Karamatsu dies

A Better Day

With each footstep, the better he feels.  With each footstep, the cold slowly melts away to a warmth which he hadn't felt since childhood. It fills his chest and nearly takes his breath away, and he wonders if this is what death is truly like. 

If so, death is a wonderful, wonderful thing. 

Someone is behind him, shouting at him to stop, to think about the consequences of what he's about to do, but he doesn't pay him any mind. The warmth envelopes him like the embrace of his mother, and he keeps going forward. 

Flowers spring up with each step, all of them various shades of blue. 

They're beautiful, he thinks. They're the most beautiful things he's ever seen. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes as he looks at them. 

The world he was in now was so much better than his old one. No brothers to look down on him, nothing but beautiful flowers and beautiful memories. 

A chuckle escapes his throat, startling the man following him. His cheeks are damp from tears, but he guffaws at nothing at particular. 

Soon, he's on his knees, weeping and laughing at the same time. 

The flowers surrounding him begin to wilt, and the ground rots away. Everything seems to dim as he keeps laughing - the sky falls away, revealing a normal ceiling. 

...

Osomatsu is complaining about something trivial, and Choromatsu frowns, scolding him about whatnot. Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu are out practicing batting, and Todomatsu is working. 

Karamatsu has to blink several times before he realizes where he is. His living room, at the table. 

There are no flowers.