Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Laura Marling's "Alas, I Cannot Swim", her song "Shine" from said album, nor Eyeshield 21.

If you like this story half as much as I adore Bragi151, then send him some love for the storyline via PM.


It wasn't the demons taking the shape of his friends that made Juumonji falter. It wasn't the dream of Sena begging him to stop, that he didn't want to come back from death that made him take a break from his labor of love.

It was Sena's eyes.

He was so close to completing the corporeal husk that the Tome claimed was needed for a soul to inhabit once coaxed back from death. He carefully recreated most of Sena's head. His unruly hair, his boyish face, but for—

The torso with the slim, nearly hairless pectorals. Sena's slim shoulders, deceptively delicate arms, calloused hands—easy, all of it. He could recreate all of it from memory; barely needed the reference photos.

His slim, sleek runner's legs with the corded muscles were a pleasure to sculpt, his—erm, more private areas were also easily recreated, but embarrassingly and, thankfully, completely without reference photos. His tough, firm feet that planted him so firmly and carried him so far.

But his eyes. Juumonji couldn't look into Sena's dead eyes.

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After the voice had shown Sena the window, he couldn't help but spend his time there. Time. What was time in death, anyway?

Occasionally, lost and bewildered souls would wander past, but they would easily lose interest and leave Sena to his window.

When it got too much and he managed to wrench himself away from the window, he followed the Old Man around death. The Old Man still wasn't quite happy with the stunt he'd pulled on the train, but there was no real animosity between the two, so the Old Man allowed Sena to follow, for a time, until Sena was pulled back to his window.

It was hard. So hard to watch his once-love, his still-love, being crushed under the weight of the magic, of his friends, of the demons. His cheeks were so hollow, his face lined. His eyes were the worst, though, completely losing their shine.