The sound of beeping was all he could hear for a moment. It slowed down, until a final long beep cut through the air.

Satoru stared down at the round toy in his hands.

What the hell?

For a moment he was confused. He’d completely forgotten that they could die, even though the first thing Suguru had told him when he chucked the thing at his head was not to let it die.

“It’s dead,” he said, blinking down at the pink egg.

“What is?” Shoko leaned over to see what was in his hands. “A tamagotchi? You kept that?”

 

Satoru fell onto his back where they sat on the roof of the building where they’d just exorcised a curse.

He pouted up at Shoko, waving away the smoke from her cigarette with his free hand. “Why wouldn’t I keep it? Suguru gave it to me.”

“I’m pretty sure he was messing with you.”

Satoru waved her off with a ‘pshh’, then stared down at the toy again. There was a strange feeling in his chest. It felt tight.

“You know you can just reset it, right?”

“It won’t be the same thing,” he complained, feeling Shoko lean over him to look at his face. She snorted in amusement.

“Are you crying?”

“Am not!” He felt himself flush. What he definitely didn’t feel were tears on his cheeks. Even if his eyes were kind of burning.

“But you were going to,” Shoko smirked. “It’s not like it’s your child. It’s just a kids' toy.”

She reached out to take it, but was blocked by infinity as he curled in on himself, clutching the toy tightly to his chest, knees drawn up.

“Brat,” she said, blowing smoke in the direction of his face. Thanks to infinity, the smoke never reached him, but he could still feel the smell. He stuck his tongue out at her, coughing demonstratively with an open mouth. If a few tears dripped down his face, he pretended that it was because of the smoke.

Shouko rolled her eyes. “You’re proving my point.”

She leaned back, staring into the sky, the sun bathing them in warm orange.

“Have Suguru reset it when we get back, then, you overgrown baby.”

That made Satoru roll over to look at her, perking up. “Great idea, Shoko!”

She hummed, taking another drag of her cigarette. “He’s gonna make fun of you.”

“I’ll kick his ass if he does.”

Shoko barked out a laugh, Satoru finally sitting back up.

“I’m gonna tell him about you crying.”

“I wasn’t crying!” There had been one tear. Maybe two, max.

She grinned at him. “Sure, keep telling yourself that.”

His chest still felt tight, a bad feeling in his gut, like the death of the digital pet was some sort of omen. It was a ridiculous thought. One that didn’t make any sense at all.

 

As they continued to bicker, the sun quietly set in front of them.

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