39 The Death in Your Eyes

in the club room, Suzuki gave me a bag of cookies while bowing down, she then explained

"It suddenly dissappeared yesterday and I didn't know what to do so I just..."

"it's fine I don't really care that much"

it's true that I was desperate yesterday but now that I'm calm, I don't really care about it

"interesting..." said Hiragi-senpai "the bag I prepared for Sawano Aru suddenly disappeared, but I didn't bring you anything today too, did I make a mistake?"

"No,not really I don't think it matters"

they forgot about me completely and now they're making this lame excuse, good thing I don't care about it anymore.

well, being forgotten isn't something I like so I'll do my best to believe that it magically disappeared

"hey..."

Emma who watched us silently for a while now dropped a question

"isn't valentines chocolate for...lovers? why's Suzuki giving Aru a chocolate when he's..."

"N-No! that's not it! it's completely not like that!"

you don't have to deny it this hard, I'm gonna cry really, Makoto was the only one who understood my feelings so he patted my shoulder lightly

"then it's okay even if you're giving it to someone you're not dating?"

"yeah, more like it's more common to give it to friends"

"Noooo!"

Emma slammed her head on the table shouting from the bottom of her heart, since she grew up in a sheltered environment she wouldn't know much about events like this, wait there's something wrong

"didn't Emma give me Makoto a chocolate yesterday?"

"I'd prefer death"

she said it with a straight face not even hesitating for a second, this time it was me who patted Makoto's shoulder

"putting Emma's pure hatred away, didn't you get five? who's the last one?"

"I don't know her name but she's a junior, probably the same school as Shiori"

that's scary, I wasn't looking for a moment and he went rising flags with his sister's friend, this dude's insane

"it was the best chocolate I ever true before, I'm already scared of what to get her on white day"

"white day?"

both I and Emma asked for an explanation but we were cut off by the loud sound of the door being opened forcefully

"let's go on a trip together!"

just like a storm Chi-senpai entered the room saying the weirdest things

"where?"

"when?"

"why?"

"how?"

"who?"

"the last one wasn't necessary right? I already said it"

I know, but it felt like a waste to not say it, I wanted someone to say what too but unfortunately our numbers weren't enough

back to the topic, everyone focused on Chi-senpai to see what she's talking about

"uhm"

after clearing her throat, Chi-senpai showed us her phone

"Peter-sensei the author of the best selling books in the last five years is giving autographs!"

the first one to react was Suzuki

"But he never agreed to go on public! no one has ever seen his face, some people even say that he's actually a woman!"

I read a couple of his books and it's definitely interesting, but I can never understand the hype of getting an autograph

"this is his first public appearance, and it's not even that far away! it takes only two hours to get a rare autograph!"

"two hours are a lot though..."

"it's worth it! let's go!"

even Makoto is excited, I guess I can't say no now huh?

"I-...I can't go"

said Emma after she dropped her head, just by looking at her it's obvious that she wanted to go too but she couldn't, Chi-senpai noticed it and asked her with a loud voice

"why not? if there's anything stopping you I'll deal with it!"

it may sound stupid but Chi-senpai is the first person that comes to mind when you need help, there's no way she would leave her friends

"my uncle said that it's gonna be dangerous for now so I'm not allowed to go outside of the city, he's even going to enroll his son here next year"

"I see... nothing can be done then"

"huh?"×4

"I'm not fucking with the Watanabe's, I'll definitely die"

it's the first time that I saw Chi-senpai afraid for real, even her legs are slightly shaking

"I don't think my family would go this far...but it's okay I'm not that eager to go there anyway"

"that's fortunate is it not? I was planning on asking you to help me with something, am I allowed to visit your house?"

Hiragi-senpai suggested to Emma, I don't know if she really need something or if she is just making sure Emma isn't alone, either way it had a great impact

"yes please! you can come by any time!"

a smile covered Emma's face as she started talking to Hiragi-senpai about what to do, apparently senpai wanted to read a book that she couldn't find in any library, and since Emma has a huge collection of books in her house she assumed it would be there

"it's settled then, the four of us will go together!"

"I didn't agree though"

even though I said that, Chi-senpai didn't even look at me, I'm forced to join them it seems, well it can't be that bad to go out as a club once in a while

***

in the bus, there was a pouting girl sitting next to me, she didn't even want to look at me

"you know that it's not my fault you aren't sitting next to Makoto right?"

there's three people sitting on the back seats of the bus, Makoto, Suzuki and Chi-senpai. we decided to come as a group of four but there's one intruder.

"Hey Naru don't be like that~ it's your fault for being so unlucky"

"shut up"

Naru was pretty much pissed, she even faked the cards we used to decide the sitting and still proceeded to lose, it's actually impressive

"you could've helped me....you traitor"

well...I would've liked to help but since Suzuki wanted to sit next to Makoto and Makoto wanted to sit next to Chi-senpai helping anyone would be betraying the others, so I decided to just leave them be

"hmph you're such a useless human"

she turned her face from in the most cliche tsundere way I've seen, she's such a pain in the ass

after a while of silent Naru broke the silence with a quite voice

"I'm sorry about...valentines"

"oh the chocolate? don't worry about it"

she turned to me and started talking in a little louder voice

"I really did make one for you! but when I was going to give it to you..."

"it disappeared?"

"how did you know!?"

"I heard the same excuse two times already"

"it's true!"

well, if three people said the same thing then there's a possibility that something actually happened, but why steal my chocolate?

I tried to think it over for a while but failed to see the motive let alone the culprit.

"I was excited to be the first one to give it to you..."

she mumbled to herself, but my strong ears heard her easily

"don't sweat it, it's not like you are in love with me something"

it's just good that you have Makoto a one, that was what I'm going to say but stopped. Naru's face was a bit red as she responded to me

"I do like you...I guess"

that caught me off guard, I don't even know what to say

"but I love Makoto more though~"

"are you trying to have a harem or something? you'll just get rejected twice though"

"yeah I changed my mind, I fucking hate you!"

I started joking to hide my embarrassment but I still can't believe she just said something like that so easily...she turned her face away from me but she's definitely blushing, her ears are glowing red

how do I feel about Naru..? I don't really understand, I'll say with confidence that she's important to me, more than everything else probably. but it's hard to imagine holding hands and stuff with her...

we reached our destination before I could finish thinking, I won't get an answer even if I tried to think harder so I just decided to throw it away for now.

"it's kinda....empty"

Makoto seems to be a little disappointed, but it should've been obvious really

"well it's not a vey populated area, Peter-sensei decided to hold his first appearance here to attract some people"

Chi-senpai answered him with a sigh, honestly I like this place, even though it's empty with no big buildings around I feel more comfortable like this, the air here is leagues above that of a big city

we started walking around a little bit and it's really enjoyable, it's been about 10 minutes and I'm yet to see any cars around, it feels nostalgic somehow even though I don't remember being here before

we finally reached the event's place, it's the only big building around here so it's hard to miss, it's actually surprising how many people are gathered inside, the only thing her is the autograph yet still there's all kinds of people here, even foreigners! I know he's the number one author but to attract this many people to such a rural place...I kinda want his autograph now

"I can't see the end of the line...it's gonna take sometime huh?"

Naru is the least interested, she just doesn't want Makoto and other girls to enjoy their time without her

"if we run back as soon as we get the autograph we should be able to catch the last bus"

well, we came all the way here so retreating isn't an option right?

"hey Makoto-kun...."

"yeah?"

Suzuki approached Makoto suddenly, her face is fully red and her eyes are wondering all around the place

"can I rest on your shoulder?"

she finally asked after thinking it over for a lot of time, I'm sure she practiced this single time forever

"yeah sure"

Suzuki isn't great with crowds like this so he didn't think much before accepting, I'm surprised Suzuki pulled it off cleanly, you can do it if you pit your mind into it! I cheered her in my mind

"ah~ I also feel very tired"

her acting sucks, but it's enough to deceive Makoto, Naru quickly put her head on Makoto's shoulder and gave him a little smile, it's a critical hit he's definitely blushing

"hey don't leave me alone!"

Chi-senpai joined them as she used Makoto's back since both of his arms are taken..

"should I use your chest to finish it?"

I teased Makoto a bit

"I hate you"

even though it may seem like an enviable situation it's actually not, my guy here is about to die from embarrassment, and to add salt to the injury he's getting scary looks from everyone around us, thankfully I'm invisible in such situations so I don't feel embarrassed at all

after waiting for quite a lot of time out turns finally arrived, the author was...surprisingly handsome, I expected him to look like a crazy man but he's really handsome enough that the loyal Naru couldn't take her eyes off him.

he has a brown hair and sharp green eyes hidden behind glasses, he was holding a cigarette on his left hand while lazily signing the books in front of him, after a few seconds he looked at me, his eyes widened in surprise for a moment and then he smiled.

"that's an interesting group here"

he stopped signing the books and stood up after taking off his glasses and putting it in his pocket he quickly started walking to us

"what's going on?"

Naru asked with a confused face but we didn't know how to answer so we just stood there waiting for the guy to reach us

"it's more beautiful when you see it closely"

he got put his hand under Naru's chin and got his face closer to her, now his face is just a few inches away from her face

"Stop!"

Makoto shouted at the guy who suddenly tried to approach Naru, the girl in question was too surprised to react to it, she's still confused about what just happened right now

"Arucchi!"/ "Sawano-Kun!"

Chi-senpai and Suzuki shouted, when I turned to see them they were both holding my righy arm with all their power trying to stop me from moving it

"you can't hit him like this, he will actually die"

I see, I unconsciously decided that he should just die and tried to punch him, if Chi-senpai didn't stop me I wonder what would....let's not think about this tor now, there's something more important

I glared at the author and he stepped back while holding his hand high

"I didn't mean to scare you, don't worry I'm not going to start a trouble with minors"

Makoto didn't buy it at all, he got closer holding the man from his collar and started shouting

"then what the fuck were you trying to do?"

"Makoto-kun...it's not time for violence"

she's right, the security are already here even if he's the one who started it,hitting himnow will just make us guilty

"do I look like a give a damn about security? if I'm gonna be arrested might as well fuck up this bastard"

"stop"

this time Makoto stopped, it was because Naru herself told him to stop, he released the guy's collar but his face was still showing his pure anger

after coughing a bit the author wore his glasses again and started talking with a smile

"I think my actions lead to some misunderstandings, allow me to apologize"

he bowed down deeply, even Makoto had to calm down after seeing him Apologize like this

"I'll explain it to you in detail, but this is not the right place, don't you agree?"

he's right, everyone is looking at us and some are even taking pictures, we can't stay here any longer

"b-but the last bus..."

Suzuki is right too, if we don't start moving now we'll have to spend the night here...

"let's leave to Arucchi and Naru-chan and go back okay?"

"as if I'll just go!"

Naru held Makoto's hand with a smile on her face

"don't worry, please leave it to us and go home, we'll follow you quickly"

"don't worry, I'll deal with him if he tries anything funny"

"...please don't kill him Arucchi okay?"

"I can't promise"

after a sigh Chi-senpai pulled Makoto away and started running, Suzuki followed them immediately

"now, shall we move?"

Peter-sensei asked with a smile on his face, it's disgusting that he's so handsome when his character is shit

we followed him silently to a room that was prepared for him to rest

"should I bring some tea? I didn't expect any visitors"

he asked with his annoying smile still on his face

"just start talking"

"no small talk huh?"

he took a sit and looked at us seriously

"my eyes can see death"

"is that a name for a new book or something?"

Naru asked with a irritated manner, he tried to kiss her and now he's spitting bullshit, it's only natural that she feel angry, but...

"he's not lying. just now I felt some magical power in his eyes"

I checked my phone quickly

[Sakura Ryuu lvl.7]

[Str 5/ Ma 39/ Ag 5/Def 3/ Luck 49]

[Title:He who see death]

as I thought, a normal human doesn't have any magic at all so him having 39 is enough evidence

"even if he actually see death, what does it have to do with me?"

I glared at him to continue talking and he started explaining immediately

"I can see how many days people have left to live, I can't turn it off it's just something that I'm born with"

"so how many days do I have left?"

Naru asked curiously, but he probably won't answer this easily

"it's -254 days"

both of us opened out eyes with surprise and fear

"then I have less than a year to live!"

"no, that's not it Naru...."

the number he said has a minus which means she won't die after 254 days but...

"you were supposed to die 254 days ago, but you're still alive"

Naru let a sigh of relief as she let herself get swallowed into the sofa

"that just means your power is bullshit right? you scared me there"

no,he's power is definitely real, but maybe the accuracy is a bit off? still....that doesn't explain the negative numbers, shouldn't she just get a new number?

"when I take off my glasses, I can see death more clearly"

"so?"

Naru didn't want to continue this topic any longer, since we're talking about her death it's obvious she wouldn't feel comfortable, but we need to talk about it, I sense something bad

"when I look at the lady right here without my glasses, I can see it. death is hugging her tightly, every step she takes death is lurking around her, yet she's not dead, do you have an idea why?"

"it's because of me right?"

he started clapping

"that's correct"

"STOP TALKING LIKE THIS AND EXPLAIN IT CLEARLY"

Naru's is sweating, I've never seen her this scared before, it's because she already understands what he said, she can feel death whispering close to her

"what's your name?"

"Sawano"

I answered him immediately

"well Sawano-Kun, you might understand it already but I'll say it for the poor girl"

after staying silent for a while he started explaining again

"this boy, Sawano-Kun doesn't have a number above his head, even when I focus I can't see his death, he has the ability to beat death. so as long as he's around, death is a lot weaker"

"then...am I going to die if I get far from him...?"

"I'm not sure, but I guess death won't be able to regain it's strength quickly since I don't see the new date of your death, as long as you spend some time with him once a year you should be fine"

the ability to beat death....I know for certain that I can revive even after being killed but reviving someone else isn't something I can do...I just weaken death, if someone's already about to die I can't do anything just like Nagisa's brother...

"that's it, I just found it very beautiful to see someone who live so close to death, yet so far at the same time"

he then gave me a card

"if you're down to talk please contact me, I use stories like yours to create my books"

I took the card without much thought, I don't feel angry about this guy anymore

we walked out of the building, without saying a single word to each others for a while, if course it's gonna be awkward after all the things that he said

"we missed the last bus huh..."

"Don worry I'll just teleport us back"

"yeah thanks I really want yo rest now"

I held Naru's hand and started teleportation

"..."

"..."

what the....

"what are you doing? did you just want to hold my hand? we're not teleporting at all!"

I quickly checked my phone, as expected there's a notification

[the area you want to teleport to is currently blocked.]

"Fuck."