The rooftop of Hoshikawa High School wasn't special.
Just gray concrete, metal fencing, and a few faded benches. But to Rin and Shizuku, it was
sacred ground.
It was where they laughed when no one else could hear. Where her condition didn't matter.
Where the wind made her hair dance like it had never been touched by sickness.
"Bento or bread today?" Rin asked as he pushed the heavy door open.
Shizuku sat cross-legged on a bench that faced Kanemachi's skyline—low apartments,
tangled streets, and far beyond, the quiet hills of Asahigaoka.
"Bento, of course," she said, smiling. "The ones you supervised your mom making."
Later, as they finished eating, she leaned her head against his shoulder. The bell below rang
faintly. They never listened to it.
"Being here makes me feel normal," she whispered.
"You are normal," Rin replied.
She gazed at the faint smoke drifting from a house chimney in the distance.
"But if I'm not here someday… promise me you'll keep coming. Keep this place warm."
He frowned. "Don't say that."
"I just want this rooftop to keep smiling. Even if I'm not part of it."
That day, Rin gave her a small mirror with a pressed cherry blossom inside—plucked from
the tree beside the Tsukiyama River trail they once walked.
"So you'll always have something that won't fade."
"You're the only boy who gives me flowers that don't die."