"Bye, Miss Hisako!"

"Goodbye students, have a safe trip home."

Another day of classes comes to a close, and I see the students off as they leave the schoolhouse. I turn around to head back inside and gather my belongings when something suddenly barrels into my side and wraps around me, nearly knocking me over. The shock of the impact forces the air out of my lungs, forcing me into a brief coughing fit.

"Hey, Hisojo! Let's go fishing today, you promised!" A grating childish voice blares into my ears accompanied by a cold sensation in my side. I didn't need to look down to know who it was.

"Cirno! I told you not to run off so-" I spot someone approaching in my peripherals and glance over at them. "Ah, M-Miss Hisako!" She exclaims.

"It's your fault you're so slow, Dai! Maybe try keeping up next time!" The cold feeling disappears and so does the tight feeling around my waist.

"Hello…Cirno, Daiyousei." I greet them between coughs.

"Sorry about that Miss Hisako, you know how brazen Cirno is." Daiyousei apologizes to me.

"I know, I know. No need to keep up the formalities either, we're not in class right now." I reassure her.

"What the heck does that mean?" Cirno raises a brow at Daiyousei's comment, then looks at me again with a gleam in her eyes. "Come on Hiroto, I know a good spot!"

"It's Hisako." I correct her.

"Oh, whatever! Let's go!" She begins dragging me along with her, not giving me any room to refuse. Daiyousei quickly follows behind us in a panic.

I could already feel a strain on my body, being forced to keep up Cirno's boundless energy. Yet despite the pain, her enthusiasm was infectious enough to make me smile.

Being dragged around by these two might not be so bad.

Soon enough (or rather in my case, what felt like ages) we reached a lake. I lagged behind the two fairies and hunched over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

"Are you alright, Hisako?" Daiyousei comes back to check on me.

"Just…give me a minute." I feebly tell her.

"Don't tell me you're already tired, we haven't even caught anything yet!" Cirno shouts over to us. Daiyousei supports me by the arm and walks me over to the edge of the lake.

"Have you even caught anything from this lake Cirno?" I ask her.

"Of course I have! I'm the best at fishing around here!" She gloats pridefully. Knowing her, however, this is likely a complete lie.

"Right."

"Oh, you'll see! Wait here, I'll go get our rods." Cirno says with a huff and flies off, leaving me alone with Daiyousei.

"Quite the lively company you've chosen, Daiyousei."

"Hehe, I could say the same to you, Hisako." Daiyousei giggled and smiled at me. "Fairies terrorize humans from time to time, you know?"

"The most I've seen them do are practical jokes."

"That's because there are rules even we can't break here. Besides, I'm glad you do spend time with us, but is there a reason you do?"

A reason? If I had to say one, then…

"...I felt like it, I guess." I answer with a shrug.

"I suppose that's reason enough then." She seemed satisfied with my answer.

"I'm back!" Cirno's rambunctious voice soon returned to our ears. She landed next to us holding fishing rods. Or at least, what were meant to be fishing rods. These 'fishing rods' were sticks with thread loosely tied to one of their ends, with a finely crafted metal hook tied to the other end of the thread that stuck out from how shoddy the rest of the design looked.

"You make these yourself?

"Obviously!" She puffs out her chest in pride once more. That zest of hers quickly fades as Daiyousei shoots her an annoyed glance."U-Um, well I made most of them. The hooks I got from some blue lady that scared me the other day. She was pretty happy about it…weird. Whatever, let's get fishing already!" She shoves a fishing rod into both me and Daiyousei's hands and casts her line into the lake.

"Cirno, we'll need bait if we want to catch anything." Daiyousei speaks up with a roll in her eyes.

"Oh, right. Good thinking Dai! I'll be right back!" She drops her fishing rod and flies off in the other direction, then returns with a handful of dirt. Something appeared to be moving inside it, or rather, some things. "Got some, let's get started for real this time!" She drops the clump of dirt next to me, I can see the wriggling bodies of earthworms squirming about inside. One is yanked out of the cluster by her and is cast into the lake on the hook of her rod. Me and Daiyousei follow her example.

"So, what now? I've never done this before?" I ask.

"Wait for the fish to come to us." Cirno answers confidently.

"Is it really so simple?"

"U-Um, well, it works eventually…?"

Somehow I doubt that.

The sun hangs low above us, the sky being dyed in the orange hue of the early evening.

We didn't catch a single thing.

"Cirno…let's just stop for today. Hisako looks tired." Daiyousei tells Cirno, to which she shakes her head.

"Come on, just a bit longer. I swear we'll catch something soon." She replies.

"It's fine Cirno. It's About time for me to head back anyway." I say with a yawn. "We can try again another day."

"You promise?" Cirno looks up at me expectantly.

I hesitate to answer her. Will there be another time? I…

"...I promise."

"Good! I've still yet to show off my fishing skills!"

"That's why you were upset?" Daiyousei says with an amused tone.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. I'll be reprimanded if I get caught staying outside the village too late." I stand up and begin walking on the path back towards the village. Cirno and Daiyousei join me at my sides.

"By the way, are there other fairies like you two? You only seem to hang around each other." I ask them.

"There are a few we know. We haven't talked in a while though, I wonder what they're up to…" Daiyousei explains.

"They better not be leaving us out of anything fun, I'll never forgive them for it." Cirno grumbles.

"You said that last week and forgave them anyway."

"W-Well um-! This is this and that is that!"

Watching the two banter as I walked with them filled me with such a giddy feeling. Something I hadn't felt in a long time: the silent bliss of being with friends.

"You know…" I suddenly speak up, garnering the attention of the other two. "Thanks, for spending time with me today."

They both go quiet at my sincerity and a bit red in the face. Daiyousei averts her eyes from me while Cirno recovers and flashes me a grin.

"A-As you should! The s-strongest doesn't just hang around anybody…haha…" Cirno's prideful facade didn't last long and she looked away soon after it faded. As she does, Daiyousei glances back at me with an equally sincere expression.

"No need to thankful, Hisako. We're just as happy you agreed to this, even if Cirno won't admit it." She looks forward again after speaking.

None of us really spoke after that, likely because we were all too embarrassed to. But one thing for certain is that we were all content.

For just a short while, I could forget what little time I had left.

So thank you, Cirno and Daiyousei. If I die now, I can accept it.

The main driving force behind writing this story was I liked the idea of a character who was set to die soon befriending characters who don't exactly understand or have the concept of death themselves, like fairies. That and also the contrast of the heavy weight of someone who's expected to die soon innocently playing around with what are essentially immortal children.

I originally wanted to end the story here on a bit of a more grim note, having Hisako quietly pass away happily while playing with fairies, but felt it to be a bit sudden and out of place despite the story's premise.

At least now, I want Hisako to pass on in a more meaningful way. (Or something like that idk)

As always, thanks again for reading.