Chapter Text
Today was the day of Daisuke’s funeral, the day he would finally be laid to rest.
For nearly a year, he had been missing—a mystery that had left you clinging to fading hope.
Then, one day, the phone call came. It was his mother. Her voice trembled as she delivered the news that shattered your world.
“I’m so sorry... They found him. They found Daisuke. He’s dead.”
It was the worst phone call of your life.
You broke down. Completely.
For an entire week, you cried, unable to stop.
A small part of you had always known. Deep down, some quiet voice had whispered that he was gone.
But your heart had refused to listen, clinging instead to a desperate belief that Daisuke was still out there. Somewhere. Maybe floating in the vastness of outer space, waiting to come back to you, to his family, to his friends.
But the truth was far more cruel.
They said he had been gone for a long time. His body, when found, was badly decomposed. The police told you he had been murdered.
One deep slash across his stomach. An axe embedded in his face.
The details haunted you, breaking you all over again. You cried for two more weeks, consumed by grief and anger. Daisuke did not die peacefully.
Instead, his youth, his dreams and his life were all taken away from him by one angry person. He took your entire world away from you.
Killed in outer space by someone who was supposed to protect him.
They said his killer hadn’t survived either. In fact, no one on that ship had made it out alive—except for the captain.
—
You stood in front of a small, solemn crowd dressed in black, all eyes on you as they waited for your speech.
The weight of their expectation pressed down on you, but it wasn’t nearly as heavy as the grief you carried.
You had chosen to wear one of Daisuke’s black Hawaiian shirts. His scent still lingered faintly in the fabric, and every breath threatened to undo you. But you fought the urge to crumble, clinging to your composure.
“Hello, everyone,” you began, your voice trembling. “As some of you may know, I’m Daisuke’s girlfriend. We started dating almost three years ago.”
The memory resurfaced in your mind briefly: Daisuke asking you out at a beach party he had organized. The sun, the sea, his infectious laugh—it had been the best day of your life.
“Daisuke... changed my life,” you said, pausing to steady yourself. “I was in a dark place before I met him. But he saw something in me—something I couldn’t see in myself. He made me believe I was someone worth loving, someone worth living for.”
A tear escaped, rolling down your cheek. You wiped it away quickly.
“He was such a loving and caring person,” you continued, voice thick with emotion. “I think everyone deserves a Daisuke in their life. Someone to make you laugh with his ridiculous jokes. Someone to make you feel like the most important person in the world.”
The crowd chuckled softly, a brief but welcome relief from the heaviness in the air.
“It’s so unfair that someone so beautiful—inside and out—was taken from us so soon. Daisuke had dreams, so many dreams, that he’ll never get to fulfill.”
Your voice faltered for a moment, but you pressed on.
“He used to talk about all the places he wanted to see. New Zealand, Peru, Senegal—he wanted to explore the world, and he wanted me by his side. He dreamed of coming back to Earth, finding an apartment together, applying to colleges. We had plans. We had a future. And now...”
You took a shaky breath, fighting to keep yourself together.
“Now he’s gone forever,” you said, voice breaking.
Behind you, the projector flickered to life, and a slideshow of Daisuke’s life began to play.
There he was: a newborn swaddled in a hospital blanket. A gap-toothed grin after losing his first baby teeth. His first day of middle school. A homemade Halloween costume he was so proud of. His first day of high school. And then, finally, a picture of you and him at prom, wearing matching crowns as king and queen.
“I haven’t been able to sleep,” you admitted. “None of us have, I’m sure. Because we still don’t know what really happened on the Tulpar. I hope in the days to come, we get answers, answers that will help us understand, that will give us some semblance of peace.”
You paused, gathering your strength for the final words.
“Lastly, I want to say this: from now on, let’s celebrate Daisuke’s life. Smile when you see pink hibiscus flowers. Be happy when you pass by an arcade or play board games. That’s what Daisuke would have wanted—for us to remember him with joy, not sorrow.”
You offered a small, trembling smile. “Thank you for listening.”
With that, you stepped off the stage, the weight of your grief heavier than ever—but perhaps, just slightly, shared.