?


    "Mom, you shouldn''t stress your body, go to bed," Haruki murmured, standing by his mother as she admired the rain by their porch.


    Yet, her gaze remained unmoved, but her hand reached for the small table right beside her wooden chair. Finally turning her eyes to her son, the withered woman gave him the faintest of smiles. However, seeing the sunken eyes of her mother, and the light fleeing from her eyes, Haruki couldn''t bring himself to return her with the same.


    "Here, sit down and y with me," grabbing a pawn from the chess board on the table, his mother urged him to y, but despite the rain, he had to go and tend to the fields.


    "I can''t, the monsterse out in rain to ruin crops since nobody''s out there when it''s pouring so heavily," saying that he tried to move past his mother, but grabbing him by her sickly arms, she stopped him from taking a single foot further.


    As he pulled away, however, she couldn''t keep holding home with her weakened fingers. And so, instead of trying to convince him to stay, she decided to make him y a game with her in another way.


    "I want to tell you about your father…" Those words froze Haruki in ce. "About how he died when you were little."


    "Now? Of all the times, now you want to tell me?" Turning around to look at her, Haruki had a disgruntled look on his face.


    Nodding at his question, his mother motioned him toe closer and take the seat across the desk. Following her request, he let out a sigh and settled down into the chair. There as he waited for her to borate, she moved a pawn further onto the board.


    "Let''s y a little first," she said with a smile.


    Despite her jolly farce, Haruki knew how much she must''ve been hurting because of the diseases eating her up from the inside. Thus, even though she was smiling, he knew that was just her way to hide her own tears. If only she could be truthful about her hurt, Haruki would with full heart y with her as much as she wanted, but seeing her hair turn silver while she pretended everything was fine, he felt like vomiting from the emotional strain alone.


    "Why do you always make me y this stupid game?" Replying with those words, he looked down at the chessboard.


    Being a burly man who defended the fields, he had no clue how to y the game. To help him understand a little, his mother made the first move with his pawn to show him the way they could be moved on the board.


    "Why, you ask?" drawing her hand away, her smile broke into a slight grimace. "Because you''re growing too fast, and I want you to hold onto at least a semnce of innocence."


    "I''m not a child anymore," looking away from her, Haruki gazed at the downpour muddling up the path running through their vige. "Besides, we all need to do our part, and since father isn''t here it falls on me to carry out his duties."


    Following her son''s eyes, she too began to look at the mud paths connecting the streets of their small vige.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Your father was out in the rain trying to protect our farm," upon hearing her speak again, Haruki shifted his attention back onto his mother. "At that time the emperor had raided our toll because of the war and we had to do everything to protect our crops from the monsters."


    "So that''s how he died? Protecting our fields?" Haruki asked.


    His mother nodded before continuing her story.


    "Since the emperor''s army was clearing up so many forests from monsters, a pack of them ended up migrating towards our vige to hide," Closing her for a second, she was reminded of that very night when the grim news came knocking on her doorsteps. "The men repelled the monsters, but your father and a few others died while protecting our vige."


    Being finally told about how his father died, Haruki didn''t know what to think. Was he supposed to be proud that he died in battle? Or should be saddened that he lost his life for at most a few months'' feed?


    "Fine, ''ll stay," looking down at the board, he decided to keep his motherpany instead of heading out in the rain.


    "I love you," wearing a weak smile once more, she picked up the knight and moved it to defend her pawn. "Now let''s y."


    With the rain singing in the background, Haruki''s mother tried teaching him how to y chess, but given his short attention span, every time he learned something, something else had already left his mind. Regardless, after blundering countless times and losing to her, Haruki noticed her eyes shutting on their own as her body began to tire away.


    "You can sleep, I''m not leaving, don''t worry," Haruki assured, finally realizing that she was afraid to lose him the same way she''d lost his father.


    Leaning back into the chair, it didn''t take her long to drift into slumber. Once she was sound asleep, Haruki picked her up in his arms and brought her to her futon. Tucking her in, he sat right beside her.


    "I''m not going anywhere, so don''t leave me either," staring at her wrinkled face, he could see the reaper''s scythe lingering over her head. "You''re all I have."


    Whispering those final words, he got up to prepare some food for when she woke up, unbeknownst to the fact that this would be the veryst interaction they''d ever have. While busy in the small kitchen just beside the hall where his mother slept, he didn''t realize but she woke up once more and watched as he prepared her dinner.


    ''I love you, son. Live long, unlike me or your father.'' Feeling more tired than ever, she closed her eyes onest time and never woken ever since.