"Because I Love Everyone" Final Chapter: Fumiya ③ [End]

"Kaori-san, you won't be able to love another man ever again, will you?"

After she died, self-proclaimed commentators on television and in magazines, as well as amateurs on social media, spoke about her character as they pleased.

Since Fumiya did not have any social media accounts for interacting with the general public or gathering information, he only heard about it secondhand, but he was told that she had been slandered to such an extent that it could only be described as beating a dead horse.

The person who had been so diligent in reporting this to him was the woman trembling with a pale face right in front of him. To a man who had lost his lover just before they were to be married, and who was carrying his child in her womb, she had put on the face of a friend and told him, "Actually..." with a sorrowful look.

She wore an expression of someone trying to atone for her sins, but how was it really? From her agitation at Kaori's funeral, it was clear that this woman was involved in her death in some way. Perhaps she just wanted to confirm how much Fumiya had figured out.

"It doesn't matter whose child it really was. She loved me, she was carrying my child, and then she died. That is all."

The shocking news that she had been killed by a former partner in broad daylight sparked speculation.

Perhaps they hadn't actually broken up at all.

Some media outlets even published testimony from a woman claiming to be her classmate, stating that they had been in an on-again, off-again relationship since their student days. Kaori seemed to be the type of woman that other women disliked, and the witness's words, even if edited by the writer, left the impression that Kaori was also at fault.

As a result, speculation spread that the child in her womb might have been the culprit's. Now that everyone is making a fuss about a famous celebrity's stimulant arrest, it has been forgotten, but her scandal will continue to be spread across the internet almost permanently.

The Furukawa family intends to file for information disclosure and damages against the slanderers for severely damaging the deceased's reputation, but it no longer mattered to Fumiya.

There is no place for Fumiya in the world of the internet. His world, filled with love, is complete with those living and those dead right before his eyes.

Yuriko is the same. Her advances were, frankly speaking, annoying, but once she is dead, only pure affection remains. Yuriko's one-sided love reached Fumiya through her death and was fulfilled.

In that sense, she is the same as that high school girl. He was disgusted by the sexual desire directed at him by that bitch, but death purifies a woman.

Fumiya took a step forward, intending to return. At that movement, the woman reacted with an exaggerated start. It was a look of fear, as if she were looking at a madman.

—Ah, that's right. I believe her name was Onoda-san.

He finally remembered her name.

Fumiya smiled gently at her. Death is sad and gloomy enough as it is. Especially when it is the funeral of a young person. However, Fumiya's expression was inappropriate for the occasion.

"Onoda-san. You were in love with Osamu, weren't you?"

He had learned at Kaori's funeral that the woman who had been introduced as Kaori's best friend worked at Osamu's university. Since they were bowing to each other, he had asked Osamu if they were acquaintances.

The reason I had any contact with her, a liberal arts student, was nothing more than a part of my younger brother's cute little scheme. I can read my brother's thoughts like an open book.

Osamu couldn't stand the idea of any woman being close to Fumiya. It was possessiveness born from affection. Until now, he had only gone as far as attacking them on social media to make them break up, but when he heard Kaori was pregnant, he crossed the line. He used this woman as his pawn.

To protect her from Yuriko's attacks, I made her quit her job and we started living together. But even after that, her profile remained clouded with sorrow, and she was driven into a corner day by day.

This woman played a part in that. She was never suspected. Kaori never for a second thought that Akemi, her only female friend, would betray her.

Kaori's apartment, which I visited for the move. The letter she brought with an unknown sender. That was the trigger for this tragedy—or for Fumiya, this comedy.

Osamu hasn't changed since we were in elementary school. His method is always a "letter."

There are only foolish people here. And because they are foolish, things proceeded exactly as Fumiya intended.

Akemi looked as if she could no longer stand, and she slumped onto the floor, swaying. Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked up at me, but Fumiya felt no emotion at all.

—After all, this woman doesn't even like me.

After Yuriko's funeral, Fumiya returned to his parents' house, and Osamu welcomed him into the detached house. I responded to my younger brother, who said something so endearing, claiming that if I were left alone, even my older brother might die. My brother had a look on his face that he couldn't hide his joy.

When I took off my mourning jacket and loosened my tie, Osamu naturally reached out to take them. As I sat down heavily and slumped over the table, Osamu spoke to me timidly.

"It was Kaori-san the other day, and now it's your colleague. Brother, are you okay?"

Fumiya's shoulders shook. My brother, mistaking it for sobbing, reached out to touch my back. But he soon realized it wasn't a sob and pulled away.

Fumiya was laughing. It was so funny, so incredibly funny. In such a short period, I had obtained two eternal loves. It was only natural to get carried away. And then, I found myself wanting a third.

Osamu was trembling at Fumiya, who looked genuinely happy despite just returning from a funeral.

You know, don't you? You must have thought the same thing when Father killed that girl, didn't you?

—That the two of them lived happily ever after, in death.

I don't really remember what we talked about. I think I spoke passionately to Osamu, who was trembling with a stiff face, about the correlation between love and death. He turned pale before my eyes.

"Are you saying you prefer a dead woman over me, who is still alive?"

To that question, Fumiya answered yes.

That is why I want my mother to live a long life. As long as she is alive, hatred is merely temporary. The life or death of a person who does not give me love is of no concern to me.

Just saying "I see," my younger brother staggered off and shut himself in his room. It was five days later that he committed suicide.

"I'm sorry, Onoda-san. For all eternity, Osamu will never love you... because he loved me, and only me, when he died."

He, too, had died for his love for me. Once again, something eternal had grown within Fumiya. In the most ideal form.

My brother must have agonized over it. He weighed his own life against his love for Fumiya to see which was lighter. Knowing that if he died, he could love and be loved forever, he chose that path.

What Fumiya feels for Akemi is pity and superiority. Osamu will never look at you again, never speak to you, and certainly never love you.

"You do not love me. Therefore, no matter what path you choose in your despair over Osamu's death, it has nothing to do with me. Heh. It really doesn't matter to me at all, you know? Even if you were to drive your car into something right after this, I would forget about it in a single day."

Ah, but.

"--If you die too, you can make your love for my brother eternal, can't you?"

Fumiya leaned down and whispered into her ear as he turned to leave. Teaching her the most precious lesson in this world.

Mother was nowhere to be seen in the funeral hall, where most of the mourners had already finished their final farewells. She had likely either been moved to another room after causing a scene or had fainted and been laid down to rest.

Osamu's face, sleeping in the plain wood coffin, was even more beautiful than when he was alive, and it filled Fumiya's heart. I couldn't bring myself to do it while he was alive, but I thought I might give him a kiss now, but I decided against it.

"Ah."

Come to think of it, I just tempted Akemi to die as well, but I wonder if love can be shared between the dead. Fumiya has never died, so he doesn't know.

Well, that's fine. More importantly, I have to think about how to obtain eternity if I ever find someone I love in the future. After all, my beloved brother, who acted as my hands and feet, is no longer here.

From outside the funeral hall, the sound of a siren, which had become familiar, began to be heard.

(End)