Chapter 2

She didn't know how much longer she could do this. The burning hole in her chest was making it nearly impossible to just sit there waiting for it to completely devour her. More than anything, Raimei wished she could just run away and never look back, but the acceptance of what was about to come had rendered her body immobile. She couldn't run from this, even if she desperately wanted to.

As she lay motionless, something within the confines of her mind was informing her that she was bleeding, but she effortlessly faded the warning into silence. She wasn't even the slightest bit concerned about her physical self. That pain was trivial, barely even meriting her acknowledgement. The pain she was feeling wasn't in her flesh but somewhere much deeper. Somewhere that couldn't be reached.

She sighed at the sobering realization. Stab wounds were simple, she thought solemnly to herself, merely warranting some gauze and a few strips of tape.

The pain one endures when they sever themselves from another human being is something entirely different.

Raimei was no stranger to separation. She had gone through the process multiple times, all in one brief moment. She had not known prior to that terrible day the disadvantages to forming a bond with so many numerous people. She had freely given away her whole heart to her family, and when they had unexpectedly left this earth, they took those irreplaceable pieces with them.

It was something of a miracle when she realized years later that she still possessed a few tiny fragments. She had not known till this very moment though, that she had unconsciously given them away.

Raimei smiled sadly to herself as she began to picture their faces. They had become the things that kept her just beyond the brink of insanity. When all she had felt like doing was giving up the fight and letting the darkness envelop her completely, she heard their laughter, and she remembered why it was she fought in the first place.

She remembered Miharu's ridiculous outfit at the train station.

She remembered the first time she witnessed just how severe Tabari Sensai's fear of moving vehicles was.

… She remembered how it felt to see Kouichi blush.

The edges of the hole in her chest burned faintly.

It had seemed like hours had gone by since she had first felt him approach, but now she felt him suddenly more ominous. Raimei knew he was patiently waiting for some sort of acknowledgement on her end; the familiar assurance that told him, despite everything that had just transpired, she was going to be ok.

But she didn't know if she could give him that this time, because this time, he was the one causing the pain.

Raimei exhaled frustratingly. This dependency that she had developed towards Kouichi unsettled her greatly. She had come to need him for reasons that didn't even make sense to her. She hadn't been prepared for the surge of joy she had felt upon seeing him again during their encounter with the new Kira user. When her eyes had locked onto his figure in disbelief, it had taken all of her restraint to force herself from not running into his arms. Her aching heart in that moment had endorsed the idea that his sudden reappearance into her life meant that he had returned for good. However, one look into his eyes had shattered that dream completely. This had been a chance meeting, a mistake. And now he was trying to leave again, only this time, she knew it would be permanent.

She heard the gravel crunch lazily under his feet as he knelt down to be level with her. She could feel his soft gaze searching the lines of her face for some kind of indication as to what was going on internally. She wasn't at all sure what he would find. She hardly knew herself how to organize all of the numerous emotions into something of a definition. All she knew was, he was all she had left…

And she needed him.

Raimei sighed wearily, all the more loathing herself for being such a coward.

Why was that so difficult to admit to him? Why couldn't she just tell him that she needed him to stay with her? Why couldn't she tell him that she was afraid she was falling for him...?

She felt the tears threatening to surface once again and she cursed herself for caring for someone whose fate was already sealed.

Even if she did pour out her heart to him, deep down, she knew it wouldn't make any difference. Her confession wouldn't erase the fact that he was an immortal and she was not. They would never be able to set that distinction aside. His immortality was his most hated burden, and he was determined to rid himself of it. How could she possibly believe that her feelings for him would be enough to make him abandon his quest to end his very existence? She could give him everything that was left of her, and he would still have no choice but to walk away.

And she would be left with nothing.

Fate was a curious thing, thought Raimei bitterly. Only fate would have it arranged so that the girl with but a shard of love left in her heart to give would end up giving it to the one boy who wanted to accept it but couldn't.

Yes, thought Raimei as she brought herself back to the present, fate was a curious thing indeed.