A person's death is just a natural phenomenon.
The words rang clearly through Chika's mind as he laid in Shito's room, on Shito's bed, curled up as close as Shito would allow, as he did nearly every night for the past several months.
A person's death is just a natural phenomenon.
The words hadn't affected him so much when they were spoken; it had been so soon after Shiba's death that he didn't pay much attention to anything said, just remembering those last few moments with his best friend, his companion, his first friend in Japan, the one he trusted. But the other day, when Michiru that she had recently gone again to give money for the funeral services of the zombies they killed, the memory had come back to him.
A person's death is just a natural phenomenon.
Chika couldn't say he agreed. Sure, it was inevitable, but the offhand way Shito had said it lacked the respect for the person who had lived their life, or the people they had were connected to. Maybe it was because of his strong fear of death. Maybe it was from seeing how the funeral director was so passionate about his work, how he treated his job as an honor. The way Shito had said it wasn't right. Not at all.
Chika bit his lip as his next thought hit him. Did this mean that he would see Michiru's, Koyomi's, and most of all, his,deaths as things that were just natural phenomenons, things that were so unimportant that they could be disregarded?
"Shito?"
"Mmm?" Shito replied, not looking up from his book.
"If I died, would it be just a natural phenomenon?"
Shito exhaled softly, closing his eyes. "Yes, it would."
Chika felt a stab of pain in his heart as Shito put his book down and turned off the lights as though nothing of any importance had been spoken of. Did he mean that little to him?
Just as he was about to fall asleep, Chika felt Shito's arms tighten around him and heard him say in a voice that was barely even a whisper, "It would be a natural phenomenon, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't miss you."