Round and Round We Go
Chapter 1: Death and the Carousel of Life
A/N: Hello KNB! Haha I reminisced in this one ughhh and I've stopped reading this because of school but now, I'm back to reading this again yay! Hope this is good, and really, read, review and subscribe.
disclaimer: I don't own the cover picture nor KNB. All rights to the owners.
Death.
I hate that word.
I that fucking word so much.
Death is the reason why my mother and my father are not with me anymore, they were taken away from me when the car we were in exploded, only I, the little four year old was alive in that incident.
Death is the reason why all my life, I've been passed around by different relatives to relatives. They looked at me with pity in their eyes, each of them trying their best to fill the shoes of my dead parents, but in the end, no one managed to do it and decided to transfer me to someone who might be able to be of more help to me.
Death is the reason why I lived with my Grandpa and Grandma all my life. But that was a good memory, because of that, somehow, after years, I've found out that there were still people who loved me enough. They gave me enough reason to live, I persevered and became the top because I think that I atleast owe it to them.
Death is the reason why I am such a fucking well-balanced person. I knew everyone from the somebody to the nobody. I knew how to deal with each and every kind of person, learning how to deal with them and making them all do what I want.
Death made me an over-all better person, at least, that's what I want to believe. I was the top of the class, I was a varsity athlete, I was everyone's bestfriend but...
Death made me a person who knows nothing but to aim for her goals, to keep my facades and masks in check, to trust no one truly but myself and my grandparents. I became a person who was so fucking perfect it was almost nauseating.
Death is so irritating, so annoying, so pathetic. I hate death. It's sad and really, it drives people to other paths.
And now...
I am going to meet Death.
Will I meet my parents?
Will anyone cry?
Oh for fuck's sake, I really don't want to leave my grandparents! They already suffered enough with mom dead...
What would happen to them now that their favorite granddaughter had died? And what if they see my corpse?
How did I die?
I... Fell from a building.
And before everyone all make pity looks and think about how I suicided, it's not like that. I fell while I was saving a small bird.
Very clumsy, I know.
But...
It's parents weren't able to save it. To see it dead will be the most heartbreaking memory in my life.
I traded my life for a bird's. I think that it's pretty stupid for someone like me who's supposed to be perfect and all that shit. But somehow... I saw myself in the bird, in a parallel world where my parents were alive and I was the one going to die. If I had enough grief by myself, then how about my parents? They'll surely be destroyed.
And as I placed the bird in the cemented ground of the building, I misstepped and before I knew it, I was falling.
Like a bird without wings.
It was sad.
But somehow despite the melancholy, I feel peace. Though I am pretty sad that I'll need to leave Grandpa and Grandma.
And that is how I, Tsunako, died.
What I didn't know was that there was after life.
"Hey!"
A voice called out.
"Hey you, wake up!"
Someone shoved me once, twice.
"WAKE UP!"
Damn, my ears are bleeding.
"God, all of these would be easier if you just open your eyes."
I opened my eyes and saw a girl grinning at me. She smiled, "Hey!"
"Okay?" I smiled out of politeness and took his outstretched hand. I looked around, it was pure darkness. I narrowed my eyes as I scrutinize that it was almost nothingness, save for me and the girl. I looked at her and asked, "Where are we?"
"We're," she paused and I noticed that I really can't seem to figure out who she was. She seemed so clear but blurry, what a paradox. When she continued, she said, "Actually, this place is top secret."
"Huh?"
"Look here," there was slight pity in her eyes as she asked me, "do you know what happened to you? Before you came here?"
"I," I paused. And then all the memories flashed through me. My parents dying in a car explosion, traveling from relatives to relatives, finding solace in my grandparents. Pretending with masks and facades, being perfect. And then, slowly, it arrived. The final step I made as I smiled when I saw the little bird going to its parents. I breathed deeply and continued, "I died."
There was silence.
A small, hollow smile formed on my lips, I looked at the girl, "I died, didn't I?"
"Sadly, yes," she nodded as she tried her best not to meet my gaze. She looked nowhere in particular as she said, "And I did, too."
"What..." I looked at her with wide eyes, "What?"
"I..." She sighed. Her eyes seemed filled with sadness as well and she said, "Look, even I wasn't given much details, you know."
"It has been a long time," she smiled at me, a sincere one, "and I've waited for you for a long time coming."
"I am sorry..." I looked down. She waited for me?
"The universe is a huge place," there was slight optimistic tone in her voice. She looked at somewhere and pointed and stars filled the nothingness we are in. She continued, "We live in different worlds, of different timelines."
"The life you have is but fiction to me and my life?" She smiled nostalgically as she continued, "It's nothing but a place of dreams for you."
She clipped her hair and added, "But you know what? There is a supreme being out there, you know. Well I think there is."
She narrowed her eyes and added, "Because you know, there is someone out there who made this meeting of ours. I waited for a long time, sure, but you know, at least, I met you."
"I am so happy to have finally met you." She finished as she met my eyes.
"Why..?"
"Because," she gave a deep breathe, "Now that you're here, we're both given a chance to have a second go at life."
"What?" I know I looked confused as hell but I continued, "I don't understand."
A basketball was thrown at me from somewhere and instinctively, I caught it. She gave a mild chuckle, "You're good."
"Hmm?" I tilted my head and asked, "What's this for? Are we... Going to play basketball?"
She smiled, "That's actually a pretty good idea."
She closed her eyes and asked me to close mine, too. When I opened it, the nothingness turned into a street basketball court. No one was there but us, and the silence filled the air.
"I love basketball." She stated and for the first time since I saw her, I finally saw what she truly looked like. She was about my height and had caramel colored hair with dark chestnut brown eyes. I have to admit, she looked familiar, very familiar.
"I'm neutral about it," I declared as I stood up and stretched a bit.
She looked almost surprised at me and asked, "But I thought you used to be captain of your school's female varsity team?"
A small grimace unconsciously formed on my lips, I admitted, "I had the skills for it, I guess. But I, the reason why I decided to train as well as become a regular was because my grandparents encouraged me to do it."
"I could," I shot the ball, a clean shot and I said, "never disappoint them. They were the only one's who actually love me, of course."
I can feel her scrutinizing gaze and as I met her eyes, her lips form into a smile, "Intelligence: 450, Physique: 270, Technique: 450."
"Wow," she whistled, "That's pretty impressive stats."
"Thanks for the compliment," I said as I looked at the ball on the ground, "though that is kind of an overestimation."
"My scanning ability," she gave a proud grin, "is absolutely accurate."
"Wow."
"Now, shall we start the game?"
She ran for the ball and as soon as it was in her possession, I went over her and guarded her movements. I may not love basketball so much but I am good at it, without a doubt. I can read her moves, it's my ability.
"First lesson, Tsunako-chan," she did something that actually kind of amazed me. My almost invincible block was infiltrated and that was saying something. I didn't run after her as she shot the ball. She looked back at me, "Passion is everything."
"Hm," I nodded.
I took the ball and placed it in my possession. Before she can even react, I ran as fast as I can to the hoop and shot it, lucky intuition, three points!
I thought that she was going to be disappointed but instead she only smiled, "Second lesson, a woman's intuition is never wrong."
She winked at me and as I returned the ball to her, she looked at the sky, which was unnaturally turning to red, like sunset. A melancholic smile was on her face as she said, "Thanks."
As I was beginning to blank out again, she told me, "I hope you have as much fun in my life as I will have in yours. Goodluck and make the right decisions, Tsunako, no, that's not going to be your name anymore."
I can see her smile in my mind's eye, "Goodbye."
I woke up to lights, white lights this time around. As I woke up, I saw a beautiful, caramel colored hair woman reach out to me.
But wow, damn.
Why is she so huge?
I tried to ask her but the only words that came out of my mouth was, "Hugaham jamamai mama!"
What the actual fuck.
"Adorable," the woman cooed as she gently touched my forehead, "Hahaha, my baby daughter acknowledges me as her mother."
I'm a... Baby?
Oh god why.
"Of course, Natsuki," a man who had light brown hair chuckled as he patted my head tenderly. He looked at caramel-haired girl, who was also my mom...?
"But, but!" She gave a bright grin that looks so dazzling, she excitedly added, "Did you hear about it? She called me 'mama'!"
She looked back at me with gentle eyes and added, "That's her first word! Any woman would be proud."
I guess...
Oh wait, what the hell. Why am I self-aware?
"Riko-chan, Riko-chan," my father cooed at me. Well if I'm right about it, that is. He held me up high and added, "Your father, Aida Kagetora, is the luckiest person on earth to have you!"
Wow.
The name sounds familiar.
The looks looked familiar.
OH MY EFF!
That girl I saw when I was in nothingness, she must have been her. That girl who had a nostalgic look and melancholic smile as she greeted me. That girl who had played basketball with me. The girl who used her Scanning Ability to raise my self-esteem. That girl who told me that I would be exchanging places with me, the girl who told me that what I knew of her life to be fiction was all true. That girl...
Aika Riko.
A/N: I hope that I didn't butched this haha. Please read, review and subscribe :) I want to hear some insights and all those stuffs. :)