-kun…”
She tried to smile through the tears. Makoto smiled back and drew closer to her.
Makoto needed Toiro. Toiro needed Makoto.
His own scars might never disappear. But by showing each other their scars, by comforting each other, this time they might be able to heal each other’s hearts.
Smiling was the best medicine.
✦ ✦ ✦
The moon shone brightly. An ambulance, with its sirens blaring and lamps flashing, flew by. A girl floated beneath the light of the moon and looked down upon the scene.
The black cat, spreading its wings like a bat, hovered around the girl. “Why did you save them?”
“I didn’t really do anything.” The girl brushed back her white hair and smiled faintly.
“That girl, even if she wasn’t really going to die, was supposed to spend the rest of her life as a vegetable,” the cat explained.
“Really?” the girl asked, feigning surprise.
“You’re playing dumb. And here you are, getting involved with these humans again. You’re gonna get scolded by the director and it won’t be my problem, got it? Jeez, you’re such a meddler! Now you’ve changed his future too. He was supposed to remain trapped in emotional darkness.”
“His fate may have changed,” she explained, “but it doesn’t change the fact they chose life.”
“What are you talking about? That’s elementary. They’re human, after all, right?”
The girl said nothing and smiled. Then slowly, she began dancing.
“Momo, why are you dancing? You don’t have to deliver anyone’s soul.”
“Hm, why indeed?” she said enigmatically.
“What are you talking about? Fine, then I’ll dance too!”
The girl and the black cat danced in a circle. Her white hair, white outfit and red shoes twinkled in the starlight. But it wasn’t the sad dance that they usually danced. The black cat somehow began to enjoy this other dance.
“Momo, you’re not crying today.” The black cat teased her and laughed.
The girl pouted slightly. “Of course I’m not crying. Stop making it sound like I’m such a crybaby. Besides, it’s going to be a lot tougher for them from here on out. It’s more painful and dangerous to live than it is to die. But life must be lived. He can do that which I can never do.”
“Momo…” The black cat stopped dancing.
“Don’t look at me that way, Daniel.”
“But, Momo aren’t you lonely, all by yourself?”
“No, not at all,” she answered.
“But…”
“I have you, Daniel.”
The girl smiled beautifully.
✦ ✦ ✦
He no longer expected rewards, such as wanting to be loved by someone. As long as he had people who were precious to him, and as long as the two of them could be together.
But as usual, he had a hard time waking up. He no longer experienced nightmares, though in return, he saw something else.
Another… morning.
The injury to his arm had healed well. Meanwhile, Toiro and her brother had made arrangements to live with her grandmother. It was a bit far away, but she would continue to attend high school with Makoto.
The scar on her cheek disappeared.
“Hey, it’s almost summer vacation…” he said.
It seemed the days passed by tremendously fast. She stood next to him with a gentle smile, like a flower blooming in a harsh land.
“Hey, how about I cook you a feast next time?” she suggested.
“Seriously? You’re going to cook for me?”
“Well, yeah,” she answered. “I’m pretty good.” She smiled proudly and asked, “So what do you want to eat?”
“Hmm… let’s see… Oh! That’s what I want to eat!”
That’s it. It can’t be anything else.
“Curry rice! With chicken, please!”
✦ ✦ ✦
low blood pressure — fin.