Before you read, I am going to promise you, this story is not all about the OC feeling sad about herself and constantly talking about death. Even so, if you do not like suicidal plots, this is not the story for you. I would love for you to read it, but this is a fair warning that it is a topic will come around many times. Other than that, I hope everyone enjoys.

*No, I do not own Prince of Tennis


Dying isn't easy for anyone. It always happens when you least expect it, and the reasons are difficult to comprehend. It's often more painful for the people, not the ones who are gone. It's a scary concept, though. You're alive, and you see so much around you, and suddenly, it's gone. You disappear, not knowing where you'll end up, if anywhere at all. Death is scary, no matter who you are. But no matter how scary, there are people who are willing to face it. Okada Megumi is one of them. She looked at the ground, so far from her, but her shoulders were relaxed. She gripped the hem of her skirt, and drew a breath.

'This is it.' She thought, and felt her nerves travel to her legs.

"Are you going to jump?" she heard behind her. Her body froze, stopping her before she aimed for the ground.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" the same voice said. She slowly turned her head and saw a boy lying on the floor, looking at her upside-down.

"I'm sorry?" she said, confused about him. She was still standing on the edge, ready to fall at any moment.

"What are you doing?" he asked, not bothering to get up. Megumi was confused about this guy. What did he want? Wasn't it obvious what her intentions were?

"Why does it matter?" she asked, slowly moving toward him.

"Because if you jump, I'd have to reveal my secret to the whole world. That's not okay." He sat up and faced her.

"What secret?"

"If I tell you, it's not a secret anymore. So I can't tell you" he smirked.

"The fuck…" she mumbled to herself.

"So, who are you? I've never seen you before. Are you new?" he asked. Megumi let out a heavy breath.

"No, I'm a second year here. I've been here since middle school."

"Oh, good, you can actually talk with complete sentences. What's your name?"

"What's yours?" she retaliated, not wanting to seem weak.

"Oh, snappy too." He raised his eyebrows and gave another smirk.

"I'm Masa." He played with his small ponytail.

"Are you sure about giving your given name to a complete stranger?"

"It's not a secret so I don't care. What's your name?" Megumi stood in thought for a while. Should she give a fake name? For all she knew, he could be a stalker with plans to kill her.

"I'm…" she looked away from him, "I'm Megu."

He leaned back, not taking his eyes off of her. A wind passed; one strong enough to have pushed Megumi over the building. She curled her hands to fists, frustrated that she had failed again.

"Goddamnit." She bit her lip and looked at where she was standing previously.

"What? Are you mad that you couldn't die today?" she turned around and he was right there. His body only inches from hers. She looked up at his eyes for the first time, and looked at the floor immediately. But his piercing blue eyes lingered in her mind while she was trying to find a way to respond.

'Who the hell is this guy? All of these questions as if we're good friends or something. I should be on the ground by now. No, I shouldn't even be breathing. I'm supposed to-'

"Be dead?" he said. She shot her head up, shocked he could read her mind.

"You know you were saying all of that out loud?" he said to her.

"Oh." She said, getting even angrier at herself.

"Well, yeah. I wanted to die today." She blurted, brushing past him, heading for the door back in to the building. He walked in front of her, blocking her way.

"Why?" he continued to ask her.

"Why does it matter to you? We just met!" she yelled at him. He took a step back.

"Clearly, I was going to take that huge jump today and die. You know that. I wasn't just standing on the ledge for fun. Don't ask me questions about why I want to kill myself or why I don't have any friends, or about any mental or physical scars. Don't try to get to know me. And don't you fucking dare think that you were some guardian angel that saved my life or something. I'm going to die soon, one way or another, so don't try to stop me again." She heaved a breath. He was surprised that she said so much. He took one step toward her.

"First, I never asked about any scars you have, so that'll be a topic that I'll bring up if I see you again." She took a step back as he continued to walk.

"Second, don't think that I was trying to save you either. I'm just fucking bored, and you happened to be there." He stopped.

"And third, you wanna die? Turn around. Jump." He said, nodding his head to the ground. Megumi turned her upper body to see that she was on the edge. She took a deep breath, and moved her foot. A strong wind passed by again, and without thought, she leaned toward him, grabbing his shirt with her hands.

"Glad to meet you too, Megu." He wrapped his arm around her and walked back with her still holding on to him. She let go and stood still. She couldn't figure out what was happening. She lost her chance again. Masa slowly moved his arm off of her, and watched her stand in confusion.

"Hey, I hope you know that I didn't do anything. It was more like I dared you to jump." He laughed. She crouched down, holding her head. She wanted to scream. It was supposed to be easier than this.

"Hey, hey, why are you crying?" he asked, sitting in front of her.

'I'm crying?' she thought.

"You're okay." He smiled to her.

"Why are you even here?" she asked, angry that she lost her chance again. She stood up and pushed him away.

"Hey, I don't think it's smart for you to head out right now. The bell just rang and you'll get attention from teachers asking where you were." He yelled out to her. She stopped in front of the door. She gave a sarcastic laugh.

"You really don't know me, do you?" she asked. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and shook his head.

"Nope. All I know is that your name is probably Megumi, and that you were planning to die today." He shrugged. She opened the door, and took one last look at him before leaving.

"You're right about both. One more thing about me," she looked at the swarm of people in front of her, "I don't exist to anyone here." She said and disappeared completely in the crowd. He stood in place, keeping his eye on her until he lost her. The wind passed, and so did a recap of the things that just happened.

'Alright. I guess you won't be bored anymore, Masaharu.' He smirked to himself and left the roof.

Megumi looked at her phone to see if there were any messages from her brothers. With no notifications, she looked for a good song to listen to, and avoided going home. She was not in the mood to talk to anyone, especially her family since they always had a way of pulling the whole truth out of her. Wondering what she could do, she looked in her bag and looked for any left over money. She found about three-hundred yen, which could maybe buy her one plain flavored rice ball.

"This day is just not going for me." She mumbled and looked behind her to the roof she was on just a few minutes ago. She shook her head and walked ahead, not wanting to think about what happened, or the guy that was there. Masa, or something. She sat at a bench at a nearby park and thought she was stupid for mentioning her scars. She lied down, resting her head on her bag, and browsed her phone. Her home screen was her four brothers, all trying to do something flexible with their body, but completely failing their attempts. She couldn't help but give a small laugh every time she looked at it. Having only one small blog app for social media, she looked through her photos which only consisted of her brothers, or views from the roof of her home. She opened her blog to see if there was anything new, and noticed that she gained seven new followers. She found it funny how online, so many people from school knew her, but since she uses an alias, no one knows her. The blog wasn't anything special. All she did was talk about the mysteries of death and why so many people feared it. She could be responsible for making stressed teenagers over-think their life by questioning everyone's existence. Suddenly, Masa's face appeared in her mind.

First off, why the hell is his hair white? He's in high school, he's supposed to have his natural black hair, or maybe that orange-ish color that's in fashion right now. She knew that he wasn't in the same grade as her though, she didn't recognize him. But he had to be a third year, since he looked much older than a high schooler altogether. She felt her face blush, just thinking about him.

"Megumi, chill out. No. You're not attracted to him. No, no, no, no." she said out loud. She laughed at how stupid she was. She had just met him, moments from her death, and probably had a lot of different hormones going through her body, causing this allure. And that smirk he had made her mind go insane. She hated it already, when she barely knew him. It was all his fault. If he had not been there, everything would've gone according to plan.

Then she remembered how she hesitated completely when he was right in front of her. She put her hand to her head, frustrated at how scared she got. She always failed when it came to jumping or anything that had to do with heights. Her sleeve fell, exposing some scratches on her wrist. She stared at them. She could barely feel any pain when creating them anymore. She ran that hand through her hair and let it fall by her side.

'Why is death so difficult for me? It must be a curse or something.' She thought, and realized how spoiled she sounded. She knows that there are people out there who would give anything to have the "luckiness" of not dying, no matter how many times she's tried. She looked at the time and was shocked to see that she had spent two hours sitting there and being upset. She told herself how pathetic she was and got to her feet. She was about to head home when she saw a small group of girls with bags that read "Rikkai Dai Dance Team". She felt her heart race and her nerves got the best of her. Quickly, she turned to walk another direction. Keeping her eyes on the ground, she walked, trying to not let her tears reach her eyes. She heard her phone ring, but she didn't answer it. There was nothing that could distract her, not even a few members of the tennis team ahead of her.

"So, as I was saying, I really think that Sanada shouldn't have gotten that mad at me for having some candy right after practice. I was tired and I needed energy. It would've been worse if I fainted, or gotten some kind of no-sugar-in-my-body attack and died, right?"

"You have enough sugar in your body to last you a good year, Bunta."

"Still! I was just hungry! He didn't have to- what?" he flipped his head and looked at Megumi who had no idea what just happened. She kept walking past them, ignoring their calls out to her.

"Who was that, geez?" Marui scratched his head, upset that she didn't even apologize. He heard Niou give a small laugh.

"What? Do you know her?" Jackal asked.

"Yeah, she's my friend." He said and continued to walk. Jackal and Marui followed, unable to recall this girl ever being mentioned in their conversations.

By the time Megumi reached the street of her house, the sun was down and she had run out of words to feed herself. She groaned, tired of walking and sick of feeling sorry for herself. She figured it was time to go home and do some school work.

"Hey." She heard a much too familiar voice beside her. She looked over and saw him again. She blinked and rubbed her eyes and looked again. He was still there.

"What? You think I can disappear?" he laughed.

"You did say you had a secret. Is it that?" she asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Nope. Why aren't you home yet? School ended hours ago."

"I didn't want to be home. Why are you here? Are you following me?" she asked, stepping away from him.

"No, I live on this street."

"No you don't." she said. He drew his head back.

"Yeah I do, what makes you say that I don't?"

"I've never seen you here." She said and started walking. He sped up and walked by her.

"So? I've never seen you either. You could be the one lying."

"Something else about me, Masa, or whatever. I don't lie." She crossed her arms and avoided his gaze.

"Really? Okay…" he stayed quiet.

"What?" she asked when he stopped.

"Are you happy?"

"Huh?" she turned her head, seeing how serious he was. He didn't have a smirk, or any kind of smile on his face. His eyes were curious for an answer.

"You said you don't lie. I just want to know, are you happy?" he asked again. Megumi pondered for a minute. She didn't know how to answer. She loved everything at home with her brothers and father, but the moment she stepped out of the house, everything would feel as if it was crashing down on her shoulders.

"I can be. Just not at school." She said simply. He nodded with approval.

"I'll take that answer then. Oh, and in exchange for that," He pointed to the house they were in front of, "this is my house." Megumi looked at it and shook her head.

"No, that's not possible." She kept shaking her head.

"What do you mean? My name's right here!" he laughed at her.

"There's no way this is possible, I live right there." She pointed to the house right behind her. His eyes widened and was just as surprised.

"Damn, this is awesome. This is definitely one of the best days of my life." He couldn't stop his small laughter.

"How?" she asked. He had just witnessed someone try to die and got yelled at for coincidentally preventing it from happening. If it were anyone else, this day would go on the list of the worst days. He shrugged.

"Usually I'm the one creating surprises for people. It's fun to be confused and caught off guard sometimes. Oh, and I'll give you a bonus for giving me an awesome day. My real name's Niou Masaharu." He put his arms behind his head. That name rang a bell in Megumi's mind but she ignored it.

"Okay. My real name is Okada Megumi." She sighed.

"Cool. So, are you going to skip class to try to die again tomorrow?" he asked with absolutely no hesitation. Unexpectedly, Megumi chuckled.

"No, probably not." She smiled to him. In a second, the expression disappeared and she looked at the ground.

"You can smile too?" he leaned forward to try to catch it again. Megumi shook her head and gave him a blank face.

"I'll see you later, Masa." She said and turned to go home.

"Hey! I'm a third year, it's Niou-senpai to you!" he jokingly yelled at her.

"If you wanted to be called that, then you should've introduced yourself as that, not Masa." She said without looking at him. She opened the gate to her home and quietly laughed. Too much happened for her to understand what just happened. She shook it off and walked in the house, not turning to look at Masa again.

"I'm home." She said loud enough for people to hear in the house. She heard footsteps come toward her.

"Megumi~." Her third older brother showed up in front of her.

"Hi, Ken-chan." She smiled and walked past him.

"Why are you so late today? Did something happen?" he asked.

"Nope. I just wanted to be outside. Hi, Satoshi." She said to her second elder brother who was sitting on the couch.

"Hi, princess." He grinned to her.

"Fuck you, don't call me that." She shivered. He rolled his eyes and got up. The two of them stood in front of Megumi, giving strange looks to her.

"What happened today?" they asked at the same time. She shrugged and drank a glass of water.

"Same stuff. School, walking, re-thinking my existence." She said blankly and headed toward her room.

"Wait, wait, what? Explain that." Kenichi darted for her. She closed the door before they could ask anything else. He kept knocking, and she was used to this.

"Ken-chan, I'm okay. I was just exaggerating what happened." She yelled from her bed. There was a short silence, and she heard the two of them talk to each other quietly.

"Fine. Dad'll be home in an hour. Just please, Megumi, tell me if you want to transfer to my school. Aniki can pull some strings, I'm sure. It'd be awesome if we went to the same school for once." He said. She got up and opened the door.

"Ken. You go to an all-boys school." She laughed.

"Yeah. Cut your hair, buy new clothes, you'll fit right in!" he grabbed her shoulders.

"Your chest is small enough too." Satoshi laughed quietly. Megumi glared at him and closed the door again.

"Call me when dad's home!" she yelled. She sighed and sat on her bed. She realized that she could've been dead by now. She was supposed to be dead, that was the plan since days ago. Whatever happened, whether it was fate or coincidence, it gave her one more chance to try to possibly live. She didn't want to be thankful for it, but she couldn't suppress the light feeling of happiness. It was nostalgic, but she knew better than to dig deep in to this. She was sure that Masa would probably never talk to her again, and most likely tell others about how she wanted to kill herself. Friendships don't work that easily. If anything, it's complicated with a lot of things behind each-others' backs, and is too complicated for her to try again. She had no hopes for herself to make friends anymore. Which is why she knew she was better off dead.