Gray eyes looked out the faculty room window, watching the students leave the school premises through the main gate. Long black hair swayed from left to right as the eyes closed, a sigh emanating from the person's mouth before turning their back to the window. Turning her attention to her well kept desk, a vase of lillies adorning her otherwise filled with books desk, the person sighed once more and looked at the ceiling , contemplating what to do.
She knew what she should do, why to do it and the person she should talk to about it, but she couldn't move from her spot. Fear kept her there, frozen on the spot, her blood running cold at the thought of doing what she had to do. But she had to do it, to keep her students safe and alive. Sighing once more, she wondered why she had to be picked as the homeroom teacher assisstant for the class 3 of Yomiyama North Middle School. Taking in a deep breath, she looked with determination at the door and started making her way towards the hallway, gray eyes taking in the way the sun cast a shadow on the walls through the windows.
Making her way towards the auxilary library, where she knew the person she needed to talk would be, she wondered how would he take in everything she was about to tell him. Smiling sadly to herself, she descended the stairs, took a right down the shadowy hallway and stopped in front of the door. Looking down at her feet, she wondered if she should disturb him with this, as he had nothing to do with it, but she could not go on without at least telling him what she had to say. Opening the door, she let herself in, eyes immediately searching for that person , sliding over the shelves filled to the brim with books and records of past grades. Seeing him sit down at his desk as always, she smiled as nothing changed since the last time she was in there.
Making her way towards his desk, capturing his attention as the habit of dragging her feet when comfortable with the person in the same room as hers came out. Smiling widely, she stopped in front of his desk, watching him for one second, before inclining her head as saying hi, then turning to look at the school grounds through the window next to his desk. He looked at her, perplexed as to why the assistant teacher would come in to look at the school from his window, but waited for her to start talking.
'Chibiki-san' she started, drawing his attention to her gray eyes. 'I guess you are wondering why I came here' he nodded at her affirmation, still keeping quiet 'I...I guess the others already told you, how to stop this' she waved her hand around as to show him something invisible, struggling with the words as to how to just tell him without leaving anything out .
'Hai' was his answer as he stood up from his chair, standing next to her , looking down to the school grounds as her eyes kept watching his face. Sighing, she closed her eyes, turning to the window, leaning on it as she kept taking 'this curse, i really hoped it was just a joke or it would not happen while i was teaching, or that it would disappear and not harm anyone' she stopped once more, trying to not cry as she thought about the death of one of her favorite students. Image from her accident flashing through her mind, she clamped her lips shut tight to stop that sob from coming out 'I...I...Fujiwara-san was innocent, so studious, so nice and sweet. I still can't accept she is gone' she looked through the glass she was leaning on, not seeing anything but her own cloudy gray eyes staring right back at her.
'Hai, she was all that, but the curse doesn't care about that' was his reply as he turned to gaze at her 'If you also know how to stop this curse, we should try and find the one involved in starting all this'
She nodded, agreeing with him , before whispering 'Return the dead to death huh?'
'Yes, though it is a little hard to just guess who is the dead one, we don't really have a way of finding out' he said
'i...i know who it is' she whispered so low, he might have not caught it at all if he wouldn't have stood so close to her. Black eyes widened as his brain finally caught up to his ears. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her fully towards him, eyes squinting at her shaking form , trying to make her to talk
'Haruta-san, how? No...who? Please, tell me everything' he finally managed to form a coherent sentence. Her gray eyes looked up into his, making him jump a bit as something looked familiar in that cloudy gaze, but he could not remember what or why
'When I heard the tape' she started, keeping her eyes on his face for his expression, fists clenched at her sides , trying to keep herself from shaking 'I started thinking who could it be, and why was our countermeasures not working. Silly everyone, we always thought it was only the students, so we overlooked the teachers' she explained in a low voice, afraid of what might happen if she were to speak louder. 'I ...The dead person was always so close to us and yet so overlooked , that no one even thought about pointing to them' she continued on, eyes flickering from his eyes to the desk behind him and back, struggling between being embarrassed and courage to keep talking 'The dead person is me' she finally whispered, making his eyes widen and look at her as she would have just grown another head next to her original one
'...' silence was his reply, still trying to comprehend what she just told him, before letting his hands drop from her shoulders, sighing as he straightened up 'stop imagining stupid things, Haruta-san' he said as he turned his back to her, determined to stop this silly talk and take her home to rest for the day, as it seemed the happenings of this week took their strain on her nerves. His thoughts were stopped short as a hand tugged on his shirt, and he turned his head to look at her, tears forming into her eyes as she looked at him with determination, gray eyes storming with so many emotions
'Chibiki-san...no Tatsuji' she said his name, making his heart skip a beat for no reason, the way she said his name resonating through his brain like an echo, tugging something from the back folders of his head, trying to grasp at the familiarity of what her voice was trying to tell him 'Believe me! ' she almost shouted at him 'I am in no way alive, I know it sounds stupid, hard to believe, silly, the product of stress and nerves...hell, I couldn't believe it either' she said, chuckling with no humor 'but...' she stopped, not knowing how to continue, before starting again 'but it's true, Tatsuji-kun' his eyes widened, an image of a green dress flashing through his head, before narrowing again as to why he would think about a green dress 'I shouldn't even be here' she continued, her eyes void of emotions once more ' I should just go to the river and jump, not even try to tell anyone what I am or even say goodbye. I never thought I would be the cause of someone's death' she ran a hand over her face as she sighed, her voice tired and low 'I don't even know why now, after so many years' she said, looking at him through narrowed eyes 'you prolly don't remember anything, thinking I am just a new teacher assistant' once again she laughed sadly , before looking down at her feet 'I don't know how i remembered either, maybe because the guilt of me killing Fujiwara, or maybe I hit my head or Kami knows why, but I had to come tell you this, Tatsuji-kun' He kept silent, not knowing what to say,his mind trying to remember if he ever saw this woman in front of him before her job here, coming up with nothing but the image of a green dress. Sighing as she saw he looked just as always, she lifted her hand, her fingers running through his silver hair 'the color does you good, Tatsuji-kun, though I liked it when it was black better' she smiled bitterly 'You aged well' she continued, hoping he would remember without her having to tell him everything.
Gasping at the touch, he looked down at her, finally the green dress getting an owner, narrowing his eyes once more as black hair became a loose bun with a lily clipped into it and the stormy gray eyes which looked into his very soul now had a happier expression back then
'Mi-Mika?' he questioned , not fully believing yet what his heart was telling him.
'Hai' she smiled, eyes closed as she leaned towards him 'I missed you Tatsuji-kun' she said, hugging him as he stood still, like a statue
'How...' he remembered how she fell down the hill after she saved one of her students back then...the woman in his arms was the 'Death of October' , a death everyone in town cried and regretted
'I do not know either, it's been like what 20 years?' again that hollow laugh he hated 'Guess the curse just didn't like my sacrifice much' Wrapping his arms around her tiny frame, he wished he could do something to keep her there forever
'20 years...and you come now to see me as an old man' he replied , tears almost welling up behind his glasses
'For me, you are still the same as always, Tatsuji-kun. After all, there was a 20 years difference between us then too...I fell for your soul, not your age' she said with that kind smile he loved
'i...i ' he didn't know what to say . I want you to stay? I dont care how many die?Stay with me? I missed you? He knew all those things would make her sad and she would point him she would not want people's lives to burden her heart...a heart that stopped long ago from beating, but never from loving
'We never did have that dance you promised me' she said, making him turn his head to the right to not let her see she can still make him blush after so long
'Why are you here?' he tried to detach himself from her, to make her hate him, to make her go away
'Because...I love you' she said, running her fingers through her long hair, a sign she was embarrased of saying the truth outloud 'i had to see you one last time before...going away' she continued , eyes still cast away from his face 'You will prolly forget about me when i...disappear, so I had to use this opportunity to tell you how I felt all this time' she looked at him once more, eyes hard 'And to ask you to return me to my rightful place' His eyes doubled in size when he finally understood what she came here for
'No' was his reply
'Please, I do not deserve to go away on my own after killing Fujiwara with my presence' she pleaded with him, tears spilling as she kept seeing Fujiwara Eiko dying again and again in front of her eyes 'You have to do this before someone else dies because of me' she continued 'I don't want that to happen...my class...my students...they all deserve to be happy, alive, not dead like me' he knew what she meant by 'dead like me' : to come back to life just to kill other people with their presence. He closed his eyes, hoping it would all be a nightmare when he opened them again, but it was not meant to be. She was still there, still crying, still pleading with him to return her to her rightful place.
'I..I can't' he finally said, admitting he could not lose her a second time. Smiling, she stopped pleading, and stepped closer
'Then...can i have that promised dance?' she asked, reaching for his hand with hers . he couldn't say a thing,he just stared and entwined his fingers with hers, pulling her close as he wrapped his arm around her waist, eyes closed as they became the persons twenty years ago: him with long black hair, admiring and loving the person in his arms and wishing for a happy life; her, the same as now but with smiling eyes and cheerful attitude about everything. He looked down at her, before letting his fingers trail up her arm, to her shoulder, sliding up to her cheek, caressing the soft skin underneath his fingertips. Smiling , he leaned close to her, feeling her warm breath on his face, her rosy cheeks turning red, her gray eyes covered by her eyelids as she leaned into him as well. Kissing her for the first time since he first laid eyes on her, he took in her perfume, her body against his as they swayed together to an unheard melody, her skin touching his, her lips against his, and capturing that moment forever in his mind, he heard her gasp. Opening his eyes, he saw her wide eyes looking at him, tears spilling his cheeks , mirroring her tears, before leaning back, placing her down on his chair as her breath became labored, but that kind, sweet smile he loved was still there
'Arigatou, Tatsuji-kun' she said, closing her eyes as she still smiled, his fingers ghosting over her cheek once more, before dropping down, watching as blood seeped from her wound down her black jacket 'she never did like light colors' he thought amusedly , before crying into her neck as his hand finally released the knife he used to stab her non-beating heart, to make her wish come true to the price of his heart following her slowly disappearing spirit for the second time in his lifetime
'Next time we meet, will be because I found you' he whispered into her ear, almost hearing her reply even though she was not moving, not breathing 'i will wait for you' Turning away from her, he made his way towards the faculty room, and saw there Tachibana, the P.E teacher
'have you seen Haruta?' he asked, making the other teacher look up and think hard about the name Haruta
'erm, Chibiki-san, who is this Haruta? I don't have any students named like that' Tachibana answered
'Oh, then i guess i might have gotten her name wrong' the silver haired man said, before turning away, eyes closed as he made his way towards his now empty desk, devoid of any black haired teacher assistant or any blood or trace of her ever being there 'i won't forget you so easily this time, Mika' he whispered to no one but himself, turning back to his papers, trying not to cry as he saw a lily on his desk