''It's cold….So cold…'' I am thinking as I am trying to warm my dear friend Suzuno… We were very little when all this happened, and we ended up here. We used to have a really good life. Both of us. Our parents were really nice with us, and we had a warm house waiting for us every evening after elementary school. But…Everything changed…

One day somehow a really big fire burst inside our house. ''Suzuno, Nagumo! Please get out of here!'' They shouted to us. Suzuno was very little by then. I am 2 years older than him . ''But…Mommy…What about you and Daddy?'' I shouted back. Suzuno was in tears. My mother looked at me with a worried face and I understood she did that for our own good. The last thing she said to me was…. ''I love you,Nagumo,Suzuno…'' We stood out of our house looking at it in fires. Suzuno couldn't stop crying… I did my best to not cry… For Suzuno. I wanted to show him that I was strong enough… After all that happened, The police came… They were talking about getting us to an orphanage… Suzuno didn't want that…She started screaming and shouting. ''Shh…'' I shused and hugged him. ''We'll not go to an orphanage!'' I reassured him fake smiling. I waited for the right time to come and we ran away…From everything. We ran till the Black alley on the back of the town… Then Suzuno tugged on my hand. ''Nagumo…Where will we stay?'' he said with tears in his eyes. I kneeled to his side…''Suzuno…This is our new home!'' I don't know how this came up my mind.

It's been about 2 years since then. We have luckily found some old mattress to sleep with. It keeps us a little warm. We didn't have money nor food. The only way was… to steal a loaf of bread from the convenience store. We tried our best everyday… Some days we were about to get caught. But some days we were lucky enough to get some chocolate bars too. I am so happy to see Suzuno smiling when he eats… He almost never smiles the latest days. I suddenly hear a muffled cough. It's Suzuno! He is sitting down with black circles under his eyes and a very pale face. He has been like this for a long time now. I don't exactly know if he is okay… ''Suzuno are you alright? Here take some of the bread.'' He pushed the piece of bread back to me… ''You need it more than I do…'' He said in a hoarse voice. I looked down at my feet. ''Okay then…Let's go to sleep I guess… You must be tired.'' In fact both of us were tired. Even though we are eating something every day we are very frail… I spread the mattress on the ground and called him to come next to me. He came faking happiness. He snuggled next to me and whispered…

''Goodnight, Nagumo…''

''Goodnight,Suzuno…'' I whispered back.

The morning came. I woke up from a jingling sound. I suddenly saw a woman with long black hair in probably her late teens standing over us. She looked at us pitifully. The jingling sound was… Money! I couldn't believe my eyes! ''Thank you so much!'' I said happily. She smiled at me and continued walking. I counted the money. It was 500 yen! We could buy something for both of us! I smiled and went straight to Suzuno's place. He was even paler than yesterday. ''Hey…Suzuno! Suzuno wake up! I have really good news!'' I gently pushed his hand. ''Uh…Later I am tired…'' Suzuno mumbled turning to the other side. ''Suzuno! Wake up! They gave us 500 yen!'' He hopped out suddenly in energy. ''500 yen? Oh my Godness! Can we go buy two Cupcakes?'' I smiled. ''Of course we can!'' I told him and took him by the hand. We walked around town to the closest cupcake store. I took one with strawberry and he took one with sugar. We paid for what we bought and walked back to our ''house''. Suzuno smiled the whole way back. I was so happy for him… All thanks to that woman. I wonder who she was…

He was enjoying every piece of his cupcake, like it was something precious. In fact, it was. We would probably never eat something like that again. After he finished he walked up to the street lamp. He had been staring at it for long two days. ''What is it Suzuno?'' he looked at me… I suddenly noticed. A Football team poster was on the lamp. ''I wish I could play football with them, and have nice clothes like them…'' He hid his face with the back of his hand. I held his hand… ''Someday…We will hold hands like this… And we'll play football together as a team!'' I smiled, he smiled too. He ran to the mattress. What was he thinking now? I saw him curling up the mattress into ball shape. '' What's on your mind now?'' I asked him. ''I'm making a ball! So we can play together now!'' I was moved by that… Then when he finished he showed me a nice round mattress ''ball''. It was steady and didn't fold out. ''Wow you really have talent don't you!''' I said clapping. ''Hey let's play what are we waiting for! This is my half and this is your half!'' He said making a small line with his hand on the ground. ''You'll try to steal the ball from me okay?'' He put the ''ball'' on his ''half'' . ''Ichi! Ni! Kickoff!'' He shouted and started running trying to confuse me and keep the ''ball'' on his control. But I was fast enough to steal it from him! I got it and started running over to his half. ''Hey! You'll see what's going to happe-'' He was cut off by a very harsh coughing fit. I left the ''ball'' to where it was and ran over to him. ''Suzuno! Suzuno! Are you okay?'' He stopped coughing and looked up to my eyes sweatdropping. ''It…It is nothing don't worry!'' He smiled. It was getting darker… He was getting frailer. I unfolded the mattress ''ball'' and spread it down to sleep. He came next to me and immediately fell asleep.

That winter is very cold. Suzuno is just looking at the view from the alley with our ragged blanket over his legs. He suddenly started coughing. His coughs are getting worse and worse every day. Sometimes they don't even ease up and he struggles to breath. I saw an orange tree some feet away. I run to it and cut an orange. ''For Suzuno...'' I thought. I went back to Suzuno's place.

''Hey Suzuno! I found an orange for you! Would you like to eat some now?'' I showed him the orange. ''I want to eat something warm...'' He mumbled... I looked down. ''Well...Do you want to sleep then? You seem tired!'' I said patting his head. ''I want to sleep on a soft blanket...'' He mumbled again... ''Well since... You were not feeling much good... What would cheer you up? A game of football like we used to play?''

He suddenly grabbed my hand! I noticed there was blood on it... I realised what was happening. He kept running dragging me to a place we both knew well. The sea... We were spending a lot of time playing there as kids. We played a lot, I say lots of football there. I looked at Suzuno's face... He was crying! ''Suzuno... What's wrong?'' I asked him. His eyes shot open. ''Please... Let me keep the promise! I need to keep the promise...'' He shouted with all the strength he had.

Suzuno's POV

The end is coming... I can feel it... I just can't think of leaving Nagumo alone... I saw him coming straight at me... ''Hey Suzuno! I found an orange for you! Would you like to eat some now?'' He said. ''I want to eat something warm...'' I mumbled... ''Well...Do you want to sleep then? You seem tired!'' How good is he... He tries to make me feel nice, even if he is suffering on his own... ''I want to sleep on a soft blanket...'' I mumbled again without thinking... I know I am asking for too much... But I just can't take this anymore ''Well since... You were not feeling much good... What would cheer you up? A game of football like we used to play?''

This moved me... It gave me tears... Suddenly I remembered! The Promise we made on that day... We promised that we'll play football together... I have to keep the promise... Even if the end comes... Ι hugged our mattress and I grabbed his hand and started running! Bumping on to people who cursed on us. But I didn't care! The only think I wanted was to keep that promise! I ran to the sea! The sea was precious to me and Nagumo... I cried... Tears flown down my pale face. '' Suzuno... What's wrong?'' He asked me. ''Please... Let me keep the promise! I need to keep the promise...'' I shouted...

End of Suzuno's POV

We finally arrived at the sea. He put the ''ball'' down. Traced a line on the snow. The known steps. ''Let's play, Nagumo…'' He whispered. He tried to run to make me not to get the ball… But he was too frail to even run. He tried his best though… And most of all he Smiled! Our game ended fast as I was the first one to score a goal! ''Goal!'' I shouted trying to play happy. He walked to me slowly and hugged me… ''Nice work,Nagumo…'' He whispered… His eyes filled with tears… Mine were too… Full of tears. They flown down my face. For the first time after so many years….

Suzuno suddenly fell on the snow… I sat next to him… I knew what was coming next… I couldn't bear seeing it… Ending like this… He looked at his blood covered hand… and smiled in tears… I thought of something to hide my tears. I gathered snow… And started laughing… But it was so scary and sad at that time. He looked at my side and smiled at little… His face paler and paler. His eyes duller and duller losing their light. ''Hey…Nagumo…Don't…Ever…For…Forget me okay?'' His voice trembling… ''Don't say that!'' I shouted holding his hand. He tried speaking… But… His body fell limp… His eyes closed… I was in shock… He left me… ''Suzuno! Suzuno! Please wake up! I want us to eat the stolen bread one more time! And play football! And fulfill our dreams…Didn't we promise we'll always be together?'' Huge tears flowing on my cheeks. I screamed, sobbed, shouted… for many minutes that were like days. I felt someone was looking over us. It was… It was… The woman that gave us money! ''Carry him up there with me at the Sun Garden Orphanage… If we warm him up, he'll probably wake up'' She whispered patting my back… The Sun Garden Orphanage… Probably this is where we should have gone long ago… Why did I listen to him… Why didn't we go there… We were so lucky that woman found us… I carried him up there and we entered the orphanage… A new life's probably starting for us?