It was a kind of agonizing acceptance that fell over him, as he gazed at Mizuto. He bore no hatred, no rage, no terror, no despair over what was about to occur. Meeting the blonde boy's blue eyes, he slowly unwound his arms from his waist, letting his hands hang limply at his sides. Evergreen clattered to the floor.

"Steel yourself, Mizuto." He murmured soothingly. Despite the gun he held to Toneriko's chest, Mizuto seemed uncertain, wavering.

The part of him that had always gotten him out of these scraps was silent for once, although he still noticed with a detached interest how Mizuto's arm trembled, how there was no strength in any of the boy's limbs.

It was Toneriko's own fault they were at this point.

He'd always been told that the Numbers were better than others. They were superior in every way. Stronger, smarter, crueler.

Emotions already in a whirlwind over knowing if Mizuto stayed with him he'd get killed, it had been easy for Ageha to convince him.

No.

That was a lie. He'd wanted so badly to surrender control to someone else, for someone to take charge and make the decisions for him, that he'd let Ageha's sugared words destroy his relationship with Mizuto.

Mizuto had been the only light in his world of darkness. When he was hurt, it had been Mizuto who had healed him. When he had woke screaming in the middle of the night, scrabbling for Evergreen, it had been Mizuto who had held him and calmed him down. When he had needed peace, he'd fled to Mizuto.

He'd told Mizuto everything he'd done, of the thousand he had smiled at as Evergreen bathed in their blood, and Mizuto had still stood by his side.

Pointing Evergreen at Mizuto's head, Ageha's hands on his shoulders, voice whispering in his ear, had been the hardest thing he'd ever done.

Squeezing Evergreen's trigger, even if the bullet missed Mizuto, had been even harder.

He'd been numb when he'd learned Mizuto had joined with Honeybee.

Do all your eyes look so lost?

It wasn't their eyes. It was their souls.

Mizuto flicked the safety off, the click resounding throughout the empty room. Toneriko studied him quietly, then smiled sorrowfully.

"Lost." Mizuto whispered, shattering the thick silence around them.

"I…All this time. It's the way to save you. But…I'm lost too, Riko." Diamond tears fell from aqua eyes.

"I'm lost." Mizuto's shoulders shook, sobs wracking his body. Toneriko reached out without thinking, pulling Mizuto into an embrace even as the muzzle of the gun pressed into his chest.

"I'm sorry. I know it's my fault." Toneriko murmured.

He felt Mizuto squeeze the trigger seconds before his stomach exploded.

He reached up, touching Mizuto's cheek as the blond boy screamed, wrapping his arms around him. He couldn't have fought Mizuto's healing magic if he'd wanted too, but he burrowed his face in Mizuto's chest, breathing in Mizuto's warmth for the last time.

Scarlet was everywhere, on Mizuto's white shirt, on his own uniform.

He was too far gone to save.

His amethyst eyes closed, a faint, sad smile on his lips.

"Forgive me." He breathed out, the words rattling in his shredded lungs for a long moment until finally falling silent.

Mizuto's wails followed him into nothingness.