Awkward, sweet romance with a touch of horror and mystery. The top is human at first, then becomes a ghost midway through the story. Both leads are each other's only partners. They're both pretty extreme in personality and behavior, a little outside the bounds of normal. Please decide for yourselves if this is for you.
The bottom is a top student. His long bangs cover his eyes, his skin is so pale it's almost unhealthy, and he keeps to himself without any friends.
Unfortunately, beneath his gloomy, withdrawn exterior, there's no heart of gold like in a fairy tale.
One night, after doing badly on a monthly exam, the bottom sneaks into school to alter his test paper.
He quickly finds his own paper, but before he can celebrate, he hears unhurried footsteps behind him.
All color drains from his face. He turns around shakily and meets a pair of sly, beautiful eyes.
S-so handsome... Wait, who are you?
From that moment on, the mysterious, handsome transfer student starts clinging to him.
Let's have lunch in the cafeteria.
Let's pair up for the fitness test.
Wait for me after school, too.
Under the top's relentless advances, the bottom gradually softens, and the feelings he'd kept repressed for so long quietly begin to stir...
On Children's Day, after school, the top insists on taking the bottom out for fruit sorbet. The shop is trendy and cute. The bottom grips his backpack straps and says quietly:
“I've never had this before...”
“It's basically frozen fruit puree,” the top says with a smile. “I recommend raspberry. It's sweet and tart, and really good.”
“Then I'll have raspberry.”
“Then I'll get mangosteen. We can trade bites later.”
So, standing beside a flower box along the street, the bottom carefully tastes his first-ever sorbet, while the top smiles and eats his last sorbet before he dies.
“Bang!!!”
At the top's funeral, the bottom is dazed the whole time. The top's parents hold his hand and look at him again and again. It's unclear whether they're proud of their son for sacrificing himself to save someone else, or resent the boy in front of them for taking away the beautiful years of youth that should have belonged to their son.
At the viewing, the bottom gazes at the body from a distance, tears spilling uncontrollably from his eyes. He raises a hand to wipe them away, accidentally knocking the white funeral flower from his chest to the ground.
He bends to pick it up.
The instant his fingertips touch a petal, his whole body goes rigid.
Realizing what this means, he slowly looks up and sees a tall, translucent figure before him.
“Hi.”
“...Hi.”
And so begins the long, quiet summer vacation, innocent yet uncanny, that belongs to the two of them alone.
A short story, expected to be under 100,000 words. Writing is well underway!
The names of the top and bottom haven't been decided yet.
Theme: Death and adolescence
