𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍. ʜᴀɴᴀꜱʜɪʀᴏ

1 1 : 0.1％の確率

A 0.1% Probability

—

His words echoed inside the steam train they were in. No one dared to move; they were just stuck in place as if they were planted on their seats, acting like frozen marionettes. But who can actually say anything normal after hearing those words when you're in a place where it's uncertain if you're really dead or alive?

And 99.9% of chances are situated where you're surely dead.

"W-Who?" Nene shakily asks as she looks at Hanako with surprise and hope brimming in her eyes. She wasn't really sure who he was talking to, but she was still confused as to how everyone was hearing something like a bell when she couldn't even hear it. "Hanako, you can hear it, too?"

She elicits a response from him, somehow. He shaked his head slowly and said, "No, I absolutely can't."

"T-Then what do you mean about someone here being alive?!" Kou stands up as he stares at Hanako, his heart, insanely beating in his chest. Maybe, if it wasn't for the rib cages, it would've flew out by now because of his extreme anxiety about the boy's words. "Hey!"

"You two can hear the bell, right?" Hanako's eyebrows furrowed as he looked back at the confused blond. "Then, you're alive."

"Wait, what?" Teru lunges a bit forward towards him, a hint of both excitement and confusion in his eyes. "We're alive? But how can you say that? We couldn't have survived that fall from that cliff!"

"There's a big chance that you had," Hanako says, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this before but, I only tell some people about the bell if they have a big chance, surviving something that made them arrive here." He looked at the brothers and said with a fine tone, that almost made them shiver because of his calm demeanor amidst the situation. "I never knew this could happen, but this almost seemed like a miracle."

"But what should we do about this?" Kou asks, the pitch of his voice, somehow going up because of the rush of adrenaline in him. "If we're alive, that means that we can still go back, right?!"

At that certain moment, Nene could feel her heart beating loudly in her chest, it started ringing in her ears. It was as if she just ran a couple of laps when she was only sitting there, dazed and confused.

So it was possible to still be alive even after entering this place.

She was trully happy for them but somehow, when she realized that, she hated that somewhere, some certain part in her also felt — jealous.

"Hanako?" She calls out his name in a small voice, in attempt to avert her own attention from them to her fellow friend instead. But then, the moment she turned to look at him, she realized that his big amber eyes were also holding the same feeling she held inside.

"Do you accept the call with all your heart?" He asks as he puts up a smile that almost seemed real. "If you do, then you can go."

Kou slowly turns to Teru and smiles, completely ecstatic. Everything might've looked surreal and incredulous because... well, everything happened like it was so fast. Hanako stands up and says, "The moment you have your heart set onto going back, you will disappear from here and you will return to your body in the living world, conscious."

Teru stood up and smiled at him, "We are ready to go back. I don't know what exactly happened after we fell down, but this is such a great miracle. We could have never imagined this ever happening," he reached for Hanako's small hand and shook it gently. "But thank you so much for telling us about this place and accompanying us. I don't know how we can ever repay you, but I hope that if we ever come back again, I hope you will welcome us with open arms."

"Of course," the small boy nods eagerly. "But I hope you won't come back too soon. Enjoy your second chance to the fullest, please."

"We surely will!" Kou says rather loudly from beside him, tears streaming down his cheeks. Welp, they didn't honestly see that coming — but he was really soft and gentle, so maybe it somehow became an assumption. His hands were balled into fists as he continues. "Thank you so much. I can't believe how happy I feel right now!"

Nene soon cried too; well, she was Nene, after all. She beamed at them, "Uh, I really hate goodbyes and we haven't really known each other for a long time but, I'm glad we met. Although it's here in the afterlife. I hope you treasure life more for the next time around. I hope the war is finally gone soon."

"Thank you so much, too, Nene," Kou pulled her to a tight hug, which made her face boom to a dark shade of red. "I hope we see each other again."

All of them said their farewells. And then, suddenly, when it was finally their time to go, Hanako made her close her eyes, although she didn't really knew why he made her do that. But to make sure she won't peek, he pulled her and placed his arm over her shoulders to cover her eyes with his palms instead.

When he removed them, she looked in front and they were gone.

Like they disappeared into thin air.

"Why did you do that?" Nene turns to him with a disappointed look written on her face. "I wanted to see them go."

"I don't think you'd want to. Besides, if I did that, you will cry nonstop, you know?" Hanako snickers at her. "It's really bothersome when you cry like a kid."

They bickered for awhile after that, which soon died down as she looked out at the still meadow outside. It still remained the same although Hanako told her that the settings do change.

Nene fell silent as she thought about them again; it became really extra silent without them around. It felt a bit lonely, somehow.

But she was happy.

"Who do you think prayed for them, Hanako?" She asks as she props an elbow onto the sill, feeling free as she stares outside. "It must be their lovers, right?"

"Nah. I don't think they even have those yet," he replies, waving a hand at her. "I think it's their little sister, Tiara."

Whoever it was, they must've surely love and treasure both Teru and Kou from the bottom of their hearts; after all, souls can only be taken back by people who have the purest hearts.

And in their case, they were a part of that 0.1% who survived something impossible.