Chapter 3 – The Distance Hurts
Yuji made it home.
He slammed the door shut, locked it twice, and pressed his forehead against the cool wood. His heart was still hammering, but at least here, in his apartment, he could breathe.
Or so he thought.
The pain started as a dull ache in his chest.
Then it spread — a suffocating, crushing pressure that made him double over.
"Not again," he gasped, clutching his shirt. "No, no, no…"
Images flickered in his mind.
A faint glow of a streetlamp.
The echo of steady footsteps.
Ren.
It wasn't his imagination. He could feel Ren's presence, his calmness… and the faint ripple of worry.
Yuji's hands trembled. He had been avoiding people all his life, building walls so no one could ever get close. And now, in the span of minutes, he was tethered to a stranger — a complete unknown — whose emotions bled into his own like spilled ink.
He crawled to his bed and buried himself under the covers, squeezing his eyes shut.
Just sleep. It'll go away if I sleep.
---
But sleep didn't bring peace.
It brought him.
Yuji stood in an endless field, the sky a bleeding mix of blue and crimson. A figure stood in the distance, his back turned. Blond hair catching the wind.
Ren.
Yuji wanted to run the other way. He wanted to wake up. But his body betrayed him, moving closer, drawn by that magnetic pull.
When Ren turned to face him, Yuji's breath caught.
It wasn't just a dream.
It felt real.
Too real.
"You can't ignore this," Ren's voice echoed — not from his mouth, but directly inside Yuji's head.
Yuji jolted awake with a strangled gasp. Sweat drenched his skin. His sheets clung to him like a second skin.
And the pain in his chest was worse.
---
A sharp knock at the door made him flinch.
"Yuji."
His blood ran cold.
That voice.
He staggered toward the door, yanking it open — and there he was.
Ren.
Tall, unbothered, as if showing up at someone's home in the middle of the night was normal.
Yuji's throat went dry. "How the hell do you know where I live?"
Ren's eyes swept over him, and for a moment, Yuji felt something strange: relief. His relief.
"The link," Ren said simply. "You're hurting because we're too far apart. I felt it too."
Yuji's jaw tightened. "Get out."
Ren stepped inside anyway.
And Yuji didn't stop him.
Because the moment Ren crossed the threshold, the pain dulled.
And Yuji hated himself for it.