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Author’s note:
This is a story from the perspective of Shuu, Ayumu’s best friend, who was mentioned a few times.¹　

(Why… why in the world…?)

A voice reciting the sutras and the bawling of several people echoed in the funeral hall. I, wearing my school uniform in place of mourning clothes, was lamenting my own powerlessness and the reality that could only be called an act of God or a trick of fate that was in poor taste.

“Ayumu… Mika…” I muttered in an exceedingly small voice, as not to disturb those around me.

Ayumu had been my friend… no, my bosom buddy since elementary school, and we were so close, I had hung out with him almost every day since we became second-year high-schoolers. We even went on school trips together.

We’d be taking entrance exams next year, but, as expected, the two of us still planned to meet up and play video games in our free time. That is… if he hadn’t died. He… that’s right, if I had to describe him, I’d call him a “video game addict²“, concentrating exclusively on RPGs.

Even so, since he had a good-looking face, he was popular. There were even one to three girls who confessed to him per year. Well, since the ba̲stard was determined, he refused them, saying “There’s someone I’ve liked since a long time”…

The person that Ayumu liked so much was called “Mika”. She was Ayumu’s childhood friend and had beautiful straight long black hair, big black eyes and, well, what you’d call a cute face.

Boys kept approaching her. Come to think of it, I, too, fell victim to her once, when I was in elementary school.

But there was one incident, that made me realize I couldn’t beat Ayumu in his affection for Mika. It happened in the 5th… or maybe 6th year of elementary school. When a pane of glass right above Mika was smashed by a ball, the shards rained down on her… It was an accident. At that time, Ayumu immediately shielded Mika and ended up covered in blood, being pierced by glass shards all over his body. The largest shard had pierced his arm. That scar never went away.

If it was only about shielding her, then I could’ve done that, too. But it was what he said to Mika.

“Don’t cry, Mika. I’m alright. Nothing happened to you, and I wasn’t injured that badly. I wouldn’t have liked it, if you had been hurt.”
This was what an elementary schooler, pierced by glass shards and covered in blood, said. How is something like that possible…?

Stuff like that was why I thought, that Ayumu was the best partner for Mika. Well, all the boys who knew about that probably thought so. I’m pretty sure. Oh, incidentally, I was the one who called the teacher at that time. Yup.

Mika and Ayumu always went home together… It was, as if they were already a married couple. Because of that, I always teased him by saying that I’d be the “matchmaker at their wedding”. I was rather serious, too.

Even though they had been in love with each other since a long time, they consistently thought of each other as “more than friends, but less than lovers”. I couldn’t stand watching them. But because of that… I thought that the two of them would end up happily married at some point. However, two weeks ago, that stopped being a possibility.

Ayumu… died in an accident.

As for the cause of death, he was hit by a flowerpot that had dropped from a high rise building. The one who had dropped it… was unknown. The police said that the building had been constructed in a way, that nothing could be placed on the balconies and next to the windows. In other words… someone had intentionally dropped it, but… that criminal hadn’t been found.

In addition to that unlucky event, Mika was apparently present, when they loaded Ayumu, who was covered in blood, into the ambulance, up to the point where she saw the doctor, who checked Ayumu’s pulse, shake his head.

From that day on, Mika started to act weirdly. She neither reacted to mails, nor did she answer any phone calls. According to Sakura, Mika’s little sister, she confined herself to her room, ate barely anything and kept crying while screaming Ayumu’s name.

At the funeral, she was also constantly crying. Muttering Ayumu’s name.

Mostly, she regretted not having confessed to him. Afterwards, she apparently apologized to Ayumu, who shouldn’t have been there, for only taking advantage of being his childhood friend and also for acting so aggressively.

She never did anything like behaving aggressively towards him… Instead, she acted like she was heads-over-heels for him… At any rate, she appeared to grow mentally weaker.

She was like that, but yesterday, she said that she’d go to school for the first time in two weeks, thanks to the persuasion of her neighbors, and apparently, she really went there.

However, on her way to school… She was hit by a truck and died. That’s why today was her funeral.

At first, everyone though she had committed suicide due to the shock of Ayumu’s death. But it was different. A security camera fully recorded, that Mika had been playing with her smartphone, while she was walking, when a truck drove onto the sidewalk and hit her. At least the police, too, said that it wasn’t a suicide.

I want them to catch those criminals quickly. The ones who had killed Ayumu and Mika. I want them to apologize to their victims.³

The priest finished his sutras, and it was time to look at Mika’s face for the last time before her body was cremated. One by one, we took flowers and arranged them around Mika, who was wrapped in a white dress, while her relatives affixed wet leaves to her mouth.⁴　

Was it because the one who put on the makeup had been so skilled? It seemed as if she was merely sleeping. She looked quite beautiful.

“In the afterlife… you’ll be happy with Ayumu,” I said to her.

The coffin’s lid was closed.

_____
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“That was all. Please have a safe trip home. As for the bereaved family, we shall move on towards the cremation…”

The funeral had ended. Not knowing what to do and being assaulted by a feeling of emptiness, I unconsciously and aimlessly arrived at the courtyard behind the funeral hall.

“Sis… uh… wah~… big sis…”
“Sakura…”

Behind the hall were a girl with pigtails, who’d had taken off her glasses and was sobbing, and a boy who looked handsome in a cute way. They were both middle schoolers.

The two of them, both in 8th grade… were Ayumu’s younger brother, Kanata, and Mika’s younger sister, Sakura. They were childhood friends, same as Mika and Ayumu. Had been, since they were born, so they’ll probably have been together longer than my two friends soon.⁵　

Kanata was patting Sakura’s back gently, trying to calm her down. His appearance overlapped with Ayumu. I was planning to quietly watch over them, but…

“Oh, Shuu…”⁶　

It looked like Kanata had noticed me.

“Shuu… T-thank you, for being here today for… for…” Sakura started.
“No, it’s fine, if you don’t say it. It’s probably hard for you.”
“Yes… wah~…”

I stopped Sakura when she was about to thank me. It looked as if even speaking was awfully hard for her.

“Shuu… what in the world… is this indescribable feeling?” Kanata asked me.
“Well… I’m probably feeling the same.”

Kanata looked downward, bit his lip hard and balled his fists in apparent frustration.

“…I wonder, what are the two of them doing right now… up there in heaven?” I mused.
“…If it’s them… they’re probably making out,” Kanata commented.
“Sis and Ayumu… you’re probably right,” Sakura agreed with him.

We looked to the sky. I believed that the two of them would start living happily in heaven…

___
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_

“Then, it’s about time to go to Mika’s cremation,” I told them. “Your parents and the others are waiting, you know.”
“You’re… right,” Kanata agreed.
“Yes…” Sakura murmured.

It happened when we were about to take our leave. Suddenly… a magic circle, like that ones that you often saw in video games, appeared under our feet. Sakura was so shocked by the incident’s abruptness, that she dropped her glasses outside the magic circle. Kanata frantically tried to pick them up, but it looked like his arm was repelled by some strange force.

While that occurred, we were swallowed up by the circle, which shone with a light that got stronger and stronger…

TL notes:
Wow, that started dark, and it only got worse from there…

Ayumu and Mika being murdered has some really sinister implications, when you look at the prophecy about Alim appearing in Anazumu.

At this point, their parents probably need therapy (not that Japanese ever seem to get that in novels). First one kid dies, then the second finally gets out of the house after being lost in depression for two weeks and promptly dies too. One day later, the other two kids get isekai’d at the funeral…

1. In side story 1 and chapter 142.
2. The original is ゲーム廃人 (“Game cripple/invalid”). I don’t think this works well in English, so I changed it slightly.
3. This might also mean that he wants to be there, when the criminals are caught and have to apologize.
4. That seems to track with what a cursory glance at the Wikipedia page for Japanese funerals told me.
5. The original was somewhat weird. This is the translation, that made the most sense from context.
6. In the original, Shuu addresses them as Kanata-kun and Sakura-chan, while they address him as Shuu-san.