3. Lifeline
He noticed that she was unable to meet his eyes or even glance up at his face, but he gave her a small smile of reassurance anyway as he returned her greeting. She quickly turned to offer a hello to the crying woman beside him but was instead wrapped in shaking arms. She finally met his gaze as she hugged her back, and he knew at the sight of her trembling lip and watering eyes that it was time to sit down.
He led the sobbing woman to a couple of seats near the front of the chapel, offering to find her a box of tissues. As he searched the room for a box, he chanced another glance at her. He was comforted to see that her friends had taken over greetings and that she was now standing near the front, eyes trained on the picture that had been put on display in the front.
Locating a box of tissues and handing it to his companion, he made his way to her as fast as he could in that situation. A flicker of relief appeared in her eyes as she noticed him approaching, and she all but collapsed into his embrace. There they stayed, until her friend tapped her on the shoulder, letting her know that it was time to start the service.
He nodded and gently squeezed her hand before he retreated to his seat. She, in turn, assumed her place behind the small podium in front, gratefully taking the microphone and a folded piece of paper from her friend. Her eyes flitted over to his and then to her small group of friends for reassurance before she unfolded the paper cleared her throat to speak.
"Friends and family," she began in a quiet but strong voice, "I am grateful to see you all gathered here today, though I do wish the circumstances were better." She inhaled a long, shaky breath and then continued. "My name is Erunai Kirito, and I have asked you all to attend this memorial service for a beloved friend and," here her voice broke, "brother, Kenji Kirito. I'm sorry; please excuse me for a moment."
She let out a sob and stepped away from the podium to meet her frantic friend, who handed her a box of tissues and enveloped her in a hug before sending her back to the podium to give her speech. He caught her eye as she smoothed out her paper, and they shared a fleeting moment of understanding.
"My brother was not perfect." She resumed her speech with renewed confidence. "Kenny was often way too overprotective, and he could be extremely dishonest at times when he should have been upfront. In fact, his habit of trying to keep me in the dark backfired on him more often than not." A small ghost of a smile manifested itself upon her lips as she began to recall more memories of her brother.
"But he tried to be good, to me as a brother, to others as a friend. He always tried to look at things with a wide perspective and made sure that everyone was comfortable by cracking a few jokes. And he was always, always completely organized. I swear, I could not—and still can't—find anything in his room because I will never be able to understand how he even organized it." A broken chuckle escaped her lips, and he fought down the urge to rush up to her and comfort her.
She continued on, unable to do anything else but speak of the one she loved, of the one who had left her behind. "I think he secretly hated how disorganized I was—in his definition of the word, of course. I promise you that I am not some sort of unkempt pig." She laughed again, and this time others in the audience joined her. "He would always get upset when I forgot to tell him where I was going because he was always, always worrying for me and always, always thought that I needed saving."
Another sob, much more subdued than the first, erupted from her, but she pressed on. "I think he considered saving me—whether I needed it or not—his sole purpose in life. Despite the fact that I was no damsel in distress, which I let him know multiple times, he was my knight in dorky armor." She paused again, heaving a sigh and letting her eyes flutter shut for a moment. "But throughout this whole speech, I've been talking about what Kenny was. Isn't it too easy for things—for people—to slip into past tense, as if they were but aren't anymore?"
She turned her focus from the slip of paper to the picture of her brother. "There's a reason I chose today, the day he was born, the day he would have been a quarter of a century old, rather than January twenty-fourth, the day he died, as the day I held this service to remember my brother. The reason is simple, and the reason is this: He lives on."
A glistening tear trailed down her face, and her lips trembled uncontrollably as she struggled to finish her speech. "Kenny lives on, in the hearts of everyone who remembers him. And while he may not be around anymore to be my savior, he will always be what I said he was at the beginning of this dreadfully long speech: a beloved friend and brother. So please don't forget him. Thank you."
The world was silent as she moved away from the podium and into the arms of her friends. He watched her as she struggled between laughing and crying, proud of how far she had come and worried for how much further she had to go.
Author's Note:
And now, Tremors is coming to a close. Don't worry; there's still one last story arc in Leo's perspective, but I think this one will be remarkably shorter in comparison to the last. (However, I also thought that Eru's arc would be much shorter, so I suppose I'm not a very reliable source.)
Here's the formatting for this arc:
Leo: plain822Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg74ggVyXXJ
Eru: bold822Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiS5DFRZsC
Any others: bold and italics
I hope you enjoy the remainder of this story! Also, if there's anything about this story that confuses you, ask me, and I'll see what I can do for you.
