Friends!

I stopped at a certain place; I was holding a bouquet of flowers in my hands. Right now I was in the graveyard I buried my friends.

I was leaving this city so I came to say goodbye.

The war has ended; actually it never really turned into a war. Well, whatever it was was done now. I successfully completed the task Aki gave me.

I placed the flowers on their graves and bowed down to apologize.

No matter what excuses I give to please myself, mainly it was my mistake that they are dead. If I haven't taken Hanako with us then they all would've been alive right now.

Tch!

Even if apologies for the rest of my life, it won't be enough!

This is a mistake that can't be undone!

'Do we really look that cruel to you?'

Huh?

I immediately looked in the direction that voice came from.

!

No way!

"I..It's you…Carol?"

Crossing her legs, she was sitting on the stone of her grave.

'Do I look like someone else?'

"No…But!"

'I'm dead! That's what you wanna say right? That's right, I'm dead.'

"I-I'm sorry! Really, really, sorry," the endless streams of tears that flooded out of my eyes, were a thing that I never really noticed.

One after another, droplets of tears that were coming from my eyes fell on the ground.

'Come on now! Don't cry like that, or else I'll feel guilty.'

"I can't help it!"

"Forgive me; it was my mistake that you all are dead!"

'It's not only your mistake Haruto, in fact, you were about to leave her there. The decision to take Lily was made by all of us, right James?'

'Absolutely, don't blame it all on yourself bro!' James?

He also appeared.

'Yes. He's right, we all had an equal share in this,' said Carl. He was now also here.

That was followed by a nod in agreement, it was Shiro.

'See, it was a decision made by all of us! Not you alone,' said Carol.

"But…then why you're the only ones who died! Why was I left alive?"

'Well, that indeed is a big responsibility you got!'

"Huh?"

'If you're the only one alive then you have to live for all of us, understand. So live, you can't be depressed over this for all your life!'

"But…"

'Besides, as long as you have the memories of times you spent with us, a part of us will be alive within you in those memories.'

'Yeah dude, don't get depressed over it. It's so not cool.' James.

'Even if the time we spent together was short, it was the best time of my life.' Carl!

'Yeah, I agree on that!' Carol!

"You guys…"

'We are friends right?'

Friends?

If I remember correctly, I never really get the chance to call them friends!

Still they…

It's the first time someone from the other side has said (We are friends) first.

"Yeah, we are!" I replied.

Those smiling faces right now are craved deep into my soul now. I'll never ever forget them.

With a breeze of air, they vanished.

But instead of sadness, there was a smile on my face. Even if it was for a short while, I was able to meet them.

I…was happy!

For the first time, it was genuine happiness. The guilt I was carrying was now off my shoulders.

Satisfied, I walked out of the graveyard.

***

A stood straight in an empty place; it was the forest area with some abandoned ruins.

I completed the task Aki gave me. The last time we met, he said that if I want to ask anything else I should first stop the war.

It was done…Now I wanted answers!

"Aki…I know you're watching, summon me there. I want to talk," I said while looking up at the sky.

Suddenly I felt an insane amount of pressure as the view before my eyes changed.

It was the same place as before, the same bright white floor, and the same colorful night sky.

Huh? This is weird.

I looked around in every direction but Aki was not here.

"Whoa!" I shouted suddenly, it was a reflexive action as I felt someone holding me from before.

I freed myself from their grip, stepped a few steps forward, and then turned back to look who it was.

It…was a girl! And a one whose beauty was not something humans could have.

Her long black hair looked silky smooth and her dark red eyes were the cherry on the cake. Her figure was something you would call *Perfection*!

But that was not the main problem here!

The clothes she was wearing were close to none and were revealing her skin which was white as snow.

She was what I would call *wrapped* in a piece of black cloth and that cloth was only covering the important parts, revealing everything else.

When she looked at me she gave me a somewhat lustful smile.

But instead of horniness, I had a 'bruh' type of expression.

"It's not funny…Aki," I said.

"Oi…was it that predictable?" she said, no he said…Ahh! Whatever, I don't know! Let's just say that 'thing' said that.

That 'things' whole body shone in bright white color before its shape become small and the body which I knew appeared.

A twelve years boy with dark brown hair and round red eyes, or the Aki I remembered.

"He-he-he, I was just teasing you a bit," he said.

"And you failed miserably!"

He walked to the front and turned towards me. With a snap of his fingers, two thrones appeared. He sat on one throne and pointed towards the other one saying to me to sit also.

"Congratulations! You stopped the war!" he greeted.

"But in the end, I had to use violence."

"Oh really?" he asked as he leaned forward.

"Weren't you watching?"

"No, I don't have that fetish," well that was an unexpected answer.

"Then how you knew that I asked you to summon me?"

"Huh, you did? I guess our timings matched then, I wanted to talk to you about something," said Aki. Was that really just a coincidence?

"I also wanted some answers," I said.

"You first," he said, as he settled on the throne comfortably.

"You said the reason which caused the Great War 314 years ago was unknown right? Does that means there is a reason and no one but you know about it right?" I asked.

"So we're on the same page then I guess," he said as he thought of something.

"Okay, I'll tell you. The real reason which caused the Great War which happened 314 years ago," he said while he interlocked his fingers.

He had a serious look on his face now, an expression I've never seen on him before.