Interlude
In the quiet living room of a certain detached house.
A girl sat gazing fondly down at the sleeping face of her lover.
His steady, rhythmic breathing. The gentle rise and fall of his chest.
Unmistakable proof that he was alive and right here beside her.
“...Iori.”
Softly, she whispered the boy's name—a name more precious to her than any other in the world.
Ever since they were small children, he alone had been her one and only.
“—So Asahi dragged me all the way to the station mall after school... and somehow goaded me into playing the public piano right in the middle of the plaza.”
He had grumbled the story with an exasperated sigh when he got home, yet there had been a refreshingly clear, unburdened look in his eyes as he spoke.
As the boy slept soundly with his head resting on her lap, the girl gently stroked his hair.
On his sleeping face lingered a faint trace of pleasant fatigue—and a quiet, newfound brightness.
“...”
Pausing the hand that was stroking his hair, the girl picked up a small, folded slip of paper beside her.
She had found it tucked neatly inside the pocket of the boy's school blazer.
Written across the paper in cute, rounded lettering was a stranger's contact ID.
Without a change in expression, she folded the slip of paper back up along its original creases and slipped it neatly back into his blazer pocket.
...Bzzzz.
Just then, a smartphone resting on the low table vibrated softly.
It wasn't the girl's phone, but his. Picking it up, she glanced at the single name illuminated on the lock screen.
Kashiwagi Kotoha.
For a long, silent moment, the girl stared down at that name before gently setting the phone back onto the table.
Once more, her slender fingers resumed stroking the sleeping boy's hair.
In a house with no one else around. Just the two of them, completely alone.
“—”
The girl's lips moved in a faint, soundless whisper that never reached the sleeping boy's ears.
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