The World Ends With You

Chapter 43: The Last Choice

YES.

It was a simple issue. A very, very simple issue.

Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe and everyone in the school had accepted that the news was normal. Normally, they would have been deeply moved by that news. They might very well have embraced it with tears of joy and wishful howls and yet they acted like they knew nothing other than this.

Luffy and Hancock were officially an item, a few days after the 'Forefront Exhibition Festival' concluded. When Luffy revealed the headline to them, Nami couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. She felt like she was dreaming. She felt like reality was gradually making fun of her for not confessing soon.

As of the moment, Nami was indeed in tears. Tears that made her sister Nojiko worry about her. She had been like this since a week ago and Nojiko couldn't help but try and ask her sister what's wrong.

But she herself knew the answer.

"It's about Hancock, isn't it?"

Nami sniffed and didn't say anything in return but Nojiko could feel that this little sister of her had tears flowing even worse. She was just sitting there on the floor of their cozy house, her phone beside her, while crying. No, mourning. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face was just as red, and her shoulders jumped up and down whenever she sobbed and breathed. Every breath she took seemed to become tighter and tighter to the chest but she didn't mind it.

The blue haired one smiled when she saw her sister's face.

She seemed to find it funny that he could not understand something so simple.

"You seem to be thinking about protecting his smile by casting aside your place in this world."

Nami only responded with a slight sob.

"But there are quite a few people who would not like it if they lost you. For example, your friends. I'm your sister but, to be honest, I'm one of them. Then again, the ones who haven't even realised it might have the most charm."

She was not simply being idealistic.

Luffy became Hancock's boyfriend in some way. Given his nature, nobody would assume he would be in a relationship and, let alone, with the 'Pirate Empress' herself. The timing was just too perfect. After the festival? After she asked Luffy to come talk with her?

Would he accept that fact and live in their world of happiness? Could they move on to his days of happiness with Hancock as if nothing had happened and with no sorrow at all?

"He would have broken." Nojiko spoke as if she could see into people's hearts. "If he knew his current happiness was created by having an innocent girl sacrifice her own happiness, his heart would definitely break. Of course it would. It was because you could not allow that sort of thing to happen that you stood up to this; something you were never able to accept. Luffy's the type of guy who doesn't want to see his friends get hurt, right? So are you really willing to happily force it onto him? That doesn't make any sense, if you'd ask me."

Nojiko was basically telling her to confess to him and take the risk but after seeing him smiling happily in the world without her, though specifically with Hancock, Nami had assumed it must not have held much weight at all. But her sister here was holding onto the fact that she should think about it more carefully. It was like doing a primary school-level of homework filled with annoying trick questions. Is five greater than seven? What is in the centre of the solar system? What comes after the letter 'D'?

But Nami remained silent as Nojiko rubbed her back.

"Hm," muttered the Nojiko as she sat next to her. "Maybe you're getting stubborn because this has to do with him."

"What?"

"So let's think about this in a simpler way. Let's set aside all that confusing stuff like your feelings because, let's face it, even you are confused."

She then moved in close to her sister.

She spoke as if she was challenging her.

"Does it really not bother you that Hancock just appeared out of nowhere and stole what you've got?"

It was a simple question.

A very simple question.

And that was the very reason why it stabbed into Nami's fragile and already broken heart without anything to soften the blow. It felt like coming across the answer for a particularly difficult math problem.

Finally, Nami spoke.

"It bothers me."