Black Wings

Seventeen

TW: Mentions of suicide. Please read with discretion.

"110, what's your emergency?"

"Please, we need help now! There's a man on the top of the Aiba Service building! I think he's gonna jump-"

"Ma'am, I need you to remain calm. Help is on the way."

The woman hung up, needlessly terrified, as she looked up the twenty story building with fear in her eyes. A small crowd of people had gathered on the sidewalk, all looking up and pointing. Many of them were shouting, "Don't do it!" or making signs with whatever they had. The crowd had gathered, a mob of heads, all waiting to see what would happen. A general murmur of worry had begun to spread. Uncertainty made its way all around as the far up blotch of a person made its way closer to the edge.

Far up, the blotch faded to a human figure. It was a man, clearly a native to Japan, as he had the cliché dark hair, pale skin and brown eyes. His pupils were lifeless, his movements careless, and he slunk around almost like a shadow around the turrets on the roof. No one had even noticed him until he was on the roof, edging closer and closer to the end. He finally got to the edge, to the final step, and looked over at the beautiful city below him. The man took a sigh, and shut his eyes in bliss.

This was it. He was going to do it.

"Ah, nice day we're having, eh?"

His vision snapped back open to reality almost immediately. The voice was suave, smooth like honey, and belonged to the most unlikely figure. A man, blonde hair and giant red wings, was sitting right next to him on the railing. In his lap he held a takeout container of noodles, and furiously grasping his chopsticks, he shoveled another mouthful of food in.

The man was astounded.

"What... who're..."

"I said, 'nice day we're having, eh?' Because, truly it is, isn't it? I mean, just look at that blue sky. Not every day you see something as beautiful as that."

The man stood, dumbfounded and in direct eye contact with this peculiar interrupter.

"You... you know what I'm about to do..."

"Of course I do."

"Well, then, whatever you're doing, don't try to stop-"

"I assume you're here because you wanted to look over the cityscape, same as me, right."

There was an absolute and awkward silence between the two.

"I.. uh-"

"Here, since you're up here, why don't you come eat with me? The ramen is Tonkatsu, and goodness knows I can't finish it all by myself." The winged man beckoned over to the railing next to him, and it took a minute for the man to register the action. Did he not understand what was going on? What was happening?

Reluctantly, the man sat, feet dangling over the edge of the building, and with a smile, he was handed a takeout container of the warm soup. The steam smelled delicious, the feeling of heat on his face a sense he hadn't felt in a long time.

The winged man gently jabbed his arm with a pair of chopsticks, to which he took gingerly.

"...thank you."

"No problem! It was supposed to be for my secretary, so she'll probably be mad, but I don't care! Serves her right for making me get her lunch, isn't that right, Mr. ...?"

"Takahashi. Takahashi Ren."

"Ah, Takahashi. Nice!"

They sat in silence for a moment, both slurping noodles and not saying a word.