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You and Rei Miyamoto are on the roof of the mall, both on your backs, gazing at the night sky. The somber atmosphere around you and her is almost stifling, so you speak up.
"What are you doing up here?"
You ask hoarsely, and choke down the bitter feelings that try to surge out of your throat. Rei chuckles, a sound that is flat and empty, and tilts her head to look at you.
"The same reason you're here." She responds, and shifts her gaze back to the night sky. "Seeing them together makes me want to kill somebody." She admits, and lets out a low laugh.
You make a small grunt of agreement. You push yourself up with your palms and sigh irritably. The beauty of the night seems to be lost on you, and you are in no mood for pleasantries tonight. Both of them can go fuck themselves, you think, and flick a small pebble off the building.
"Say…" You look over to Rei, whose eyes are full of fat salty tears. She turns and meets your gaze, both understanding and hatred shining through her eyes. "Do you still love Takashi? Even after all that he's done."
Your voice cracks when you say his name, but you force yourself into a state of numbness. Detaching yourself from your emotions is remarkably easy in this post-apocalyptic world. You learn things that help you to survive, and you learn things that help you go on living.
"Of course I do. And I know that the same goes for you." Rei whispers her answer wistfully and tugs at her brown locks with disdain in her eyes, as if willing it to change colour. "I see the way you look at her. After all, it's the same way I look at him."
Her voice trails off at the mention of Saeko, and you feel an unfathomable anger boil through your veins. You want to curse the world, curse the people, and curse her for existing, but you don't. You simple sit stiffly on the roof, gazing at the abandoned twilight sky.
You suddenly let out a laugh at the irony of the situation. Rei throws you a look, and you chuckle madly.
"Isn't weird how both of us, who gave them everything, were thrown away in the end? Now we're both stuck up here, together, staring at the sky like it's going to send a bolt of lightning down to kill us."
You hear yourself say, and Rei goes silent for a little while, as if processing what you just said.
"It is weird. But we can't do much, can we?"
Rei makes a movement to stand up, and dusts the dirt of her knees. She extends her hand to you, and your eyes meet hers as you grab it.
"We may be able to choose who to kill and who to save, but in the end, we can't choose who to love."