Work Text:
Oh...
"Aki!"
I'm...
"Someone's hurt!"
I'm going to die.
"I see two kids!"
I'm sorry, Koharu.
"Aki, I'm so sorry- Someone call an ambulance!"
I'm sorry you have to see something so gruesome. I really am the worst, huh?
Acting out, because I wasn't spending enough time with you. Confessing to you, even though I knew you didn't like me back.
"No..."
You're so kind, Koharu. That's just the kind of person you are. That's why I fell for you, after all. It's not fair that I caused you so much pain by being selfish.
Ah... now I see.
If only...
I had never fallen in love with you to begin with.
--
Those who meet an untimely end without ever having experienced love are in a way, fortunate.
They are saved by the Goddess of Love and reborn as her children, Cupids. Matchmaking suitable partners to earn a second chance at life.
But in this universe, the construction accident which caused Koharu's death happened just a few moments before it was meant to, meaning Koharu was just a few moments too late to push Aki out of the way.
However, the Goddess of Love is a benevolent one, and sensing Aki's regret in her final moments, chooses her soul to become a different kind of Cupid instead...
--
"Hey, get up, will you?"
Aki wasn't dead.
"Come on, I know you're awake, and it's not like I'm going to wait for you forever."
How was she still alive?
Now, Aki wasn't a genius, but she was pretty sure that there was no way anyone could survive being impaled by rebar, let alone a high school girl.
"Ugh, I can't believe this. Guess I'll have to do this the hard way."
Aki wasn't enthusiastic to find out what the 'hard way' meant, so cautiously, she opened her eyes.
Staring down at her was a white-haired, crimson-eyed girl with a mischievous grin, wearing a light blue school uniform not too dissimilar from her own and-
She was currently holding Aki at gunpoint.
"Jeez, and here I thought I was gonna have to shoot you to get you to wake up," the mysterious, presumably murderous girl said, casually swinging the white pistol away from Aki's face.
"You sure are one heavy sleeper, aren't you, Aki-chan?"
"I... I'm- Koharu!" Aki sat up with a jolt. How could she have forgotten- she needed to find-
"Woah, woah! Slow down, lovebird," the other girl said, grabbing Aki's arm to stop her attempted escape.
"We'll get to your precious Koharu in due time. First, I need to give you my whole mentor spiel, yadda yadda."
Aki took the opportunity to take in her surroundings. The pieces of rubble and rebar that had been scattered on the road had disappeared, and so had the panicked onlookers on the sidewalk, replaced by a lazy flow of pedestrians.
In fact, it looked like the accident hadn't even happened at all.
"Look, I get this is a lot, but I'd appreciate if you'd just listen to me for a second?" the girl continued, snapping Aki out of her thoughts.
"So, you died. Sorry about that! Good news, you were resurrected by the Goddess of Love, and now you're a Cupid!"
"A... cupid? Like, the son of Venus?"
"I don't know who that is."
"From Roman mythology? He's in statues and stuff..." Aki continued tentatively, "riding a dolphin- Anyways, doesn't that mean I make people fall in love with a bow or something?"
"Wow, you sure picked that up fast! But not in your case," the girl said, flashing a toothy grin, "My name's Chiyo. Let's walk and talk, shall we?"
--
"I can't believe it's been five years..."
After Chiyo's introduction, the pair set out towards Aki's first assignment. Aki was a Cupid now, Chiyo explained, and she now had the power to bring love to humans, which she had to do in order to be reincarnated. It wasn't ideal, being reincarnated five years after dying, but looking around, it seemed her neighbourhood hadn't changed much in her absence. Speaking of...
"Hey, what happened to seeing Koharu? I'm really worried about her, you know?"
"Well, about that... We're here."
Aki hadn't really been properly paying attention to where they were going, save for the occasional landmark they passed. Her high school, that gachapon store she and Koharu used to go to, a restaurant she liked, places like that. But the house that Chiyo had led her to was unmistakably
"Koharu's house? My first assignment is-"
"Yeah..." Chiyo said, solemnly, "Let yourself in, I'll follow behind you."
Koharu's house looked as untouched as everything else Aki had seen so far, but the atmosphere felt... off. As if it had aged much more than five years. The plants outside, which had previously been watered every day, had started to wilt, and the edges of the nameplate attatched to the gate had begun to corrode.
Without a word, Aki gently pushed the unlocked gate and let it swing open, listening to its hinges creak shrilly. She knew where Koharu's spare house key was; she had visited her more times than she could count, so she retrieved it from under the newly empty flower pot by the door, and unlocked it.
The lights were off inside. A ray of midday sun shone through a window onto the floor, revealing a thick layer of dust.
"Chiyo..." Aki began, breaking the silence, "What happened to Koharu?"
Chiyo walked past Aki into the house, an inscrutable expression on her face.
"After you died," she explained, "Koharu blamed herself."
"Why couldn't I have responded to her confession?"
"Why couldn't I have saved her?"
"Why?"
Chiyo sighed. "You were her closest friend, and you had just confessed to her. She thought that if she had realised you loved her earlier, or if she had been able to push you out of the way, you wouldn't have died."
"She couldn't find a way to cope, so she closed herself off. Dropped out of high school, shut herself inside her room, and let grief consume her."
Chiyo held her hands out, and summoned a pistol, but not the one she had threatened Aki with before. This one was red, not white, and had a broken heart symbol instead.
"Cupids aren't just in the business of bringing love, Aki. Yes, that's a big part of it, and it's also the most fun part. But when feelings turn to obsessions, it's our job to use these."
"These are loaded with indifference bullets. Not as catchy as love bullets, but that's not important. Your mission is to help Koharu move on, Aki. I think you're the only one who can."
Aki was furious, she was horrified, she was heartbroken. Knowing that her death had caused Koharu so much pain, and that it was all her own fault, was sickening.
Aki stepped towards Chiyo, and took the gun into her hands. "If... if I shoot Koharu with this, she'll be able to move on? She'll forget about me?"
"Don't be ridiculous, of course she won't forget you. But she'll be able to move on. She'll... feel indifferent, I suppose." Chiyo said, showing a slight smile to Aki.
It felt wrong. It felt wrong, making Koharu feel indifferent about her. But Aki knew, that was the kind of thinking that caused all of this in the first place. If she hadn't been selfish from the beginning, and let Koharu be, none of this would have happened. But she could still make things right.
"Alright. I'll do it," Aki said.
She made her way to Koharu's room.
--
I'll miss you, Koharu. But I'll never see you again.
Koharu's room was upstairs, Aki remembered.
The pain will probably never fully go away...
There was her door.
...but you have to keep moving forward.
Aki let herself in.
Koharu's room was a mess. The kind of mess that only accumulates when you're a shut-in. The blinds were shut, trash bags sat piled up in the corner, and there Koharu was, asleep on the floor.
The most I can do for you now, is show you that you'll be okay.
She had grown old. Her hair reached far beyond her shoulders, and she was much taller than Aki now.
Be strong, Koharu. I'll be okay.
She aimed the pistol squarely at Koharu's temple.
...and you will be too.