Don't Give Up

Life wasn't going as it seemed for Sakurauchi Riko. On the outside, she was a normal girl. Completely happy with life. But on the inside, she was a disaster. Riko wasn't anything like people knew her to be.

Her friends never thought anything was wrong with her. She seemed so happy, once you looked past the timidness. But, Riko was suffering. And no one knew. Not until one fateful day.

It was a weekend. Riko had woken up feeling awful as she always did. She barely had the strength to move to turn off her alarm that kept blaring at her. She wanted to just disappear into the void and never return. Riko didn't want to live. She hadn't wanted to live for quite some time. She was done with life and everything it had thrown at her.

Her mom had thought that moving away from the big city would give her a new start. It had, at first. But then things happened that reminded her of her problems that she had tried so hard to get rid of. There was no stopping them from haunting her again once they came back. Riko never informed her mom about them. She didn't want her mom to worry about her any more than she had to. She knew she was causing a lot of stress to her mom.

Riko sighed as she slowly sat up on her bed. She glanced at her phone to see no new messages. It was almost noon already and no one had thought to check up on her. Riko frowned at that thought.

Maybe they don't care about me. Maybe they've only been using me. Would they care if I just vanished?

Riko got out of her bed. She made a decision about what she was going to do. She changed into some clothes suitable for the weather outside. She walked out of her room, before returning to grab her phone. She left and went downstairs. Her mom was watching TV. She teased Riko about sleeping in so late, and then informed her breakfast was in the fridge if she wanted it.

Riko declined and said she was going out. She bid her mom farewell and started walking down the street. It was pretty busy for the small town. There was a convention of some sort going on in the downtown area of the city. Riko walked toward that area. That was the perfect place to do what she wanted.

Riko arrived in no time and stared at the traffic flow. She made a bitter smile as she pulled out her phone. She sent a message to the chat she made with Yō and Chika.

Riko: Hey guys. I just wanted to tell you something. I'm sorry. I've probably been a burden to you this entire time. But, it's alright. You won't have to deal with me any longer. I think it's best for me to leave. So, goodbye. I'm sure one of these visitors will be driving fast enough to kill me.

Riko put her phone back into her pocket and then watched for a driver who decided the speed limit was too slow. She knew it would happen soon. There were a lot of impatient visitors. But, to this day, no one ever got hit by one. Riko was about to try and change that. She wondered what the city might do to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Riko spotted one after a few minutes of waiting. She smiled another bitter smile as she ran forward, ready to meet her end, even if it was going to be a painful one. Suddenly, two pairs of arms wrapped around her and pulled her away from the street. The car flew by without any problems. The streak of no deaths would continue onward.

"R-Riko-chan... why? Why are you trying to die?"

Riko realized who the pairs of arms belonged to. Yō and Chika had found her. They had gone to stop her. They cared enough to try to stop her.

Riko found herself crying at that realization. Maybe she wasn't a burden like she thought. Maybe she was valued. Riko had believed her mind for so long when it told her she was worthless to her friends. Now that she had evidence they weren't, it was so different.