I didn’t even care to check if my arrows hit. As soon as that spear struck its target, I descended faster than I had ever flown before. As she arced through the air, I followed and caught up with her, stretching my hand out to catch her.

Just a little closer…

Just before she slammed into the ground, I caught Saki’s body and rolled myself underneath it, cushioning her landing with my own body. My back was in immense pain, but I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was the girl bleeding out in my arms.

The wound in her side was big. It would be fatal to any normal human.

“Saki, stay with me! Please!” I desperately cast healing magic onto her, but the wound was too big to fix instantly. It began to close slowly, but much too slowly. Her body was haemorrhaging blood, her skin turning pale all the while.

“Nao… that you?”

“Yes, it’s me, Saki. It’s your Sunao. I’m right here. Please hang on… please…”

She looked up at my face, though her sight was likely worsened by the sheer amount of blood she had lost.

“Everything looks dark… it’s a shame… I wanted to properly see that pretty face one more time…”

“You can see it every day! Every morning and every night until we’re 80! You just need to hang on a little while longer, please!”

“Every day and night, huh? That almost sounded like a proposal.” She coughed and spluttered as she spoke, blood flying out in her spit.

“It is! When this is all over, we’ll get married! We’ll settle down, adopt kids, maybe get a home somewhere quiet and away from everything! I just need you to hang on, just a little while!”

“That sounds nice.” With what little strength was left in her body, Saki reached up and put her hand to my cheek. “I wish I could have seen you make good on that promise.”

Tears began to stream from my eyes as I clasped the hand on my face. It was already starting to go cold.

“You can! You can live to see all of it! Every mundane day of the rest of lives, every boring morning and calm evening! All of it, we can do it together, please! Just don’t leave me… stay with me… please…”

But no further reply came. As I continued to bawl, the lifeless body of the most beloved person in my life sat in my arms, growing colder by the second.

I could do nothing but cry.

***

“Hmm… well if you can’t be strong, I’ll just be strong for you. That cool with you?”

I looked at the face of the young girl in front of me, utterly confused by her words. In fact, what she had said was so ridiculous it caused me to stop crying.

I had only ever seen this girl once or twice in class. I didn’t even know her name. What sort of weirdo comes up to someone they’ve never met, tells them to stop crying, then makes a declaration like that?

My instincts told me I should just tell her to get lost. Someone this odd had to be bad news.

“O-okay…”

The speech centre of my brain apparently disagreed.

“Nice! We’re friends now, ‘kay? Name’s Saki Tachibana. You’re… Kobun, right?”

“Y-yes, that’s me. Sunao Kobun. I-It’s nice to meet you…” I trailed off. I was terrible at conversations at the best of times, let alone talking to a girl who just walked in on me crying.

“Sunao, huh? It’s a nice name, but a bit of a mouthful. Can I call you Nao instead?”

“S-sure… that’s okay… and maybe I can call you… umm… Ki?” God, what am I talking about? Idiot.

“Hehe. Just call me Saki. I’d rather not be mistaken for a tree.”

She laughed at her own lame pun, before pulling out the chair opposite me and sitting down at my table. It was lunch break, so everyone else was outside playing. Only she and I remained indoors.

“D-don’t you wanna play outside with the others?” I asked, worried that she was simply staying with me out of pity.

“Nah, I’m pretty much bored of kicking everyone’s butts all the time, stops being fun after a while. Besides, I’ve never really had the chance to talk to you before. I wanna get to know the cute gloomy girl who always sits alone. I’ve always wondered what you’re really like.”

“I-I’m sorry to disappoint…”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Whoa, hold your horses there. You haven’t even had a chance to disappoint yet. Let’s talk a little and get to know each other. Like… what sort of things are you interested in?”

Though her interest seemed earnest, I was still worried she’d laugh at me. What sort of 10 year old girl spends all her time reading about chemical reactions. Still, I hit the bullet and told her the honest truth.

“I-I like… chemistry…”

“Chemistry? Like that stuff about mixing stuff together to make new stuff or whatever.”

“I know, it’s weird and silly and wrong for a girl our age to be into but it’s just my favourite thing in the world and I just can’t help tha-“

“That’s cool! I’ve never been smart enough to wrap my head around stuff like that, but I think people who can are awesome. Is that what you wanna be as an adult? A... chemistry person?”

“Ch-chemist, and... y-yes… you… don’t think it’s weird?”

“Weird? I think it’s super cool! You’re only 10 and you have your life figured out and stuff, that’s amazing! I’m always too busy running around and playing games to think about things like that, so I really admire people like you.”

“You… admire me?”

“Yeah, you’re awesome!” The overly energetic girl, Saki, clasped my hand in hers and beamed at me with a smile. “I think we’re gonna be great friends, y’know!”

***

“Great news, Naochan! You got a personal invite to the gifted girls academy! The school board was so impressed with you they reached out to us directly!”

I was only thirteen when my mother dropped that bombshell on me. The most prestigious girl’s school in Japan had sought out me specifically. It was a huge opportunity. One that would be stupid to turn down. However…

“Saki…” my mother looked at me disapprovingly as I muttered the name of my only friend.

“I know you rely on her, but you can’t live your whole life following her round like a lost puppy. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Nao. You have to take it.”

In truth, turning it down would have caused me immense regret in the future, so my mother’s advice was smart. But at the time, I begrudged listening to it.

“…yes, mother.”

Those words were all the confirmation I could muster with the thought of leaving Saki plaguing my mind.

***

“Woah, the gifted girl’s academy? That’s amazing! You’re just as cool as I thought you were when we first met.”

“S-stop… it’s not that impressive…”

“Are you kidding? I’d kill to be smart enough to go there!”

Saki and I were absentmindedly swinging on the play park swings as we talked. Though it should have been exciting, the topic in question gave me a sinking feeling in my gut. There was a huge elephant in the room that needed addressing.

“B-but if I go there…we’ll be separated.” I looked down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact in the suddenly heavy atmosphere. “I-I don’t wanna lose my best friend…”

“You fool. Just because we won’t be going to the same school doesn’t mean we won’t still be best friends. You can’t get away from me that easily, y’know.”

“B-but high school is when everyone starts getting busy all the time… if we can’t see each other at school, we might start to drift apart. I… I don’t want that to happen.”

After a big breath in, I finally looked back up at Saki’s face. She had an odd expression of determination in her face, as if she had just found some greater resolve.

“That won’t happen. I refuse to let it. Me and you are best friends until the end, right?”

“O-of course…”

“Then take the place at the school. Something as silly as being at different schools won’t be enough to break that bond we have, right?”

“R-right… of course… I’ll do it.”

I left the park that day with my heart at ease. However, that ease slowly crumbled as Saki started coming to see me less and less over the next few months.

We had begun to drift apart before high school even started.

***

It had been almost a month since Saki and I hung out, so I was surprised when she suddenly invited me for tea.

It was less than a year until I changed schools, and we had already been steadily drifting apart since that day at the park, so I considered the worst: that Saki had decided that we no longer had reason to be friends and we should just rip that plaster off now.

As I approached the tea shop, I was ready to fight for my one close friendship with everything I had. No matter what Saki said to me, I would do my best to keep being her friend, even if I had to grovel.

I held my breath as I entered the doors, finding Saki’s table quickly and sitting down without making eye contact for even a second.

“H-Hi… it’s been a while…” I tried to break the ice, but couldn’t stop myself tripping over my words as usual.

“Y-yeah. I… understand I’ve been a little distant lately. In fact we’ve barely hung out at all these past few months. And I’m… aware that that’s mostly my fault. I… I think it’s time I tell you why.” She took a sharp breath in, and I prepared to hear the words that would hurt me deep in my soul. I could feel my eyes begin to well up either tears at what could possibly be coming.

“Saki… I…”

“Taa-daaah! Look what I have!”

Instead of the sombre end to our long friendship that I had been dreading, I was met with Saki excitedly shoving a piece of paper in my face.

“Th-this is…”

“Now we don’t have to be separate any more! We can be together even at high school!”

The paper was a small laminated piece with many signatures and boring words on it, but the important part was the heading.

‘Tokyo Academy For Gifted Girls - Sports And Fitness Division acceptance letter.’

“They normally get tens of thousands of applicants a year and they only have 100 spots, so I’ve been training day in and day out recently. So… sorry if I’ve been distant.”

“D-don’t apologise…” I was almost tearing up. All that worry that she had grown bored of me, when really she was doing all of this. “B-but why… you said it wouldn’t matter if we went to different schools.”

“I did, but… I was lying. Actually, the idea of being separated from you was terrifying, I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it. But I also couldn’t get in your way. This was all I could possibly do.” Saki also began tearing up slightly, sniffling as she spoke.

We didn’t exchange any more words. Instead, I wrapped her in a hug tighter than I ever had before. Being in her arms and knowing I wouldn’t be separated from her again made my heart flutter so much it rendered me wordless.

I didn’t understand until later, but that was the day I fell in love with Saki Tachibana.

***

All these years… all this time Saki has spent doing so much for me… all to end like this. My first friend, my first love, my hero, dying a painful death in my arms. It was a cruel trick played by a cruel devil.

I cried a river of tears over the body of the girl I loved more than life itself, regretting beyond regret that I wasn’t strong enough to save her, as she had saved me so many times.

As I cried and cried and cried some more, I felt my strength slowly leave my body, exhaustion setting in throughout my every muscle.

I wept for minutes, steadily growing more and more tired, until I finally felt my consciousness fading. Just as the hand clasped in mine twitched to life once more.