For a while, Stay

"So, you knew then." He tightened his fingers in a fist. Unbelieved to them, he heard the words that spewed from her mouth.

"Why?" He asked.

"I wanted to die. If it meant saving you, I am especially happy to it." That's unbelievable. Someone who's too happy to will the dwell of death, It's a lie. Right?

They kept their distance from each other. Him not wanting to believe the moment of finally talking to her, after so long, his brain possibly playing tricks on him. And she didn't want this to be their final moment with each other, she knew it'd be for a while. They refused to let the other go.

"That's selfish. To die, and let that thing take over you without a fight. That's disgusting." Megumi said to her,  truly despising the idea of her accepting death. Meaningless death, just to save him, it was stupidity at its best. Maybe he was a hypocrite. So be it.

"....If only. " Tsumiki looked up.

"If only I had a carton of milk right now..."

To which, as if an instant, the memory popped up in both of their heads.

"You promised you wouldn't fight anymore."

"Don't act as if you're my guardian."

She watched as her brother's eyes stilled at her, looking her up and down before turning around.

"You disgust me." He said. There was no malice, but yet, it made her angry how he never listened. Called her 'too good for her own kind'. Truthfully, she understood that there were reasons behind all actions. Yes, she knew those nobodies outside were those who were lifted from the fall of others, they had their beatings coming.

Megumi was someone who was good at the heart, was selfless, and was willing to sacrifice dangers to him for the save of a good person.

Still,

She hated how self-destructive he was in the process. And just because she forgave people even a little too much, doesn't mean it wasn't beneficial to her. Forgiveness bettered her. It gave her strength. If he would only listen, he would know.

She lifted her arm and lunged the carton, aiming for his head to somehow knock the sense into it.

Instead, his head was only filled with the pink liquid of the strawberry flavored milk that wasn't supposed to come out.

Her forgiving eyes filled with panic as the milk dripped from his hair and his eyebrows that furrowed down as he spun on his heel and looked at her.

Tsumiki drew her head back in laughter as she remembered Megumi's expression, whose face was half pale and half pink from the milk. And what made her smile brighten was his face that went pink from embarrassment but a small grin tugging at his lips as he too recalled the special memory.

That was one of the only few "arguments" they've had in their time together.

But Megumi felt his grin falter as he could feel time ticking down, quick and quicker, throughout every moment they spent there on that bench.

"Megumi,"

He looked up to find his sister smile still present on her face, broken but fixed. The distance between them were now closed as they shared a similar feeling in their eyes, looking at each other closely, as the voice in their heads was indirectly telling them this was their last moment together. For a while.

"To be selfless, you need to be selfish." She finished. She placed an arm over his shoulder to which the gesture was returned.

They sat there, looking into the distance with the acceptance that this was their last moment, for a while. Amidst that acceptance, Tsumiki and Megumi unknowingly made a promise.

She will never see him destroy himself,

And he would listen this time.

Megumi realizes that now, that regardless of whether her eyes were closed or not, she knew. She knew his intentions to save good people, she knew his willingness to leave himself behind to see others forward, to be careless for himself but careful for anyone else. She knew him.

Just as he'd known her and knew that thing  from before, during those wretched games, was not her but an imposter seeking selfish needs and taking over her body.

Now, as he watches her go into the light, turning back to smile at him, he smiles back and makes his way back to life. He would continue to live for Tsumiki, his stupid sister. The only difference now, is that he'd live for himself too.

He understands now.

"Thank you, Tsumiki."

He smiles.