*Come on Shiro, you can do it… I know I’ve never done something like this before but I will be fine… I know he likes me… It’s a bit too obvious really, isn’t it..? Or am I the one who’s obvious..? I don’t know, I didn't even know I could feel something like this…*

He always liked to go to the west lake and listen to music… I had seen him there multiple times, usually on a saturday. Today was going to be the day I confessed. That had been the plan…

“Shiro! Lunch!”

“`Yawn` Coming…”

“You should probably stop waking up in the middle of the day…”

“No, I’m awake now…”

*I’m glad she doesn’t stay up late or she would’ve caught me up in the middle of the night by now*

I walked out of my room and into the kitchen, sitting down at the dining table. My mother brought over the bacon and egg rolls she had been cooking.

“Sorry. I should probably be the one who needs to apologise for waking up late.” My father walked into the room rubbing his eyes.

“`Sigh` You’re both hopeless.”

“You do it on weekdays.”

“Well, you’ve got me there.” She brought over the bacon and egg rolls.

“Hmmm? Shiro, you look like you want to say something.”

“`Gulp`” I swallowed the remaining food “I-I’m going to go out for a bit… Is that ok..?”

“Oh? That’s the first time in a while you’ve stuttered. And your face is looking a bit flushed.”

“I’ll be out at about 2pm.”

“`Sigh` Straight to the point as always. You can go, you’re 17 after all.”

My father turned around and smiled at me. “I guess we confined you a bit too much. Don’t panic, I'm sure he’ll accept.”

“Huh… How did-... That- `Sigh` There’s no point in denying it.”

“Haha, you don’t get a lovely wife like I did without understanding women at least a little.”

My mother turnedaway, putting dishes in the sink while blushing.

“Are you still blushing at his compliments at your age…?” I looked at my mother slightly smirking.

“Shut.”

Me and dad both started quietly laughing.

“Well if you are going to confess to Kurono then you better get dressed.”

*Wait how the fuck did she… Well, that kind of gives me hope that he noticed… No, I've noticed him giving me the same signs, I know… Wait. Don’t get your hopes up too much or it will hurt if he doesn’t… Why couldn’t Ena have given me a proper response instead of a thumbs up text reaction…*

I went back to my room and picked out a white sweetheart neckline dress and a straw hat with a black ribbon with a purple flower on it.

*I wonder if he’ll… I hope he thinks it looks good…*

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“Oh, it’s 2…. I better get going…” I ran to the front door.

“Good luck!” My mum yelled as I left through the door.

“Don’t be out too late!” I heard my father yell as I ran through my front yard.

*You can do this…*

The sky was cloudy, to most people it would look like the least romantic setting for a confession but we both loved the rain… Plus the cicadas that had been screeching all summer had shut up even if it was just for a single day.

I walked past the school towards the mountain, lights were starting to get turned on as the sky changed into a darker shade of grey.

*Don’t worry, we're just on the edge of the storm… He’s usually still there if it’s only light rain…*

As I approached the fields in the mountains the clouds began to part, letting through the bright yellow sun, shining down onto the purple, pink, blue, red and orange flowers that spread across the mountain fields in between the bright green grass. Over the hill the lake was a clear blue colour, slightly higher than usual due to it getting a bit of rain from the storm's edge. The oak tree that he was always sitting under was reflecting the sunlight into my eyes due to the water on the dark green leaves.

“Ow… Who turned the brightness up..?”

I walked over to the tree, wiping away the dirt and water on the roots poking through the ground and sat on it, looking out towards the distant clouds.

*I feel… nervous all of a sudden..? I didn’t expect to feel this way… I didn’t even know I could feel this way… Just to make sure I’ve got it right, let’s replay the scenario…

He walks up over the mountain and walks down to this tree… I’m sitting on the other side so he doesn’t see me straight away, I walk out and surprise him… He asks why I’m here and I say “I need to tell you something…” He asks what I need to talk about and I reply with the confession.

“I like you…” No, that doesn’t sound right.

“I want to date you…” No… Still terrible.

“I need you…” That just sounds clinging.

“Do you like me..?” No, I’m meant to be confessing to him, not the other way around… All though…

“I love you”* I felt myself blush a bit

*That’s the right one… A bit direct but the only true way I can say this to him… Then if he says he’ll go out with me we can go to the cafe further down the lake… After I steal his first kiss…* How I wish that that was what happened…But instead I got…

I heard footsteps behind me, but this wasn’t when Kurono would be here. I turned around to see a guy with dark orange spiky hair, brown eyes and about 5’9ft wearing a white t-shirt and black tracksuit pants. He seemed to be looking for someone, he seemed oddly familiar to me. I came out from behind the tree.

“What are you doing…?” *Dammit that probably came off a bit mean…*

“I was just looking for someone. Hmm, you know I think she looked a lot like you and would probably be your age by now.” He stopped and looked at me.

*He seemed familiar… Something feels off about this, I need to get out of here…*

I looked at the mountain and saw Kurono running towards me and this strange man.

“Shiro, what are you doing here and who is this man?”

*Fuck I got screwed over by this random ass guy… I’ll have to try again tomorrow… If he comes…*

“I don’t know who this guy is…”

The strange guy turned and faced me. “I think you might. But that doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t think you would remember it anyway.”

“You’re right… I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Asshole! At least remember when you save someone and inadvertently destroy their paradise!!” There was death in his eyes.

“Shiro, we need to get out of here. This guy doesn’t seem stable at all.”

“Ku- `Cough`” I felt an intense pain run through my body.

*What the fuck…?*

“You fucker.” Kurono ran at the strange man who had just stabbed me in an attempt to disarm him.

“You get what you give. Oh, I think she wanted to say something to you. I should let you join her.” The man jumped towards Kurono before he even had time to react to the entire situation and pulled a bigger kitchen knife out of his pocket. The man stabbed the knife straight through Kurono, hitting his lungs. He grabbed the knives out of both of the now deceased highschool students.

“I think that this should work if I just- first I should probably dump you down the lake actually.” He grabbed the two bodies and threw them down the lake together. “Ok, now I should see if this lets me back in. If I have figured the secret to the afterlife out then she should end up in the dreamland. I hope that she was a good person or I’ll enter that cursed abyss again. I need to figure out how to control her’s before she wakes up, but I need her to be there. So how? Well I’ll wing it for now.” He then gripped both knives tightly and stabbed them both through his neck. Eventually his body lost consciousness and he fell in the lake after Shiro and Kurono.

The world that he awoke to was less of a dreamland and more of a replication of Shiro’s home town. “I guess a layer before dreamland exists then.” Robert walked off into the now setting sun.