From heartbreak, something stronger begins to stir.
The days after the writing assignment felt different. Not easier—just lighter. Like I'd finally stopped dragging the past behind me. My footsteps felt more grounded now, like I was moving forward instead of wandering through shadows.
Ruri and I began sitting together more often. We didn't always talk, and we didn't need to. Sometimes, she'd sketch while I scribbled in my journal, our silence a safe place instead of a void. We were two pieces reshaped by the same storm, slowly figuring out who we were without the lies we once trusted.
In class, Anna still laughed too loudly sometimes. Yamada still had that charm he wielded like a mask. But the way people looked at them had changed. Whispers had turned sharper. The weight of the truth we had chosen to carry was beginning to ripple.
One morning, Ms. Reika stopped by my desk after class.
"Hamazaki-kun," she said, her tone kind but firm. "Your writing last week… it was powerful. Too powerful to ignore. Have you thought about joining the student newsletter club? We could use a voice like yours."
I blinked. "You… liked it?"
She smiled. "I didn't just like it. I believed it. That's what makes a real writer."
I hadn't thought of myself as one before. But maybe it was time to see who I could become—not who I had been.
Later that day, Ruri and I stayed behind in class. She was sketching something new—more personal.
"Ruri," I said. "Can I ask you something a little weird?"
She didn't look up. "Sure."
"What if we made something together? A story. You draw, I write."
She glanced up, eyes gleaming for a moment before she covered it with a half-smile. "We'd be the loner duo creating something the world didn't ask for?"
"Yeah," I said. "But maybe it's exactly what someone else out there needs."
She closed her notebook. "I'm in."
And just like that, without fanfare, we began—not as a couple, not as some forced friendship, but as creators. As survivors. As truth tellers.
This was no longer just about what we'd lost.
It was about everything we were about to build.