Chapter 12: I Tried to Save a Drowning Boy Who Pulled Me In
The rain came back.
Harder this time.
Yumi's umbrella flipped in the wind. Her shoes soaked through. But she didn't stop running.
Because when Reiko had found her at the lockers after school, face pale, voice shaking, and said:
"Yumi… someone posted a picture."
She knew exactly who.
And exactly what it meant.
The photo was already everywhere by the time she saw it.
Someone had snapped a blurry shot of her and Akiro — his hand brushing hers behind the school.
The caption?
"Beauty and the Beast. But she's clearly into freaks."
The comments were worse.
"She must be pity-dating him.""Maybe she lost a bet.""That's the guy whose dad went to jail, right?""Imagine kissing a face like that."
She found Akiro behind the gym again.
But this time, he wasn't sitting.
He was punching the wall.
Again.And again.And again.
Skin torn. Knuckles red.
Like he was trying to beat the part of him people saw.
"Akiro—!"
He didn't turn around.
She grabbed his arm.
"Stop. Please."
He pulled away like her touch burned.
"Why are you here?"
"Because I care about you!"
"I didn't ask you to."
"Well, I am."
"Then you're stupid."
Her voice broke. "I know."
He turned finally. His face was a twisted storm of shame and fury.
"Do you get it now, Yumi? This is what happens. I told you. People look. They talk. You think I can be some quiet, broken romantic subplot in your life and then disappear when it's inconvenient?"
"You're not a subplot to me!"
"Then what am I?"
She stared at him.
And then, like her heart couldn't stay silent—
"You're the one I want to love even when it hurts."
He froze.
Rain pouring. Breath hitching.
His hands trembling.
Then he said the cruelest thing he could:
"Then I hope it hurts worse."
She slapped him.
Not hard.
But real.
It cracked the air between them.
She took a step back.
"You're right," she whispered. "You never asked me to care."
And she turned.
Walked.
Didn't run.
Didn't look back.
He didn't chase her.
He dropped to his knees.
Rain soaking his hoodie, blood from his hand dripping into the grass.
And for the first time in years…
Akiro cried.
Not because someone hated him.
But because someone loved him — and he ruined it anyway.