The first signs of tension weren't loud.
It was in the way Aki glanced over his shoulder during lunch, like he was waiting for someone who never arrived. In the way Haru laughed a little too hard at jokes that weren't that funny. In how Kaito lingered by the third-floor hallway even though his class was on the second.
Something had shifted.
---
After Class. Rooftop.
Aki sat on the cold concrete, arms around his knees. The sun had dipped low, casting everything in gold and shadow.
He wasn't hiding. Not exactly. He just needed the silence.
Or maybe he was hoping Haru would find him. Like always.
And like always—
"There you are."
Aki didn't look up. "You're late."
Haru crossed the distance and plopped down beside him, setting down two milk cartons. "Detention. Again."
Aki took one without a word.
They sat in silence for a moment. The breeze picked up, tousling Aki's already-messy hair.
Then Haru said, "He talked to you again, didn't he?"
Aki froze. "Kaito?"
"Yeah."
Aki nodded slowly. "He… said goodbye."
Haru didn't respond. The carton in his hand creaked slightly as his fingers tightened around it.
"He's leaving the country. Again," Aki added, voice barely above a whisper. "He said he just wanted to see me one last time."
"And did you want to see him?"
That question hung there, heavy.
"…I didn't expect to."
"But you didn't walk away," Haru said, not accusing — just stating. Like he was trying to understand.
"No," Aki admitted. "Because part of me wanted closure."
Another pause.
Haru finally asked, quieter this time, "Did he ever make you feel like I do?"
Aki looked at him, expression unreadable.
"You make me feel like I'm still allowed to change," he said.
Haru blinked. "That's a yes?"
"That's a you," Aki replied, almost smiling.
---
Later that Evening.
Aki sat at his desk, head resting against his arm. Outside, the clouds were gathering — thick, bruised, and swollen with rain. He could feel it in his bones.
He pulled out his journal.
> Everything feels a little too close lately.
Like I'm walking a tightrope between what was and what is.
I want to stop comparing Haru and Kaito. I want to stop checking my messages expecting something else from Kaito.
I want to stop looking back.
> But wanting isn't the same as doing.
---
Meanwhile, Across Town…
Haru stood in front of a convenience store, flipping open his phone.
A single unsent message to Aki blinked on the screen:
> "Do you love me?"
He stared at it for a while. Then locked his phone and shoved it back in his pocket.
The rain began with a single drop.
---
Back in Aki's Room.
Aki opened his window. The scent of rain hit him instantly — petrichor, sharp and earthy.
He leaned against the sill, watching the world disappear under the first wave of the storm.
There was a strange comfort in it. The chaos outside felt honest.
He whispered to himself, as the sky darkened—
"Please don't leave, Haru."
He didn't know who he was pleading with more: Haru, or himself.
---
Aki's Journal Entry – 9:56 p.m.
> The past knocked on my door, and I opened it. But it didn't feel like home.
> Haru feels like a room that's still being painted. Like I'm allowed to leave fingerprints on the wall.
> That's new. And a little terrifying.
But I want to stay.
---
Binary — bottom of the page:
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