Onihunter Yuna 2

46 Farewell Dream (Present)

"Hold on," Wataru asked tense as he stroked her arm in shock. "Just hold on. Talk to me, Sakura." He listened for her voice. "Sweetie, talk to me!" Tears streamed down his cheeks. "Sakura!"

The passerby grabbed the boy by the shoulder. "Boy, is she still talking?"

"No!" The high-school student broke free, got up and pressed himself against the car to shove it down from her. "Help me!"

"Wait. You could make it worse," the man protested. In his cell phone, he continued, "The girl is trapped and unresponsive. We'll try to push the wreck off of her." He started off trying, then paused. "I understand. Yes. We are waiting."

"She dies!" Wataru shouted as he shook the car helplessly.

"She may have injuries so severe that she'll bleed to death when we move her. The car wreck acts like a pressure bandage and keeps the wound closed."

"SHE'S DOWN THERE!" The high-school student struggled further on the car.

"We can't do anything, boy." When he heard the sirens, the man turned and began rowing his arms in the air. Meanwhile, more people had gathered.

"No! NO!" Wataru dropped to his knees again and crawled to her. "Sakura ... Sakura, say something!" He groped for her arm, but this time his fingers touched something warm, fluid. Shocked, he pulled back his hand, which had turned red. "No!"

***

"How are you, Wata-kun?" the black-haired girl asked, sitting on a swing, looking over at Wataru. She still looked exactly the same as on the last day, but he had aged a few years.

The singer ran his right hand through his mane while sitting on the adjacent swing. "Quite well. It's been a while since we met."

"Yes." She looked back into the distance. "You started to forget about me."

"That's not true," he claimed.

She giggled. "I'm not blaming you for that. Life goes on."

"Hm." Sullen he rocked a little stronger.

"Is there any news you want to share with me?"

He squinted uncertainly at her, but she continued to look into the distance. "I ... I think so."

"Don't babble, you idiot. Just spit it out."

He started to protest, "Hey. That's my dream, at least you could be nice to me here."

Sakura looked over and stuck out her tongue. "That would be totally out of character."

"Your English is awful," he laughed.

"Your face is awful." Nevertheless, she smiled at him. "Just say you met a girl."

His cheeks flushed slightly. "Yes."

"The poor thing."

Played indignant, he snorted. "You're such a beast."

"Hey, don't talk bad about the dead," she retorted. "Tell me about her."

His gaze followed hers to the sunset on the horizon. He thought about Yuna Masuda, the girl he loved now. Again and again he had noticed the parallels to his former girlfriend. In some ways, the two were very similar.