"Young, what're you doing here?" Rush asked as she slowly approached her.
"Hi… sorry for the intrusion, Sky…" Young replied, lowering her head, and her fingers fiddling.
"It's fine, Young," Rush said gently. "Is there anything you want to talk about?"
Young nodded and gestured for Rush to follow. Without another word, they began walking side by side down the corridor.
Young wore her usual smile, except it wasn't bright. It was the same practiced curve she used whenever she didn't want anyone to see her crumble.
Rush noticed.
She knew, given that she had done the same prior.
But she didn't say anything.
Young clearly wasn't in her best state, not when someone had faced such a traumatic breakdown.
And sometimes… silence was kinder than truth...
After a few moments of quiet stride...
"So…?" Rush finally broke the silence, turning toward Young as they continued walking side by side.
Young lowered her head again.
Then suddenly, she revved her legs and hollered, "Come on, Sky! I got something to show you!"
Without a moment to spare a thought, Young dashed forward.
"Wait, Young!" Rush called out, immediately chasing after her.
They sprinted through the corridor, through a flight of stairs, then up another—until they reached the rooftop again, the same place as before.
Upon arrival, Young bent forward, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. Meanwhile, Rush, too, stepped out from the door a moment later—as she did before, barely winded.
Young staggered toward the fence surrounding the rooftop and leaned against it. She turned her head slightly.
"Look, Sky… Look at Lin… Look at her…"
Rush stepped beside her and gazed down at the school track below.
There she saw Lidden running laps, focused, determined.
Then, on the bench nearby sat Urara—already slumped, likely having exhausted herself earlier.
"Can you see…? About Lin..." Young asked softly.
"Wh— what?" Rush blinked, then focused harder, "She… looks fine?"
"Yes… she probably is… but her burst, her posture, her stance—it's all over the place…" Young pointed out.
"Look at her feet. She barely propels herself forward, like she's skipping steps. She's landing on her heels, not the balls of her feet. Her form is too straight—you need to lean at a forty-five-degree angle, never upright. And her shoulders are loose."
Young narrowed her eyes.
"Then there's her burst. She keeps accelerating without preserving stamina. She's exhausting herself before she can even last."
Rush leaned closer, "I guess..." studying Lidden more carefully.
"She's dodging my teaching," Young muttered. "And here I thought she could manage herself. We always trained during recess. 'To test my theory,' I said…"
Her voice trembled.
"But why? Why isn't she doing it the way I wanted? Why is she throwing it away…?"
Rush was startled, hesitating at Young's comments.
"Could it be… she's rebelling against you?" she finally answered quietly. "Maybe she really did hate your guts for that excuse you made."
Young tensed, stumped for words to reply.
"Maybe she believes all those things you said. That she was just a tool…" Rush continued softly. "If it were me… maybe I'd do the same."
Young then turned to her, shaken.
"But why…? Those techniques were meant to make her better. Superior. Isn't that what she wanted? To become strong? To win?"
Rush sighed before matching her gaze.
"Maybe… maybe not," Rush replied, shrugging. "Perhaps, it was never about just winning. It was about who she wanted to become."
Young fell silent, lowering her gaze to her feet.
Then, as quickly as she went silent, she looked at Rush, trembling.
"Then… can you help her…?"
Young raised her hands, curling them into fists before her chest, clenching.
"Can you help us…?"
"I don't want any of this to go to waste… I don't want all the time we spent together, all the time we explored together. All the things we did crumbled to dust just because our friendship has ended."
Rush stayed silent, her eyes returned to the track below.
"So... please... Rush, do something for me, will you...?" Young begged.
Then... As Lidden completed another lap, something surfaced in her mind—words from Crown.
People don't grow the most by competing with strangers. They grow by striving alongside those they share a bond with. It's that connection that makes them try harder.
With that, Rush's eyes trembled, narrowed as she inhaled slowly and turned.
"No," she said calmly. "I can't help you."
Young froze. "Wh— What...? B—but! All I need you to do is remin—"
"You're asking the wrong person," Rush cut in. "The one you're looking for isn't me… and it's not that pink lightbulb down there either."
She stepped closer.
"It's you. No one else can pull her back the way you can. That bond isn't ours to fix."
"Th—that's not true! You haven't even tried! Or have you forgotten that I—"
"Enough," Rush snapped.
"You're not bedridden. You're not gone. Yet you're talking like you already lost your life."
Young froze.
"Stop acting like it's over," Rush continued, "If you still have time, then use it. Spend it with her. Run with her. Argue with her. Laugh with her."
"Isn't that what anyone would want? To spend whatever time they have left with the person they love?"
"Bu— But I— I…" Young faltered, unable to find her words.
"I— I can't… Not when she knows the truth. Not when it'll hurt her even more than now…" she finally responded with a whisper while looking away.
"Says who?" Rush interjected. "Stop trying to act like some hero she never asked for! How can you be so sure that what you did didn't hurt her just as much?"
Young opened her mouth, trying to retort... Yet nothing came out...
Then, Rush continued, her fists clenching, "When did sacrificing your dreams become the condition for someone else to bloom?"
"Isn't the best version of us the one that influences them to try harder? To fight harder? To become MORE?" Suddenly, her voice cracked, and tears slid down her face before she even noticed.
"Isn't what she wants to see the most is you?! The true, genuine YOU? The one thing she can laugh with, cries with?!" she added.
There, Young was baffled, blinking, "S— Sky? Are you… crying...?" she uttered.
Then, Rush sharply paused, coming back to her senses, blinking herself, "Wh— What...?"
"Wait..." Rush uttered as she wiped her face with her finger, realizing.
She was indeed shedding tears. Perhaps those words weren't meant just for Young but for her, too.
Flustered, she wiped her tears quickly with her sleeves. And played it cool while clearing her throat.
"Anyway! What I'm saying is—we can't help you, Young. Only you can."
"You have to grow with her. Stay with her. Or... at least until your battle is done," Rush added.
"Then maybe she'll flourish—even without you. That's what a bond does. It pushes you. It inspires you. It makes you want to be better for the person you care about. Even if one's presence may not last forever, the memories do, the bonds do."
With that being heard, Young lowered her head, and for the first time, she didn't try to argue.
"And that's all I can say, Young," Rush added as she turned away. "The rest is up to you."
"Either you live in a world where both of you are forgotten or live to the day that both of you are remembered… or at least one of you."
"Goodbye, Young. I hope you make the right choice," Rush said as she opened the rooftop door.
"Until then..." With that, Rush departed with the shutting of the door.
For the moment, Young remained still. She stared at the doorway where Rush had vanished.
Then slowly… she turned. Her gaze fell back onto the track below.
Back at where Lidden was still running. Sloppy. Determined. Stubborn.
There, Young's fingers tightened against the railing.
Her mind raced.
And for the first time since the lie—
She hesitated, second-guessing her decision. Maybe Rush was right. Right about her way of avoidance, her way of cutting corners...
Should a proper confession be the right thing after all? Be the best outcome for them after all...?
She did not know...
...
...
Meanwhile...
Rush skipped down the stairs as she wiped her tears, or at least the trace of them.
"That was... embarrassing!" Rush cursed under her breath, "Why did I just do that!"
As she reached for the final steps, her mind raced on its own, "Maybe... I, too, must face my own demons too," she muttered before springing into a sprint down the corridors.
"After all... I want to run too—" correcting,
"I want to run with Urara, too!"