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This was the world he saw. Was this how Usobuki had once seen it, as ugly as this?
He didn't even dare look at it any more, content to stare at the ground and his feet. In recent days, these had become the most beautiful things he could contemplate.
Ugly, horrible, the world had become filthy.
A mocking laugh grazed his ears. It was a kind of signal, a sort of greeting for Usobuki, but it annoyed Tada more than anything else.
The dead man kept coming, mocking him. He'd long thought he was hallucinating, but who could imitate Usobuki Tadashi's annoying way of being?
No, he was quite real.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked, his voice sounding weary.
"Enjoying myself." he said, walking ahead, the wind playing with his dark curls. "Seeing the world so beautiful is my privilege now."
Usobuki laughed at him.
"Beautiful? " a laugh of disdain left Tada's lips as he looked at Usobuki with hatred.
"It'll become beautiful again for you too." Usobuki faced him, the sunset behind him contrasted with the black of his figure, his voice low but his face bright, shining and the only normal one Tada could see. "All you have to do is find someone who will kill you."
Tada lowered his head, his pupils shaking... from fear? from excitement? from anger?
"And even if you don't want to, you'll find someone. It's only a matter of time."
Usobuki smiled as he approached, then stepped behind him.
"I'm about to go."
"Why?"
Tada's voice breaks in the air, pitiful.
"Why all this? Why is it like this?!"
His wheelchair creaks miserably as he turns to face the man in black.
"Why..." repeats Usobuki, still giving him his back. "Who knows..."
Was it a lie? Tada didn't know.
The man standing in front of him took four more steps before stopping again.
"In any case... I trust you detective."
Another step. Tada swallowed hard as his throat tightened and the words tried to escape. What words? In any case, Usobuki's figure was becoming a blur.
"You saved me... Someone else will come and save you too. Good luck, Tomoki."
He left, dissipating like the last ray of sunlight of that evening.