𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐝 - s. ᴍᴀɴᴊɪʀᴏ

𝟎𝟓𝟕: 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

You look down at him, "You die when I say so! You don't get to have any control, especially of me!" He stares back at you blankly.

"I love you..." He confesses out of nowhere.

"What?!" Your grip loosens.

"I believe you love me too."

"You're a fool!" You lower yourself, meeting eye-to-eye with the man. "Don't flatter yourself, Mikey..."

"Isn't anyone a fool in love?" Mikey questions, "Take yourself, for instance. You devoted yourself to me and only me..."

"A stupid decision, really."

You scoff at his face, "Well, you've got one thing right. It was stupid. I'm trying to correct that right now. Correct... Everything..."

It's my fault that this is happening. My fault I couldn't act sooner. Or prevent this. Prevent... Everything.

"You're the reason my life wasn't happy or trouble-free like you promised in your stupid letter!" You blame. You didn't mean it. "And why is that? Because I didn't stay?" He asks you.

Your lips quiver, "I don't know and it doesn't matter anymore..." Mikey raises a brow, "I think it does. It does to you."

"And why would it?!" Your press the gun harder, "The second I pull this trigger, nothing will matter because you'll be dead...!" Your voice was rough. You felt a lump in your throat as you continued to talk to him.

"So you meant it when you said you'd kill me?"

"I mean just that."

"Well? Go ahead," he encouraged monotonously. "You have me pinned to the floor, almost immobile. And the gun right at my head. An instant death."

The metal starts to shake on his skin, "You have any last words before you go?"

"Last words? How cute," he says almost chuckling. "Is this your way to say you want to talk to me more?" He grins.

You whip him across the face with the pistol, "Don't fucking play around, Mikey! I won't let you get in my head anymore!"

"You won't do it," he said. Like he was unimpressed.

"Excuse me...?"

"You can't pull the trigger," his face was back to blank. "You can't pull it because you love me."

I don't... I really don't...

"It takes a very brave and cold woman to do that. And I don't think you can do it."

You laugh in disbelief, "Even after all this time, you think I'm too weak?" You take offence.

"Because you are," Mikey tells you straight "You have too much heart, [Y/N]..."

"Let me fix that for you."

Bang.

I'm... I'm such an idiot...!

You had completely neglected the gun that was in his hand. Once again, you reacted impulsively rather than taking the time to observe him. Just like the first time you tried to confront him, twelve years ago.

Your body plops to the side and your start to cough and hack out blood. Finally, tears start to fall from your eyes. Mikey gets up from the floor. You stagger your body, lifting your head to look at him. Your eyebrows dagger and you feel your face strain from rage as he looks down at you this time.

"Your heart is now damaged like mine. It's a pity. You had such a bright future ahead of you," he said with disappointment and a slight bit of guilt. "Killed by the hands of your first love. Such a tragic death." You take a good look at him before he turns to walk away from you.

"Don't... Don't jump..." You plead, almost murmuring. But he heard you.

Mikey turns his head immediately as you spoke, "What...?"

"I know what... What you're thinking," you reveal, "Don't jump..."

"Tsk. You talk too much for a corpse," he said coldly. You watch as the man you loved walks away from you. One last time. Before disappearing into the darkness.

So this is it...? This is how I die...? You pant pathetically. How did I let this happen...?

You close your eyes and think of a memory. A memory you wanted to feel one last time.

~

"You missed."

"What?"

You missed," he repeated. Manjiro leans closer to you, lidding his eyes.

Your noses touch.

His soft lips press against your own.

His touch warmed you up from the cold, winter night.

His cold hand makes its way up to caress the side of your face. You didn't care.

You kiss him back and your heart beats faster. Like it was going to pop out of your chest.

At that moment, it was like time stopped and no one else existed. It was just the two of you.

And you were perfectly happy with that.

~

"[Y/N]!"

Your dream gets interrupted and you wake up. Your vision starts to get clearer as you try to make out the figure that was in front of you.

"Take... Michi?!" You blurt out in disbelief.

Why is he here?!

Takemichi starts to cry, looking at the hole in your chest, "What happened?!"

You look at your long-time friend sadly, "Mikey... He..." His eyes widened, "Mikey?!"

"There's no time..." You cough, "He's... He's gonna jump... Off the roof..."

Takemichi eyes shift. Frantically looking for some sort of solution. He turns back to you and reaches his hand out, "Take my hand!"

You squint at him in confusion, "What...?"

"Just take it!" He insists. You grab onto his hand. Takemichi stares at it for a moment. His gaze starts to droop. Confused and saddened. "Why... Why aren't I timeleaping?!"

You squeeze the man's hand roughly and look over at the window pane, "Go to the window... This is our last chance..."

"Last chance?!"

"To save Mikey..." You answer. It was the only reason you knew why Takemichi came.

"Go... NOW!"

It's only a matter of time... Before it's too late...

Takemichi immediately lets go of your hand and sprints to the window. He sees Mikey fall. You notice Takemichi's hands shake as he reaches them out. Miraculously, he catches Mikey.

"I got him!"

He did it...!

The pool of blood grows under you and your head starts to feel light. Your eyes start to droop on its own. Your vision shakes and Takemichi's yelling starts to sound muffled.

I leave Mikey... To you...

Hero.

Chapter fifty-seven, end.