Therapy Room – Present Day
The Therapist's Office – Present Day
The leather couch groaned under Ren Kurosawa's weight as he shifted, fingers tapping a restless rhythm against his knee. The scent of chamomile tea and old books filled Dr. Saito's office, but all Ren could focus on was the clock's second hand stuttering forward—4:32 PM.
"You mentioned unresolved feelings from high school," Dr. Saito said, adjusting her glasses. "Three years is a long time to carry silence."
Ren's throat tightened. He opened his mouth—
The therapist's office was too warm. Ren's palms stuck to the leather couch as Dr. Saito waited, her pen hovering over her notepad.
"You said you wanted to discuss Alice," she prompted.
Ren reached into his bag. The notebook's cover was frayed at the edges, the spine cracked from being opened too many times. He slid it across the coffee table.
Page 1: A sketch of him sleeping in class, sunlight striping his back.
Page 12: His scowling profile as he fought with the vending machine.
Page 23: His rare, half-smile (when? He couldn't remember smiling).
Dr. Saito turned to the last page.
In smudged pencil:
"I leave tomorrow for Kyoto University.
I thought if I wrote it down, I could say it out loud.
But some silences are too heavy to break.
—A"
The clock ticked.
"Did you ever see her again?" Dr. Saito asked.
Ren's throat worked. Outside, a cherry blossom petal stuck to the window, trembling in the wind.
"No," he lied.
Narrator Cuts In:
But let's rewind to where it began. To the day the boy who built walls met the girl who lived in the sky.
(Cue record scratch transition.)
Three Years Earlier
First Year of High School
Scene 1: The First Encounter
Ren's morning routine never varied:
Leave house at 7:42 AM exactly
Noise-canceling headphones on
Eyes fixed on the pavement three feet ahead
Ren walked with noise-canceling headphones on, drowning out the world. His phone buzzed—Kaito's fifth text that morning:
Kaito: Dude, you're late AGAIN. Homeroom's starting.
Ren: On my way. (His entire response, as always.)
Cherry blossoms drifted onto the sidewalk like pink snow. Ren kept his eyes down—until a rogue gust of wind yanked his left earbud out. He fumbled for it, cursing—
—And when he looked up—
There she was.
First Sight of Alice (Through Ren's Eyes)
Alice Aisonoyoi stood frozen by the school gate, one hand clutching her ribbon as if it might fly away.
Eyes: Wide and startled—the color of green tea held up to sunlight
Mouth: A surprised "O" with a faint coffee stain on the lower lip
Hands: Ink-stained fingers clutching a sketchbook filled with constellations
Scent: Vanilla shampoo and the sharp tang of art gum erasers
Their eyes met.
Time stopped.
Ren's breath hitched. Alice's fingers twitched toward her skirt hem.
A beat. Two.
Then—
She looked away first, her cheeks blooming pink.
Ren shoved his earbud back in and shouldered past her without a word.
Narrator:
That was all. Not a single "Hi." Not a smile. Just silence.
But for Ren Kurosawa, who collected quiet like armor, that silence was the loudest sound he'd ever heard.
Ren slid into his seat just as the bell rang. Kaito kicked his chair.
"Who's the girl you nearly flattened outside?" Kaito smirked. "She looked like a startled rabbit."
"Didn't notice," Ren lied, but his traitorous gaze flicked to seat 14-C by the window, where Alice sat meticulously arranging her pencils. Sunlight turned her silver-brown hair translucent.
She didn't look at him.
(Good. That made it easier to pretend he didn't care.)
The Ritual Begins (Ren's Unhealthy Observations)
Over weeks, Ren catalogued Alice like a scientist studying a rare species:
12:17 PM: She always walked past the courtyard alone, hugging a book to her chest.
Fridays: Wore her hair in a braid that curled at the end like a question mark.
Nervous Tic: Tucked her left pinky finger under her thumb when called on in class.
Once, her ribbon came loose during a test. Ren's pencil snapped from gripping it too hard.
Today, she was sketching in the margins of her notebook. From three rows back, Ren could make out wings. Birds? Angels?
"Earth to Kurosawa." Kaito snapped his fingers. "Pop quiz. What's the capital of France?"
Ren kicked him under the desk.
At lunch, Ren pretended not to watch Alice slip into the library instead of the cafeteria. He pretended not to notice she always sat at the same table by the window. He especially pretended not to see the way sunlight caught in her hair like—
"Creep." Kaito stole his milk carton. "Just talk to her."
"I don't even know her."
"You know she takes her tea with three sugars. You know she hums when she reads. You—"
Ren threw his sandwich at Kaito's head.
Narrator:
This was their dance: Close enough to memorize. Far enough to deny.
Time to leave the school premises but,
Rain sheeted down after school. Ren lingered under the awning, watching Alice struggle with a broken umbrella.
"Need—" The word died in his throat as senior baseball star Takumi swooped in ("Here, let me!"), draping his jacket over Alice's shoulders.
Ren's stomach twisted. He'd never hated rain more.
Ren stood there until they disappeared around the corner, rainwater trickling down his neck.
Kaito, materializing like a demon: "Damn. Guess rabbits prefer jocks."
Ren threw his soda can at Kaito's head.
(It missed. On purpose.)
Ren stayed late to avoid the crowded halls. Alice's notebook sat abandoned on her desk.
He shouldn't.
He really shouldn't.
His fingers brushed the cover—
Page 1: A detailed sketch of their classroom—every student rendered except Ren.
Page 14: His profile in the library, sunlight catching his glasses.
Page 23: Their first collision, cherry blossoms frozen mid-fall.
"Looking for something?"
Ren whirled around. Alice stood in the doorway, her arms full of library books.
"You—" His voice cracked. "You forgot this."
She took it without touching his fingers. "Thanks."
They stood there in the empty classroom, the silence stretching taut between them.
Alice opened her mouth—
The janitor's cart rattled down the hall. The moment shattered.
She snatched the notebook and fled.
The classroom door slammed shut behind Alice, leaving Ren holding nothing but air where her sketchbook had been. His brain buffered like a frozen computer.
"Why did she run?
Was it something I said?
...I didn't even SAY anything.
Was it my face? Do I have resting 'I-stole-your-notebook' face?
Maybe she thinks I was snooping. Which I was. But not like, INTENTIONALLY snooping. More like... accidentally investigative.
...That's not better.
Did she see me looking at her drawings? The ones of... whatever they were of?
Wait.
What WERE those drawings?
I barely saw anything! Just some classroom sketches and—
Oh no.
What if they were private? What if she was drawing... I don't know, embarrassing fanart or something?
What if she was sketching MR. TAKEDA IN A SPEEDO—
No. No, Alice wouldn't—
...Would she?
Now I HAVE to know."
Across the room, Kaito lobbed a milk carton at Ren's head.
"Dude. You've been staring at that empty doorway for three minutes. You look like a abandoned golden retriever."
Ren slowly turned. "Kaito. Hypothetically. If someone snatched their notebook back from you—"
"You mean how you were totally creeping on Aisonoyoi's sketches?"
"I WASN'T—" Ren's voice cracked. "...Was I that obvious?"
Kaito grinned. "You had your nose two inches from the page. Real subtle."
Ren collapsed face-first onto his desk with a groan. Somewhere in the school, Alice Aisonoyoi was probably burning that notebook in a trash can.
And Ren?
Ren was going to drown himself in the water fountain.
This was fine. Everything was fine.
...He was definitely getting transferred to a different homeroom.