Chapter Text
Life was truly, utterly, unabashedly unfair. And everything became ten times worse when Mikage Reo was out of your life.
“Mr. Nagi! This way, please!”
Flash.
This blinding light wasn’t the one Nagi was chasing after.
“What a spectacular game!”
Flash. Flash.
“Congratulations on the win, Mr. Nagi. Every Japanese person must be proud of you, you scored two goals by yourself!”
Oh, this was something Nagi was trained for. Ego had put them all into a small room with a menacing lady and no one was allowed to leave until they gave vague answers that would satisfy the lady.
“That lady,” Ego Jinpachi had then explained, “is your world from now on. You will never be allowed to leave the world’s clutches until you learn to satisfy its curiosity while leaving no room for more questions to arise.”
Nagi tried to put a smile on his face, but it was impossible. The person he wanted to share this victory wasn’t around, so… Reo. But Reo asked for this. Reo asked me to win in his stead.
Just the thought of Reo’s happy face made the impossible possible, and Nagi looked the reporter in the eye with a small smile on his lips.
Reo. I won. For you. You know I did it for you, right?
“It was a team game. We should be proud of everyone on the field.”
You’re waiting for me, right? You will accept me now…now that I fulfilled your dream.
Because Reo had to give up on his for me to continue.
Because Nagi lost his passion and almost got eliminated during the third part of the Blue Lock project, Reo willingly stepped down and made way for Nagi’s success. Nagi remembered their last moments as clear as day, because they had been replaying in his mind for four years nonstop.
Even Reo’s stops and sighs were etched in his mind.
“I think…I need to focus on myself. I learned many things about life and you during this project, so…” Reo had sighed, deeply and tiredly, as if this was a parting speech he was unwillingly giving. “You should continue on your own path, Nagi. And maybe achieve the dream we once shared together, but I don’t think if it’s… Yeah. I guess I don’t know many things.”
Reo had given him a wobbly smile, and to this day Nagi regretted that this was his last memory of Reo in person.
“I guess I’m afraid, too. About my theory coming true.”
“What theory?”
“I don’t…I don’t want to tell you.” Then, Reo had turned his back to Nagi. Nagi had wanted to run to him and beg him to stay, but Reo’s leave was his own fault, and he didn’t want to be a hypocrite.
“See you, Reo.”
Reo’s shoulders had sagged in what Nagi now interpreted as disappointment, but at that time, he had thought Reo was just sad to leave Blue Lock.
“Goodbye, Nagi.”
Flash.
“Is there anyone you wish to relay your thanks? You looked more motivated than usual.”
Of course. What could motivate Nagi more than the promise of seeing Reo again? To finally confess him, to finally be a part of his life again.
He missed Reo so, so much.
“Oh, yes… You see, I made a promise years ago. To someone really important to me.” To Reo. Reo. The one person in life that would make Nagi’s heart wear wings and fly around inside his chest. That would make it beat with not just blood, but also with adoration and love.
“Oh, please do tell. Is that a family member? Or a dear friend?”
“No,” but Nagi would love to have a family with Reo. Just the two of them. World’s smallest, most fulfilling family. “I promised to someone I love.”
Flash.
“I promised to Mikage Reo.”
Flash. Flash.
Flash.
“Congratulations everyone!”
Isagi, their captain, congratulated them in the locker room. Everyone was roaring with the heat of the victory, throwing stuff and their captain around. Nagi joined them for a little bit, not because he was particularly close with any of them other than Chigiri and Isagi, but because bullying Isagi was one of the rare joys he got from his monotonous life.
When Isagi’s grunts turned from encouraging to painful, Nagi pulled him aside and sat him next to Chigiri. Chigiri didn’t join the celebratory captain throwing, probably because his leg started acting up again. If it weren’t for the physician Reo had arranged for him from Turkey and the Indian reflexologist, who was weirdly also living in Turkey, (maybe Reo got a package deal and found it easier to fly two people from the same country) Chigiri would most likely lose his ability that made him Red Panther by now.
Nagi was fond of these two, even if they were hard to get along sometimes. Chigiri was catty and blamed him for many things that went wrong in Reo’s life, while also refusing to explain what was going wrong in Reo’s life. But he was a nice conversation partner and the only communication line between Reo and him. Furthermore, he tended to spill some news about Reo (sometimes, Reo’s new phone number, too) when he got shitfaced, and because of Kunigami he got shitfaced a lot, so…
And Isagi was a genuinely good friend once he took off his jersey and cleats. He even helped Nagi pick up a wedding ring for Reo a couple months ago, being fully supportive despite the weirdness of wanting to buy a ring for a friend you haven’t seen or talked to for four years. It was an impulsive decision, but Nagi didn’t want to spend a single moment of the aftermath of his victory idle. The ring was in his bag with his plane ticket, secured by the four-digit code on his locker, which was just the numbers of Reo’s birthday anyway.
Initially, there were more members from Blue Lock, but because of the trauma from (mainly) Blue Lock, most of them either refused to play for Japan even though the ban Ego Jinpachi mentioned during the beginning of the project was voided, or they died.
Yeah.
Stuff happens. Nagi didn’t have much opinion on other people’s death, other than feeling solemn when he looked back and reminisced their weird, borderline hateful relationships.
“Do you think Reo was listening to the interview?”
He asked as he plopped down between Isagi and Chigiri to begin getting rid of his own cleats. The sweat made his socks stick to the shoes, and the smell made Nagi grimace. He had to take a shower, no, a bath before visiting Reo.
Isagi rolled his eyes next to him and swung his cleats near Nagi’s nose. “How would I know? Get your lazy ass up and call him.”
Nagi ignored Isagi, partially because calling and actually being answered was a challenge when it came to Reo. The other reason was that he finally got to take off his cleats, but to do that he had to hold his breath and focus.
“He says he listens to them, time to time.” Chigiri commented next to him. He was already done changing clothes and wore a bandage-like thingy Nagi could never remember the name of around his leg. There was a phone in his hand and furious texts to Kunigami, which all went to ‘read’ but never got an answer. “This match was a huge deal, he probably watched it.”
“I hope so,” Nagi murmured. Even if Reo missed the game for whatever reason, it would be nice if he caught the interview.
But a hopeful part of him thought Reo watched him. That he saw the confession. That he also felt too much, also yearned too much that his heart felt like blowing up from excitement whenever he saw Nagi’s name. That whatever anger and resentment he harbored toward Nagi had dimmed by now, and they were ready to turn a new leaf. That this worthless cup Nagi was going to graciously borrow for a day or two could be the full stop of all the hurt they have been through.
I miss him so much. I will apologize to him first, for not scoring in that damned NEL enough to keep Reo by my side. For not stopping Reo when he left. For not realizing his goodbye wasn’t a promise for the next time, but a farewell.
Then I will kiss him. Kiss him many, many times until his skin is all red and his eyes are teary. Then we will make love. Yeah.
“Will you tell me his address?”
Nagi wasn’t hopeful about it, but he still asked. He was willing to go door by door in every penthouse in Japan with the cup tucked under his arm if Chigiri refused to give the address.
Predictably, Chigiri shook his head.
“No, Reo doesn’t want me to. But I can give you his new phone number?”
“Oh… Okay. Give it to me.”
Life was but a sequence of disappointment.
“I don’t understand why he quit,” Isagi talked again. He had taken his jersey off, and flashing his bare sweaty chest toward the other two. “He was doing well. He was better than some of our teammates.”
“He was better than you,” Nagi replied absentmindedly. The sight of bare chested Isagi reminded him of the sight of bare chested Reo and his mind had sailed toward an ocean of Reo-filled memories already.
Why did Nagi’s every thought circle back to Reo? Couldn’t his brain just…stop?
Isagi let out an incredulous laugh; his ingenuity pulled Nagi out of his sailor clothes.
“Arguing with you is pointless, so I won’t. But I’m the best, just so you know.”
“In your dreams?”
Unfortunately, spending time with Isagi taught him the contents of Isagi’s dreams of devouring every single player known to mankind and sitting at the top of a bunch of soccer balls well. Fortunately, Isagi knew Nagi’s deep knowledge about his dreams and he wasn’t as shameless as his first impressions gave off, so his face had gone red in an instant.
This was Chigiri’s cue to step into the conversation and cheer them both up, but before he could start his duty a guy across from the room sat up. He was holding a phone and wearing a worried expression.
“Guys! There’s something—!”
He made eye contact with Nagi and hesitated to finish his sentence. Which probably had the opposite effect on Nagi and made him extremely curious. Languidly, he got up and as if an invisible force pulling him, his legs started moving on their own accord.
After all, the times his teammates looked at him like a bomb ready to explode could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and they were all related to Reo. This well-known fact of their team moved Chigiri, too, but instead of taking his time like Nagi did, Chigiri rushed toward the man’s side.
“What’s it?” Someone asked and the guy holding the phone reluctantly showed him his screen, conveniently to Chigiri, too. The moment Chigiri lay his eyes on the screen, his expression crumbled, and his legs stopped supporting him. His shoulders moved up and down as he bit his hand and tried to suppress his trembling. Upon seeing his reaction to the apparently horrible news, Isagi rushed to Chigiri’s side. He put a hand on his shoulder, caressing it, as he turned to the man with the phone.
“What’s wrong? Let me—No fucking way.” Isagi’s face was horrible, so horrible that not even losing the final match could get this expression out of him. He glanced at Nagi. “Maybe—Maybe you shouldn’t see this now, Nagi.”
Isagi’s voice was trembling. Chigiri’s whole body kept shuddering.
Nagi’s heart was horrified, and his mind was well aware that he was about to see something devastating about Reo, but even ten Nagis couldn’t imagine a scenario like the one on the screen.
The eyes dropped.
The eyes suddenly wished they were blind.
Because there’s a huge lie on the screen, written in bold letters right above Reo’s handsome face:
CHAIRMAN OF MIKAGE CORP. ENDS HIS LIFE AT THE AGE OF 22
What does this…mean?
Is this a prank…?
Ending one’s life…surely there was another meaning of this phrase that Nagi wasn’t aware of, because he always dozed off during Japanese lectures, and if he called Reo now Reo would explain him—
“Gah…”
When did it become so hard to breathe? No, it wasn’t hard, Nagi suddenly forgot how to take the oxygen in and send it down his pipes; his body suddenly forgot how to replace the old, bitter carbon dioxide with fresh, cold oxygen. His body was shutting down, the complex system Nagi never cared about until now was losing control.
But I won the World Cup for you…
I didn’t even have a smiling memory of yours, it has been four years, and I motivated myself with the washed, dizzyingly blurry expressions of yours.
Nagi’s knees and palms hit the floor at the same time. They scratched and some thin flesh right under his knee bled; but nothing could feel worse than his failing lungs and his stupid, beating heart that kept pumping fresh blood and spending the precious oxygen—!
What do you mean?
“Dude, get up. Calm down.”
What do you mean by precious?
“Nagi—Nagi!”
Reo is gone, what do you need your precious oxygen for?
“Is he breathing?”
But he promised… He was happy. Chigiri always said Reo was happy…
“If he were, would his face go purple! Nagi!”
I waited for years… For this moment. You told me to wait and I waited!
“I don’t know man, put your fingers into his throat?”
I won this worthless award for you just because you asked me to!
“Do you want to kill him?”
I tried to achieve…to protect your dream, but was it not enough?
“Get off, I’ll give him mouth to mouth.”
Something soft pressed over Nagi’s dry lips, trying to replace what’s nonprecious with precious. Nagi had a hard time accepting it and pushed the people off, because it wasn’t Reo. There was no Reo.
Not anymore.
Am I ever enough? You won’t ever talk to me? I don’t even have a last memory to cling to, Reo…
“Fuck! If you have strength to push me, use it to breathe, dummy!”
Why are you so mean? Why don’t you like me anymore? I did this all for you, Reo, you know that, right?
Someone held his arms down, while another person grabbed his head behind to keep him still. Nagi pressed his lips together when he began to feel the softness again.
“Does he want to die or something!”
Why did you leave then? You left me that day, telling me to continue on my path, and I did, because you asked for it.
Four fingers, two on each side of his mouth, forced it open. But the owner of the fingers cursed upon facing the obstacle of Nagi’s clenched teeth.
And now you leave me again?
Someone else squeezed his cheeks, that’s Nagi’s mouth when finally opened.
Why?
Soft lips again. They pushed the precious in and leaned back so the nonprecious could get out.
Why?
Again, and again. Until Nagi’s lungs stopped being a failure.
Reo, why?
Despite every attempt of resurrecting Nagi’s dying soul, his eyes rolled back until his consciousness took a break for his own well-being before the owner of this broken body could go insane.
🪻 🪻 🪻
They didn't let Nagi see the body.
Someone, his mother, maybe, or his agent, or some other faceless authority figure, had decided it would be too traumatic. As if not seeing it was somehow less traumatic. As if Nagi's imagination couldn't conjure up images far worse than reality, couldn't spend every waking moment reconstructing the fall, the impact, the moment when Reo had decided that this was better than continuing.
The only thing his mind couldn’t conjure up was the reason.
Why?
The funeral was private. Immediate family only, which apparently didn't include the person who'd known Reo better than anyone. But it had been four years, so perhaps Nagi wasn’t even the person who’d known Reo better than the general public.
Perhaps the years washed Nagi’s importance, and he was left with being barely anything to Reo.
Yeah, there was no maybe. He was someone whom Reo even refused to share his number with.
“Dear listeners, we have fresh news regarding the suspicious death of Mikage Reo. As you’ve all known, the possibility of murder has been scrapped due to the camera records. Mikage Reo was alone in his penthouse that day. New records show that he was last watching the World Cup finale...”
Nagi was barely anything.
So, his barely anything existence patiently waited.
He waited through the funeral he wasn't invited to. He waited through the news cycle that dissected Reo's death like vultures hungry for fresh human meat; that analyzed every possible reason why a successful, handsome, wealthy young man would choose to end his life at twenty-two.
“…it becomes closer that Mikage Reo’s fall is more of a tragic accident rather than suicide, as Mikage Reo’s toxicology reports shows the high alcohol levels in his blood.”
“It’s rainin’.” A hoarse voice above Nagi spoke up. Nagi never expected to be alone in the graveyard, but he was bothered by the constant interruption his thoughts got. This time, it was Karasu Tabito. “Yukimiya says that’s how ya know the gods are sad to pluck an unripe soul from the Earth. But I think he’s bein’ dramatic.”
Nagi couldn’t give a fuck or two about what the others thought. Frankly speaking, he hated when their common acquaintances made sentimental comments because seeing that Reo stayed in contact with this many people from Blue Lock but not him worsened his mood.
“Leave me alone.”
Nagi hugged the World Cup, the only thing left from Reo, and it wasn’t even a material piece but the abstract concept of their once-shared dream. Now, Nagi didn’t even know whose dream it was.
And yes, Nagi stole this metallic, fake gold award; but his team didn’t seem to mind. Their coach openly said to let Nagi grieve as he wished and that the cup wasn’t in somewhere unknown anyway. Its place was next to Reo’s grave, just like Nagi’s rotting body.
“I just…don’t think Reo would’ve wanted you to get sick on his...”
“And I wouldn’t want Reo to die.” Nagi shot him a glance. Karasu sighed and bent over; his hand went inside the cup, taking out a dry petal.
“Where did ya get that? Reminds me of Reo.”
“Just…leave me alone man.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Karasu put the petal back. If he saw the blood on some of them, he didn’t say anything about it. “I’ll leave you to…yeah. Sorry, I’m just…sorry.”
As Karasu walked away to find his other friends, who were apparently all took an active part in Reo’s life and knew Reo’s address, Nagi’s eyes cast down, inside the cup filled half-way with purple petals. No one would believe him if he said the petals came from his own body anyway.
His sight changed from the sad little petals to the sad big stone in front of him.
“Hey,” Nagi said to the stone. “Sorry I'm late. They wouldn't let me... didn't think I should...”
He trailed off as the words gradually died in his throat. What was he supposed to say? I'm sorry? I miss you? I love you?
“I won,” Nagi continued after a long silence, an absurd laughter bubbling up in his chest. “The World Cup. Like you wanted. Like I promised. And I...I told everyone. About you. About how it was for you.”
His hands clenched into fists and his fingernails dug crescents into his palms.
“I don't understand,” he whispered, and his voice cracked on the last word. “I don't understand why you did this. Why you didn't talk to me. I don’t know, I’m sure I did something wrong at some point, but…but I thought...I thought we had time. I thought—”
His throat closed up and the back his eyes started burning with salty water. Nagi pressed his fists against his eyes, trying to force them back through sheer will, but his body didn’t cooperate. Sobs wrenched themselves from his chest, ugly and desperate, and he doubled over until his forehead was touching the grass.
Come back, he thought wildly. Come back, I'll do anything, I'll quit soccer, I'll quit everything, just come back, please, please, please—
But the dead didn't listen to prayers. The dead didn't do anything except lie in boxes six feet under, growing cold and still and gone.
After Nagi’s first visit, the world around him changed. Time passed in strange, disconnected chunks. Hours felt like minutes and minutes felt like days and Nagi didn’t know how to keep pace with this everchanging timeline of his new, Reoless days. Granted, it was no different than his previous years, only now that Nagi was aware of Reo’s existence getting wiped out of the world instead of just the square of the box he’s shut himself in.
Only, his box was above the ground, and it kept getting smaller and smaller until he vomited a bunch of purple petals before going back to square one.
“I love you,” Nagi said finally. His voice was barely audible even in the silence of the cemetery. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
A cough interrupted his spiral and a threat bloomed in the back of Nagi’s throat. Nagi looked up sharply, to make it stop, to stop producing these gut-wrenching petals and to grieve peacefully. But his vision had gotten still blurry from tears, and his body didn’t want peace. When the last of the petals were spat inside the metal cup, over the dried ones, only then Nagi realized the cough wasn’t his but someone else’s.
His eyes rolled right in a tired manner. Every part of his body was exhausted, even his eyes and lungs. Even his heart. Mostly his heart.
The woman standing next to him was in full back attire, she was clearly mourning; something about her stance, or perhaps her aura, reminded Nagi of Reo’s nanny. It had been some time since Nagi saw Reo’s nanny, so if there were any physical similarities, Nagi was unable to point them out.
“My apologies.” The woman’s voice was surprisingly strong despite her apparent age. “You wouldn’t happen to be Nagi Seishiro, I assume?”
Nagi stared at her as his brain struggled to process the words. “I…might be.”
“Is there an instance where a person might be someone? Instead of fully being that person, a person is half of him, or a quarter. Or maybe one and a half… In that case, that’s a weird instance. But not impossible, since that boy…” The woman trailed on. She must’ve seen the confusion on Nagi’s face, so she stopped. “Apologies, again. I digress. Would you happen to carry the name of Nagi Seishiro, alongside his unaltered memories and feelings?”
“I…guess I do.”
“You guess?” The woman tilted her head. The white of her hair showed itself under the tilted, black hat. Her eyes, however, didn’t show anything to Nagi as they gave him the once-over. “I do hope you are aware of your condition, maybe Nagi Seishiro person.”
No, Nagi wasn’t aware of any condition other than Reo’s, which was basically Reo being dead and gone. He sighed and separated himself from the cup that was filled to the brim with petals.
“I…am Nagi Seishiro.”
“Oh. I was getting confused.”
Yeah, Nagi thought. Figures.
“Aconitum Napellus.”
“Huh?” Nagi started to believe this woman was a witch and cursing him. She looked weird enough to at least attempt to do it.
“You do not know the name of the flower that is blooming inside your lungs?”
“Huh?”
Flowers inside his lungs… That made sense, actually, since Nagi was vomiting petals and such. There was a constant ache inside his lungs, but Nagi thought that happened because he was sad.
“Nagi Seishiro person, your body is telling you to move on. Since you can’t confess.” Her eyes softened when they laid on Reo’s grave. “Since the boy really is dead.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I say. The boy is dead; therefore, you are unable to confess and rid yourself of the budding death. Your other option is moving on. The last option is, unfortunately, dying because you didn’t choose previous options. That’s the brief explanation of hanahaki disease.”
“The options…suck.” Nagi scooted closer toward the cup and pressed his cheek over the rim of it. Moving on from Reo was a nice tale, but it had no grounds in reality. “Why am I sick anyway?”
“Why, because of love.”
Because of love.
It wasn’t even surprising for Nagi. Loving Reo enough to curse himself, that was something only Nagi could achieve. No one, no one in the world and in the universe, could love Reo more than Nagi, to the point of ruining himself in the name of it.
“I see.”
“Do you blame yourself for his death?”
The question was gentle, but it hit like a blade between the ribs. Nagi opened his mouth to give an answer, to explain about Blue Lock and the NEL and how complicated everything had become, but nothing substantial came out.
The truth was, even if Nagi knew it wasn’t directly his fault, something deep inside pointed a finger at him. He was the one who allowed Reo to get away. That must’ve counted for something.
“I blame myself for…some stuff. Yeah, you could say that.”
“How pitiful.” The woman took two steps toward Nagi and suddenly, Nagi’s eyes stopped dripping water. Under her umbrella, Nagi realized how mixed his tears and the rain became that he didn’t even realize it was pouring.
The woman looked at the cup thoughtfully, then she asked, “did you push Mikage Reo boy off that building?”
“What?” Nagi's head snapped up. What a nonsensical question. “No? I was playing soccer…”
“Did you tell him to kill himself? Encourage him in any way?”
“No… I couldn’t even talk to him.”
“Then it's not your fault.” The woman's voice was firm. “So, no matter how big your love is, do not fret about at least this one thing. This decision was his alone. And nothing you could have done would have changed that.”
“I…I disagree.” That was some bullshit. Nagi knew that if he was allowed to be near Reo, he could’ve done something. He could’ve done what Chigiri or Karasu or Yukimiya or anyone in Reo’s life failed to do. He could’ve fallen on his knees and begged Reo to stay. “If I had a second chance…I think I would make Reo stay.”
The woman hummed beside Nagi. They stayed still for a while, and silent, until the rain lessened in intensity. The woman continued to watch Nagi throughout this silent session as Nagi hugged to the cup and muttered out several love confessions.
“My dear sister. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but my old heart cannot handle this sorry sight.” The woman swung the umbrella around, talking to herself. “A boy in his twenties? Hanahaki? For a dead lover? Just how tragic a story could get?”
“Uh…”
“I’ve made my decision. I… I won’t make it for free, obviously.”
Nagi blinked a questionable glare as the woman knelt down and grabbed a handful of bloodied petals.
“I will take these as a payment, so, make it right, okay?”
“What payment?”
“I will send you back. To the times Mikage Reo boy is still breathing.”
The first thought Nagi had upon hearing the words was that this woman was crazy; the second was that this woman was crazier. But when the woman began muttering something in ancient and glowing in red light, Nagi suddenly wasn’t sure who was the crazy person in this scenario. Maybe there wasn’t even a woman in sight and Nagi was alone, imagining talking to a witch lady over a disease about flowers and love.
“Do I have any right to decline?”
Nagi’s question stopped the woman in her tracks. She looked perplexed.
“Do you…wish to decline?”
Nagi shook his head.
“No. I just wanted to know.”
“Good.” The woman grabbed another handful of petals, since her ritual was interrupted and the petals in her hand were wilted beyond providing any usage. Nagi noticed that they were also wiped clear of the blood.
“I do hope you will succeed in your first tries, since each travel costs a big portion of my existence.”
Nagi couldn’t ask in fear of interrupting her ritual again. After a couple more unintelligible sentences, Nagi was whipped by a red light, and his consciousness was drawn out of him.
The woman crushed the dried, dead petals behind Nagi.
“May your bed be fresh.”
🪻 🪻 🪻
When Nagi comes back, he is falling. Rather, his consciousness is falling through a web of memories. It starts with the most recent ones like the final match of the World Cup, then it goes back and back until Nagi’s fingers tear the memories of NEL as he keeps going down.
Stop. Stop.
Too fast.
Nagi feels nauseous as the memories assaults the senses of his soul. Memories of his failure and Reo’s elimination, memories of his training with Agi and stubbornness. They all come back to him.
I…I was like this?
Stupid me! If only I put more effort in scoring…
Reo would be…
The fall continues until it comes to an abrupt stop, with an equally nauseating whiteness covering Nagi eyes. This blindness goes on for nearly a minute, but Nagi’s sense of time has been altered nowadays so he can’t say it for sure, before it goes away in colorful spots until his sight comes back.
The sight, however, isn’t the graveyard. His body is in the middle of walking when Nagi’s soul exchanges places with it, pushes the current one out.
Now, Nagi blinks, and he is in a place he has forgotten for a while.
“He looked a little sad.” Bachira is talking to him. “Deep down, you must be a cold person.”
On Nagi’s other side, walks Isagi with his sheepish smile.
Oh, wow. It worked, I guess.
Nagi looks at his own hands, then at the face of Bachira. He doesn’t remember the last time he saw Bachira this carefree—no, Nagi doesn’t even remember the last time he saw Bachira.
This must be the time…
Suddenly, Nagi straightens and turns back, toward the door that has just closed behind them. Nagi can still feel the soft wind that’s lifted when the metal plates of the door hit each other.
This is the time Reo and I got separated for the first time…
And his chests bursts with a fit of cough.