Work Text:
Koharu squeezes into Aki’s room through an open window. It’s a tight fit for a supernatural being, and she manages to review her talking points twice in the squeeze, but she makes it through, wings and all.
This is it, the moment of truth.
…Aki doesn’t seem to be comfortable in her own bed. She’s rolling over incessantly. Is she happy? No, maybe… distressed?
Well, no time like the present.
Koharu retracts her wings.
“Aki-chan.”
Aki jumps up in her bed. “Who's there?”
Her eyes are blurred with tears. Just as Koharu suspected; there’s something on her mind tonight. Something not quite good.
“Koha…?” Aki stops herself. It seems she’s afraid that her answer might be right.
“Koharu,” she confirms, and it hits Aki like a metal pipe. “I’m surprised you recognized me.”
“You… I… No, what?”
Koharu sighs, then begins to unbutton her shirt.
“What are you…”
She lifts up the left side, and Aki’s eyes widen — a large dark heart-shaped mark adorns her torso, in a place she can never forget.
Koharu smiles. “It’s me, Aki-chan.”
Aki shifts backwards into the bed. “What’s going on?”
It’s only at this point that Koharu realizes that she’s practically a ghost, haunting her best friend. “Oh, sorry, sorry! I was a little too excited to show myself again…” She buttons up her shirt. “Long time no see.”
“Why are you here?”
She can’t keep skirting the questions. “I guess I just wanted to talk for a bit. Is that okay?”
“Y-you died!”
Koharu freezes.
She did die. In front of her. She bled out on the ground, a metal pole sticking out of her ribs, and she watched Aki cry over her in her final moments.
Showing Aki that scar probably reopened some terribly old wounds.
“...Right. I’m sorry.”
…
Aki approaches her again. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just… Sorry about that.”
“...Do you still want to talk?”
Koharu lights up a little, and a small smile begins to grow on her face. “Aki-chan, you’re very strong. You know that, right?”
“Huh?”
“Yes, I still want to talk. Would it be okay if I sit next to you?”
“Okay.” Aki shifts to her left, making room for two.
As Koharu approaches, she notices that Aki is staring her up and down. When she sits, Aki’s face shifts at the wings on her back.
“Oh, right. I should tell you first.” Koharu looks towards the other side of the room, into empty space. “I’m a cupid now. That's what I was told. We can become visible to humans from time to time. That's how I’m here, right now.”
“I… I see.” Disbelief paints Aki’s face, but she makes no rebuttals. “Why are you here, though?”
“Well, I have two reasons.” She turns back to Aki. “First, I want to say sorry. I really left you hanging back then.”
Aki doesn’t respond.
“I never answered your confession, did I? I got cold feet, and before I knew it, that was the end.”
“…”
“So, while I’m here, I’ll give you the answer that I never got to tell you. In truth, I-”
“No.”
“...Huh?”
“I… no. It's… I wanted to know back then. I was dying for that answer. Before you left, and years after too. I really wanted that peace of mind. But now, I just… If you gave me your answer now, no matter what it was… I think it'd break me.”
“I see,” Koharu says, trying to ignore the swelling pain in Aki’s voice.
“T-the second reason. What's the second reason?”
“Well, as for that…” Koharu stands up and skips a distance away, then turns around. “I wanted to congratulate you on confessing to Sakura-san today.”
“Wh- you knew?!”
“Of course! What kind of ghost wouldn't want to check up on her best friend?”
Worry begins to crawl across Aki’s face. Koharu feels a bit bad about that, but she's far from concerned; she knows what she has to do.
“I-I’m really sorry,” Aki says. Her voice is starting to shake. “I didn't mean to forget-”
“Don't be. You didn't forget me. You recognized me, didn't you?”
“Your birthday…”
“Hm?”
“I forgot about your birthday and confessed to someone else…” Aki's already starting to cry. “Ah, I…”
“Aki-chan.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Aki-chan.” Koharu puts a hand on Aki's head.
Aki looks up, eyes teary. “What…”
“Is it actually my birthday today?”
“...Yes?”
“...I completely forgot my own birthday.”
…
Koharu breaks into laughter.
“Sorry, sorry!” Koharu wipes her eyes. “We don't keep time that much.”
Aki sighs.
“Ah, I really didn't expect that. Oh, let's just say it's my gift to you. For my birthday.”
“You're not mad…?”
“I just forgot about my own birthday, so why should I care if someone else does too?”
Aki looks down again, half in relief, half still in guilt.
“Aki-chan, look. I want you to enjoy your life with Sakura-san, okay? Don't worry about me.” Koharu leans over. “You said it yourself, didn't you? That if you were constantly miserable about me, it'd make me sad.”
“You- you heard that?”
Koharu stands up straight, and takes a deep breath.
“Spring of 2024. You’re out with your friends to watch the cherry blossoms. It’s your first time in years, and you’re still in grief, but you have new friends, and you need to get out of your own head.
“There, you happen upon a strange girl with white hair. She says you were supposed to tour her around the campus. She’s lying, but you don’t know that. You believe it’s your first time meeting her. You’re right, but you’re wrong at the same time.
“She takes you and Sakura-san to get drinks together, but when you get to the vending machine, you only buy two. The girl is gone, and so you two sit together at a bench. There, you grow a little closer, and soon, you have a new crush.
“Sound familiar?”
Aki knows the story well. Her first time leaving the house on Koharu’s birthday, opening up about her trauma, and finding new love under the cherry trees.
“But I don’t remember you being there.”
Koharu sighs, and crouches down on the ground. “The thing is, nobody can remember a cupid. Once I turn invisible, you’ll forget I was ever here.”
“You…”
“But we leave our marks behind. I was there at the vending machines, and at the bench. You couldn’t see or hear me, but I left you a little gift there.”
“Sakura…”
“I picked her out for you. I told you, a birthday gift from me.”
Aki’s crying once again, but this time, a smile stretches from cheek to cheek.
And this time, Koharu can’t hold back her tears either.
“She’s a sweet girl. You can rely on her, and she can rely on you. She wants you to be happy.”
“Koharu…”
“I found your match, Aki-chan.”
The dam breaks, and Aki’s sobbing, clutching her stomach. Koharu sheds tears of her own. They stain the ground where she sits.
“Be happy together, alright?” Koharu slowly stands up. “You won’t forget about me. I know you won’t.”
“I want you to stay…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back, to watch your wedding.”
Aki laughs, coughs, weeps. Her tears stain her clothes and her bed. “Th-thank you… ah… I love you…”
“Love her too,” Koharu says. She reaches a hand out to wipe Aki’s tears. “For me, for you, and for her.”
Aki lightly grips onto Koharu's sleeve as she sobs.
It's time to go now. Koharu gently pulls her hand away. “I should be–”
Aki suddenly tugs on her arm and pulls her into a tight hug.
“Not yet… don’t go…”
…Maybe she can wait a little longer.
“Okay.” She holds onto Aki and lets her shirt soak up all of the tears.
—
Eventually, the sobbing stops.
“Feeling better now?”
“Yeah.”
Koharu lets go. Slowly, Aki loosens her grip too.
“Sorry about that, if you had somewhere important to be.”
“It's okay.”
“...Am I really going to forget everything that happened here?”
“You’ll remember where you need it most.” Koharu places two fingers on Aki’s chest, and gently pushes. “Here.”
Aki laughs weakly. “Thank you for visiting,” she says, “and… helping me all this time.”
“You helped me so much when I was alive. It's the least I could do to thank you. One last match,” she says.
“So, this is goodbye then?”
“Yep.” Koharu turns around and offers a friendly wave. “See you.”
“See you later.”
Koharu sprouts wings.
The sound of a flap echoes through Aki’s room. She tries to sit up, but finds that she already is. Her eyes are swollen, and her throat is sore too. What was…?
Something happened here. Something she can't quite remember. But where she thinks there should be panicking, she feels a vague warmth, and where worries of Koharu once were, a calm contentment sits instead.
Weird.
“Maybe it's Koharu’s blessing,” she says, laughing to herself.
Koharu laughs too. She does not hear it.
Aki goes back to sleep.