Apology
"Are you sure you wish to go through with this?"
"I really don't have a choice, Annabelle-san. It's very important to me."
Right now, Nick Kelly and the Heavenly Whippet Annabelle were standing right in front of the Pearly Gates. Yes, readers, Nick is indeed dead. Even Nick himself wasn't entirely sure how it had happened.
The last thing Nick had remembered was having marched into the streets of late-night Misora to fight another bad guy who called himself Alister Azimuth. After a long and protracted fight that had lasted into the night, Nick had seemingly triumphed. As Nick began to walk away from the battle, he hadn't noticed Azimuth putting all of his remaining energy into one final attack. As Nick continued to return home, he'd suddenly felt a mysteriously powerful energy. The instant he'd turned around, he'd blacked out, finding himself in heaven. It was then that Nick realized he'd been killed. Even now, it was still hard for him to accept.
Annabelle looked over at the gates, then towards the pocket watch Nick was holding. "You realize that if you use your life watch, you will not be able to return to heaven unless you perform a good deed to earn your place."
"That's exactly what I intend to do," Nick responded, reaching for the hands of his life watch and rewinding it back one hour.
"Just one hour?"
"That's all I really need."
Annabelle tilted her head to the side a bit. "What exactly do you need to do down on earth?"
Nick looked towards the Pearly Gates, sighing half-heartedly. "There's someone I have to apologize to."
At that very moment, Annabelle understood what Nick was going to do. She smiled in understanding.
"Good luck, then."
Nick nodded, setting his life watch into motion, and suddenly, he disappeared.
When he could see again, Nick was back home in Misora, standing outside his house. He knew what he had to do.
"Let's hope like all heck or whatever's appropriate that this works."
On the second floor of the house, inside a still-locked bedroom, a girl close to Nick's age laid in slumber. It had been a restless slumber for a while.
This young girl was, in actuality, Nick's sister Yuki Shinoya.
She had been very sad when she learned that her big brother had died in battle. In public, she kept up her sunny persona in hopes of hiding her pain.
But when she was alone, or around her boyfriend Saiki Shidoosha, she cried her heart out. She couldn't help herself; the brother who had always been by her side from the moment she was born, someone she trusted with her very life, someone who she had a seemingly unbreakable bond with, was gone from her life forever.
Her dreams had been restless of late, so much so to the point where she was having trouble staying asleep the whole night.
So, she definitely noticed the knocking at her door.
Wiping a few stray tears from her eyes, she slipped out of bed to go see who it was. It was probably Saiki again, offering her late-night comfort as he had the past couple weeks.
Suddenly, she realized something. Something about that knock. It was kind of forceful and direct, nothing like Saiki's gentle knocking.
There was only one person she knew who had a knock like that.
But that couldn't be. It couldn't possibly be...
...could it?
Deciding to take a chance, Yuki reached for the doorknob, slowly turning it until she could open the door.
"Hey."
Yuki stood completely still, frozen by the sight before her.
Nick was standing right in front of her.
The black witch could only say one thing.
"Nick-kun..."
Nick just waved like he often did.
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, Yuki-chan, I really don't have much time to say this."
Nick again sighed half-heartedly, not even noticing Yuki's twitching right hand.
"I've only got an hour before I have to go back... up there," Nick explained, choosing his words carefully so as not to upset Yuki. "I came back because I wanted to say something to you. Something... very important."
SLAP!!!!
The sound echoed throughout the entire house as Yuki had, in the space of a single second, reached back and then slapped Nick across the face with all of her strength.
Stumbling back at the force of the strike, Nick quickly put his free hand to his now-glowing cheek. "I guess I had that coming..."
"YOU IDIOT!!!!!" Yuki screamed. "Why did you have to go and die on me?! You promised you'd always be by my side!!!"
"I had no idea what was going to happen, Yuki-chan!!!" Nick shot back. "If I'd have known Azimuth's last attack was going to kill me, I'd have gotten the hell out of there!!"
"BUT WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?!!" Yuki wailed, reaching back to slap Nick again, only for Nick to catch her hand in mid-flight.
Yuki was about to make a harsh retort, only to discover that Nick now looked like he was about to cry. That was a rare sight for Nick. Not because he was too proud to admit it, but because he often had trouble properly displaying his emotions.
"Please, Yuki-chan, just let me say this... I want to be able to say this before it's too late... I don't know if I'll ever be able to see you again, so that's why I want to say it before I lose my only chance... I don't want you to hate me..."
"What are you saying, Nick-kun?" Yuki asked. "I could NEVER hate you!! NEVER!!!"
"Then why did you slap me?"
"Because I'm UPSET that you left me!!!" Yuki explained, close to crying herself. "I get upset with you sometimes, Nick-kun, but I could NEVER hate you!! You're very special to me!! THAT'S why I'm so upset that you got yourself killed!!!"
Nick said nothing, just now realizing how much Yuki had been hurt because of his death.
One look at Nick's tear-filled brown eyes and Yuki understood why Nick had come back.
"Nick-kun..." Yuki sighed as she released her arm from Nick's grasp and reached out to hug him.
It was only a second before Nick returned the embrace, looking like he was about to lose control of himself at any moment.
"Nick-kun?"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't there something you wanted to say to me? Isn't that the reason you came back for an hour?"
Nick had almost forgotten about that thanks to the little spat that had just occurred.
"Oh, I almost forgot..."
Nick reached out to softly stroke Yuki's twilight-black hair.
"Yuki-chan?"
"Yes, Nick-kun?"
"...I'm sorry."
Yuki just nodded, leaning forward to kiss Nick on the forehead. She then said three words that really warmed Nick's heart.
"I forgive you."
The two siblings stayed locked in each other's embrace for a long time.
Before Nick even realized how much time had passed, he noticed a bright flash of light behind him. He instinctively knew his time on earth was at its end.
"You have done quite well, Nick," Annabelle's voice resounded.
Nick turned around. "I'm ready, Annabelle-san. Let's get going."
To Nick's great surprise, Annabelle shook her head. Nick was even more surprised to see that Annabelle was smiling. "I saw everything that just happened, and it made me realize that you two need each other. So, Nick, I'm sure you know that heaven's rules are quite strict, but you also should know that as the Heavenly Whippet, I have the power to bend said rules... just a little." Annabelle giggled as she added that last part.
She let it linger so it could sink in. After about ten seconds, Nick realized what Annabelle was saying.
"You... you're saying I can stay here?"
"You belong with your sister, Nick. I wouldn't dare break a bond like the one you two have. So I'm letting you have your life back. Consider it a gift."
Nick didn't really know what to say to that.
Annabelle just nodded to Nick and quickly disappeared. As quickly as it had happened, Nick could feel his heart beating again. He had indeed come back to life.
"So... you're back? You're here to stay?" Yuki asked, feeling happier with each passing second.
"Apparently, I am. If you'll have me back, that is..." Nick responded.
"On one condition."
"What?"
"If you go out in the middle of the night to fight any more of those fruit loops, let me come with you. That way, I can help you avoid any more cheap shots."
Nick smiled. "I can live with that."
Nick was about to say something else, but was interrupted when a loud yawn escaped from him. "Well, it's almost four in the morning, and I'm wiped from fighting Azimuth and getting my butt kicked by him, so I'm going to head to bed."
But before Nick could even take two steps out of the room, he felt his sister's incredibly soft hands around his own.
"Stay with me tonight, Nick-kun. Please?"
That was all the convincing that Nick needed.
As the two siblings clambered into bed, Yuki sighed happily.
"I missed you, Nick-kun. I really did."
"It was only two weeks."
"That's two weeks too long, in my opinion."
Even through his sleepy haze, Nick had to agree on that.
Within seconds, Nick and Yuki were under the covers, ready for a nice, long sleep. Thank goodness it was officially Saturday.
"Nick-kun? One more thing before we fall asleep?"
Nick just nodded, his consciousness starting to give way to sleepiness.
"I love you, Nick-kun."
Nick responded with only one sentence, yet it was all he really needed to say.
"I love you, too, Yuki-chan."