—Naoaki's POV—
Time felt slower after we confessed.
Like the world was giving us a moment to breathe.
To exist.
To hold hands in quiet alleyways and sneak glances during class.
To be boys in love.
But somewhere in my chest, something kept trembling.
A fear I couldn't name.
A shadow in the shape of "what if."
"What if this is the last time we get to do this?"
"What if fate takes him away again?"
"What if I forget again?"
I didn't tell Ren that.
Because for once in my life, I didn't want to ruin something by fearing it.
We started doing the small things.
He started walking me home every evening.
He met my younger sister and helped her with her homework.
I baked him horrible chocolate cookies, and he still ate them like they were divine.
We watched bad dramas under the kotatsu.
We talked about colleges we might go to.
We argued about who would do the laundry if we ever moved in together.
We lived.
Really lived.
And I felt something growing inside me—not the heavy kind of love that clings to past lives, but the simple, light kind that says:
"I want you in my future."
One afternoon, we sat at a bench overlooking the river.
"I don't think I'll be reborn again," I said, suddenly.
Ren turned, brows drawn. "What?"
"I don't want to," I admitted. "Not if it means risking losing you again. If this is our last life—if we only get this—I want it to be enough."
He looked away, biting his bottom lip, hands trembling just slightly.
"Then let's make it enough," he said. "Let's make it so good that no other life would ever compare."
Later that night, he kissed me like a promise.
And for the first time,
I wasn't scared of forgetting.
Because even if we faded into nothing after this life,
I knew—
We had lived.