📘 Between Two Heartbeats
Chapter 1: Something I Forgot 🌸
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Spring had a way of making the sky look softer.
Or maybe that was just my headphones playing the same lo-fi loop I always forgot I liked.
I rested my head against the window and stared outside. The sakura were falling, just like every other year.
Everything was the same. The wind. The classroom. My empty desk beside the wall.
But the strange thing was — even though I'd done this before, it all felt like the first time again.
I guess that's the kind of person I am.
I forget things.
Even the good ones.
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Homeroom started like usual. The teacher gave a sleepy greeting, scribbled something half-readable on the board, then paused.
> "Oh — we have a transfer student today. Come in."
I didn't lift my head at first. I figured it'd just be another new face to forget.
But then—
a voice.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Nishimiya Shizuka!"
That name—
that voice.
I turned without meaning to.
There she stood, smiling way too brightly for this dusty old classroom, waving like we'd known each other for years.
And maybe we had.
> "Naji-kun!" she said, walking straight toward me. "Wow, you really haven't changed!"
Everyone stared. My mouth didn't work.
She sat down next to me like it was her rightful seat. Like she'd been there all along.
> "Still always looking out the window, huh?"
"Still wearing those same headphones?"
Her words were warm. Familiar. Like echoes from somewhere I couldn't quite reach.
But I just blinked.
> "Do I... know you?"
She puffed her cheeks and leaned in, whispering so only I could hear:
> "You said you'd forget me one day.
But that I should remind you anyway."
I felt my heart skip — just once.
> "I did?"
"You did," she smiled.
I laughed nervously and looked away. My headphones slid around my neck.
Maybe this spring wasn't the same after all.
Maybe…
something was coming back to me.
Even if I didn't remember her —
She remembered me.
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[To Be Continued
"Thank you for reading Chapter 1! More emotions and romance coming soon!"