A Farewell to All Futures

Past Sacrifices

Warning: Fire accidents, past character death, survivor's guilt

***

Having borrowed some weights from the school gym, Hajime and Shinji were working out behind the school. Staying in the shade of some trees near a running track, Hajime was holding Shinji's feet as the firefighter held the weights to his chest while doing sit-ups.

"Hey, Shin." Hajime spoke, breaking their concentrated silence. "I gotta ask, where's the flower necklace from? You never really told me why."

"Oh, this?" Shinji asked between grunts. "I would say it's the reason why I started being a firefighter."

Hajime nodded, looking at the fake daisy that hung from the vine necklace. "It looks good on you, Shin."

"Thanks, bro!" Shinji continued to do his training as he began retelling the story, though his face was redder than before. "When I was in middle school, there was this fire near my house. At the time, I though 'I have to get in there and save those people', but I still don't know why that went through my head at the time."

"Must be the firefighter instinct." The blonde joked.

"At the time, I wasn't actually a firefighter. But maybe some heroic mind lead me..." Shinji trailed off before stopping his training, sitting up and putting the weights to the side as Hajime took his hands off his feet and listened. "I heard a child's cry, which was coming from inside the building." 

"Oh damn. Did the authorities hear them?" The boxer asked.

"Not as far as I knew." At those words, Shinji saw Hajime start to bristle, so he hastily added "Fortunately, both the child and I were able to get out of the building. Of course, I got scolded a lot by the police and firefighters, and also my parents, but...I was proud of myself."

"As you should be." Hajime remarked. "Though you probably shouldn't get in trouble with the law, even if they suck. Trust me, it's a hassle to get out of."

"...I'm not going to ask what you mean by that." Shinji quickly changed the subject, continuing with his story. "A few days later, I went to check if the child was unharmed at the hospital they were admitted to, and that child ended up making this necklace as a sign of thanks."

Hajime nodded, remembering what he was told about the language of the flowers once. "Right, daisies are signs of gratitude. Though it's yellow daisies that mean 'thank you' and white daisies mean 'I give you my love', but hey, what would the little one know?"

"Haha, yeah." The firefighter laughed. "Anyways, the moment I received that, I felt that saving people was my talent and mission. Even now, before I rush into a scene, I always look at this necklace and pray. It's like a symbol of my talent to me..."

Hajime listened in silence, interested in his story. He didn't know many people non-professionally and only had a few friends, even if Nikei would never admit to being a 'friend', so he was content to listening to the firefighter's tale. For someone to share their past with him, in his eyes, was a sign that they really trusted him. His previous 'friends' didn't say anything about themselves but they all knew that they came from bad lives.

Suddenly, Shinji seemed to notice Hajime sitting there and listening intently. "I-I'm sorry! This is a little embarrassing, isn't it...?" He apologized.

"No, not at all." Hajime replied, curtly shaking his head. "I think the story was pretty cool."

"C-C-Cool?" Shinji stammered. 

"I think that I've learned a bit more about your sense of justice. Of course it's cool." A smile appeared on the boxer's face. "It's actually pretty neat that you're telling me these kinds of stories. Not many people open up to me like this."