Oomi
When Mamoru-kun said, “Oomi-san and the cool bro too,” we all ended up heading to the bridge.
Naturally, the Harvester of Hearts stepped out in front, declaring, “There’s no way I’m letting you lot go alone.”Well, yeah—fair enough. It’s not like outsiders like us should be freely roaming around here in the first place.
What surprised me was how Oze-san acted toward Mamoru-kun.I’d thought of him as someone who didn’t show much emotion, but now he looked genuinely overjoyed—like a long-lost little brother had come back to life.
And he was clearly jealous of Aochi-san, who Mamoru-kun had dubbed the “cool guy.”
Honestly, I get it. Aochi-san has that kind of appeal—he’s the type anyone, no matter their age or gender, would find striking.To a child, he probably looks like the leader of a superhero squad or something.
Oze-san’s charm is... well, harder to explain.You could call it mysterious, I guess. That probably makes him popular with a very specific crowd, but I doubt he has broad appeal.The fact that someone Mamoru-kun’s age is so fond of him feels like a miracle—but there’s no way I’m saying that out loud.
“Is no one here?”
As soon as we entered the bridge, Aochi-san muttered—clearly still under fire from Oze-san’s misplaced hostility.
“You’re right. How does this ship even move?”
The room had that same polished wooden flooring—elegant, like a mansion floating at sea.
“I already told you, it runs on the hearts I collect. As long as it has a heart and a destination, the ship moves on its own.So that means, right now, it’s just you three, Mamoru, and the woman who came aboard with him. That’s it—for now.”
The Harvester said it with a look that all but screamed Isn’t it obvious?
“There’s a lady onboard? Or do you mean the woman in red?”
Oze-san jumped in immediately.
“What lady? Anyway, it’s the woman who came with Mamoru.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.She might be what you’d call one of the dead—I can’t really tell the difference.And the one in red? Oh, her. You mean the bird, right? She drops by this ship on a whim, but she’s mostly flying around. I don’t count her as a passenger.”
“See? The old guy’s actually really nice.”
Mamoru-kun beamed as he pointed at the Harvester.
“You seem to know him and the ship better than we do,” I said.
Mamoru-kun’s face lit up even more as he answered.
“The lady lived across the street from my big brother’s house. She was always around… I wonder where she went…”
Oze-san’s pale cheeks flushed slightly.
Mamoru-kun didn’t seem to notice. He plopped down on a sofa near the bridge’s edge and said,
“Snack time, old man.”
“It’s almost lunch, so just a little,” the Harvester replied, fetching animal-shaped biscuits and a coffee milk from a shelf at the back of the wide bridge and handing them to Mamoru-kun.
To my surprise, he then brought coffee for the rest of us on a tray—hot and fresh.This guy… might actually be a good person.
Mamoru-kun patted the seat beside him and looked up at Oze-san.Oze-san, looking like a dog wagging its tail (if he had one), obediently sat down next to him.Honestly, he resembled a slender, refined breed of show dog.
As soon as he sat, he helped poke the straw into Mamoru-kun’s coffee milk.Bit too doting, isn’t he?
I sat next to Mamoru-kun. Aochi-san took the seat across from Oze-san.
“Aochi-san, can I ask something?”
“What is it?”
He probably had a lot more he wanted to ask, especially since he couldn’t see the dead.But his voice didn’t give anything away.
“Can you see the coffee milk pack floating there?”
“Huh? What do you mean? Are you saying… Mamoru-kun is holding it right now?No, I can’t see it. Looks like the moment something belongs to the dead, it becomes invisible to me.When it was just sitting on the table, I could still see it.”
Mamoru-kun looked down, the straw still in his mouth.
“Aochi, stop saying ‘I can’t see it’ over and over. You’re such a jerk.”
“Uh… right. Sorry.”
That was clearly Oze-san taking it out on him.To defuse the tension, I switched topics.
“So if the lady’s on this ship, we’ll get to see her eventually. That’s great, right, Oze-san?”
Oze-san froze. Completely. Like a paused video.Guess he’s more innocent than I thought.
“L-look! Over there! Something’s burning!”
Mamoru-kun broke the silence.Out on the water, flickering flames danced across the surface.
It was a beautiful, yet sorrowful, shade of red.I wanted a better look. As I stood up, the Harvester spoke in the gentlest voice I’d ever heard from him.
“That’s a burning heart. I get that you want to see it, but look through the window.It’s dangerous out there. Don’t go outside.”
“What do you mean, dangerous?”
Aochi-san stood as well.So he could see the burning heart, even if he couldn’t see the dead.
“The heart itself won’t hurt you. But like I said, there are hungry birds out there that go after hearts.They get vicious when they’re on the hunt, so you’ve got to be careful.Don’t worry—I’ll collect every last heart before those things show up.Still, can’t be too careful. Unlike you guys, I’m cautious.”
“Understood. We’ll watch from the bridge window.”
This time, the Harvester gave us the warmest smile we’d seen yet.
“You won’t get a good view of my work from here. My room’s window has a much better vantage point.”