As You Fade Away

3. A Change to Accept

Kunikuzushi

The wind blew a paper to Kunikuzushi's face, startling him and waking him up. He stripped the paper furiously and threw it away, but the wind blew it back to him. Kunikuzushi got up, ripped it down the middle, and crumbled it. He balled his fists and watched the two misshapen balls roll in the breeze.

 When the wind finally died, a black-and-white image of a young boy faced him. Kunikuzushi held his breath as he stumbled, recognizing the boy immediately.  He read the title: 

「Boy succumbed to mysterious illness at Milkage Furnance, Tatarasuna.

An orphaned boy died from thick black gas found in Tatarasuna. "His parents met the same fate as him." Said the villager who first spotted him. "The furnace is not safe and no one was there to tell us that. It was too late to save him. He held on to a doll and I heard him muttering his last words as I took him to a nearby clinic: 'I'm sorry I could not keep my promise. Don't be mad...' Then his eyes closed." ... 」

He could not read anymore. As Kunikuzushi's anxiety intensified, his body began to respond with a series of alarming phenomena. His heart pounded so forcefully that he thought it might rupture out of his chest. With each beat, he felt a sharp pain that pulsed in his head. His stomach clenched and twisted into knots, leaving him feeling nauseous and lightheaded.

He struggled to make sense of the overwhelming emotions that were flooding his mind. His eyes grew blurry, and his vision doubled, making it hard for him to focus on anything. His ears rang, and he could barely hear anything. He felt like he was suffocating, and his breaths came in shallow gasps.

Despite his best efforts, Kunikuzushi could not hold back the tears. They streamed down his face, hot and uncontrollable. He felt like he was falling apart, and his mind was in turmoil. He had never experienced anything like this before, and he didn't know how to make it stop.

He dropped onto his back with his palms obscuring his face. Flashes of happy memories with that boy came to him like random clips of songs that easily got stuck in his head. The train of images slammed into the boy hard.

"Kuni.. Zuchi?... what? Thats too long. Can I call you Kuni?" The boy asked with stars in his eyes and a beam on his face.
"Call me whatever you want," Kunikuzushi mumbled and looked at feet. "A name is just something you call onto."

"Stop!" He roared to himself as he pulled his hair. But another memory decides to settle in. One he hoped not to recall today.

"We are just alike, you know? You and me." Young Kunikuzushi said as he handed an apple to the boy. They sat at the end of a cliff, looking over to the vast blue ocean.
"Really? How come?" The boy swung his feet and sunk his teeth into the fruit.
"Well, we both are lonely and feel left out." Kunikuzushi thought hard not to hurt the child's feelings.
"How about we make a promise?" The child held out his right pinkie. "Promise to be friends forever, so we won't be either of those."

"No, please." Kunikuzushi rolled, banging the floor. "Why?! Why him?" He lamented. He forced his eyes open, but he could still hear the boy's voice. 

"Kuni!" The bog hugged him tight and sobbed. "I don't wanna go to Tatarasuna!" He wailed. 
Mini Kunikuzushi stroked the boy's hair soothingly. "Dont worry. We made a promise, remember? Whatever happens, I'll come find you." 

His throat was sore from bawling. He suddenly heard footsteps and rustling of leaves headed toward him, but he could not cover up his agony. 

A boy his age bounded from behind a bush. He had white hair and wore maroon clothes. His eyesight blurred everything else. He knelt beside Kunikuzushi and placed a warm hand on his back. The blue-haired boy must have looked like a mess. If the stranger had said anything, he could neither hear it nor could he muster enough strength to talk.