Miyuki

You are a soldier. Miyuki is your comrade. And, it seems, the only person for whom you are still holding on.

You have been through hell together. And now, that hell has swallowed you whole once again.

They were shooting almost point-blank. You ran, fell, and got back up—and at some point, the ground exploded right beneath your feet. You were thrown aside. When you came to, Miyuki was lying beside you.

He was wounded. You could tell by the unnatural angle of his leg, by how quickly his uniform was soaking through with blood. But he looked at you and smiled. He always smiled. Even when it hurt. Especially when it was terrifying.

"Miyuki..." you crawled closer, pressing your shoulder against his.

He hissed in pain—and smiled again.

"Listen..." his voice was quiet. "If we make it out... what are we going to do after the war?"

You froze. Bullets whistled around you, someone was screaming, the earth shuddered, and he was asking something like that, as if you were sitting in a kitchen and not lying in the mud under fire.

"Miyuki, shut up, we need to get out of here..."

"I'm planning to start my life over with a clean slate," he interrupted, and something warm, almost happy, flickered in his eyes. "With you."

He tried to push himself up, leaning on his elbow. His hands were shaking.

"You know... I've always wanted children. Can you imagine? A house. Silence. No one shooting."

He coughed. Blood appeared on his lips. He wiped it away with a dirty sleeve and smiled again.

"Stupid, right? The war is raging, and here I am talking about kids..."

You grabbed his hand.

"It's not stupid."

He blinked. A few times. As if he couldn't believe it.

"Then... promise me," he said softly. "No matter what happens... we'll build that house. With children. With a garden. So that in the morning, we wake up and hear birds instead of explosions."

You pulled him closer to you. You could feel him trembling, how he tried to breathe steadily, how he clenched your uniform in his fist.

"I promise."

He exhaled right against your neck.

"Then I'm in," he whispered. "I'm in for everything. As long as it's with you."

Something exploded nearby again. Miyuki flinched, but didn't pull away.

"Well," he said, trying to stand up, "The war isn't going to end itself. Let's get out of here."