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"How did it happen?"

"What?"

"How did you die?"

The boy shuffled in his seat and put his hands in his pockets. His eyes seemed to be searching for something to get his mind off of the topic that was just introduced to the conversation that was anything but normal. The girl immediately shook her head and a blush touched her face.

"I mean-you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's just that... I've never really had this conversation with anyone before," he mumbled pulling his jacket over him through the pockets. A long sigh was audible before he leaned back in his chair and began to tell the story of his death.

"It wasn't like I expected it," he began, "I mean, who does, really? But, I had plans. I was going to practice volleyball with my best friend and I was so set on going that nothing seemed to be able to stop me. It all happened in the blink of an eye. One minute I was crossing the road and the next- I'm standing over my own dead body. I'm pretty disappointed that I died by a hit and run, because I had always imagined I might die heroically somehow. How stupid is that?"

He stayed silent for a while and so did the girl who sat by him on the bench. Any passer-by would say the girl was sitting alone, which is understandable, seeing as only those of the most advanced minds can see the type of things she can see. Most wandering souls go unseen, dangling off of roofs and taking bites out of lunches of completely unaware people. It was quite amusing to the girl, which was probably why the people around her considered her 'a few fries short of a Happy Meal'. She didn't bother convincing people that she was smarter than all of them combined, she only smiled at their ignorance and continued to go about her day. After all, she found it much more fun to be humble and correct rather than proud and unhappy.

She enjoyed hearing the dead's stories. She would spend most of her days keeping them company and talking to them about their past lives. That's how she got to this boy in particular. His story wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and neither were his feelings, but this time around she began to feel a tinge of sadness that he wasn't still alive.

"The saddest part of it all was seeing people's reactions. My best friend was devastated. He wouldn't let the medics get anywhere close to me. He kept screaming my name as if it would change the fact that I was gone. I wanted to calm him down and say, 'Daichi, it's all right. I'm fine. I'm here,' but that wasn't the truth. I wasn't there. I'm here, but not there. I don't know how to explain it," he sighed, holding his head in his hands, "It's hard to let go of it, really. I feel like I should be somewhere else since I'm dead, what am I hanging around here for?"

"Some of the dead never really accept their death," the girl explained, "They know they're dead, but their subconscious tells them that there's a way back- that this whole death thing is only temporary and they'll go back to their normal lives. It takes them time and seeing their old friends and family all grown up to realize that there's no going back. That's around the time when they start to go to rest."

The boy stayed silent and the girl realized that she might have said too much.

"Jesus- I'm sorry I said way more than-"

"No, no. Thank you," he mumbled, staring at his feet, "H-how do I... how do I accept it?"

The girl gulped and sat back in her chair.

"There have been several occasions when I just listened to the dead talk about themselves when they start to fade away... like they realize when they're saying everything out loud that their time here has ended."

"So..." he muttered while he glanced at me, "I just talk about myself?"

The girl nodded and it took a while for him to start talking. It was almost as if he was trying to decide whether he wanted to go or stay. It seemed that he had made up his mind when he stood up and started walking. The girl took that as another one of the dead refusing to let it go, but was pleasantly surprised when the boy turned around and motioned for her to follow him.

"I'm Sugawara Koushi-"

"It's also better if you use past tense," the girl added before she coughed and apologized.

"I... was Sugawara Koushi," he said in a tone that seemed to be a confession, "I went to Karasuno High School and I was on the volleyball team. It might sound silly, but I was extremely devoted to that team. It wasn't as much of a regular club as it was a... I don't know how to describe it, but it meant a lot to me. My best friend was Daichi. We did everything together, from volleyball practice to cramming for exams, you would always find us doing it together. He was the one who introduced me to (Name), who was the love of my life. I don't even know how to begin to describe how much she meant to me. I don't think I could let a day pass without going to see her. It was like my daily dosage of (Name) that seemed to boost my morale and will to go on. Everything she did was perfect. I realize that's a subjective statement, but to me she was every word you might use to define perfect. She was clumsy and graceful all at the same time. She was cute and unbelievably sexy in the same moment. Have you ever met someone like that? I keep thinking it was my blind love that seemed to make me view her that way, but then I think that it's just her individual effect on me. Anyway, I love - er - loved her more than anything. We had planned to go to the park after Daichi and I practiced-the day that I died. I was even more excited about that than volleyball practice, which was pretty strange for me."

He stopped walking in front of a tall oak tree with a single bench under it. The bench had one person seated on it, a girl. She was busy with her nose stuck deep into a book and she had the most concentrated look on her face. A sad smile crept onto Sugawara's face as he watched her hastily read line after line of a thick hardback book that seemed to be bigger than she could handle.

"(Name)," he breathed. The girl standing next to him didn't say anything when his color seemed to be fading, because it seemed like he knew. Tears welled in his eyes as he simply stared at the girl on the bench, reveling in his last moments of seeing her. All too soon, he seemed to be moments away from fading, when he uttered his last words that the girl had expected him to say.

"I love you."

He didn't bother to say it in the past-tense, because that wouldn't have been true. Some things last even after death, and some things just can't be broken.

Description

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"How did it happen?"

"What?"

"How did you die?"

The boy shuffled in his seat and put his hands in his pockets. His eyes seemed to be searching for something to get his mind off of the topic that was just introduced to the conversation that was anything but normal. The girl immediately shook her head and a blush touched her face.

"I mean-you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's just that... I've never really had this conversation with anyone before," he mumbled pulling his jacket over him through the pockets. A long sigh was audible before he leaned back in his chair and began to tell the story of his death.

"It wasn't like I expected it," he began, "I mean, who does, really? But, I had plans. I was going to practice volleyball with my best friend and I was so set on going that nothing seemed to be able to stop me. It all happened in the blink of an eye. One minute I was crossing the road and the next- I'm standing over my own dead body. I'm pretty disappointed that I died by a hit and run, because I had always imagined I might die heroically somehow. How stupid is that?"

He stayed silent for a while and so did the girl who sat by him on the bench. Any passer-by would say the girl was sitting alone, which is understandable, seeing as only those of the most advanced minds can see the type of things she can see. Most wandering souls go unseen, dangling off of roofs and taking bites out of lunches of completely unaware people. It was quite amusing to the girl, which was probably why the people around her considered her 'a few fries short of a Happy Meal'. She didn't bother convincing people that she was smarter than all of them combined, she only smiled at their ignorance and continued to go about her day. After all, she found it much more fun to be humble and correct rather than proud and unhappy.

She enjoyed hearing the dead's stories. She would spend most of her days keeping them company and talking to them about their past lives. That's how she got to this boy in particular. His story wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and neither were his feelings, but this time around she began to feel a tinge of sadness that he wasn't still alive.

"The saddest part of it all was seeing people's reactions. My best friend was devastated. He wouldn't let the medics get anywhere close to me. He kept screaming my name as if it would change the fact that I was gone. I wanted to calm him down and say, 'Daichi, it's all right. I'm fine. I'm here,' but that wasn't the truth. I wasn't there. I'm here, but not there. I don't know how to explain it," he sighed, holding his head in his hands, "It's hard to let go of it, really. I feel like I should be somewhere else since I'm dead, what am I hanging around here for?"

"Some of the dead never really accept their death," the girl explained, "They know they're dead, but their subconscious tells them that there's a way back- that this whole death thing is only temporary and they'll go back to their normal lives. It takes them time and seeing their old friends and family all grown up to realize that there's no going back. That's around the time when they start to go to rest."

The boy stayed silent and the girl realized that she might have said too much.

"Jesus- I'm sorry I said way more than-"

"No, no. Thank you," he mumbled, staring at his feet, "H-how do I... how do I accept it?"

The girl gulped and sat back in her chair.

"There have been several occasions when I just listened to the dead talk about themselves when they start to fade away... like they realize when they're saying everything out loud that their time here has ended."

"So..." he muttered while he glanced at me, "I just talk about myself?"

The girl nodded and it took a while for him to start talking. It was almost as if he was trying to decide whether he wanted to go or stay. It seemed that he had made up his mind when he stood up and started walking. The girl took that as another one of the dead refusing to let it go, but was pleasantly surprised when the boy turned around and motioned for her to follow him.

"I'm Sugawara Koushi-"

"It's also better if you use past tense," the girl added before she coughed and apologized.

"I... was Sugawara Koushi," he said in a tone that seemed to be a confession, "I went to Karasuno High School and I was on the volleyball team. It might sound silly, but I was extremely devoted to that team. It wasn't as much of a regular club as it was a... I don't know how to describe it, but it meant a lot to me. My best friend was Daichi. We did everything together, from volleyball practice to cramming for exams, you would always find us doing it together. He was the one who introduced me to (Name), who was the love of my life. I don't even know how to begin to describe how much she meant to me. I don't think I could let a day pass without going to see her. It was like my daily dosage of (Name) that seemed to boost my morale and will to go on. Everything she did was perfect. I realize that's a subjective statement, but to me she was every word you might use to define perfect. She was clumsy and graceful all at the same time. She was cute and unbelievably sexy in the same moment. Have you ever met someone like that? I keep thinking it was my blind love that seemed to make me view her that way, but then I think that it's just her individual effect on me. Anyway, I love - er - loved her more than anything. We had planned to go to the park after Daichi and I practiced-the day that I died. I was even more excited about that than volleyball practice, which was pretty strange for me."

He stopped walking in front of a tall oak tree with a single bench under it. The bench had one person seated on it, a girl. She was busy with her nose stuck deep into a book and she had the most concentrated look on her face. A sad smile crept onto Sugawara's face as he watched her hastily read line after line of a thick hardback book that seemed to be bigger than she could handle.

"(Name)," he breathed. The girl standing next to him didn't say anything when his color seemed to be fading, because it seemed like he knew. Tears welled in his eyes as he simply stared at the girl on the bench, reveling in his last moments of seeing her. All too soon, he seemed to be moments away from fading, when he uttered his last words that the girl had expected him to say.

"I love you."

He didn't bother to say it in the past-tense, because that wouldn't have been true. Some things last even after death, and some things just can't be broken.