Empty Words - 1 Day Left

"Alright, so what are we going to do now?" Sekai asked, lying flat on the bed, and Annabeth looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I'm focused on hiding from them for now." Annabeth confessed, "If I wait long enough, then my Master will come and find me."

Sekai raised an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"

Smiling, Annabeth raised a small emerald green necklace, which seemed to hum with a light power, catching the light as she showed it off.

"This is a magical tracking device." She told him, "She will always know where I am."

"So then why hasn't she come yet?" Sekai pointed out, and Annabeth's face fell.

"Well, she is being hunted as well. So she probably can't come to me right now." Annabeth replied with forced conviction.

Sekai only sighed and scratched his head in response, "Well, regardless - you can't stay here forever."

Annabeth nodded, "That's a given, your room stinks." She said nonchalantly, and Sekai could feel a vein beginning to pop out from his head.

"Well, excuse me for not knowing I'd be allowing a Witch to crash in my bed." Sekai replied, crossing his arms in frustration, but Annabeth only sighed.

"Whatever. It seems kind of late." Annabeth promptly flopped down on Sekai's bed, much to his dismay.

"W-what are you doing?"

"What do you think - I'm sleeping!" Annabeth hissed at him,

"Then where do I sleep?" Sekai complained, and Annabeth huffed.

"On the floor." She stated bluntly,

"This is my room! You sleep on the floor!" Sekai complained,

"I'm a girl, I get bed priority," She replied,

"Says who?" Sekai responded,

"Are you even a gentleman?!" Annabeth replied, and Sekai gritted his teeth.

"Fine! Take the bed! I'm taking the pillows though!" He promptly proceeded to snatch the pillow from her, much to her dismay.

"Good. Night!" Sekai stated, and Annabeth didn't respond, only turning her now pillowless head away from him.

⸻

Needless to say, both of them were rather sore the following morning, Annabeth endured an uncomfortable night without pillows, and Sekai was sore everywhere but his neck after sleeping on the floor for the whole night.

"Gaah~" Annabeth groaned miserably, "Was taking the pillows necessary...?"

Sekai didn't respond, only quietly glancing at the timer on his wrist.

"Sekai?" Annabeth asked quietly, rousing him from his thoughts "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing." He said quickly, "I'm fine. We should figure something out today."

'While I'm still alive.' He silently added, it was only then that he realized that Antei hadn't come to wake him up like she usually did.

"So she's still angry..." Sekai sighed, 'I'm not letting it end like this.'

"Well, you can figure that out." Sekai answered somewhat chillily, "I need to go to school."

"Wait - so you're just leaving me here?" Annabeth stated,

"You're just as old as me," Sekai responded, "You'll be fine as long as my parents don't see you."

Annabeth looked apprehensive, but accepted it.

Sekai changed and got ready for school in silence, 'It's so quiet...' Sekai sighed to himself.

"Sekai." His father approached him, tears glancing his eyes. "Listen...you don't need to go to school today. Your mother and I-"

Sekai shook his head, stopping her words: "Father...I...need to talk to Antei."

"Oh...you haven't told her?" Kiyomi asked, stepping out of a nearby room to stand beside her husband and Sekai shook his head.

"It's all been so fast...I never got the time." Sekai stated, "And I...messed things up with her yesterday, I need to make it right."

The two nodded in understanding, "Just come back home quickly." His father stated

Sekai nodded, "I will. I'm heading out."

As Sekai left, Kiyomi finally collapsed to the floor sobbing, and Hidoshi could only hold his distraught wife close to him. He had no words for this, one part of him wished that it was over quicker. So that they didn't have to suffer in this way as they struggled to enjoy what were now only some last hours together. Every second added more weight to his heart as he felt like he should do something, anything, to extend the timer on his sons life by even a second longer.

Unbeknownst to them, an imperceivable observer was quietly watching them from the stairwell, wondering just how much suffering was being hidden from her.

⸻

"Yo!" Sekai raised his head to see Shiro waving at him, "Antei seems kind of down, what happened?"

"Why do you assume I'm involved whenever something is wrong with Antei?" Sekai sighed,

"Statistically speaking, you always are." Shiro countered, and Sekai shrugged.

"She asked me if something is wrong, and I said no, so she got angry and left." Sekai answered truthfully,

Shiro raised an eyebrow, "Is something wrong?" Shiro asked,

Sekai remained silent, but before Shiro could press further, a nearby teacher began to approach them.

"Boys...don't loiter around!" The teacher straightened her glasses,

"Y-yes Ms. Tayoue!" The two boys bowed quickly before rushing off to class.

⸻

Needless to say, the beginning of the day proceeded very awkwardly. Antei avoided Sekai whenever possible, and didn't talk to him when she couldn't.

"What's up with her?" Ruiko asked once, and Sekai could only give her a sad look.

"More like what's up with me..." Sekai replied,

Finally, the middle of the day came, and with it came lunch. Sekai inhaled, preparing for what he had to do next.

"...Hey." Sekai came up to Antei, who looked at him coldly, and didn't respond.

"Can I talk to you? Genuinely." Sekai pleaded, and Antei's lip trembled, but she quickly gained her composure.

"Are you finally willing to tell me what is wrong?" Antei asked, and Sekai tentatively nodded.

After a few moments of silence, Antei nodded. "Alright, the roof is available. We can talk up there."

Sekai sighed in relief, following Antei up.

⸻

Once they reached the roof, they sat together in silence for a few moments as Antei unwrapped a package, as Sekai opened his mouth to speak Antei cut him off:

"First - eat." Antei ordered, "You've looked like death the past few days."

Sekai stared at the meal as Antei looked away abashedly, but after a seconds hesitation, took it graciously.

A choice he would come to regret as he opened the top of the box.

What was supposed to be a bento looked more like a mix and match of various badly burnt ingredients, the rice looked both over and undercooked in some places, the octopus sausage was certainly undercooked, and the rolled omlettes were messy as well.

"Are you going to stare at it or eat it?" Antei huffed, as if to prove her point, she snatched up a portion of rice with chopsticks.

"Are you sure you want to eat that...?" Sekai asked, and Antei glared at him.

"I'm the cook, I wouldn't make something that can't be eaten." Antei shot back, putting the rice in her mouth, only for her face to suddenly turn purple as she promptly spat out the rice.

"How is it both cooked and raw at the same time?! I swear I followed the instructions!" She said helplessly, "I wanted to make you something as an apology for yelling at you but I messed it up..."

Sekai looked at his childhood's friends embarrassed expression, finding it strangely cute in the moment, he let out a small giggle.

"H-hey! Don't laugh! I was trying to do something nice for you! The least you could do is praise the effort!" Antei hit him softly on the shoulder, which only seemed to make him laugh even harder, finally, Antei couldn't help but laugh as well, and for a moment, the two reveled in their friendship as they laughed on that roof.

Finally, after the laughter died down, Sekai's smile became sad as he looked up at the sky above, and began to speak.

"I'm glad we could talk like this." Sekai stated, "Just us."

"Sekai..." Antei began to reach for his hand, but paused just shy, and allowed it to rest beside his.

"If something is wrong..." Antei stated, "Listen, I'm sorry I yelled at you...it's just that I felt so...shut out, since Ruiko came. I was scared I didn't have a place in your life anymore."

Sekai whirled around, "That's not true! You've always been there for me! And I'm sure that even after I'm-" Sekai paused, realizing what he was saying.

"After you're what?" Antei pressed, "Sekai. After you're what?"

Her voice became lined with an undertone of panic as Sekai stood up, inhaling as he prepared to speak.

"Antei. I am going to die."