Chapter Text
"Stage four glioblastoma."
The words floated in the sterile air of the room.
Nene blinked, her gaze fixed on the doctor's slightly stained coat.
His lips kept moving, articulating words like "inoperable," "temporal lobe," and "life expectancy," but to Nene's ears, it was all just meaningless noise.
"One hundred days, Miss Yashiro," the doctor said, lowering his voice slightly. "Three or four months at most. You will need to be admitted immediately. I am so sorry."
Her hands rested intertwined on her lap, so cold she could barely feel them. She nodded slowly, as if in a trance. Everything in her head was spinning, and she suddenly felt a sharp ringing that made her flinch.
One hundred days, she thought.
Her mind immediately shifted into an automatic, absurd calculation. One hundred days. That meant she wouldn't get to see the tulips she had just planted in the south row of the greenhouse bloom.
The winter seeds wouldn't be ready by then.
Who was going to water them when she was gone? Her brother would let them die in a week.
"Miss Yashiro, are you listening to me?" The doctor leaned forward a bit, looking at her with a pity that turned her stomach.
Nene took a breath.
"One hundred days. Yes. I heard you perfectly," she said. Her own voice sounded foreign, almost unrecognizable. "The tulips aren't going to bloom in time."
"Excuse me?"
"Thank you very much, doctor. Excuse me."
She turned around and walked toward the door. She placed her hand on the freezing metal doorknob and stepped out into the hallway.
She didn't shed a single tear.
The outside world kept turning with a normality that comforted her. Outside, the afternoon sky had dyed itself a dark orange as usual. Nene walked down the sidewalk aimlessly, her mind blank, until the vibration of her phone broke the trance.
It was a message from an unknown number, asking her to meet at the downtown cafe for "an urgent matter regarding Nakahara."
Nakahara.
Her boyfriend's name.
Thinking of him was like clinging to a lifeline. Maybe hugging him, maybe hearing his voice, would help anchor her to reality.
Yes, what she really needed was to be in his arms right now.
She pushed open the heavy glass door of the cafe. The bell above the frame let out a sharp, cheerful jingle. The atmosphere in the cafe felt somewhat serious and gloomy, as if it were waiting for her with bad news.
Nene stood at the entrance, still wearing her coat, searching the tables for her boyfriend's familiar hair.
She didn't see him. At the corner table, the one mentioned in the message, there was only a woman.
Nene approached slowly, dragging her feet a little. The woman wore an elegant burgundy coat and had an untouched glass of ice water in front of her.
That was when she saw it.
Beneath the fabric of the coat, the curve of her pregnant belly was undeniable.
"Yashiro Nene?" the woman asked. Her voice was intense and made everyone around them turn to watch the scene.
"Y-Yes," Nene replied. Her own voice sounded hollow. "Where is Nakahara?"
Without another word, the woman grabbed the glass on the table.
The impact of the freezing water was so sudden that Nene let out a choked gasp.
Silence completely took over the establishment.
"You're a tramp!" The woman's voice exploded, bouncing off the walls of the place. "Knowing that I'm pregnant, you sleep with my husband!"
Pregnant?
Husband?
Nakahara was a married man.
His wife was about to give birth.
She couldn't help but look to the side; someone at the next table was recording. She heard a whisper at the counter.
"How shameless." The attentive stares quickly turned into judgmental glares that continued to devour her.
Nene looked the woman in the eyes.
There was no trace of fury or guilt in Nene's gaze, only an absolute, unfathomable, and dark emptiness. The woman took a step back, suddenly uncomfortable with this lack of human reaction.
Without uttering a single syllable, Nene turned around. She left wet footprints on the wooden floor as she walked toward the exit, her back straight and her eyes looking forward.
She left the place and started walking aimlessly.
Suddenly, her phone started ringing.
"Nene!" Her younger brother's voice sounded through the speaker. "Hey, I know it's short notice, but... do you have some money you can lend me? It's an emergency, I swear, I'll pay you back on Friday...'
Nene stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Her brother didn't ask how she was. He didn't ask why her breathing sounded so unsteady. He just wanted money.
"Okay," she whispered. She hung up before hearing anything else from her brother.
By the time she got home, she was shaking uncontrollably. She pushed the glass door that connected the living room to her greenhouse; the temperature change was immediate, the warm air and the smell of damp earth enveloping her.
From between the fern pots, Black Canyon emerged. The black-and-white cat let out a short, low meow. Seeing her, he trotted over and began to rub against her thick, wet ankles, purring loudly.
Nene dropped to her knees on the dirt floor.
She petted Canyon's head.
She needed to do something.
She stood up heavily and headed to a small, abandoned part of the greenhouse.
There, she saw a pot containing something she couldn't remember planting.
As she tried to step forward to check on it, the sound of breaking glass shattered her peace.
It was the glass watering can her mother had left behind.
That sound of broken glass was what finally broke her.
She looked at the small, store-bought strawberry cake she had left on the table. Today was the anniversary of her parents' death.
She didn't have Nakahara, because he was a liar. She didn't have her brother, because he only saw her as an ATM. She didn't have her parents. And in one hundred days, she wouldn't have a life.
She ran out of the greenhouse, climbing the metal stairs to the open rooftop, fleeing from herself. Black Canyon followed her from a distance, stopping under the doorframe to avoid getting wet.
Nene lifted her face to the sky. The night was growing darker by the second.
The headache that had tormented her for the past few weeks exploded in her skull with blinding intensity. She clenched her fists, falling to her knees on the wet concrete. The loneliness crushed her with a physical, suffocating weight.
She had no choice but to lie down completely on the ground due to the unbearable pain.
She placed her hands over her head in an attempt to comfort herself.
A sudden rain had started.
"It's unfair!" The scream tore from her throat, raw and full of agony.
"I was good! I endured everything! And for what? To die alone!"
A flash of lightning illuminated the black sky, followed by a clap of thunder that made the ground vibrate. Nene cried, her tears mixing with the storm, feeling a deep, dark hatred welling up in her chest.
"If I'm going to go, I hope everything ends!" she screamed at the sky while lying on the ground, the veins in her neck bulging from the effort.
"Let it be unfair for everyone! I wish everything would just disappear! I want doom to fall upon this world!"
She curled in on herself, trying to calm down, waiting for the thunder to silence her.
But the thunder never came.
In fact, nothing could be heard. The patter of the rain against the ground vanished. The wind that moved all her plants died down instantly.
Nene slowly opened her eyes through the pain.
The raindrops were suspended in the air, floating around her like tiny bubbles frozen in time. An absolute silence had enveloped the world.
It was unnatural.
From the doorway, Black Canyon let out a low, threatening hiss, his back arched.
Nene turned her head.
Standing a few meters away from her was a boy.
He wore a dark trench coat that seemed to absorb the little light of the night. His skin was pale, almost translucent, but what caught her breath were his bright amber eyes; his gaze was like that of a fox.
He observed her from above, hands in his pockets and an unreadable expression on his face.
The boy tilted his head slightly. A cynical, sharp smile formed on his lips.
"You," his voice echoed low, vibrating in the silence like an echo in an empty room. "You called me."
"W-Who...?" Her voice came out as a heavy whisper, barely breaking that complete silence.
"Who are you?
"I am what you wished for. The doom of this world."