11:47 PM – Ren's Bedroom
The glow of Ren's monitor cut through the dark, painting his room in harsh blue light. On-screen, his avatar crouched behind virtual rubble, sniper rifle trained on the horizon. Discord static crackled in his headphones as Kaito's voice blared:
"Dude, MOVE! You're gonna get—"
BOOM.
Ren's screen flashed red. "YOU DIED" glared back at him.
"...Flanked," Kaito finished lamely. "Again."
Ren slumped in his chair, rubbing his eyes. "Whatever. New round."
"Hold up." Kaito's avatar spun in circles, a pixelated menace. "We need to talk about your real skill issue."
Ren froze. He knew where this was going.
"So," Kaito drawled, "when're you gonna talk to her? At this rate, you'll graduate still pretending you don't know her shoe size."
Ren's grip tightened on his mouse. "Not now."
"Oh, it's always 'not now.' You've been 'not now'-ing for a year!"
Silence. The game's lobby music trilled cheerfully, mocking Ren's mood.
Ren's Internal Monologue:
She deserves better. Someone like Takumi—bright, popular, normal. Not… this.
(A flicker of memory: A girl's laughter, a slammed door, the smell of rain. He shoved it down.)
"It's better this way," Ren muttered. "Admiring from a distance… it's safer."
Kaito snorted. "Safer? Dude, you're not defusing a bomb. You're crushing on a girl who draws you. That's like, soulmate-level creepy."
Ren's jaw clenched. "You don't get it."
"Enlighten me!" Kaito's avatar karate-kicked a rock. "Why's it 'safer' to play stalker than just talk to her?"
"Because I'll ruin it!" The words tore out of Ren. "Because every time I try—"
He cut himself off. Too much.
Kaito paused. "...Every time?"
Ren's throat burned. "Forget it."
"No, no. You don't get to 'forget it.'" Kaito's voice sharpened. "This isn't just about Alice, is it?"
Memory Fragment:
A rainy night. A text: "Let's just be friends." A phone hurled against a wall. The crack of breaking glass.
Ren's voice turned hollow. "Rejection's rejection. You move on. That's what you do, right?"
"Don't pull that edgy crap with me," Kaito snapped. "You're not protecting her. You're protecting you."
Ren's cursor hovered over the "Exit Game" button. "You think I don't know that?"
Silence.
"...Ren."
"I tried once. Okay?" The admission tasted like ash. "Not with her. Before. And it… changed things."
Kaito's avatar stopped moving. "How?"
"It just did." Ren's chest ached. "Dreams and reality don't mix. I learned that."
"So you're just gonna give up?"
"I'm gonna survive." Ren closed his eyes. "Some of us don't get happy endings, Kaito."
For once, Kaito had no joke.
"...Alright." A sigh. "But for the record? This is bullshit."
Ren almost smiled. "Noted."
"And bedtime. We've got school tomorrow."
"Since when do you care about curfew?"
"Since your moping's making me lose rank." Kaito's avatar moonwalked off-screen. "Night, Romeo."
Click.
The discord call died.
Ren stared at his darkened monitor. His reflection stared back—a boy with shadows under his eyes and a white-knuckled grip on a mouse.
The glow of Ren's phone screen cut through the darkness as he tossed it onto his nightstand. The argument with Kaito still echoed in his skull, each word a dull ache behind his ribs.
"Some of us don't get happy endings."
Pathetic. Even he cringed at how dramatic it sounded.
Ren flopped onto his back, staring at the ceiling. The fan spun lazily, casting shifting shadows like the silhouette of a girl with silver-brown hair—
No.
He squeezed his eyes shut.
"It's better this way."
The mattress creaked as Ren turned onto his side, facing the wall. Outside, a car alarm wailed, then cut off abruptly. Silence settled heavier than before.
His phone buzzed.
Kaito:
stop overthinking. go the fuck to sleep.
Ren didn't reply.
He counted the cracks in his ceiling instead.
One. Two. Three.
Four.
At some point, the fan's hum blurred into white noise. The shadows stretched longer. Dawn crept in, pale and indifferent.
Ren didn't sleep.
6:03 AM – Ren's Bedroom
Ren lay motionless, his ceiling fan creaking like a metronome counting his regrets. His phone buzzed—a meme from Kaito featuring a crying anime girl captioned "When Your Crush Finds Your Search History." He tossed it aside.
Ren's Mom (from downstairs, voice booming):
"Ren! Breakfast! And if I see that stupid gamer shirt again, I'm burning it!"
Ren glanced at his "I Paused My Game to Be Here" tee. "It's a personality!"
Aimi (Ren's 10-year-old sister, barging in):
"Mom says you're a lost cause."
"Get out."
"Make me." She threw a plushie at his head. "Also, your breath stinks."
6:30 AM – Kurosawa Kitchen
Ren's mom slammed down a plate of charcoal-like pancakes. "Eat. You look like a zombie extra from The Walking Dead."
"Did you try to burn these?"
"I innovated." She sipped her coffee. "Kaito's mom says he's joining the chess club. Chess. You know, the game with strategy?"
"Kaito thinks checkers is brain surgery."
"At least he socializes."
Aimi dumped syrup on her pancakes. *"Ren's idea of socializing is yelling at 12-year-olds online."*
*"They're toxic 12-year-olds."*
Dad (from behind a newspaper):
"Son, you need a hobby that doesn't involve respawn timers."
"I have hobbies!"
"Brooding isn't a hobby," Aimi said.
6:45 AM – Aisonoyoi Residence
Alice's morning spiraled when her cat, Mochi, barfed on her math homework.
Alice (panicking): "MOM! MOCHI DID IT AGAIN!"
Alice's Mom (casually flipping pancakes):
"Use it as a metaphor. Life is barf on homework."
Haru (Alice's 8-year-old brother):
"I drew a dinosaur in your sketchbook!"
Alice gasped. "WHAT?!"
Haru proudly held up a page: a T-Rex labeled "ALICE'S BOYFRIEND."
Alice's Dad (sipping tea):
"He's got nice teeth."
"I'm disowning all of you!"
7:15 AM – Separate Universes
Ren's Route (Industrial Side):
Sights: Graffiti-covered vending machines, salarymen sprinting for trains, a stray dog wearing a sweater.
Sounds: Construction drills, Kaito's voicemail: "Dude, your shirt's a war crime."
Thoughts: "Why'd she run? Was it the notebook? Or… me? Stop. Thinking. Stop."
Alice's Route (Quiet Suburb):
Sights: Elderly couples gardening, kids chasing bubbles, a bakery with "Yesterday's Muffins: 50% Off Regret!"
Sounds: Wind chimes, Yumi's texts: "HE'S WEARING THE SHIRT. CODE BLACK."
Thoughts: "What if he thinks I'm a stalker? What if he likes stalkers? What if—"
Narrator's Note:
Two orbits. One solar system. Zero collisions.
7:45 AM – School Entrance
Ren's Side (Otaku Meltdown):
Hiroshi cornered Ren with a Dragon Maid Yui figurine.
"Ren! They gave her bunny ears in the new DLC! Bunny ears!"
Kaito (eating a donut):
"Dude, that's a crime against humanity."
Hiroshi (sobbing):
"It's art! Look at the texture on her tail!"
Ren adjusted his glasses. "The shading's off. Manga Volume 12, page 45—"
Kaito: "Nerd."
Alice's Side (Friend Interrogation):
Yumi squinted at Alice. "You've redrawn that one page 10 times. What's so special about his ear?"
"It's… anatomy practice!"
"You drew his eyelashes numbered. Why?"
"Shading… techniques?"
Haruko (Alice's other friend):
"Face it. You've got it bad."
8:00 AM – Classroom 2-B
Ren's Desk:
Doodled a pixel-art spaceship.
Ignored Kaito flicking eraser bits at him.
Almost glanced at Seat 14-C. Almost.
Alice's Desk:
Sketched Ren's hands (again).
Ignored Yumi's exaggerated eyebrow wiggles.
Almost glanced at Seat 7-B. Almost.
Teacher (droning):
"The Edo period was marked by isolation—"
Kaito (whispering):
"Just like someone's love life."
8:30 AM – Homeroom
Ms. Tanaka, their literature teacher, slammed a stack of papers onto her desk. "Today, we're analyzing The Tale of Genji! Open your textbooks to Chapter 5. And no—this isn't optional, Hiroshi."
Hiroshi (whispering): "But Genji is just ancient fanfiction!"
Kaito (snickering): "Says the guy with a body pillow."
Ren slouched at his desk, doodling pixel-art spaceships in the margins of his notebook. Across the room, Alice hunched over her sketchbook, her pencil hovering nervously over a half-finished sketch of Ren's hands.
Ms. Tanaka (pointing): "Kurosawa! Read Genji's letter to Lady Murasaki. Page 72."
Ren froze. "Uh… which part?"
"All of it."
The Passage:
"Though the world may judge our silence, my heart speaks in brushstrokes unseen…"
Ren's voice flattened into a monotone. "Though the world… uh… judges our… silence… my heart… speaks in… brushstrokes…"
Alice's Internal Monologue:
Brushstrokes. Like sketches. Oh God. Does he know?
Her pencil snapped.
Yumi (whispering): "You okay?"
"Fine! Just… allergies."
Ms. Tanaka (ignoring the chaos): "Aisonoyoi! You're next. Read Murasaki's reply."
Alice's throat closed. "Page… 73?"
"Yes. With feeling."
The Passage:
"Your words are sakura petals—beautiful, fleeting, and lost to the wind before I can grasp them."
Alice's voice trembled. "Your words… are… sakura petals…"
Ren's Internal Monologue:
Sakura petals. Like the ones that fell when we…
He glanced up.
Their eyes met.
Ms. Tanaka (clapping): "Symbolism! Genji's love is unspoken! Anyone care to analyze?"
Hiroshi (raising hand): "Genji's a player. He's got *13* wives. Murasaki should've ghosted him."
The class erupted.
Kaito (to Ren): "Genji's you. Silent and disastrous."
Ren kicked his chair.
The bell rang. Ren stared at his desk. Alice stared at hers.
Ren's Brain:
"Don't look. Don't look. Don't—"
Alice's Brain:
"Act natural. Drops pencil"
They bent to grab it—
—but Ren's pencil rolled left. Alice's rolled right.
Narrator:
Some silences are galaxies. Others? Just two idiots afraid to glance up.
8:45 PM – Aisonoyoi Residence
Haru sat cross-legged on his bedroom floor, a devilish grin splitting his face. In one hand, he clutched Alice's sketchbook. In the other, a stamped envelope addressed to *"Ren Kurosawa – 3-5-1 Sakura Apartments."*
Haru's Whisper:
"This'll teach her to hide my Switch."
He stuffed the sketchbook inside, sealed it with a smack, and tiptoed to the mailbox. The envelope slid in with a fateful click.
Cut To:
Alice, oblivious, lay in bed staring at her ceiling. Mochi purred beside her.
Narrator's Closing:
Some silences are about to shatter.
And all it takes is one little brother with a grudge.