(The next morning, Ahmed and Misaki walked side by side toward the school as they usually did. The streets looked quiet, and a light breeze passed between the buildings as if accompanying their slow steps. A silence weighed down the air between them, a silence carrying the echoes of the previous night, and the words that were still stuck in their hearts.)
(Neither of them dared to break the silence first, but when they entered the crowded corridor of students, Ahmed noticed a group of his classmates talking enthusiastically about a new game. He paused briefly, then turned to Misaki as if his inner self was searching for an escape from their silence. He offered a faint smile and asked her in Japanese in a calm voice that carried a hint of hesitation:)
Ahmed: "Misaki-chan... Do you like video games?"
(Misaki hesitated for a moment before answering him, as if she was still walking between the boundaries of what happened yesterday and what was happening now. She lifted her gaze toward him, and her eyes held a mix of shyness and confusion, then she said in a low voice, almost a whisper:)
Misaki: "Sometimes... why do you ask?"
(Ahmed looked at her intently, as if searching her words for more than she had said, then he turned his face forward again. He didn't comment further, only maintaining the silence, leaving a space between them filled with two racing hearts that didn't yet know how to confront the truth hidden deep inside them.)