The bell above the door had long stopped ringing, but its faint echo lingered in Min's chest. Kei stood behind the counter, still and quiet, as if rooted there.
Min shifted uneasily. "Kei…"
Kei didn't answer. His silver hair fell slightly forward, shadowing his expression. The usual calm that wrapped around him like a second skin was cracking, and Min could see it—tiny fractures in the way his shoulders stiffened, in the tremor of his fingers.
Min walked closer, careful not to make too much noise. "You don't have to pretend with me, you know."
That made Kei's head lift just a little. His eyes flicked to Min, unreadable but softening just slightly at the edges. "I'm not pretending," he said, though the lie was thin as paper.
Min leaned against the counter beside him. The silence between them was heavy but not suffocating—it was… warm, like quiet rain after a thunderstorm.
"Who was he?" Min finally asked, voice low. "Riku."
Kei's hand clenched the edge of the counter. "Someone I should have left behind a long time ago."
There was a weight in those words that made Min's chest tighten.
Kei let out a breath—half sigh, half laugh. "It's strange. I thought I'd buried all of that. But the moment I saw him… everything came back."
"Pain has a way of remembering us," Min murmured without really thinking.
Kei's eyes flicked to him again, and for a brief second, the wall around him wavered.
Min smiled faintly, not forcing anything, just being there. "You don't have to tell me everything right now. But you don't have to carry it alone either."
Something in Kei's chest stuttered at that. No one had ever said it to him like that—not gently, not without expecting something in return.
His fingers brushed against Min's, just barely. It was the softest touch, unplanned, hesitant. But Min didn't move away.
The world outside was noisy—the wind, the city—but here, in this tiny shared moment, it felt quiet. Safe.
Kei finally whispered, "Thank you, Min."
Min looked at him and smiled. "Anytime."
And though the past still loomed like a shadow, for the first time since Riku walked in… Kei didn't feel alone in facing it.
To be continued....