He didn't know how long he had been sketching. Only that the page—once so stubbornly blank—was now alive.
Arie-chan's eyes stared back at him from the page. Not perfectly. Not with detail. But with something better—energy. She was smiling in the drawing, just like she had before she walked away. Not the kind of smile for pictures. The kind you only give someone when you're really there.
He traced the lines one more time and closed his sketchbook like it was something fragile.
The sky outside the café had turned cloudy. The usual buzz of Yoyogi was fading into a soft drizzle, and the city lights were starting to flicker awake.
He had nowhere to be, and his hand still felt warm from drawing her.
So he went walking.
---
Shibuya always looked different in the rain.
Neon lights ran like watercolor through the reflections. Umbrellas bobbed like jellyfish in the crowd. Music leaked from shopfronts, layered with the sound of traffic and the soft, wet rhythm of footsteps.
Leo stood at the edge of Shibuya Crossing, watching the city move like a living thing. The rain blurred everything. But even in all that movement, his eyes found her.
Arie-chan.
Same hoodie. Same black umbrella. Standing across the intersection, staring up at the screen above the station like it was telling her something important.
He stepped into the crosswalk without thinking.
"Arie-chan!"
She turned—first startled, then smiling.
"Leo?" she called back. "Again?"
They met in the middle of the street as the crowd streamed around them.
"I didn't know you liked the rain," she said, adjusting her umbrella to cover him too.
"I didn't know you haunted street corners."
She laughed, brushing wet hair from her cheek. "I don't. I just like walking when the world slows down."
They moved together through the crowd, the umbrella holding them close. The rain was steady, but neither of them cared.
"You seem different now," she said after a while.
Leo glanced sideways at her. "I drew."
Her eyes lit up. "You did?"
He nodded. "You were right. I was waiting for something real."
She looked away for a moment, her smile fading just slightly. "You shouldn't draw people who don't plan to stay."
Leo stopped. "Are you saying you're going somewhere?"
Arie-chan's voice was soft. "I'm just... not great at staying in one place. Or in one heart."
For a second, the city around them vanished. It was just her eyes and the things she wasn't saying.
He reached into his bag and pulled out his sketchbook.
She looked at the page.
It was her—quiet, mid-laugh, head tilted slightly, like she was listening to something only she could hear.
She held the sketch carefully, as if afraid it might disappear.
"It's not finished," Leo said.
Arie-chan didn't look away. "That's okay."
There was a silence between them, not awkward—just fragile.
Then she smiled again and handed the book back. "I look happier than I remember."
"Maybe that's how I see you," Leo replied.
They walked on in silence, past glowing signs and puddles filled with light.
And in the middle of Tokyo, with the whole world rushing by, Leo realized something:
He wasn't drawing her just to remember her.
He was drawing her so he wouldn't forget how she made him feel.
- Written by H1M