明 ( akira )
— clear, bright

— ○ —

02 | b r i g h t

"He didn't even bother— Oof!"

A small thud was heard when two girls bumped into each other, falling straight to the floor.

"Ow.." The girl with bright pink hair mumbled something to herself.

"Mikoto, are you hurt?" The other girl gasped, helping the pink haired one.

The other girl that fell down stood up on her own, brushing dirt off of her shirt.

"Tch, ring! Can't you see where you're going?"

The angel standing right beside these three scrunched up his nose. It's been four days, he went to a funeral, the grocery store and to a relative's house with the red haired girl, and he had to hear this bell ringing a lot of times. It was actually tiring at this point. But on the bright side, one thing was cleared out.

He heard the sound every time someone called the girl's name.

For this, he never got to know what to call her. He didn't know what to call himself, either. But it didn't matter to him, since he had no one to talk to. What annoyed him was the bell. It felt like it was ringing just in front of his ears.

"Sorry about that." The girl said. She started to walk away from there, towards a random locker in the corridor.

This is the first time the angel came to school with the girl. He wasn't very excited, but he didn't mind either. He was neutral about it. He had to go anywhere the girl went, he didn't have any other choice. But he didn't complain. This was his purpose of existence after all.

The angel followed the girl everywhere in school. He helped her during everything, changing situations in a way so that she wouldn't get hurt. The other students seemed to not even notice she existed. Was it always that way?

After the long day, they reached home. The girl seemed to have put on a neutral expression the whole day, but the moment she entered the house, her face became dull. She seemed to be in pain, and it just hurt to see her like that.

Literally.

The angel felt a little sting inside his chest.

It's been like this since the beginning, but the stings and occasional aches were more frequent after the funeral they attended a few days ago. It was of the girl's best friend who had died in a car crash.

The angel scrunched up his nose and followed the girl to her room. When she was inside the shower, he looked around her room for about the seventh time now. There was a picture of her and her best friend, who also just happened to look exactly like the angel, on the bedside table. He sat down on the bed and carefully inspected the picture.

This boy's name was Haruka, wasn't it?

"So you're the thing that can see me, huh?" The angel heard a loud voice. He turned to see who it was; it was a young boy. He looked like puberty was just starting to hit him. He had dark brown hair and pretty blue eyes.

And he was looking straight at him.

The angel's eyebrows knitted together as he tried to figure out what was happening.

"Idiot, I can see you and hear you."

"What?"

The boy giggled a bit. "I'm dead," he spoke. "and haven't transcended yet. I think I will soon, though."

"So you're a ghost?" The angel asked. He realized that this was the first time he was using his voice, and it felt nice.

"Come on, you're a celestial being, don't use informal language that way." The boy laughed again.

'Cheerful spirit...' the angel thought.

He didn't speak further. He just turned back at the picture, thinking deeply about why he shared the looks with the boy in it.

The ghost boy felt a bit awkward. He just stood there while this guy was gawking at a photo. So he cleared his voice and said, "So, what's your name?"

The angel turned his head again. "My name?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

Instead of answering the question, the blonde asked, "What's yours?"

The boy smiled bitterly. "Akira.. I don't remember my surname."

"I see." The reply was short.

The angel now decided to study the boy. He looked like he was in pain, and the angel certainly did not enjoy that view. So he said, "Well, I'm an angel who wasn't given a name, so can you help me choose one?"

Akira's face instantly lit up. "Sure!" He said. He then placed his index finger under his chin, thinking. His expression was cute.

"Well, for some creepy reason you look exactly like Haruka, so why don't you name yourself that as well?" Akira said.

"You knew him?" The angel raised his eyebrows.

"No," He shook his head. "But he used to come over a lot. You know, before he..."

That's when they heard a soft click on the door. They both turned to see the girl step inside. Her pretty red hair was wet and she looked very fresh. Her eyes looked tired, though.

"And you're attached to her too, right? Just like him." Akira said.

The angel was staring at the girl. He turned to the ghost boy and said, "That's right. So call me Haruka from now on?"

Akira giggled.

"Sure, Haruka!"