Chapter Text
The sound of Nagi’s phone ringing was the bell of death.
When people got the call, they felt a variety of emotions. Despair, anger, sadness, panic—but Nagi was confused.
He had made so many promises. A promise to win the World Cup with Reo, a promise to stay with Reo for life, a promise to be loyal to not just Reo, but to himself, too. So why did this call come now? What had he done to piss off God and the heavens above? What caused his life to be cut short?
Everyone knew that he had always been one to take things easy and not worry too much, if at all, but his mind was racing. He couldn’t tell Reo something like this. His heart wouldn’t be able to handle the knowledge that his partner would be ripped away from him all too soon. The extreme emotions, as expected, didn’t hit Nagi when he received the call. They hit when he realized that Reo would have to live in their world alone.
He realized that he was about to miss the call, and slowly, he answered the phone. Maybe they had the wrong person.
“Hello? Is this Seishiro Nagi?”
The woman on the phone seemed almost bored, probably waiting to get home after telling st least seventy or more people they’re about to die. When her shift was over, maybe she would paint her nails or go on a date or plan the millions of things she would get to do that Nagi wouldn’t. Maybe she would simply sleep, which Nagi didn’t have the time for anymore.
“That’s me.”
“Wonderful. Well, wonderful that I have the right person, not… um, anyway, we regret to inform you will pass away some time in the next 24 hours. Please be careful and spend your end day wisely…”
He tuned out the rest of the half-assed script she was saying. The same words repeated in his head over and over like an ancient spell.
Pass away. He was going to pass away. And he didn’t have nearly enough time to prepare.
He didn’t even notice when the woman stopped speaking until an awkward silence fell over the line. He took a few seconds to process the words she said in the past minute before responding with a simple, “Okay. Thanks for telling me.” Another silence fell and he hung up before the woman could try to speak again.
So now there was the wait.
He could walk to the kitchen and maybe a bear trap would be waiting outside of his room to kill him. Maybe his own parents would murder him the moment he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Perhaps his morning glass of water would be poisoned.
Maybe Death-Cast is fake and playing some sick joke on everyone they call. Maybe it’s a hoax or a pyramid scheme. Except he couldn’t risk pulling himself into denial. He wasn’t a conspiracy theorist, he was a Decker, which meant he was dying soon. He had to plan this day out well enough so Reo would experience as little pain as possible after he’s gone.
Planning too hard made him run out of energy. Maybe he would do this in the morning.
Procrastinate when your own death is impending… great plan, Nagi.
His eyes fluttered shut. He wondered if he would wake up in the morning.
—
Sunlight cracked through the curtains at dawn. Nagi was already up—he had been up since four in the morning. This was one of those unfortunate nights where his mind forced him awake at ungodly hours in the morning.
He woke up with a headache too, clutching the right side of his head gently. Damn. I can’t even get decent sleep on my End Day, he thought.
What a joke.
It was, what, five? Six? It wasn’t like it was going to matter in the next twenty-four hours anyway. He felt oddly apathetic to the whole situation when he pretended Reo didn’t exist. Disappointed, yes, but it’s not like he had much to lose. His career in soccer had barely begun yet, he was only known as the obnoxiously tall and talented guy who put no effort into this boring life. Such a lack of effort that everyone thought him being a natural genius was luck. They were probably right, too.
But what they weren’t right about was that he was a robot. No motivations, no emotions, no empathy, probably no thoughts except the necessary ones. That he cared about no one and nothing, he lacked ambitions and even a soul itself.
That wasn’t true.
He did have wants and emotions. He wanted to be recognized. He wanted his potential to be seen and not locked away. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t care enough to try. He couldn’t control that. It’s not like he could force himself to suddenly enjoy life.
Nagi wasn’t a waste. He wasn’t a robot. And the first, maybe the only person to see that, was Reo.
Seriously, he didn’t understand why Reo even tried to befriend him when everyone else saw him as a human shaped machine. For a seemingly robotic person, he idolized Reo a lot. Reo was his savior. He brought him to life out of a cycle of never ending boredom. He was his first real friend, his inspiration, even, and he felt like he could do anything when he was with Reo.
Who knew that the cure to being bored of life was finding someone just as bored as you?
His spiral of thoughts abruptly stopped when the alarm rang. It rang too late. School was starting in half an hour. He sat up and took a glance around his room. He memorized every stray clothing item, every slanted book, every empty soda can—all of it. He memorized it knowing that, soon enough, all of it would lay there completely still and he wouldn’t be there to fix it.
Nagi dragged himself out of bed to look out the window. The sun shone on his face and messy white hair and dark eyes. He glanced down at his cactus. It had been a few weeks since he watered it, he remembered. He picked up one of his spare water bottles and gently poured the water in the pot. Now that this was done, there was one last thing he had to do before he headed out of his room.
He wasn’t someone who expressed his affection too obviously, but it was his End Day. He had to leave something for his parent. So he wrote a note on an old index card. Nothing too long. Nothing too emotional. He couldn’t cry yet.
“Dear mom and dad,
Thanks for everything.
-Nagi.”
Any more effort into this small letter and he wouldn’t be able to make it through the day properly. He slipped it in his bag and would mail it out on his way to school.
“Bye bye, Choki..” he muttered to his small plant companion before heading out of his room with his bag.
The house was dead silent. It was always dead silent. Nagi’s parents were so far out of the picture he didn’t remember what they looked or sounded like anymore. The last time he spoke to them was when they sent him off to another house for high school. Since then, there were no texts, no calls, no family reunions. He cared a lot less than he should.
The only thing he really cared about was Reo.
He didn’t feel like eating breakfast today, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t know how to cook anyway. All he ate for breakfast and dinner were bread and jellies, and he bought lunch for school so that Reo didn’t get worried and think he was eating too little. Thinking about food made him realize he never had those fun memories of eating with his parents like everyone else did. No hot meals spoon-fed from his mother, no movie nights with his family and his favorite snacks, no getting surprised with ice cream on occasion when he got home from school. His parents were too distant for all of that.
They really will be fine when I’m gone.
He look one last glance at his home, knowing it might be the last time he’ll be here again. But the day had just begun. He couldn’t begin reminiscing yet.
He closed the door behind him and took a breath. He had one person to continue this day for. One chance to make it Reo’s best day on the planet before Nagi was gone. And he was not throwing away his shot.