16Sena was unlucky. He was incredibly unlucky. He just didn't think it would be this bad.
He was running from a bunch of thugs when it happened. He'd been running from them for a week now, hoping they'd just leave him alone.
They apparently did not. In fact, his evasion of them had only made them angrier. He had barely gotten out of the classroom unscathed and was now flying through the streets, hoping to get away or at least lose his pursuers.
Shopping districts had given him cover and he was now running though a rural residence area. He didn't know if they were still chasing him but looking back would take his eyes off the road and he was already going at some sort of speed limit.
But he didn't hear them so it was alright to stop, right?
Stopping to catch his breath, he looked around the block. A few people who were giving him weird looks but besides that nothing. A sigh of relief escaped his lungs.
He was safe. For now. He couldn't believe that they actually left him, but he decided not to jinx himself.
He couldn't help but be depressed. Yeah, he'd avoided them but for how long would that last? A month? A semester? A year? He doubted it.
Would Mamori be ashamed of him? Would Riku be ashamed of him? Maybe. Possibly. Definitely.
He sighed to himself. He's having that same conversation in his head again. He already knew the answer. No point in getting caught up over nothing.
'Now just to get back home...' He thought, taking a left. Houses here were lovely but unfamiliar. The streets were wide enough for but lacked zebra crossings. 'That could be dangerous..."
He wondered of he could retrace his steps and hopefully get somewhere familiar-
"LOOK OUT!" Someone yelled out.
Sena's eyes widened, he barely had time to turn his head when a car was already barreling towards him. When did that came from?! Why didn't he hear it?!
His feet pushed against the concrete, adrenaline fueling his muscles before he realized. 'If I jump to the left, I'll get hit by my legs. If I jump to the right, it'll just ram straight into me.'
"It's too late, it's unavoidable now."
And suddenly the world turned dark. Pain seared through his body.
When Sena came to, his head was full of cotton and his ears were ringing. His vision was fuzzy and-
Was he dying? Now? So quickly?
A million thoughts suddenly crossed his mind.
He was dying oh god, this was bad, this was horrible- Was he really just going to die?! He wasn't even in high school yet! He hadn't even got to the point of trying out for entrance exams! He hadn't done anything in his life to make his parents at least-
His parents.
He dreaded thinking about his parents. Their only son, their only child was going to die from a car crash. His dad would be devastated, his mother- he couldn't even imagine.
Would there be a funeral? Was he even recognizable? How would his childhood friend-
"Hey, child with the frizzy hair." Sena realized he can hear again. And that someone was talking to him. "You've gotten yourself into quite the predicament."
A shadowy figure crouched down, shifting his head to look at them. Sena searches for details, traits and other sorts of things but all he sees is a cane in scar ridden hands and a young man who doesn't seem to be all that bothered by the blood seeping through Sena's clothes. Was this person a foreigner? Sena's brain can't exactly fathom that at the moment, not when precious brain matter and blood is seeping out of the side of his skull.
"But do tell me," Red eyes met amber. "Do you want to live?"
Sena pondered over the question. He would live? He could survive-
But something stopped him. Would it- would it really be better if he was still alive? Did he have something he had to do, have any responsibilities to uphold?
Nothing came up.
What was he to the world? He's not sure how Mamori saw him anymore. Maybe he looked like a meek animal in need of protection that she felt obliged to protect? Was he a burden on her back? Was she better off without having to hold his hand everywhere?
Maybe.
Would anyone come to his funeral? He's not sure if it would even be necessary. Would Riku remember him? Would he be heartbroken by the news of his death? Does he even remember him? Or did he forget?
Possibly.
What about his parents? He wasn't really good at anything, or passionate. He just was. He simply existed. And he'd probably still simply exist. There wasn't anything he could make his parents proud with. But would they be happy? Happy that their only child, who tried to be something of person, was dead?
No. But is it really better that way?
"No-Not really." He croaked out. "But my parents would be sad."
"Wow, that's it?" The person seemed surprised.
"That and my childhood friends."
"No ambitions? No life goals? Anything like that?"
"All i can do," Sena breathed out. "is run fast."
"Well, that's not perfect, but it's enough." The voice said and the next thing Sena felt was nothing but pain, hot blistering pain. "Let's hope you don't end up like the others, Mister Empty Legs."
Sena passed out for the second time that day.
The second time Sena wakes up, it's to something small and sharp poking his face. Continuesly.
Sena groaned awake, swatting whatever is on his face away. There was soft cooing from ahead of him and the poking returned.
Sena just wanted to sleep for a little longer-
"Ack!"
Suddenly, the memories of last night hit Sena like a truck. His eyes snapped open and he jumped into a sitting position. The cold night's wind was biting into his clothes as city lights were flickering beneath him. A few curious pigeons had stayed behind but it seems that the majority had left. His breathing was ragged. His head snapped back and forth. He was in a park, a park he recognized. It was probably no less than 20 minutes away from him but the sky was no longer blue. The sun was already setting on the horizon, leaving a faint orange hue on the surroundings.
He looked over himself. Clothes? Check. Bag? Check. Copious amounts of injury? None.
Was-? Was that car crash just a nightmare? Did he trip, fall on his head and simply stayed that way for a few hours? Or was he hallucinating because some form of monster had slipped something into his-
The longer he thought, the more tense he got and his hands clenched. He felt paper in his hands.
Looking down, he noticed there was an envelope tucked in his hands. Words written in blue ink caught his attention.
"To Mister Empty Legs."
His eyes widened. That name! So what happened wasn't a dream?! He- he-
He actually died...
But he's still there.
Questions and erratic thoughts plagued Sena's mind.
Was he a zombie now?! Did he have cravings for flesh that would kill the people around him?! Or was he ghost possessing a human body? Could he even grow in it anymore? Is he going to spend the rest of his life as a human midget?!
But most of all, would he age? Would he still be able to age or will he be forced to see everyone grow, gain families and-
Sena was hyperventilating. Shaky hands dropped the envelope on the bench as he curled himself into a ball. Tears were pickling at his eyes as sobs were ripping themselves from his throat.
"Hey, are you okay?" A firm hand rested upon his shoulder. Sena tensed upon the contact. He didn't even hear the person. Whipping his head around, he saw a black haired teen, probably about 15 or 17, he couldn't tell or maybe he just didn't have anymore energy. The teen looked...tired. Not tired in terms of exhausted but tired in terms of emotion.
'Me too.' Sena thought. Sour thoughts were almost consistently present now.
"I - I," Sena croaked. "I don't know. I just, don't know."
"Something bad happened I assume." Sighed the teen. He plopped down next to Sena's back. "I'm Takeru."
"Sena."
"Sena? That's a nice name." Mused Takeru.
"How? It doesn't mean anything special." Sena brought his knees closer to himself.
"Well, I'm not one to know, but it's a good name. It's short but memorable."
"You don't have to." Sena knew where this was going. "I'm not going to... do what you think I was gonna do."
"Still. You seem to have had just as bad of a day as me. Misery loves company as they say."
"Doubt it." Sena mumbled. He doubts that anyone would have experienced something as bad as dying and still breathing.
"I got kicked out of my dream school from abroad." Except that. "Worst part is I didn't even know why. They just...kicked me out. I was one of the best students there, too. But i know it's because somebody who was higher up just hated me." Wow, that was even worse. He felt Takeru turn to him. "Y'see, I'm into this sport that's pretty specialized and demands good physique. I really liked this one sport, heck, I got into that school through a recommendation of how good I was! But in that school, there was this one guy, a real asshole if I can say, who just thought that "if you're not born at the top, why bother climbing up?". And that pissed me off so much! But I grit my teeth and just kept going and going on with my training. Then, one morning, Bam! I get hit with all these accusations and weird charges I didn't commit and they want me to drop out! And worst part is, he had the nerve to boast in front of my face! The nerve of some people!"
"That's horrible!" Sena exclaimed, tears now forgotten. "You shouldn't have your future ripped away just like that. And only because-" His voice died down in his throat.
"Yeah but it doesn't seem as bad as what you probably had. I don't know how bad your day must have been."
"I..." Sena hesitated. He couldn't say anything about what happened but still. He wanted at least someone to know how he felt. A stranger with no strings. " I lost a close relative today. He was...very important to me."
"I- oh, my condolences."
"He and I were very close, even if we rarely saw eye to eye." He couldn't understand even himself sometimes. You were told to stand up for yourself, yet you couldn't. "He was a coward even if he tried to be someone else. He often couldn't go anywhere without someone else because a lot of people kept picking on him. He got chased around and was made to do whatever someone told him to. He couldn't say no."
"But he always did it for others, right?" Asked Takeru as he placed a warm hand on his back. It was a gentle, comforting even. Most of the physical contact he had other boys his age were punches or threatening arm slings. Sena was caught off guard. It felt...nice. Overwhelming but nice. "That person sounds like someone who, while a coward, would rather suffer himself than let others suffer because of him."
A warm feeling creeped up in his chest. Had Sena not felt emotionally constipated, he would have wanted to hold the feeling as close as possible.
"No, he wasn't!" Snapped Sena. "He was a coward who couldn't grow a backbone, he couldn't even muster up the courage to tell a few classmates to leave him alone and look where that got him!"
Sena tried to stifle a choke. He wasn't anything like what Takeru was thinking. He just wasn't.
"I'm sorry. I... I need to go. My parents are probably worried."
"...Yeah, okay." And with that, Sena grabbed his bag and letter and sped off to the exit of the park. For some reason, the ground seemed firmer and he could feel his usually fast pace go by smoother. Why was it like that? It's almost as if gravity had less impact on him.
"Oh! By the way!" Yelled Takeru. Sena halted in his steps and turned his head. "I like that tatoo on your neck! It's really elegant! If we ever meet again, could you tell me where you got it?"
Sena felt his blood turn cold. Tatoo?! On his neck?! What the hell?!
"S-suregottagobye!" Sena yelled as he ran to the exit at breakneck speed. Only to stop in front of a crossing. His muscles stiffed on their own.
His body didn't want to move, still replaying that half second of momentum and ripples of pain.
Sena shivered. When did it get so cold? And what if a car came out of nowhere again? What if there was another crash with more victims? What if-
He really didn't want to get hit by a car again. Looking around himself, he saw a familiar alleyway and immediately ran in.
Before he made his way into a familiar neighborhood, he stopped by a closed shop. He undid his collar and-
There. From his collarbone to the base of his Adams apple, orange swirls, circles and dots marked his skin. It was bright, eye catching and just screamed delinquent.
When did he get this? How did he get this?!
If he wasn't already dead, his mother would kill him.
He poked at it, only to feel an almost too warm sensation. That was not normal.
But Sena would worry about the definition of normal later, once he's survived the day without landing in another near-death situation. Metaphorical or not. If it happened once, than what's stopping it from happening again?
He redid his collar and jacket, hitching it up as much as he could without it falling back (thank whoever decided on dress code he was still in middle school and had to wear gakurans). After that, it was a mad dash home. Well, not really, more like a mad dash to avoid the street at all costs.
As he stopped in front of his front door, he wondered. Even as his body moved on autopilot, he could only imagine the consequences. He didn't even check his phone before running off home, his mother is probably worried, dad's already back home.
This was going to be bad.
Opening the door, he barely had the time to announce his presence when his mother came running out into the hallway.
"Sena!" Oh no, he knew that voice. She looked mad before she looked over him and both fear and relief filled her eyes. "Sena, what happened to you?!"
Only now did Sena realize that his clothes looked absolutely horrible, tattered and dirty, missing fabric in a few places.
"M-mom, I- I can explain-"
"Sena, do you know what hour it is?! Where were you? And what happened?!" Mihae demanded. His father had walked into the hall, with Pitt hot on his heels. The vat then quickly trotted up to Sena and was meowing up a storm. However, the minute the cat got to Sena it sniffed him and immediately began to yowl. The cat was now clawing up his pants, almost as if demanding something.
Does Pitt know?
"Pitt! Stop that!"
"Mom-" Sena wanted to say but his heart was pumping in blood far too hot for his liking. His tongue started spinning lies as he went. "I- I think somebody tried to mug me."
"You think?!"
"Wel- well, they were driving a car-"
"And?!" Mom was beginning to look terrified.
"They kept trying to hit me, I think. But they wouldn't leave me alone."
Mihae's eyes were close to spilling tears.
"I, I think somebody tried to run over me. A few times."
"How many times?!" Sena's father finally said.
"What time is it?" Sena asked, trying to think of a logical answer. Think, Sena, think. What would a psychotic driver would have tried to do?
"Eight. Eight o'clock."
"..." Sena's brain barely registered the words that came out of his mouth. "I think I kept running from him till seven."
Sena groans into the water as he recalled what had happened almost half an hour ago. His parents had reacted both in alarm and wrath, with Sena just barely managing to convince them that he didn't have any injuries, no he didn't get hit, he managed to avoid certain death, no he did not see who was chasing him, he's perfectly fine, no need to involve the police, Dad.
And now his mother had demanded that he cleaned himself up. He looked like he had just crawled out of a ditch.
Pitt patted the water next to Sena. The cat had refused to let Sena out of its sight, even if it meant hiding in the hamper to wait for him to wash. Pitt...has never been this clingy. Or even this attention seeking.
"What's the matter, Pitt?" He finally asked. He raised a hand to the cat, who pressed it's head to it, despite being wet. It shifted in his hand so that its ear would be pressed towards his pulse-
Oh. So that's it. Pitt must have found what they were looking for, because in the next moment they retreated into the hamper.
Sena sighed as he thought back to what happened today.
First he sort of died. Somehow, the fact still chilled him to his core. The warm water only made him even more unnerved. The fact wasn't enough to drive him into tears but it felt close. Just too close for comfort.
His thoughts drifted to Takeru. The boy who had, in some sort, lifted the a small weight off his shoulders.
He remembered his dark hair, tall complexion and sharp eyes.
"But he did it for others, right?"
His eyes were sharp, full of emotion and pride. He carried himself with pride but didn't flaunt it.
Sena closed his eyes. The warmth of his hand on his back was still there. He traced his fingers on the spot, trying to remember the notion.
How long has it been since he had a friend who wasn't violent with him? Sure, there was Mamori but Mamori didn't have a single bad bone in her body! At least he thought so. Plus, Takeru was a guy. A guy who didn't try to beat the hell out of him or threaten him into doing things for him. Was Takeru even his friend?
He saw Takeru looking back at him, eyes soft and-
"You do it for them?" Sena saw Takeru brushing his hands against his cheek, the motion was barely felt for only half a second. Those eyes that were full of pride but that pride was directed at him.
Sena snapped his eyes awake and nearly fell backwards into the tub. His heart was pounding and the warm feeling was back in his chest.
Oh. Oh.
No, this was bad.
First, because Takeru and he met by chance and they'll probably never come across each other again. These- these feelings would rot him from the inside out before they could meet again.
Second, Takeru was a guy. He just doesn't know what to think of that because Sena's general association with tall, cool and kind looking guys is a liar who's too lazy to get off his ass. He... Is not sure if he should follow his heart that's beating in his chest or the brain in his head telling him Takeru would leave him for dead from experience.
Third, he only just met him! Just barely met him! Logic states that one cannot fall in love just from one talk but Sena quickly realizes he's bad at math, thus bad at logic.
What if it's a crush? Just a simple crush. Alright, alright. This is probably a crush and crushes can go away if you don't think about it too hard. Okay. Yeah, that's probably it. And since Takeru and he will probably never see each other again, he'll get over this crush long before he gets into high school. Great.
Sighing, he decided to get out of the tub. It was already late and he had school tomorrow, which meant doing homework that he was inevitably going to suffer with. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the scales. He rarely checked his weight but that lightness he felt while running. Carefully walking to the scales, he stepped on them to wait for the result. Last time he checked he weighed somewhere around 48 kilos.
The scales stopped at a number. 38 kilos. To which Sena's mind promptly came to a screeching halt.
That... couldn't be right. Or healthy. He weighed at least 45 kilos. Why was he suddenly ten kilos lighter. That's probably an arm's worth of mass! Stuff like that just doesn't dissappear! Ten kilograms don't just dissappear in who knows how many hours!
A deep fear made itself known in Sena. That man who said he'd help him survive-
Just what did he do to Sena?
The humid air was bitting into his skin but Sena felt like he was burning on the spot.
When Sena came back down for some reheated dinner and more questions for his well being, he was more intent on going back upstairs to open that letter.
Homework was all but forgotten as Sena grabbed a sharp pencil and began to rip a hole into the envelope. Upon being ripped open, a folded piece of paper fell out. Sena grabbed it and began looking over the words written on it.
"Dearly valued client,
You are reading this because you have been visited by Belial services, due to the fact that you have unfortunately nearly passed away. However, due to the generous favour of our CEO, you have been granted a second chance for a discount price!
If this text is written in red, then you will no doubt experience changes in yourself that give you superhuman statistics, due to your strong will to live and ambitions!
If this text is written in blue, then you will no doubt experience changes that show that you are now able to function without specific organs/extremities/senses or are able to regenerate them, due to your weak will to live (please seek a therapist)." Sena realizes that the text is written in blue and wonders if he was caught by organ traffickers. Does getting life advice from organ traffickers can be considered a therapy session?
"Your current properties that you are able to live without - bones! While you will be able to function like any normal human, your bones will have the characteristics of practically not being there! However, to use this to your maximum caliber, a person/people other than you is to call your name backwards thrice. The minute your name backwards is said, you will have 24 hours to say goodbye to your loved ones as one of our contractors will seek you out to collect your soul, preferably the one who found you dead. Think wisely before doing so.
Kind regards, Belial Services for the Dying."
Sena's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He was missing bones?! Or, at least was given the impression that he had none?! What the hell was this! And who named their own company that?! Was he visited by a Shinigami?!
Sena tried to calm down, rereading the letter. Bones are now practically not there, cool, dangerous but cool.
What if he breaks his bones? What if they take him to the hospital for a check up? Things such as "bones weighing little to nothing" was already enough to be scared for. Would that mean that he'd die if he got even a little hurt?
"What would it matter?" Sena asked himself bitterly. "I'm already dead, aren't I?
"Maybe I'll stay till highschool?"
