It was just an off chance.

Maybe it slipped his mind in the heat of gunfire. He forgot that it was pretty likely that if Gen died, he'd stay dead- Maybe.

But it was hard to remember specifically what exactly happened, it was pretty cloudy in his mind really. Once he'd realized though everything etched itself into his memory, the seconds drew sharp strokes into his brain.

Takahashi is no stranger to his blood. Gen is no stranger to Takahashi's blood. But Takahashi is a bit of a stranger to Gen's though.

Because it's not normal for someone to bleed that much. Normal for him, normal for Satou and Tanaka and sometimes Okuyama. Normal for them, not normal in general. Not normal for Gen.

The ajin boy with rusty blond hair let out a whoop and pounded his fist into the air, so Takahashi shot him the chest.

It was a lucky shot.

Takahashi was ajin by chance.

It was just chance that he died and it was only chance that he came back. It was luck that aligned the two.

But Gen wasn't lucky- Gen smashed mirrors. Gen spilled the salt. Gen wasn't getting up.

His breathing was was shallow and it tore at Takahashi something ugly and invasive and visceral. Worse than when Gen was helping rip the goods from his abdomen. It was viciously painful and even though the image embedded into his head is crystal clear it suddenly gets washed away by fury at the ajin boy.

Takahashi was under no delusion that their cause was as far from righteous as it could get. He wasn't an idiot.

He wasn't Tanaka.

Fortune favours the wicked.

So why wasn't Gen getting up?