Perci…..he invited me to come to the rooftop late at night….

W-What is he going to tell me? And why in the middle of the night?

Doesn't this sound like a confession?

I stared at the letter as I nervously held on to it.

My heart began to palpitate when I left my room.

I went into the elevator and pressed the top button. Holding my chest, I tried to calm down my heart by taking deep breaths.

"Relax, Ori. It hasn't been confirmed yet…so chill out," I said to myself.

The elevator dinged, causing my heart to throb.

Perci….is waiting for me.

The doors opened…and I slowly walked out.

At the rooftop, was a big garden thriving with a myriad of plants, flowers, fruits, vegetables and vines decorated alongside some benches, couches, tables and chairs.

To be honest, I wish we went here on our date…but at least we're meeting up here now.

I looked around and saw a figure with a fedora sitting on the edge of the rooftop.

"Um….Perci?" I said subtly.

Even though my voice was faint, Perci turned around to face me..

Wait. 

That's not what Perci's fedora looks like…It wasn't dark blue. Instead it was a full black.

My eyes dilated as I realized that it wasn't actually Perci.

The figure that turned towards me was the black-haired boy Damien.

"Hello, Ori. The moon looks beautiful, doesn't it?" Damien said.

I looked at the full moon and the stars in the night sky. 

"H-huh? What are you doing here, Damien? Where the hell is Perci?"

"Heh. I didn't think it would actually work," Damien showed a faint smile.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the letter."

I removed the letter from my pocket and showed it to his face.

"So it was you who wrote this letter?! You tricked me, you bastard!"

"Well, I knew you wouldn't come here if it was me, so I put Perci's name instead."

Damien angrily crushed his fedora.

"To think that you would come all the way up here late at night just to be with him, it's frustrating.. "

He threw the fedora on the ground and stepped on it.

"If Perci isn't here….then I have no reason to stay here," I turned away frustrated and proceeded to walk back to the elevator.

"Ori! Wait!"

"I have no reason to speak with you."

"If you leave me here, I'll jump!"

What?

I turned around to see Damien standing at the edge of the building with his hands extended and half his feet away from the surface.

"Hey! What are you doing, Damien?!"

"That's right. I'm going to jump. Now that the person I love is in love with someone else, I'll just die!"

"What do you mean, I'm in love?"

"No use in hiding it, you're in love with Perci. It's obvious!"

"We're not really a thing…"

"Lies! I saw you dating with him earlier! The way you look into his eyes makes my brain go numb!"

"It was just a friendly date! Besides, our relationship is none of your business!"

"None of my business? It's my business! The love of my life is being taken away from me!"

Damien grabbed his chest.

"You're leaving me for good. My heart….I can't take the pain anymore! Since I'm just not good enough for you, then maybe I should just die."

"S-stop! Don't do it! It's not right for you to take your own life just because of a girl like me!"

"But, you're my everything to me! Without you, I'll never be whole. There will always be something missing in my heart. That void that lives inside my soul. There's no one left to fill it up for me!"

"It doesn't have to be that way! You don't need to rely on someone else for the sake of your happiness! There's still plenty of things you can do in life! Are you really going to limit yourself to someone like me?"

"Plenty of things to do? What are you talking about? This is the apocalypse! Do you really think we have the freedom for that?"

"Even if we're in the apocalypse, we should still cling on to the idea of hope! This place we live in, can be our beacon of light! Our last resort! Can't you see how content everyone is to be here? Isn't that enough to continue living?"

"You …think this resort is a happy place?!"

"Of course! We're all alive and safe…everyone is enjoying life here….We can start from here to save the island from the zombies!"

"No…no….no! You don't get it. This whole place…..is just a sweet lie created by Lucio!"

"What are you talking about?"

"No matter how hard Lucio tries to make everyone happy, it will never amount to anything! The despair of losing someone you care about….many people here still feel that pain lingering deep inside! Look at me! I'm still unhappy! I lost my parents….and now I lost you! Because of the apocalypse, everyone here has indescribable despair in their hearts…but we're all just hiding it under the mask of a smile! It disgusts me!"

"Damien….we still have to keep moving forward…even through the pain. We have to keep living for the people we lost!"

"Shut up….I don't care about that…I can't take it anymore!"

"Please…just stop this…." I muttered.

What else could I say to convince him?

"If you really want to convince me, then kiss me, just this once! Then I'll continue on living."

"What…."

Damn it! Is he serious? I don't want to do this…but I can't just let him die! 

"You have 10 seconds to decide."

Time pressure! Can I really do it? 

"5 seconds!"

It's happening too quickly!

"3 seconds."

It's not a big deal! If it's to save a life, then I have to do it, whether I like it or not!

I'll just grab and pull him away instead!

"I'll kiss you!"

"Ori…."

I walked up to Damien slowly.

This is it….

I tried to reach onto him….but he unexpectedly grabbed me tightly.

"H-huh?"

"You!"

"The play reaches its conclusion, now we can have a wonderful romantic death scene together."

He jumped off the edge, taking me with him.

No……

"Fly me to the moon..Ori."

Damien tried to kiss me mid-air……

But someone grabbed the hood of my jacket to keep me from falling.

"Huh?" Damien realized this and his eyes widened.

Damien's hands slipped away from me and proceeded to fall down on his own.

"No…ORIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

I closed my eyes as I heard a splatter down below.

Damien….no way……

"I got you, Ori." 

The person who grabbed me was none other than Lucio himself.

"Lucio?"

"Hold on to my hand."

I grabbed his hand and he pulled me back up.

"Are you ok?" Lucio asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "But Damien….he…..he….d-d……."

Tears began to fall out of my eyes.

"I failed to save him!"

Lucio hugged me in response and whispered to my ear.

"No…it's my fault. I tried to convince him earlier…but I failed."

He banged his fist on the floor.

"Lucio……"

"I….let us take care of the rest. Don't worry about his body. We'll give it a proper burial."

Lucio decided to escort me all the way back to the elevator.

He caressed my head as he tried to comfort me and didn't say a single word.

He took me back to my room silently.

"Thanks, Lucio."

Looking at me with a sad expression, he had one last thing to say.

"I'm sorry, Ori….do you need any company?"

"No, it's fine. I can handle it."

"You look so sad...I can't help but feel like you need my presence."

"I told you, I'm fine."

"I insist…"

"Just leave me alone…"

"Oh..sorry. Forget I said anything," Lucio said and waved.

I closed the door.

That guy……I'm still not comfortable being alone with Lucio.

How did he figure out me and Damien were up there though?

Was it just purely luck? Or had he anticipated this might happen?

To be able to predict such an unexpected outcome is no easy feat. I'm not even sure if anyone can do it.

But it's Lucio. The former student council president is a smart man. A genius who always tries to reach the best outcome.

"I'll have to thank him for saving me tomorrow."

I lay down on the bed silently….

Damien is dead….That's now three of my exes gone.

He….was a great guy….but he fell into a downward spiral of depression.

After breaking up with Bryce….there was a lingering pain in my heart. That was the first time that ever happened to me. I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to show anyone. 

I did well in keeping it a secret, even Agnes didn't notice it. She kept on trying to comfort me though, but I told her I was fine and brushed her aside.

But in reality….I wanted someone to talk to me. 

That was when Damien approached me.

He could see right through my facade and convinced me to show my feelings. I started to cry and he listened to all my rambling. All without saying a single word.

I liked that part of him…being able to empathize with others easily.

That was until he stopped caring about me when we got together. It wasn't instant, so I didn't notice. 

Damien was depressed deep down inside. He eventually told me about it and tried to comfort him.

Instead, I had become his emotional outlet…always constantly taking on his negativity. It was fine at first, but the longer it dragged on, the more I felt like he was just emotionally manipulating me. Constantly guilt tripping me for not always being there for him, blaming me for things that he did wrong and just outright discouraging me from doing anything. It was too draining for me to constantly care for him everyday.

I broke up with him after reaching my limit.

After doing so, he kept threatening to hurt and kill himself, but I was too stressed to deal with him. He never acted on his words anyway. 

But now, it's happened. And he tried to drag me along with him.

I couldn't sleep well that night.

 

Instead, I woke up feeling like shit.