The Woman With The Red Horns (1)
Once I die, will anyone mourn for me?
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Yagami Noriyuki thought about the mortality of life as he got down from a bus.
His shoes making pitter patter sounds as he though about his life until now.
He was fifty seven years old now, a age where people have grandkids.
He smirked, his life was very uneventful to say atleast, no kids, no wife and a dead family.
How sad, right? however, it was his own choice.
He wanted to be left alone, he didn't want others in his life.
All the people that were close to him before either died or left him behind in life.
His childhood friend was an example of this, she died in a tragic car accident.
It was one of his regrets that he couldn't confess his love to her.
It might not have hurt so much if she loved someone else, but the piercing thought that she might've loved him made his heart feel despair.
Heh, his economic condition wasn't good either.
He was working as a salesman in a soap manufacturing company.
It was actually very sad to think that the ten year old who said that he'll conquer the world was currently working as a salesman like a slave.
The kid who was always placed first in the exams and had great ambition was crushed under the weight of the adult world.
Yagami Noriyuki never actually managed to fulfill any of his dreams, not even one.
He was simply filled with regret.
His parents died very early, not having any money to study, he had to drop out of school and work at a store.
He thought back then that he'll earn enough money and then once again return to study.
Yagami Noriyuki shaked his head and wiped the depressing thoughts from his mind.
He smiled and looked at the vibrant and colorful city, the people chatting loudly and hawkers yelling.
This was his hometown, the city of Rumian located just by the countryside of Japan.
The youthful and chippy people walking by the roads made him feel as if he was the only one who was suffering.
Yagami sighed as he saw the modern look of the city, thinking that it would have been far more better if it was like before.
The futuristic advertisement boards shined brightly, adding another sense of modernism to the city.
As it was evening, it was slightly dark with less people on the streets.
Yagami thought about the reason he came here.
He was going to attend his high school reunion. The fifth reunion to be exact.
He heard that they were going to dig and uncover the time capsules they put into the ground.
He smiled and began to walk towards the direction of his old high school.
He wished for his childhood friend, thinking that it would've been better if she was still alive.
Didn't she die before the capsules were planted into the ground?
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Yagami Noriyuki looked at the old and moss filled walls of his school and sighed reminiscently.
Even though it was old, the school still had students judging by high schoolers exiting the school.
Yagami Noriyuki felt a slight burn in his heart from seeing the youthful high schoolers, moreso from seeing the lovey-dovey couples.
He smirked wryly and entered the school, the faithful tie he wore on every formal event drifted in the air.
Even though Yagami was old, his face was still smooth without the wrinkles of old age. A pity that his expression was always gloomy and depressed.
No matter how much he smiled, his gloomy and depressed face didn't dissappear.
His eyebrows curved as he entered the school yard, a place where the digging of the time capsules were going to take place.
He glanced at the similarly aged people sitting in chairs and benches, looking as if it was a picnic for old people.
An old woman in a wheelchair was sitting in the middle of the whole group, her face and white hair spoke that she had crossed her sixties.
The old woman was softly telling a guy dressed in PT clothes to dig more faster.
Yagami slightly felt anguish seeing the old woman's face.
No matter how pretty they are in their youth, all people turn into bones at the end.
After all, look at her!
Back when he was a high schooler, this woman used to be his class's home teacher, young and beautiful, every hot blooded teenager secretly lusted after her.
Even Yagami himself used to masturbate thinking about her.
He shook his head in pity as he closed in on the old woman and touched her on her shoulder.
"Sensei, how are you? "
Yagami crouched down and looked at the still-beautiful turquoise colored eyes of his former teacher.
The old woman closely looked at Yagami and then displayed an astonished look on her face.
"Yagami? Is that you? "
"Yes ma'am. "
The old woman's face turned to one of pity after she thought about what happened with Yagami.
"It's such a pity… you were my class's topper. "
"… "
"So, how's life Yagami? "
"Bad as always sensei."
The old woman softly laughed at the witty remark made by Yagami.
"Sensei Yoshihara, I finished digging! "
The man dressed in PT clothes sighed tiredly and threw away the shovel in his hands.
Beside his feet lay an almost 15 feet deep hole.
Inside the hole laid an box titled Time Capsule.
Sensei Yoshihara nodded and clapped her hands with a smile.
"Guy! Digging is complete! "
The surrounding people grinned and walked towards the hole dug by the man before.
"Yagami, could you pull out that time capsule? "
Yoshihara Sensei said with a soft tone.
Yagami Noriyuki smirked as he went down into the hole and picked up the time capsule.
The time capsule was unexpectedly light, due to the only thing inside them filled with paper.
Yes, paper.
Back then, the teachers asked the students to write about their dreams, crushes, best friends down on a piece of paper and bury them in a time capsule and then again dig them up at the fifth reunion.
Yagami Noriyuki grunted and laid down the capsule on a bench.
The surrounding people finally noticed Yagami as they smiled and came to greet him.
"Yagami? "
"Yagami is that you? "
"Hey! "
"Yo! Yagami! "
Yagami smiled and began to talk with his old classmates and friends. He wondered, were they doing all of these as a formality or were they truly excited to see him?
It couldn't be the latter as he wasn't that social back in high school. The only thing he was great at back then was studying.
Yagami bid goodbye towards his friends and glanced towards the almost emptied time capsule.
The only thing left in it were two pieces of paper.
Yagami walked towards it and picked one up. Hoping that it would be his.
However, instead of Yagami's name written on it, it was from someone named Etsuko Shimano.
Etsuko Shimano…
"Give that to me! "
A slender yet slightly wrinkled hand rudely grabbed the piece of paper and took it away.
Yagami looked at the woman but was stunned.
A woman stood beside him, her blond wavy hair drifted in the wind.
Her face was beautiful to the extent of being ethereal, even though she was Yagami's age, she seemed to be in her thirties instead of her fifties.
Her lips were that of a pale white color, just like her skin.
However, her face was filled with scorn when she finally saw Yagami's face.
"Oh? Isn't it our topper? "
She spitefullly spat out, not caring about Yagami's feelings.
Yagami apologetically smiled at her, not minding her spitefull remark.
"I'm sorry for whatever happened back then… "
"Hmph, I know the only reason you're saying this is because I'm rich now right? "
"Is money all that matters to you? "
"Back then, you rejected my love because I was poor! "
"Now what? I'm the CEO of the largest business in Japan! "
"Do you regret your choice now? "
She victoriously looked at Yagami. Her eyes slightly red.
"…I didn't reject you because you were poor Etsuko-san. "
"Oh shut up! Then why did you go after Himeno then? "
"I was better than her in every way! Why did you reject me? "
"Because I was poor! "
"The only thing you could see was wealth right? "
Etsuko mockingly smirked at Yagami.
"You can scream at me all you want… "
"However, the truth will still remain the same, I loved Himeno, not you. "
"I didn't choose you over her because of wealth or something…"
The beautiful woman hearing this squinted her eyes and ran away with the piece of paper.
Yagami sympathetically smiled at her.
"I loved her… "
Himeno… was his childhood friend.
An existence forgotten by all of her former classmates. He wondered, was someone's life that worthless?
He shaked his head in anguish.
The woman that just berated him now was Etsuko Shimeno.
Back when he was seventeen years old and a topper, this girl was head over heels for him.
Always following behind him, doing anything he wanted.
Things change so quickly eh?...
Yagami took the only piece of paper left and looked at the sky.
His life was ruined.
...
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Yagami dispiritedly opened the piece of paper, not really wanting to take a look inside it.
He rubbed his butt on the bench laid beside a bus stand, trying to ease his hip pain.
Being old has many cons.
The frosty wind blowed gently, which only managed to further enhance his hip pain.
He looked at the paper from top to bottom.
Name – Yagami Noriyuki.
Class – A-2 Year 2
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He didn't have the courage to read any further…
But…
Crush – I really, really like my childhood friend, Himeno Kirigawa.
He face-palmed himself and stuffed the paper in his pocket, deciding to read it later.
Anguish eventually got hold of him as he put his hands on his face and cried.
He… he didn't know how to forget such an important person.
How could she die!? How?
Unexpectedly, drops of water started to fall from the sky.
The rate of water falling from the sky gradually increased as Yagami roared with anguish.
He downheartedly looked in front of him, the road couldn't be seen because of the heavy rain.
"DISSSSCHHH! "
The sky crackled with anger, bolts of lightning falling down on earth.
Tenshi started to run in the rain, not caring about his body that was starting to get drenched.
The cold and frosty rain eventually wiped away the last drop of warmth from his body.
"Excuse me mortal. Are you Yagami Noriyuki? "
A soft and gentle hand tightly grasped his shoulders, his legs abruptly stopping due to the force emitted from the hands on his shoulder.
What?
Yagami confusedly looked behind him.
He was astonished with what he saw!
A beautiful woman was standing before him, lustrous and long black hair along with crimson red eyes.
The woman wore a simple yet elegant colorful kimono, her lips were red just like her eyes.
However, on her head were two bright red horns.