A/N: Hello. Yes. I am not dead. Enjoy.


Life sucks.

I guarantee you guys that (for those excited to become adults so early-you need to be more scared dammit!).

That's how I would define my whole 16 years of existence in this blue planet called Earth. Well, at least, I think it is. I don't usually go out of the confines of this sacred place called library to socialize with other people much so that's how I think my life is.

I've always preferred books over other people. I don't mind that I probably hadn't even had contact with these species called guys-that-are-my-age. My parents prefer this lifestyle of mine instead of my elder sister's who pretty much leaves with her friends whenever she want.

She was the type of outgoing that wasn't overboard and the type that I sometimes dreamt of being one. But I'm much more suited for studies.

I loved learning new things. Big or small. Important or not. Fairy tales or war conquests? I love them all equally.

I also love polishing my skills on numerous things. Like, learning a new language, sewing, drawing, writing. Heck-even swimming.

There's just something about the feeling of victory that I've successfully learned something new that could potentially help me in the future. I quite like the thought of having numerous talents written in my resume.

And with the pace that I was going, my personal tutors were quickly running out of new things to teach me. They were also quite scared of the fact that I could memorize things easily and comprehend things like an adult would at an early age.

It was the one part of me that I didn't like. It made learning much more easier. Like when I was learning the Greek language.

I have never seen or read a Greek book before. It was all new to me. I was excited! But that end up being short-lived when I began to pick up patterns in the sentences. The very same patterns that make up the entire sentence.

And then that was it. I now know how to make sentences. All I need to do was to polish my vocabulary and I'm set. That's it.

I've learned to live with it. My parents told me that it's essential for me to have that kind of mindset and intellect because I could learn a bunch of things in a short span of time. And they were right. I guess, you could say, I've started to like it as time passes.

My life turned a bit better then when I discovered Mangas. I couldn't say that they were better than the classic fictional tales I've read but they had so much potential.

I was only 14 when I came across them at the bookstore I frequented with my Mother. I've read my first backward comic there titled Magi.

I wasn't even finished with the first chapter that the example provided before I was hooked. I practically begged my Mother to buy it. She was a bit skeptical about it, at first, but when she saw how happy I was like whenever I discover something new that interests me, she relented.

Yes. My first ever Manga, Magi. It was a better retelling of joined stories of multiple tales. I loved every bit of it.

In no time, I finished the whole series and moved on to the Anime. Their voices were nothing like I've ever imagined.

And I treated times like it all happened to me. I cried at moments that are sad. Laugh at the most happiest times. Celebrated at the most successful times. My life evolved around it even until now.

Look at these flashbacks.


"Hey sis, breakfast is ready!" My sister, Shouko (鉦子), knocked on the door to my room. She entered almost immediately and hadn't prepared herself enough for what she saw. She gaped. "W-Wha..."

I looked back at her semi-seriously. "Yes?" I was bit irked as I was in the middle of my daily ritual of praying to my Masrur shrine (complete with a cosplay garb of that from a Fanalis Corps).

She covered half of her face with her bangs and backed away, hiding herself behind the open door. "No. It was nothing. Don't mind me."

SLAM!

She slammed the door close. I shrugged at her weird behaviour before returning back to what I was doing prior.

"Oh great holy Masrur!"

Yup. I definitely think I wasn't weird.


I heard the slight tapping from the wooden floors and realized that someone was creeping up behind me. I didn't pay them much attention. I was way too busy with what I was drawing.

"Sis~ what are you drawing?" Shouko suddenly hugged me from behind (I almost messed up) and peeked over my shoulder to get a better view.

"I'm doing work that is befitting of a God I'm worshipping (aka Masrur)."

She paled at what she saw.

It was Masrur and Sinbad doing xxx and xxx while xxx and xxx and just plain old xxxx xxxx x x x.

She ran away comically. "I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE!"

What's wrong with her? I'm normal and what I'm doing is normal. I really think she's becoming weirder and weirder.

I shrugged before I continued, humming a little happy tune. There were some details I missed while inking.


Yes. My life really was evolving around that series (and not just Masrur). I thought things will never end.

That is, until I died.

It happened when Shouko brought me to the forest on the outskirts of our property to look at the fireworks. It was the night of the summer festival and, unusually, Shouko wanted to spend the last hours with me. And as per tradition, we were both wearing yukatas.

I didn't mind. I didn't want to go to the festival anyway but I was planning on watching the fireworks. I could never really find a good place to watch.

She brought me to a cliff with a tree growing on the edge. We climbed the tree ("We're not gonna die, right?") and settled ourselves on the thickest branch we could find.

It was the perfect place. From our perch, the leaves were parted and gave us a good view of the town and the fireworks.

We watched the multiple flowers bloom on the dark night in peace. Both of us didn't say anything. It felt like such a magical night. It was my first time to watch the fireworks with Shouko, as she tends to go with her friends, and I'm happy its like this. So very happy.

I haven't said this out loud yet but I love this quirky outgoing sister of mine. She loved always being in the spotlight and I loved being her shadow.

She could do the things I couldn't do for me and I would do the same for her. For the times I needed to be happy and for the times that she needed to be sad.

It was always the same no matter how many years passed.

"Hey, Rinko (鈴子). Look." She held out a golden pin with a lone flower and beads on the end.

"Wah~ Shou-nee!" I held the pin as careful as I could, as if it would break if I held it any tighter. It was beautiful. Was this mine?

"It's pretty, right? Take care of it. I spent a fortune having a custom one made!" She puffed her chest in a proud way.

"I will! Thank you!" I hugged her tightly and we nearly fell off. "But I don't have anything for you!"

She calmed her heartbeat from the near death experience and hugged back. "I don't need anything, at all! I'm fine like this!"

"Thank you!"

"Fufu~ You're welcome!"

We stayed like that for a moment before I decided to break the silence.

"Shou-nee,"

She gave a small 'hm?' in reply.

The last firework flew and then the night sky was covered by colourful sparks for the last time that night.

I turned towards her and smiled. "Thanks for taking me here. Thank you for being with me tonight." She stared for a moment before laughing.

She then brought my head to rest on her shoulders. "You're welcome, sis. I'm glad you're happy."

"Uh-huh."

My sister stood up from the branch and stretched. I had to hug the huge trunk in order not to fall from the branch's vibration. "Come. Let's go home." She jumped off to the ground behind us and I held tighter (she's way to careless to come down the normal way). As it ceased, I, too, stood up and slowly made my way down.

I, apparently, wasn't looking where I was stepping and the particular branch that I stepped on was covered in moss. It brought me my doom.

I slipped.

The world slowed down and I saw Shouko slowly turn around in shock.

I was in shock, as well. My mind didn't register that I needed to hold on to something when I fell.

My sister ran towards me, arm raised, and I reached forward myself. Our fingers slightly brushed against each other before gravity took ahold of me, bringing me further away from my only chance to live.

From my blurry vision, Shouko grew smaller and smaller until I could no longer see her.

"RINKO!"

BRAACK!


And that's how I died. And, as silly as it is, my last words before I broke my neck from the fall were:

"Life sucks."

And it does. It really does.


A/N: There's kind of like a pun here. Rin's name, Rinko, means 'Bell Child' and Shouko's means 'Gong Child'. Yes. I absolutely went there.