That moment really felt like a nightmare.
I clutched my dying sister tightly in my arms, helpless to do anything but cry and pray, hoping that someone would hear me...
Help me...help us!
"Not my sister—please, not Yufa!"
At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but then a voice spoke from behind me and said, "It's time."
I turned around and saw a man. A man stood there, wearing a long gray robe that trailed to the floor. His wide sleeves concealed his hands, but the true horror was the pair of skeletal wings stretching from his back. In one hand, he held a massive scythe, and its polished blade gleamed so sharply I could see my own reflection.
"W-who are you?" I stammered, still holding Yufa in my arms.
The man's eyes widened slightly in surprise, then his lips curved into a grin, as though he hadn't seen something this interesting in a long while.
"It's rare for anyone to see me before their time," he said. But then he raised his scythe and pointed it toward my sister. "But there's nothing you can do. Her time is up."
The moment those words left his lips, I shielded Yufa with my body, holding her as tightly as I could.
"I'm begging you!" I cried, desperately shielding my unconscious sister with my body. "Take me instead! Please, not Yufa!"
The man stopped. He lowered the scythe and tilted my face up to meet his gaze. To my surprise, he wasn't angry. Instead, he was still smiling. His eyes locked onto mine, deep and unsettling, as if he were searching for something inside me that I couldn't understand
"Aren't you afraid? Do you even know who I am, kid?"
I swallowed my fear and answered, "No. All I know is that you're trying to take Yufa from me!"
"Well, I'm not going to take him from you..."
As he spoke, Yufa's body began to glow faintly. Just moments before, she had been as cold as a corpse. Now, warmth pulsed through her skin.
"Y-Yufa!" I cried out.
Relief surged through me, but it didn't last long. The man's voice cut through my joy.
"I won't take your sister... but only on one condition."
I froze and looked at him when he mentioned the condition.
"Ten years from now, I'll return for you. Your life, in exchange for hers. What do you say, Haru? A fair bargain, isn't it?"
"T-ten years...?"
I had no idea how this stranger knew my name, or what he truly meant by that condition. All I knew was that Yufa's life had been spared.
The man vanished as suddenly as he appeared, and Yufa stirred awake. The doctors called it a miracle. She had been declared hopeless, yet somehow, she survived.
After that, I didn't think about the deal I had struck or the price that would come due. Because in that moment, none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was Yufa—she was alive, breathing, warm in my arms. For now, that was enough.
We could live again, as if everything had returned to normal... even if, deep down, I knew nothing would ever truly be the same.