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“I don’t need you,” the dead girl said. “I don’t need anyone. I never have.”
The lonely girl sunk to her knees, lightheaded. “What do you mean? My… my songs… don’t you at least need those?”
A withering stare, one that could have eaten through steel. “Not anymore. I don’t think they’ll make me feel anything ever again.”
At those words, her heart sunk to the bottom of the ocean. If her songs weren’t needed… then who needed her? That’s right: she couldn’t save anyone. Alone again.
“What’s more,” the dead girl continued, “you only care about yourself. No one could be saved by someone like you.”
What? That wasn’t true… was it? Well… who was she kidding. Of course, the dead girl was right. She always is. Truly, she’s never thought of anyone but herself the whole time.
The lonely girl took an uncertain step forward, and her stomach lurched, since the floor had quite unfortunately opened up beneath her.
Indeed, it was a black pit ready to swallow her whole. Now wasn’t the time! She still had to save that girl…! It was too early!
As she tumbled into the yawning void, the white sky above getting smaller and smaller, the dead girl came to peer over the edge of the chasm. “Is this the end for you?” called she. “Will you fold so easily, right at the starting line?”
The starting line? No, she’d been songwriting for as long as she’d been alive! And that was… That was how many years exactly? She couldn’t seem to remember.
Above, the bright light was now a mere pinprick. The dead girl called something else, but it echoed so much, it was too difficult to hear.
She looked down at her feet, and oh, that was the floor, and it might all be over, and she wished she had told her friends she loved them one more time…
Waking with a jolt, Kanade sits in silence. What on earth was that?
The room lies dark. A body breathes next to her, and stirs.
“Mafuyu?” she asks, quiet.
He yawns.
“Hi…”
“Oh. Sorry if I woke you up…”
Shaking his head, he yawns again. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”
Kanade is too tired to argue, truly, and she doesn’t bother.
In the meantime, Mafuyu snuggles up behind her, hugging her waist. Of course… he always does this at some point during the night…
“I had a strange dream,” she says. “It was about what happened a few years ago.”
His grip tightens. “You mean…”
Yeah… he wasn’t doing well back then. It’s no surprise that he doesn’t like to remember it. Sorry…
“But when I woke up… you were right here with me.” She strokes his hand with her thumb. “So I’m glad it happened.”
“Oh.”
She smiles; she can’t help herself.
Mafuyu kisses the back of her neck. He’s the most beautiful thing in her life.
“I love you,” she tells him, lest her heart fill to bursting.
“You do?” he murmurs. His chin rests on her shoulder, and the lowness of his voice makes her shiver.
“Yeah. More than anything.”
He shifts a little bit, head lying on the pillow now, and it’s clear he’s getting sleepy again. His contentment softens the air around them.
She should honestly go to bed as well. Exhaustion and sleep render her eyelids heavy, and she lets them close. “Goodnight…”
“Goodnight.” He snuggles into her back even further. “I love you too.”
“Really?” she teases. In response, he makes a mildly affirming noise.
She laughs; he must be so tired. Well, so is she. Stretching one last time, she waits patiently for sleep, her love by her side. Nothing could be sweeter.