The alley was quiet now—too quiet. Ryujin led the way through the narrow exit, his steps confident, almost lazy, as if the chase earlier had been nothing more than a mild inconvenience. Kira walked beside him, her heart still pounding against her ribs, the adrenaline of the night's events slowly fading from her bloodstream. Renn trailed behind, huffing and rubbing his shoulder, his face twisted in a grimace of pain and exhaustion.
To break the tension, Ryujin glanced sideways at Kira with a smirk.
"I didn't know, Kira... you're into young boys?" His voice carried that familiar teasing lilt that had always made her blood boil.
Kira stopped mid-step, eyes wide with indignation, a flicker of their childhood rivalry igniting in her chest. "Ha?! Nani itten no?! (What the hell are you saying?!)" Her voice cracked slightly, betraying her flustered state.
Ryujin chuckled and jabbed a thumb toward Renn. "You didn't accept me because you already had him, huh?"
"WHAT?!" Kira's face turned red. "Oi! Stop joking around!"
But Ryujin wasn't done. "Makes sense now. You rejected me… because you had your lover right here." There was something beneath his teasing—a flicker of genuine curiosity, perhaps even a hint of jealousy that darkened his eyes for just a moment.
Kira's face flushed deeper, heat crawling up her neck to her cheeks. A storm of emotions raged inside her—embarrassment, frustration, and something deeper she couldn't name. "He's my m—"
She froze mid-word, panic seizing her throat.
Ryujin narrowed his eyes. "Your what? M…?"
Renn, catching on instantly, threw a dramatic arm around Kira's shoulder. "Her morning breakfast partner! Haha!"
Ryujin blinked. "...What the hell is that?"
Kira rolled her eyes, trying to act casual. "We just eat breakfast together. Same café. Every day."
Ryujin stared at them for a long second, then shrugged. "Sou ka... (I see...)"
But in his mind, he sighed. "Yare yare… I'm stuck with some idiots, I think." A familiar ache settled in his chest—one he'd carried for fifteen years, one he'd learned to ignore but never truly forget.
Just then, the alley opened up. They'd reached the edge of the street. The moonlight poured down, casting everything in silver.
Ryujin turned toward them. "Well... both of you get home safely.
Ja ne. (See you.)"
"Arigatou, Ryujin," Kira said, bowing slightly.
As he disappeared down the street, Kira and Renn resumed walking. Renn glanced sideways, clearly holding in a question.
Kira sighed. "You want to ask something, don't you?"
His eyes lit up. "Who was that hot guy? Are you dating him?"
Kira nearly tripped, her stomach dropping as if she'd stepped off a cliff. "No! No! I'm not! He's just… a friend." The words felt hollow in her mouth, like she was reading from a script written long ago.
Renn raised an eyebrow, his gaze knowing. "Just a friend?"
That phrase hit Kira hard, piercing through her defenses like an arrow finding its mark. Three simple words that unlocked a door she had kept closed for years.
The world around her faded, her vision blurring at the edges. The city sounds dimmed as memories surfaced—soft, sunlit fragments from long ago that washed over her with such intensity that she could almost feel the summer heat on her skin again.
---
Flashback: Kindergarten – Playground
A six-year-old Kira with short blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes giggled as she crouched beneath the slide. Her tiny hands clutched the support beams. She thought she'd won the game of hide and seek.
Until—
"Kira!! Found you!"
"Aaahh!! Ryujin!!" she jumped as the boy leapt in front of her.
Ryujin grinned, triumphant, his eyes sparkling with mischief and childish delight. "Crybaby! Crybaby!" His voice rang with the pure, uncomplicated joy of victory.
Kira puffed her cheeks in frustration, her small hands balling into fists at her sides. Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes—not from sadness but from that peculiar mix of embarrassment and anger that only he could provoke. "Why do you always tease me?!" Her voice wavered with emotion.
"Because you're my girlfriend!" he declared with all the innocent confidence of a child who believed he could claim the moon if he simply reached for it.
"I'M NOT!! You're just a friend, you baka! (idiot!)" The words burst from her like a thunderclap, her face burning with indignation.
Ryujin only laughed harder, brushing dirt off his shorts. He loved teasing her—because to him, she was special. And he wanted her to belong to no one but him.
---
Flashback: Yukimura Household – Evening
"Mama!" little Kira huffed, stomping into the room. Her mother sat on the bed near the window, warm air drifting in with the breeze.
"Do you know what Ryujin did today?! He teased me again because I lost hide and seek!"
Her mother smiled gently. "Asobi da mon ne. (It's just a game.) It doesn't matter who wins, sweetheart."
"But he always teases me!"
Her mother gave a soft laugh. "Maybe he likes you?"
Kira threw her hands up. "I don't like him! He's just a friend!"
Her mother tilted her head. "And why a friend?"
Kira pouted. "Because a friend can tease me. I think..."
Her mother laughed softly again.
"Mama," Kira whispered, "how can I win against him?"
After a pause, her mother leaned close, and with a glimmer in her eyes, she whispered:
"If you want to win… just say—"
---
Flash to 1 year later - Baseball Field
CRACK!
The bat connected with the ball, and Ryujin glanced up at the sky. "Looks like it's gonna rain…"
Suddenly—
"Ryujin!! Ryujin!!" a boy came running. "Kira's leaving! She's leaving her home!"
Ryujin's heart dropped. He dashed off.
---
Flashback: Yukimura Mansion – Driveway
The rain poured down in heavy sheets, each droplet carrying the weight of goodbye. Kira stood beside a black car, luggage packed, her small body rigid with the effort of holding back tears. Her trembling hand rested on the door handle, her heart a thunderstorm to match the sky.
"KIRAA!!!"
The desperate cry cut through the downpour. She turned, startled, her breath catching in her throat.
Ryujin stood there, soaked to the bone, his chest heaving. Rain and tears mingled on his face, his usually confident posture now bent forward like he'd been running with everything he had. His eyes, wide and pleading, held a fear she'd never seen in them before—the fear of losing something irreplaceable.
Kira's lips trembled, a lump forming in her throat that threatened to choke her. Her vision blurred with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. In that moment, she felt something shift inside her—the first bloom of a strength she didn't know she possessed. She remembered what her mother told her, the words echoing in her mind like a lifeline.
With all the strength she could gather, her small voice rising above the storm with surprising power, she shouted—
"RYUJIN!! Next time also, I'll win!!"
Because she never lose from that day.
Back in her mother's room, a memory echoed.
"Mama… how will that help me win?"
Her mother had smiled. "Because, sweetheart… it'll give you confidence. And confidence wins over everything."
---
Kira was about to climb in the car when Ryujin shouted again:
"Me too, Kira!! Next time, I'll win!!" His voice cracked with emotion, the childish promise somehow heavier than the rain itself—a vow, an anchor, a thread that would stretch but never break.
She smiled through her tears, a genuine smile that lit her eyes even as her heart was breaking. She raised her hand in a wave that felt like both a goodbye and a promise to return. Then she turned and climbed into the car, leaving behind a piece of herself that would wait, unchanged, for fifteen years.
---
Back to Present: Kira's Apartment
Kira blinked as Renn waved his hand in front of her face. "Heey! Earth to Kira! We reached your apartment."
"A-ah… yeah." She shook herself from the memory. "You're right."
"Well then… good night, Kira!"
"Good night, Renn. Get home safe."
She watched him walk away, his figure growing smaller in the distance. A strange emptiness and fullness battled in her chest—the weight of the past and the uncertainty of the future. She turned her gaze to the sky, where stars peeked through the city's glow, eternal witnesses to promises made and kept.
"I think it's been… fifteen years since then." Her whisper was carried away by the night breeze, but the words settled into her heart with a finality that felt like coming home. Fifteen years of growing, changing, becoming—and yet that promise remained, suspended in time, waiting to be fulfilled.
---