“H-Here.”
The girl looked beside her to Jurou’s outstretched hand holding a pint of beer.
“I thought you’d run away.” She responded, taking the drink.
“I thought about it…”
“And?…”
“I decided you owed me a glass of whiskey.”
She let out a chortle, “And yet you bought me a beer…”
“I decided you owed me one of those too.”
She turned towards him, smirking; “I should just open a tab at this point.”
Jurou chuckled and leaned his forearms on the wooden rail. He looked up at the moon.
“It’s incredible, isn’t it? But, I didn’t think anyone else even cared, it was surprising to see you watching the lunar eclipse.” Said Jurou.
The girl smiled, looking back up to the moon.
“My name is Akatsuki Niko. So, as you can imagine, it has been quite the fascination for me.”
“Akatsuki - Red Moon…” he responded.
How fitting. He thought once more.
“So Akatsuki-san is in Ketsugetsu, watching the lunar eclipse?”
“Maybe I’m trying to find myself in it…”
Jurou turned to her; she looked at him out of the corner of her.
“…Or maybe I’m just self absorbed.” She continued with a chuckle.
Jurou smirked, took a sip of his pint and then looked back at the moon.
“Aren’t you going to ask for my name?”
“Nope.”
A moment passed.
Jurou locked onto the big red moon, his eyes eventually glazing over as he was lost in thought and Niko noticed.
“What is it?” she asked, breaking the spell.
“Oh, I was just thinking about time…”
“…Time?”
He nodded without looking at her; “As a child I could not wait to grow up,” he chuckled. “I would have thought 27 was old. But now, I realise just how little time I have had, how little I have actually done. No-I actually haven’t done anything.”
Niko covered her mouth as she chuckled; “Hey, aren’t you a little too young to be experiencing a midlife crisis? You sound like an old man yearning for his youth.”
They both burst into laughter.
“But, seriously, you alright? Did you get fired or something?”
Jurou took another sip of his beer and turned towards her, grinning;
“Well, I did quit my job.”
Jurou could barely contain his excitement when he went to bed that night, lucid enough to remember a promise he had forced out of a stranger. The next morning, however, regret flooded his mind.
No, No, No, No! Why did I ask her to meet me again?
He pondered onto the night before; picturing himself with a square jaw and perfect hair, his voice a deep bass,
“I decided you owed me a whiskey.”
Gyaaa! How embarrassing, where did all that confidence come from? He continued. And what’s worse, is she’s going to expect that guy! But when I arrive…does this-does this count as cat-fishing?
YOU ARE READING
To Live After Life
RomanceKuroko Jurou finds out that he is dying. In truth that doesn't really mean anything to the Salaryman who has never truly lived to begin with. However, in the twilight of the young man's life, he meets Akatsuki Niko - who is determined to show him wh...
