“Shin,”

she called out to him softly.

“Shin, um… Do you have a minute?”
“…Mm.”
A voice escaped his lips as she shook him a little.
He opened his eyelids and blinked a couple of times before looking up at Kurena.
His bloodred eyes. The sole color Kurena thought was the most beautiful one in the world. And
before he could ask her What is it?, Kurena beat him to the punch.
“I loved you, Shin.”
His crimson eyes blinked once. And then they contorted bitterly, painfully. It was because he
knew that he couldn’t and had no intention of answering Kurena’s words, her feelings.
…Yeah. I know. You wouldn’t dodge the question. You won’t evade or lie about the fact that you
can’t answer. That’s the cruel part about you.
You’re honest to a cruel extent.
“I love you even now… I’ll probably always love you.”
Even if she’d come to love someone else later down the line, she would still love Shin. Even if
that hypothetical person loved her back. And though she couldn’t even begin to imagine this,
even if she were to start a family with that person…
…she would always, always love Shin.
And really, she would have wished he’d have picked her over anyone else. He was the one she
held dearest, the one she depended on the most.
She loved him.
My…kind, precious Reaper.
“So that’s why…”
She wanted the path of her comrade, her family, the person she cared about most in the world to
be blessed.
“…you have to be happy. You have to find happiness,” Kurena told him with a smile.
Shin remained silent for a brief moment. He was torn between the answer he wanted to give her
and the words he could direct at himself. And after remaining silent and coming to terms with
those conflicting feelings, he eventually said one thing.
No matter what he wanted to tell her, he couldn’t answer Kurena’s feelings, so he said the one
thing he was allowed to say.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. After all, up until now…”
And even now. And probably always.
“…I’ve never once regretted loving you.” - Eighty Six Vol. 9