A Bond Beyond Blood

At some point, While resting on the couch, I fell asleep.

When I came to, a familiar young girl stared down at me with the same familiar purple eyes. I was laying down in the grass, which was swaying to and fro in the wind. Yet I didn't feel any cold or discomfort. She was fully clad in clothes colored the same exact tint as the sky.

"In the future, you'll marry me, right?" Her high pitched voice rang in my ears.

She stretched her pinky finger out again, I did so in turn, reaffirming our promise.

I sat upwards, a massive chapel standing tall before me and the girl. I know this place, I definitely know. I know this was back from when we hadn't moved to the city yet. I couldn't remember what it was called, though it felt like the name was on the tip of my tongue.

"Yama... no. Yura... something?" I muttered. Chiori looked at me in a daze, as innocent and unknowing as she was back then, before tugging at my arm.

I stood up and followed her as she dragged me behind the building. I think we used to play here a lot, a long time ago, the two of us. The swings, the seesaw, it was our little paradise. Even that cat... Manyu I think we called him. He looked like a fluffy little ball whenever he was resting.

We arrived at an altar, a white arch made out of some sort of stone or marble stood behind it, while a grail stood on both sides filled with hydrangeas, roses and hyacinths. I picked one of them up, it felt like it could break if I didn't handle it with utmost delicacy, like it was made of wet paper. I let one of the white roses, which was barely bigger than my hand, rest in my palm.

As I looked to the other grail I saw Chiori, as old as she is now, standing in a white gown, holding a bouquet of these very same roses. She smiled gently while approaching me. She was dazzlingly beautiful, yet uncertain whether to run away or stay, to go back on my words or not, I stepped back on instinct, away from her.

Those vows, I was afraid to recite them.

I stumbled over something, and my head crashed into the ground. When I stood up again, I saw a familiar place. It's where I went earlier today.

A shadow, or perhaps more accurately a silhouette, stands over her gravestone. I can't make out her features, aside from her being slender and tall.

I miss her.

"Have you chosen your fate?" Her voice echoes through the decaying graveyard. the half rotten plants rustling as my heart wavers. Those words, spoken out of concern, felt like they stab right through me. "Time is beginning to run out."

I know all too well what I'm supposed to do. That childish promise should have been long forgotten.

"She's grown up beautifully, hasn't she?" I replied. my voice barely came out, it feels like I'm losing all power in my body.

"Hahah," She laughed "I can't see her at all, Takumi." Yet the side of her face isn't laughing.

"I know she isn't seeing you either." Since Chiori had already long forgotten her.

Perhaps this haunting is of my own doing. I can't easily let go of the past.

"Please bring me flowers next time as well. Tulips, perhaps."

It started to rain, again I feel nothing. I lookup at the sky, no clouds to be seen, only the long striped water pouring down from an empty black void. She'd already disappeared. I approach the gravestone once more as I did hours ago.

Again, the name is once more illegible. Everything's becoming grey and black. The words, the marble, the plants... a sickening, decrepit color.

I close my eyes, everything was silent. The sound of the rain, the rustling of wind, it all stopped. I opened my eyes again, and woke up on the couch, drenched in a cold sweat.

I'd hoped to say a little more this time. I won't be seeing her for a long time again. I wished I could have said those words I wished to say for so many years.

"Happy birthday, mom." I quietly uttered in the dead of night.