Another World

Chapter Nineteen

As Ichimatsu began to walk home, trying to keep his mind off of Kanola, he couldn't help but notice a girl pushing her own wheelchair down the street. And from the looks of the girl's short blonde hair, it was Akari.

Sighing, Ichimatsu decided to approach her.

Akari stopped on the corner of the sidewalk and waved at Ichimatsu, an innocent, yet weak smile on her face.

Ichimatsu abruptly turned around, wondering if there was someone behind him. It wouldn't be possible for her to see him, would it?

"Ichimatsu! What's the matter? Come here," Akari called out, laughing a little. "You're acting like I can't see you."

"How CAN she see me...?" Ichimatsu thought nervously. "I'm supposed to be completely gone, aren't I? All alone in this world? I'm surrounded by people, yet I can't interact with them. Isn't that how it's supposed to be...?"

Cautiously, Ichimatsu walked down the sidewalk, approaching the girl who was only a few years younger than he was.

"Would you mind helping me across the street, Ichimatsu?" Akari asked, looking up at him as he stood beside her wheelchair. "My arms get very tired when I have to push this thing myself. The wheels scratch my hands up a great deal as well."

"Y-yeah..." Ichimatsu mumbled. "I'll help you across..."

"That's very kind of you," Akari said, staring up at the sky as a slight breeze ran through the two of them. "I thank you. You are one of the few who are willing to do such a kind deed to such a withered human being."

Ichimatsu sighed, not saying another word as he grabbed the girl's wheelchair's handle bars, pushing her carefully across the street.

After they crossed, Ichimatsu let go of the bars, beginning to walk away from Akari.

"Wait!" Akari called out, "I need to tell you something."

Ichimatsu spat then turned around curtly.

"I know a lot about you because of your brother, Jyushimatsu. I know what's happened to you, and I would like to tell you things about me now," Akari said. "Would you mind taking me to the beach?"

"No, I don't mind..." Ichimatsu mumbled, beginning to push her again.

"I was wished into this world with an incurable illness," Akari began, her eyes shimmering as she watched a flock of birds fly through the sky.

"Wished...?" Ichimatsu mumbled in confusion. "What do you mean by 'wished'.."

"I'll get to that in a moment," Akari said with a slight sigh. "But that illness caused me to be unable to walk very well. All of my limbs are weak and I bruise very easily. I can't manage myself without help. If I happened to fall, I could die from blood loss."

"What joy do you find in telling me this..?" Ichimatsu mumbled. "How can you even see me? Nobody else can..."

"You ask too many questions that deserve to remain unanswered for the time being," Akari replied. "But as I went on through life, I found that my brain began to fill with fog, causing me to forget what's reality and what is not. I then took up an old hobby again, trying to forget everything. That hobby was storing up hope from other people and placing it into...things that needed it. And eventually, if there was enough hope, it could create a single soul to revive a lost one. But, if the humans I stole the hope from ever lost their love and respect for the lost and forgotten one, the soul would be erased."

"That makes no sense," Ichimatsu spat, parking Akari's wheelchair on the beach. "And shouldn't you be at school?"

"Well shouldn't you be at school?" Akari asked with a slight smirk.

Ichimatsu let out a small, "tch," then replied, "I've already completed school before. There's no point in going back."

"So you're saying you've lived before?" Akari asked. "I have too, you know. I've lived many times, in fact. This is only my third life being known as 'Akari' though."

"You're just a moron, that's what..." Ichimatsu muttered, too quietly for her to hear him.

Akari gripped part of the soft pink blanket on her lap tightly, tears welling up in her eyes. "There's so many things I want to say to you..." she whispered. "But I can't, because it wouldn't match up in the future..."

"Like I don't already know what the future is like in ten years...? Why hold back..." Ichimatsu spat.

"If I told you thank you right now, it wouldn't make sense," Akari said as a single tear ran down her cheek. "So I'll just leave you be. It's safety before love. Life always comes before death, but it's death that brings us new life."

Ichimatsu sighed and stared up at the cliff on the beach. The rock looked much more sharp than it did ten years in the future. It almost looked a tad bit frightening.

"You can leave now, Ichimatsu," Akari said, exhaling loudly. "I can manage from here."

"How will Homura be able to find you...? Don't you two always stick together?" Ichimatsu asked.

Akari turned her head around and looked at Ichimatsu with nothing but sorrow in her eyes, nodding her head.

"That's right..." she whimpered. "we're always together...and because of that...it's always my fault."

"Akari stop acting so stupid," Ichimatsu mumbled irritatedly. "Crying isn't going to stop any stupid emotions or whatnot that you feel."

"Then let me ask you this, Ichimatsu," Akari said steadily. "Do you...do you believe in guardian angels?"

"Why the heck would I believe in something stupid like that?" Ichimatsu spat, walking away.

"Wait!" Akari called out once again. "Even if you don't believe, please forgive them. If you don't forgive them, nothing will ever be right again, Ichimatsu! You've got to wake up now! You've been asleep for a very long time..."

"My dream..." Ichimatsu thought in shock as he exited the beach, walking home, "was that Akari in my dream...? It couldn't have been. She's just some strange psycho girl...she has no relations to me."