Keyakizaka46 One-shots (English)

Drown (YuukaNen)

Author's Note: Trigger Warning for mentions of suicide and death. Roughly based on Heel No Taka-sa's MV.  

-

Won't you drag the lake and bring me home again?

They say that the moment your feet leaves the ledge is when regret chooses to rear its ugly head.

Akane had once read how when people are at death's door and before the painful tug of death's cruel hand severs their souls from their earthly tethers, their life flashes before their eyes. Like one of those huge old projectors they had at school.

And, everything just comes back at you.

The faces of your loved ones.

The ups and the downs.

The regrets.

And that is what's happening to her right now as she's freefalling down into the cold lake, the many faces suddenly flashed across her watery vision. The faces of her parents were drawn and their hair starting to grey, the faces of her friends worry etched upon their faces, her tennis coach normally with a hard frown on his face suddenly had traces of sympathy in his eyes.

And then, her face.

Nothing could describe the crushing agony she felt as her body finally hit the water.

Pain.

Cold.

Darkness.

Black clawed at the edges of her vision but the human body is a beautiful creation, equipped with the means to always try to heal itself. So her body responded and her instinct took over.

Fight or Flight.

Akane dimly realizes how her body had righted itself from her slow sinking into the depths of the lake and how her arms and legs started to push her upwards towards the surface. But the fall had weakened her, the cold seeping into her bones and the alcohol in her system isn't much help either. Slowly she starts to falter and weaken as precious oxygen leaves her.

Choking.

Crushing.

Her last thoughts before darkness consumed her was of Yuuka.

Her beautiful, beautiful friend.

And how she wished she were given the chance to talk to her one last time.

-

Am I...dead?

Slowly she opened her eyes to blackness.

Where am I?

Everything was pitch black but her body felt light, wet even, as if she's floating in water.

"You're neither here nor there"

A voice.

She recognizes that voice.

Her head turns towards the voice and floating a few feet beside her is her best friend.

"Yuu...ka?"

Disbelief lacing her voice.

And her friend smiles serenely at her in response.

"Am I...dead?"

Yuuka hums contemplatively. It reverberates in her head and suddenly she feels as if she's freefalling again.

-

The world feels bumpy this time, swaying.

It feels almost familiar, like when you're asleep in the backseat of your parent's car on the way back home from a road trip and your father tries to avoid the small potholes so you'd sleep fine but even with his driving finesse he still couldn't avoid the small bumps along the way.