Arima Kousei, the Human Metronome, finally felt at peace. It was almost like he had completed his life's greatest piece. And now, he felt that he was floating around in space aimlessly.

'Is this what death feels like?' He thought, 'Is this what she sought?'

And by "she", Arima meant a girl with a fiery personality who brought down the walls he had built around his heart and had stolen it. It was none other than Kaori Miyazono.

'What will she think? Will she be mad at him for dying? Will she be happy at seeing him? Or both?' He thought while chuckling.

"You shouldn't be worrying about that right now. In fact, you should be worried about what I'm thinking, Kousei." A calm voice said, interrupting Kousei's thoughts.

Kousei cracked open an eye and looked around. Soon enough, he found the owner of the voice.

It was a man wearing a black tuxedo with a book in one hand. He was 4'10 with a few wrinkles on his face and icy blue eyes. The funny thing was, he was wearing a tortilla chip sombrero hat.

"And may I ask, who are you? And why should I be worried about what you think?" Kousei asked amusedly, looking at the hat.

"Well, I am known by many names. Jesus, Zeus, The Prophet, Odin,etc. are some of the most common ones you hear. And as for your second question, do you honestly know how much paperwork I have to do just because you died way too earlier than you're supposed to? Let me tell you, it's a nightmare. All the departments have been disrupted because of you. Many who were supposed to go on vacation, including me, now have to work overtime." The man answered, with a slight edge to his voice.

Kousei, meanwhile, was very calm, despite the fact that he was facing God.

Very calmly, kousei answered, "See, I don't care what happens in your departments or how much paperwork you have to do. And don't try to blame me for your mistakes. What do you expect a guy, who has lost the two people that mattered the most to him, to do except su*cide?"

The man sighed and said, "I admit the part we played in their demise. Initially, none of them were supposed to have the disease but someone was too drunk to realise who he had given the disease to."

"Hey, it's not my fault that 'Saki' and 'Sakii' are different people", an indignant voice shouted from somewhere.

"Shut up and go back to cleaning those floors. We still haven't recovered from your blunder." The man turned and shouted back in reply and turned back towards Kousei and said, "But don't worry, we'll fix this in a jiffy. Just need to get the time walkers to fix the timeline and you'll b–"

"No. I will not be going back. I want to go see Kaori and Mom." Kousei interrupted him before he could finish.

…

…

…

"Well, this is a first. Many requests, even begging to be sent back. You are the first one refuse and may I ask the reason for your refusal?" The man inquired with a curious expression.

"I can't go back. I can't see them die again. It'll be too much." Kousei replied with a hollow expression on his face.

The man remained silent for a minute and then burst out bellowing.

Kousei was confused and then became angered at him for laughing at his plight. However, before he could voice out his thoughts, the man wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and said, "Who said anything about them dying? It was a mistake on our part. Didn't I say that already?"

Kousei was shocked. Hesitantly, he asked, " So, if I go back they won't die?"

The man nodded but didn't say anything, knowing that it would take some time for Kousei to come to terms with the fact that Kaori and his mother will not die.

After a few minutes had passed, tears streaked down Kousei's eyes. These were not the tears of grief and sadness. Instead, they were tears of joy and relief. Joy that he will see them again and relief that they won't die.

This went on for some time and finally, Kousei replied, "Alright. You can send me back. But before that, how far will you send me back?"

"You will be sent back to when you were 10 years old. And before you ask, yes, you will retain your memory." The man replied, while looking in his book.

Kousei nodded, and embraced himself for the journey.

Suddenly, he was covered in a white light and seemed to be getting brighter.

Just before he lost consciousness, he heard the man say, "As for the question you were thinking about, yes, Kaori is mad at you. So mad, in fact that she is using some very … colorful words."

The last thing he heard was the man's laughter.

[A/N: Sorry guys for the delay. I had my exams and the new semester had so much workload that I couldn't update. Have a good day.]