The day after his emotional reunion with Ukio's parents, Akio walked to school with an unfamiliar feeling stirring inside him.
It wasn't happiness. Not exactly.
It was fragile, like a single candle flickering against a storm.
For so long, he had lived under crushing loneliness—first in his own world, then while carrying Ukio's memories of despair.
Now, there was a faint warmth. A reason to keep walking.
Still, school was a battlefield.
The moment he stepped through the gates, he felt dozens of eyes on him.
Whispers followed him like shadows.
"Madaki's back again?"
"He really should've just stayed gone."
"Do you think he's going to cry again like last time?"
Akio kept his head down.
Ukio's body trembled from old fears, but Akio forced himself to keep moving.
He would not run this time.
The Sanctuary of Books
Classes were exhausting.
The teachers spoke quickly, their lessons filled with concepts Akio barely understood.
In his old world, his studies had been about magical theory and incantations.
Here, they talked about numbers, history, and science—strange terms that felt like another language.
When the final bell rang, Akio didn't rush home.
Instead, he wandered the hallways until he found himself standing before a pair of tall wooden doors.
The plaque above them read: Library.
He pushed the doors open.
The library was quiet and cool, filled with rows upon rows of books.
The smell of paper and ink wrapped around him like a familiar blanket.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Akio felt... safe.
Books had always been his refuge.
Even when everyone else had rejected him, the pages had never judged him.
In this place, he wasn't "talentless" or "weird."
He was just a kid who loved stories.
He wandered between the shelves, running his fingers along the spines of the books.
Most of the titles were unfamiliar, but the feeling was the same as in his old world: discovery, possibility.
An Unexpected Encounter
"Oi. You lost or something?"
The sudden voice made Akio jump.
He spun around to see a kid leaning casually against a nearby shelf.
He was tall, with messy dark hair and a confident, almost snorky smile.
His uniform jacket hung loosely from his shoulders, the top buttons undone.
A basketball rested under one arm.
Akio recognized him instantly—Ukio's memories filled in the details.
Yukiko Hazuna.
Captain of the school's basketball team.
Popular, loud, and completely out of Akio's league.
Akio immediately stiffened.
In his experience, kids like this were trouble.
The kind who led bullies, not stopped them.
"I... I was just looking," Akio said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.
Yukiko tilted his head.
"Looking? In a library? Well, you really are a mystery, Madaki."
The sound of his name on someone else's lips made Akio flinch.
Ukio's memories screamed warnings—avoid attention, avoid conflict.
"I didn't mean to bother anyone," Akio said quickly.
"I'll go."
But as he turned to leave, Yukiko's voice called after him.
"Hey, relax. I'm not here to mess with you. I just... don't usually see anyone in here after school, you know? Especially someone like you."
Akio froze.
"Someone like me?"
"Yeah." Yukiko grinned. "Quiet. Serious. You look like you've got a permanent raincloud over your head."
The comment stung, but there was no cruelty in Yukiko's tone.
It was... teasing. Lighthearted.
Still, Akio's walls went up immediately.
He didn't trust this. Couldn't trust it.
"I just... like books," he muttered.
"Books, huh?" Yukiko tossed the basketball lightly, catching it again.
"Figures. You don't seem like the type to run around a court sweating off."
Akio almost smiled despite himself. Almost.
An Awkward Start
Yukiko plopped down in one of the library chairs, spinning the basketball on his finger.
"So, what are you reading? Fantasy? Sci-fi? Something boring like math textbooks?"
Akio hesitated.
"...Stories. Old myths, mostly."
"Old myths, huh? Like gods and heroes?"
Akio nodded.
"Back in... where I grew up, myths were... important. They... felt real."
Yukiko's sharp eyes studied him for a moment, as if sensing there was more beneath the surface.
But instead of pressing, he just smirked.
"Cool. You'll have to tell me some of those stories sometime.
I bet you make a killer storyteller."
Akio's face heated.
No one had ever said something like that to him before.
Not in his old world.
Not here.
"...Maybe," he said softly.
Two Worlds Collide
Over the next hour, an odd rhythm formed.
Akio sat at a table, reading quietly.
Yukiko lounged nearby, tossing his basketball, cracking jokes, and occasionally asking questions.
At first, Akio answered in short, hesitant replies.
But slowly—so slowly he barely noticed—his words began to flow more easily.
Yukiko had a strange energy about him.
He was loud and teasing, yes, but never cruel.
Every joke was followed by a grin that said, I'm just messing with you. You're safe here.
When Yukiko accidentally knocked over a stack of books, he scrambled to pick them up, laughing at himself.
Akio found himself laughing too, a soft, startled sound that felt foreign on his lips.
For a moment, the crushing weight in his heart lifted.
The Shadow of Ukio's Past
As they packed up to leave, Yukiko slung his basketball bag over his shoulder.
"You know, you should come watch a practice sometime," he said casually.
"Basketball's way more fun than just sitting around with dusty old books."
Akio shook his head quickly.
"I... I'm not good at sports."
"Who cares if you're good? Just watching is fine."
Akio hesitated.
Ukio's memories bubbled up—memories of being shoved during gym class, mocked for his awkward movements, laughed at when he tripped.
The idea of stepping anywhere near a sports court made his stomach twist.
"I'll... think about it," he said finally.
Yukiko didn't push.
Instead, he gave a lopsided grin.
"Fair enough. Just don't disappear again, okay? It's nice having someone to talk to in this boring place."
The words hit Akio like a lightning bolt.
Nice.
Having someone to talk to.
Ukio had never been anyone's "nice thing."
And in his old world, Akio had been nothing but a burden.
"...Okay," he whispered. "I won't disappear."
The Test of Trust
The next day, Akio returned to the library.
To his surprise, Yukiko was already there, lounging with his feet up on a chair.
"Yo!" Yukiko greeted, waving.
"You actually came back. Guess I'm not as annoying as I thought."
Akio sat across from him, clutching a book like a shield.
"You... don't have to wait for me."
Yukiko snorted.
"Please. I've got plenty of friends. I just happen to like hanging out with you."
Akio blinked.
The casual declaration sent warmth flooding through him—and fear.
"Why?" he asked before he could stop himself.
Yukiko tilted his head.
"Why what?"
"Why... me?" Akio's voice shook.
"You're... popular. Everyone likes you.
I'm..." His throat closed around the words.
"I'm nobody."
For a moment, Yukiko was silent.
Then, surprisingly, he laughed—not cruelly, but softly.
"You really don't get it, huh?" he said.
"Being popular doesn't mean anything. Most people just like me because I'm good at basketball. They don't know me."
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
"But you... you're different. You don't care about all that surface crap.
When I talk to you, it feels... real."
Akio's vision blurred with tears he hadn't realized were forming.
No one had ever said something like that to him.
Not even in his dreams.
"...Thank you," he whispered, voice breaking.
A Friendship Forms
As the days passed, their routine deepened.
Yukiko teased and joked, trying to drag Akio out of his shell bit by bit.
Akio, in turn, shared fragments of himself—stories of myths and magic, carefully framed as "just stories."
Yukiko listened with genuine fascination, sometimes leaning forward like an excited child.
"You're like a walking fantasy novel," he said once, grinning.
"You've gotta write this stuff down someday."
Akio smiled, a small, fragile thing.
"Maybe I will."
The more time they spent together, the more Akio's heart began to heal.
The scars of Ukio's past didn't fade overnight, but for the first time, there was someone walking beside him.
The Closing Scene
One evening, as they left the library together, Yukiko tossed his basketball in the air and caught it with a flourish.
"Hey," he said casually, "next week we've got a big game. You should come watch.
It'd mean a lot to me."
Akio hesitated.
Crowds still terrified him.
But when he looked at Yukiko's hopeful grin, he found himself nodding.
"...I'll be there."
Yukiko's smile lit up like the sun.
"Awesome! Don't let me down, bookworm."
As they walked down the quiet street, Akio glanced at his friend beside him.
In another world, in another life, he had been utterly alone.
But here, with Yukiko, he had found something precious.
For the first time, the darkness inside him felt... bearable.
The episode ended on Akio's soft smile, the glow of streetlights reflecting in his tear-filled eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED...