"Even though you never seemed happy...I will never ever forget the times you smiled, Ichimatsu...I will never forget the day we adopted ESP kitty...the days we spent playing together on the playground...the days we spent just sitting on the roof in silence...I'll never forget them! Even though, you never spoke much...whenever you did, your words meant so much to me, Ichimatsu...thank you..." Jyushimatsu cried over his brother's lifeless body.

"What the heck...?" Ichimatsu spat confusedly, watching Jyushimatsu cry harder and harder over what looked like his own body, only it was completely lifeless. "This is just a dream, right...? Why does this feel so real...this didn't happen. This isn't real! This isn't a vision to the future, is it?! Surely...surely it's not! But why...why is Jyushimatsu crying so hard? I haven't done anything to make him care the least bit about me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprise if he felt relieved if I really did die..."

Ichimatsu watched Jyushimatsu speak to a doctor who had just entered the room. Both of them seemed extremely disappointed. Almost like something good turned out bad.

"But isn't that how life always is...?" Ichimatsu thought, watching the two leave the room. "Good things go horribly wrong. People suffer. Others call them foolish, telling them what a terrible person they are, making them feel worse. Yes, that's what life is..."

Ichimatsu walked over to his dead self, poking his face. His dead self obviously didn't move at all. It was slightly frightening. Just the image of seeing himself dead made Ichimatsu feel uneasy.

Only a few minutes later did each of the brothers enter the room, one at a time. They spoke of things that made no sense to Ichimatsu, but something inside of him made him feel happy.

Finally, Jyushimatsu entered the room, his eyes so red and puffy from crying, they could hardly be called eyes at all.

"Just yesterday, you were alive..." he whimpered. "Now you're gone,
nii-san. I can't believe...you're just gone like that..."

Jyushimatsu hugged Ichimatsu's dead body tightly, not even knowing that another Ichimatsu was standing right behind him. He cried harder and harder, loudly and disgustingly. He sniffed, wiping his eyes with his oversized hoodie sleeves. He stared at Ichimatsu, trying not to cry for just a few seconds, but he just couldn't hold it back.

"I loved you, Ichimatsu nii-san!" he cried, not letting Ichimatsu go for several long minutes.

Pity overflowed Ichimatsu's heart as he stared at Jyushimatsu's trembling, but also jerking body.

He rested both of his hands of Jyushimatsu shoulders, wishing he could feel him. And to his complete shock, Jyushimatsu COULD feel him.

Turning around, Jyushimatsu stared at Ichimatsu, then started to cry loudly again.

"I'm even hallucinating that he's alive now! I'm such a terrible brother! If only I had just stayed right there with him...If only I could have been there for him! If only I could...if only..."

"Jyushimatsu..." Ichimatsu mumbled, hugging his brother. Despite all the hatred he had felt towards Jyushimatsu in the real world earlier that day, for some reason, Ichimatsu felt like Jyushimatsu would love to be hugged back for once.

For weeks, Ichimatsu had let Jyushimatsu hug him in the real world at the Cat Cafe, dying for him to leave him alone. And now, he was finally hugging him back. Not because he had to, but because he actually wanted to.

"It's okay, Jyushimatsu...I'm right here..." Ichimatsu mumbled.

"Even though I have no idea what's even going on...Jyushimatsu doesn't need to be so depressed. He should be happy...he needs to be happy, right? He's always sounded happy when we were at the cafe together..." Ichimatsu thought.

"Ichimatsu...do you remember those five birds we saw...? Do you remember that bird that you buried? The one that died because he wasn't strong enough...?" Jyushimatsu asked seriously.

Ichimatsu awoke.