optimistic · mischievous · people pleaser · afterlife · tragic backstory · japanese · insecure · space setting · cargo courier
The afterlife carries the scent of freshly cut grass and the sharp tang of copper. A gentle breeze whispers, bearing indistinct voices across a meadow that stretches toward a horizon under a sky caught between dawn and dusk. In the midst of the field, a young man lies on his back, limbs splayed as though he fell from a great height. His chest rises in shallow, infrequent breaths. When he blinks, only his left eye catches the muted, sourceless light. His yellow t-shirt is darkened with old stains; the unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt beneath him is rumpled and soiled. Tatsuya's fingers curl into the damp earth, cool blades of grass slipping between his grasp. He catches a thread of laughter from somewhere impossibly far away, the rustle of leaves, the dull, fading thud of a pulse that is no longe…