71. Fulfill

"You know the rules."

Facing each other with eyes locked-- the mood was stale and stern. Swallowing, I breathed out and made myself calm. My hand tightened around the grip of the racquet--

"Zombie Animes!!" I declared.

Letting loose the ping pong ball, I threw the racquet down for one strong opening.

"Highschool of the Dead!" His grin stretching wide like a madman's, he responded almost instantaneously-- and with perfect timing, his racquet came in contact with the ball.

Letting out a tut, my eyes ran to the ball. Bringing my arm over, I caught it-- "Zombie Loan!" I yelled, sending the ball back.

He didn't falter, easily receiving the ball again, "Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?" he laughed. 

"Gakkou Gurashi!" was my next answer.

"Sankarea!"

"Kabaneri!"

"The Sunday Without God!"

"Hellsing!"

The ball went back to Russo, and finally his overconfidence backfired. "Kore wa Zombie Desu ka--" he stopped short as he realized he'd already said it-- 

I mentally celebrated-- but a little too early.

Right before he hit the ping pong ball, his lips stretched wider. "--Of the Dead!"

"Wha-" struck by shock and unable to compute in time, I didn't catch the next ball.

Jumping in joy, he punched the air in victory. "Yes!" he said, "Now you owe me a drink!"

Falling to my knees in shock-- my mouth hung agape-- "No..." I couldn't believe it, "But that's-- That's cheating-- Calling the second season is no fair-- but--"

Giving me a peace sign, he grinned cheekily. "A win is a win!"

"Gungrave," I whine.

"Tokkou." he responded, not missing a beat.

I cried.

-

"Spar?" I had to repeat the phrase, "Are you serious?" 

I was in a no-joke mode at the moment, stepping back warily at the suggestion, keeping my space from the bold and pushy man. 

"You up for it?" Russo suggested, "Or are you chicken?"

Russo was like Ryohei, in his own way-- honest, bold, blunt and straightforward. Not taking a moment to rest, and always full of ideas for something next. How did my future self get along with this guy? Did they?

"Oh, how I missed those irritatingly american phrases," I mumbled, "Sorry dude, but no thanks. I'm not sure about my future self, but I'm an asthmatic time bomb."

"Asthmatic time bomb?" Russo raised an eyebrow curiously, "Even though we're typically part of the undead right now?"

"We're part of the undead?" I gaped.

"You're not?" was his surprised response.

"You are??" 

-

"I see, I see," Russo nodded like a professor, "So that dark space thingy was called the Void. Never knew. You just got flung in without a single opinion. Much more, you were reincarnated, and lived in this world from a baby until you regained your memories when you were six?"

I nodded. 

"You weren't?" I could help asking. 

Russo shook his head. "I was, you could say, transferred?" he seemed to be questioning the suggestion, unsure of himself.

Russo was a mature person. He may seem to be as hotheaded as Ryohei-- but he was in fact calm and collected when it counted. Strangely so, the contrast seemed almost fake.

"The moment I died, my soul was transferred from my old body into this one, that probably died recently or at the same time." he explained. "I wasn't born again."

"There are different ways of getting reincarnated, I see..." I mumbled, "Why?"

Russo was silent now-- a finger at his chin, deep in thought.

Why were there different ways? Was there a difference-- was there a reason? I was given a new life from birth so it could have a meaning I couldn't fulfill in my previous. 

So what of the people who were transferred into another life? 

"People filled to the brim with regrets--people who left the Earth with strong feelings of guilt and yearns to avenge their precious someone--they don't really deserve to go anywhere but back to Earth, y'know?"  

It's been ages since I've tried to recall what Void said to me when I died.

Regrets.

"Hey," the both of us spoke up at the same time. We had turned to each other simultaneously, dragging ourselves out of our deep thoughts as we reached a conclusion in unison--

"You-" I stuttered, "You go first."

Russo had chuckled. "Alright then," he started, "Hey, Rei, how did you die?"

I sucked in a breath. That's the same question I was going to ask him. That's the same question-- but I found myself without a voice. My teeth tightly clenched, my breath difficult-- 

"If it's something hard to say, then it's alright." Russo decided with a sigh. He stood up, with curt smile, turning to me. "It might not matter, anyways."

I looked up, feeling as if I was going to cry. Why am I such a crybaby? It was frustrating that little things like these can drive me to tears. They barely even mean anything.

Russo gave me a happier smile this time, putting a hand on my head and ruffling my hair gently. "C'mon, you're a man, right? Don't give that pained expression."

Russo was a strong person.

He experienced death, too-- how was he smiling like that? I haven't seen him be sad for a second. How did his own death affect him so little? How? Why? 

"Hey, Russo-san," I forced out, staying strong, "How did you feel... How did you feel when you died?" I asked him slowly.

My question seemed to shake him up a bit. He hesitated, I barely caught his smile dropping for half a second before it weakly resurfaced.

I wanted to know why, perhaps. I wanted to know what made Russo such a strong person. 

That's why I was so hasty in my words.

"I was unaccomplished," I told him, "I made a ton of stupid mistakes in my past life. That was why the Void gave me this life. A new life, starting from scratch."

I couldn't read Russo's expressions. They were a conflicted, strange blankness of a mastered poker face-- He looked me straight in the eyes, but even those eyes held no emotion in them.

Russo was a man with the Mastery of Acting. 

He was the Master of Disguise.

"What about you?" I urged him, "What do you think it was that made the Void give you this life?"

It was after this sentence that Russo reacted. He put a hand at my shoulder comfortingly-- and gave a smile so, so flawless--

A clown's gleeful laughter.

"Regret." he told me. "I felt nothing but regret. Anger. Malice." 

He inched closer to me, whispering his next words into my ear--

"Do you wanna know how I died?" he almost sounded crazed, so, so insane I could feel his incredibly wide grin-- "My head was bashed in by a fucking baseball bat!"