The Gentle Death God Laughs Above the Cherry-Blossom Sky.

As usual, I was spending a relaxing time with the Reaper, who frequently visited me. I was starting to think that I was some kind of valuable item for him because he would refuse to stay away for too long. I want to scream: ‘I’ll die soon!’ But nah, that would just be a waste of time.

When I got out of bed, I saw him standing beside the window, looking outside. But when he saw me looking outside too, he asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“That—”

I pointed at the cherry tree to attract his precious attention. On that day, after he had revived the cherry tree, the tree grew at such a fast pace as if to catch up with the delay of its growth. It was one or two times smaller than the surrounding trees, but it seemed that it would catch up soon.

“Isn’t it suspicious that its growth is so fast?“

“It’s okay. No one in particular will notice it because the trees around it are big.”

I subconsciously laughed at his optimistic words that were quite unlike him. He nodded to me, “Is that so?”

While watching the cherry blossom trees together, I kept taking small glances towards Reaper-san who was standing next to me. However, thanks to the fact that he still wore that hood which was deep enough to cover his eyes, I couldn’t see anything, other than the occasional movement of his lips. At first, I was worried because I couldn’t see his facial expression. But when I got used to it, I didn’t care about such a trivial matter anymore.

It’s strange. I was meeting the god of death as if he were a long-time friend; I felt so comfortable next to him.

He was not very talkative, so it was often silent between the two of us. But it wasn’t that awkward, and the atmosphere arounds us gave a calm and serene feel, even without conversation. Maybe that’s why he did not feel bad about the time he spent with me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!”

He noticed my evident gaze and turned towards me.

I felt as though he was surprised by my and in response turned his’ away in a hurry. I saw him stare with a hidden gaze at  the cherry blossoms outside. I was not aware, but I think that the reason why he averted his gaze, was because he was mysteriously angry at me, furthermore, he was staring at the cherry blossoms without saying a word. What did I do?

I took a slow, deep breath to calm my pounding heart.

Occasionally, it could be painful to have my chest tightened like this. It may make a loud noise. I’ve been told that this was probably because of my illness.

This time, I looked at him again secretly, praying that I wouldn’t get caught. Though I thought so, when I saw him standing next to me, he had also seen me.

“What—”

“Mr. Reaper looks rather lonely.”

“I … somehow, I felt like you’re looking at me.”

“—I didn’t!”

“Yes. I think I was mistaken Mahiro—”

“I’m sorry,” he said gently.

With just that, my heart bounced with a painful thump. My chest was in pain. My heart was acting weird.

If the palpitations were so intense, my heart wouldn’t even have the day written in his notebook… This would cause my heart to stop earlier than planned… I wondered if Mr. Reaper would be troubled and would be questioned by others. ‘Was it because of you that the day she died had changed?’ When I thought about that, my heart felt a little bit better and I laughed a little.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

“Huh?”

“Because you’re laughing.”

“Yeah, lately, there’s been a lot of things that are making me happy.”

“That’s great!”

“It’s because of you—” I said hastily. I thought I could catch him off guard with my confession-like words, but I guess I was wrong. He stood still without looking in my direction. 

“—It’s because you’re coming here every day and acting so funny,” I said while pouting.

“I’m not doing anything.”

Hmm, no such thing huh. I’m sure it would have been boring to wait for every day to pass by without him. Plus, he’s entertaining to watch and he lessens the fear I have of dying.

It’s hard to think that every day would be fun like this. Maybe it’s been lonely and painful ever since Ren left, that I didn’t even notice. Even at that time, it was fun and shining every day. Even though I was supposed to be in the hospital, I enjoyed being with Ren so much that I sometimes forgot about my illness.

Speaking of which, did he spend time alone in the hospital room like this? Even though it was time for patrol, I was in Ren’s hospital room and the nurse said, “Go back to your hospital room soon!” 

There was also a time when the nurses were worried because Ren did not eat the pound cake that they gave him. They were very sympathetic to him because of his condition.

When I looked back on my memories with Ren, it was all painful and sad, and I pretended to forget it. Anyhow, he was my support, because when I thought of Ren who was working hard on his treatment; I was able to work hard for any painful treatment too.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I answered bitterly.

When I’m with him, I often remember the days when I was with Ren and I didn’t know why it bothered me so much.

“Nothing… You’ve kept looking at me many times since a while ago. Isn’t there something wrong?” He asked, which surprised me.

I masked my guilt with nervous laughter as I saw him scan my face out of pure curiosity and suspicion.

“It’s nothing. Just—”

“What is it?”

“Um… oh yeah. I don’t know anything about you.”

“About me?”

“Yes, for example, what you like—” I paused, and tried to think of a more appropriate example.

“—Like perhaps your favorite thing.”

In response to my question, he began to think about it in silence. It was just an idea, but I was glad I distracted him about the topic. He thought about it while occasionally murmuring “Hmm” or “Eh…”

I didn’t mean to make it difficult, but…

“Oh, that. If you can’t answer…”

“No, that’s not the case. I can’t think of anything I especially like—”

“Well, then—”

“Oh, but let me think… Aha!”

As though his light bulb had suddenly brightened, the shining god of death turned to me.

“I don’t hate the time I spend with you. Uh, I guess this is one of my favorite thing”

Why? My heart fluttered with the sudden words that he said.

“It’s-“

Why do you say it like that?

Thump. Thump. I felt my heart beat faster with every passing second. Please stop. I’ll die earlier if you keep acting up, my foolish heart.

Don’t make me feel like this.

I kept hearing the sound of my beating heart and the sound of bells from time to time, which I didn’t know where it was coming from. 

I don’t want to know this feeling.

I don’t want to know…

“What—”

As if to interrupt the voice of the grim reaper, a knock sounded in the hospital room.

I hadn’t heard of anyone coming to visit, and it was early for rounds, but was it the nurse?

I turned my head away from Mr. Reaper and replied, “Yes.”

As if I had been waiting for his reply, the door opened. A man I didn’t recognize was standing there. When he saw my face, he said: “Hello,” and smiled at me.

“Hello……?”

Who could it be? He’s young enough to be an acquaintance of my mom or dad, but not an acquaintance of mine. Could it be that he’s in the wrong hospital room?

“That—”

“Excuse me”

“Oh, what are y—”

I was going to ask him, but he ignored my approach, and instead zipped past me into the hospital room and grabbed Reaper-san, who was behind me, by the shoulders.