**[HIKARI]**
"…Kazuki…" I whispered. "What are you?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
They were barely more than breath, lost somewhere between fear and aching.
No answer came.
Just the sound of the city — sirens, car horns, the buzz of distant voices — but no Kazuki.
I pressed my forehead against my knees, squeezing my eyes shut.
*I don't understand. I don't understand. I don't—*
A shudder ran through me.
He wasn't lying.
He couldn't have made it up.
That man… he really died, exactly when Kazuki said he would.
*Eighty-five days left.*
The number burned itself into the back of my eyelids, branding me with a future I didn't want to face.
*Why me?*
I lifted my head slowly.
The world looked the same — people walking, laughing, living.
But to me, everything felt different now. Fragile. Like one wrong step would make it all come crashing down.
I wiped my face with my sleeve and stood up on trembling legs.
I didn't know where Kazuki was.
I didn't even know if he would want to see me after the way I ran.
But something inside me refused to let this be the end.
*You're scaring me.*
The words stabbed into my chest.
I hurt him.
Even after everything… I hurt him.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold the pieces together.
"Where would you go?" I murmured. "If you had no one?"
I thought back — to the way Kazuki always lingered near the empty stairwells at school.
The way he sat alone on the rooftop during lunch breaks, staring into nothing.
The way he always looked like he was *waiting* for something.
Or someone.
I pulled out my phone with shaking hands.
No new messages.
*Of course not.*
But I knew where he would be
The rooftop.
The one he always disappeared to.
Maybe… just maybe…
I started walking.
I didn't care that my legs felt numb, or that the city lights were starting to blur together.
I needed to find him.
I needed to hear it from him — the truth. The whole truth.
Even if it scared me.
Even if it shattered everything.
---
**[KAZUKI]**
I sat with my back against the wall just meters away from the door, head tilted up toward the stars I couldn't really see.
The city lights drowned them out.
Just like I was drowning.
*You're scaring me.*
Her voice kept replaying in my mind, over and over until I thought it might tear me apart.
I hugged my knees to my chest, pressing my forehead against them.
I should leave.
I should disappear before I hurt her more.
But I couldn't move.
Because deep down, a tiny part of me was still hoping.
Hoping she'd come.
Hoping she'd still want to understand, even after everything.
I laughed bitterly under my breath.
*Stupid. You're so stupid.*
No one could ever really understand.
Not when they saw the truth.
---
**[HIKARI]**
When I pushed open the rooftop door, the night air hit me like a wave.
Cold. Heavy. Real.
And there he was.
Sitting against the wall, small and alone, like a broken shadow against the world.
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
I wanted to run again.
I wanted to escape from all the things that were suffocating me.
But instead, I stepped forward.
Slowly. Carefully. Like approaching something wild and wounded.
"Kazuki," I whispered, my voice barely above a breath.
He didn't move.
Not until I knelt down a few feet away, my hands shaking as I clasped them in my lap.
Then, slowly, he lifted his head.
His eyes were red from crying.
And so full of something raw, something I couldn't even describe, it almost broke me in two.
He opened his mouth — then closed it again. He didn't know what to say. Neither did I.
My heart twisted with pain. I had no words. But then, the only thing that escaped my lips was the question that haunted me.
"…What are you?" I whispered again.
This time, he didn't flinch.
This time, he answered.
"I'm someone who can see... when people are going to die," he said. His voice was barely audible, shaky, like every word hurt him. "And you—"
He stopped, looking away, swallowing hard as if the very idea of finishing that sentence was too much to bear.
"You have 85 days left," he whispered, his voice cracking like something inside him was breaking.
I felt the tears start to well up in my eyes, blurring my vision. I didn't know if it was from fear or from the way he said it — like he was already mourning me, like he was *losing* me before he even had the chance to save me.
I wanted to speak. To say something. But all I could manage was a broken whisper:
"And you told me… because you wanted to save me?"
Kazuki nodded. It was slow, painful. Like the weight of that hope was too much for him.
His eyes were full of regret — a regret that cut deeper than any wound. It wasn't just the weight of the truth that haunted him, it was the weight of *me*.
I felt it then, the sharp ache of all the things I had done wrong. All the things I had let slip away.
Tears blurred my vision, and this time, I didn't hold them back.
Without thinking, without even knowing what I was doing, I crawled toward him.
And I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close.
Kazuki froze, his body stiff under my touch. I could feel the sharpness of his breath, the tension in his muscles. He was *afraid* to hold me back. Afraid to hurt me even more.
"I'm sorry," I sobbed, the words tumbling out in a rush, choked with guilt. "I'm so sorry… I ran away. I… I ran from you. From someone who was only trying to save me."
My whole body shook with the force of my sobs, my hands clutching him like I was afraid he'd disappear if I let go.
"I was scared," I whispered between ragged breaths. "I didn't know what to do. But I'm so sorry… for hurting you. For running away. You didn't deserve that."
Kazuki's arms were still at his sides, and for a moment, I thought he wasn't going to respond at all. But then, slowly, *so slowly*, I felt his arms lift. Tentatively. Like he was afraid I might break if he touched me too hard.
And then, he held me.
He held me like I was the only thing that mattered. Like I was the last person in the world. His arms tightened around me, pulling me close, pressing me against him as though he was afraid I'd slip away.
I buried my face in his shoulder, letting the tears come freely now.
"I'm scared, Kazuki," I whispered. "I'm scared of everything. But I don't want to be alone. Please, don't leave me."
His body shook with silent sobs, the weight of it pressing into me as I clung to him, my heart breaking over the fragile bond we had.
"I won't leave you," he finally said, his voice barely a whisper, but it was enough. "I'll never leave you."
For a long time, we stayed like that.
Two broken people holding onto each other in the dark, trembling with all the unspoken fears and regrets we couldn't face.
I didn't know what tomorrow would bring.
I didn't know if I would live to see the end of those 85 days.
But right now, in this moment —
I chose to believe.
In him.
In us.
In whatever future we could still find together.