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Shingo opened his eyes to see himself in a flower field.
The sight was not familiar to him, and by the looks of it, it didn't have any end. It looked as if no one was there, aside from him. He shouted for someone to respond to him, but there was no reply. No one was with him in this seemingly infinite flower field. All its flowers were red, and had no fragrance, and they were unevenly spaced out, giving little space for Shingo to walk without stepping on one of the flowers. It was neither warm nor cold. The sky was a nice light blue, but it had no sun or clouds.
At the corner of his eye, he noticed that a patch of flowers that grew taller than what else he managed to see. Within that patch was a figure with bright red hair and a red sweater, sitting down and doing what looked like inspecting the flowers around them. As Shingo approached them, they stood up to look at him, speaking in a voice he immediately recognized. One he hasn't heard in so long.
"Hey, Doc. Didn't expect you to be here," the figure stated.
Shingo was barely able to speak. He didn't expect anyone to be in this place, especially not them. "Wh— Mion-! How are you here!? You're supposed to be dead!"
"I am. That's why I'm here." Mion nonchalantly replied. "And judging by the fact that you're here too, I'm guessing you're dead as well. We're afterlife buddies now."
"Where are the others then? They should be somewhere here too, correct?" Shingo asked. He knew Mion was in this place longer than he was, so he assumed they knew more about this place than he did.
Mion's lips curled into a slight smile. They seemed pleased with Shingo's presence here. "They ended up in a spot in this field far away from me, probably. The fact you could find me here was pure luck. No one had tried looking for me."
Shingo looked down at the patch Mion stood at. The soil and leaves were stained crimson red. "Why is there so much blood?"
"They removed my bandages, for some reason. Dunno why. That stab wound was bleeding a lot, but it eventually stopped. I can't die here either way. Wouldn't it be stupid to try killing someone in an afterlife?" Mion stated. "Actually, I don't know a lot of stuff about this place. I've only been in here for what, a week? A few weeks maybe? I've… kinda lost track of time in this place. It's hard to tell without proper nighttime or a sun."
Both Shingo and Mion sat on the grass in silence. The only sound that was made was from the wind that blew them every few minutes. Unlike how Shingo would usually break the silence, this time, it was Mion.
"Hey, Doc."
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry."
"What? No. You didn't even do anything. You can't be saying sorry."
"I'm saying sorry because I didn't do anything. I couldn't protect you, I couldn't be there whenever you needed me to be there because I was dead, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything you would've wanted me to. I promised you, I'd be your bodyguard. And I broke that promise, because I couldn't protect you when you needed me to. I'm sorry."
"… In that case, I want to apologize too. I couldn't save you when you died. I tried helping you with that wound you got during that time you investigated with Kumada, and it worked. I don't get how I couldn't help you when you died. I was just too late. And… When I was still alive, I couldn't handle the fact that you're dead, and you couldn't talk to me anymore, because I was unable to save you." Shingo muttered. "I don't get it. There was so many questions I wanted to ask you, and I never got the opportunity to ask them, because by the time I had the courage to ask you everything, you were already gone."
"Very well, then." Mion replied. "I know you'll probably want this moment to last forever, right?"
Their hand outstretched, bandages taking up half the area of their palm. It looked as if it was waiting for Shingo to touch it.
"Then we'll stay here. Forever and ever. Then, you'll have the opportunity to ask me whatever you wanted to ask me when I died."
Mion's lips curled up even more. It was the liveliest smile Shingo had seen on their face, and it was so different from that pale body of theirs Shingo was forced to investigate. For just a moment, Shingo couldn't believe they were dead, from how "alive" the person standing in front of them looked. He placed his hand on theirs, only to feel a warmth he never felt before.
"Perfect. And if someone infiltrates this conversation we have out of ill intent,
… I'll protect you. Just like I promised to."