“Ughhhh.”

A groan escaped my lips as I blinked. Grass spreaded out in front of me. The wind blew against my face, my hair blowing around wildly. I suddenly noticed the red in the grass that was beside me. Somebody bled here.

Oh. It hit me that I had been fighting GIRUS, and certainly died. Ayato Hinode was fighting GIRUS and certainly died.

“Ah!”

I sat upright, clutching my chest.

It was dark outside, with little light to illuminate the field. The trees were shaking again, the natural wind blowing. I was still on the trail.

I glanced at my stomach. The shirt above was dried with blood. Shivering, I reached and grabbed the bottom of my shirt.

“Aaaaaah!”

As I lifted the shirt, I yelped. Where my belly was, it was gone. Instead there was a red bloody hole in my abdomen. I dropped the shirt and looked away.

I flexed my hand. Despite the fatal injury, I found it easy to move. I pushed myself off the ground. Looking around, nobody was around. Not Kazane, Ayaka, Rei, or any humans like Saitou-sensei or Kenshi. As I walked around, there was little sound but the sound of tree leaves being blown by the wind.

“How am I still alive? What happened to the others?”

As I walked, my foot bumped into something soft.

“Hmm? What is thi- aaah!”

I screamed as I looked down, losing my balance and falling on my butt. My breath felt heavier.

An unmoving body laid at my feet. It was a human with long black hair, wearing the exact clothes she had the last I remembered. Ayaka Hirano laid dead at my feet, the shirt at her stomach soaked with blood.

What is this, what is this, what is this?

I blinked several times, before slowly looking forward. Rei Hirano's dead body laid several feet in front of Ayaka's, the grass soaked with blood.

What is this, what is this, what is this? Is this hell?

I slowly reached for Ayaka's shirt, pulling it up to see the same red hole.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!”

I flew back, slamming into the ground. As my hand shook and scooted back, I bumped into another soft body.

This has to be a dream, this has to be a dream, this has to be a dream.

If the bodies in front of me were Rei and Ayaka, then this body was… I resisted the chatter of my teeth as I turned around. Kazane laid motionless in front of me.

“Kazane!”

I lunged for the body. She was cold, her eyes shut.  

“Kazane, Kazane, Kazane!”

I shook her body, hoping she would wake up. Horrified, I looked down. There was a dark red spot around her abdomen.

“Impossible, impossible, impossible!”

This is a dream, thisisadream, thisisadream, thisisadream.

My mind screamed as I shook Kazane, frantically shouting her name.

“Kazane, Kazane, Kazane!!”

Why? How did I survive? Why didn't the others live? Why was I only alive?

“Kazane!!!!!”

Purple light appeared on the ground.

Unending Death.

…

My eyes snapped open. My nose was greeted by the smell of old wood. A rough blanket covered me, my head on a hard pillow. It was a dark room.

“ーhk”

My voice shuck as I stared at the ceiling. A stiffness settled itself in my body, a feeling of exhaustion so great I could barely move my arms and legs. Even my throat felt hollow and dry, unable to push words out. Despite the urge to look at my belly, I didn't have any energy to move.

“A-ah, t-this is r-really b-baddd.”

My words came out sluggish as I forced them out of my throat. Left panting, I tried to lift my arm. No force. My arm didn't even shake.

“I-I'm r-really t-tireddd.”

Giving up, my eyes rolled back in exhaustion.

“W-what i-in the w-world h-happened. G-GIRUS, K-Kazane, t-the o-others.”

Utterly confused about what happened and where I was, my eyes closed.

…

“Fell, asleep, huh?”

Was the first thing I thought when I woke up.

The familiar scent of the old wood entered my nose, the same pillow and blanket. Unlike last time, there was enough light to make out the pattern of the ceiling. A wood texture. My voice came out naturally. Unlike last time, my body pushed itself up perfectly fine. The blanket fell to my legs.

“Ow, ow, ow.”

 I clutched the front of my shirt as pain shot through my body. Leaning back on a wall, I grumbled.

“Seems the pain hasn't gone away.”

A light peeked across me, leaving the room a gentle yellow glow. With the new glow, I could make a silhouette of the room. I silently looked around, counting the objects around me.

“Bookshelves, tables, carpet, lamps, chairs. This was definitely not my room. Ah, speaking of which.”

I lifted my shirt up. Where the red hole was, was now perfectly fine, peach skin.

“Huh? It healed all up?”

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I dropped my shirt. I gently stroked my belly.

“It seems weird though. Maybe all of that was just a dream. Are the other's okay though? Oh yeah, the others!”

A sickening feeling shot through me as I realized that I had seen the others die. I tried to push my legs off the bed, but was greeted by sharp pain.

“Damn, why now!”

As I struggled to move my legs, a figure stirred at my legs. Her brown hair fell as she looked up while rubbing her eyes. Her mouth opened.

“E-Eh?”

 As soon as I heard her voice, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness you're okay! Sheeeesh Kazane, I was so scared!”

A feeling of relief washed through me as my head rolled back, resting on the wall. But even as I said that, my hand shook. Something was still bothering me. As I breathed, arms wrapped around my neck, and something buried into my shoulders.

“K-Kazane?”

She made no effort to respond as she hugged me. The warmness of her arms. It made my chest just a bit lighter. In response to the silence, she only hugged me tighter.

“W-wait, Kazane, I know you're worried but-”

“Can you be quiet for a moment?”

Her voice was hoarse and had a tinge of ice.

“A-ah? Oh…”

My hand stilled as the silence of our embrace clouded us. I could feel the warmness of Kazane's body, her chest rising up and down. The sensation was so real that there was no way this was a dream. Then-

A sniff. Kazane's body trembled, her head dug into my shoulder. Her hands tugged my sleeves. Without a word to me, she silently cried into my shoulder.

“Kazane…”

The heaviness in my chest lifted as Kazane hugged me. The suspicion I had when I woke up. Feeling her warmth, seeing her warmth made me realize. This wasn't a dream. I survived. I wasn't sure how and I wasn't certain at first, but I did.

My arms wrapped around Kazane as I hugged her back. Gently, I stroked the back of her head.

“It's okay, it's okay. I'm alive.”

I'm alive.

I'm alive.

I'm alive.

It was hard to believe that, hard to think that. Even now, I had a suspicion that I was in some afterlife. And perhaps, Kazane felt the same way.

“You see, I was so special, not even GIRUS could kill me!”

Kazane stiffened at my sudden transition. Her head stopped moving into my shoulder.

“Ah, ah. That's right. I'm so special, I can't die. You know what they call this? Plot armor. When a person is so special, he can't die. Perhaps that is my ability!”

As those words left my mouth, my nose crinkled. The statement I just uttered felt more unhinged than usual. And to those words, Kazane finally spoke back.

“ーThat's seriously what you think?”

Kazane's voice was cold. Harsh.

Some exchange with Kazane

--------

Ayaka 

"You're not mad?"

"No. Not really."

A simple response, a true response. I wasn't angry at all. It wasn't exactly her fault, and there wasn't a use in playing a blame game.

"Honestly, I'm just glad that I'm alive."

"I see."