Two years of relentless work had ended, but not in the way anyone expected. Haruto had quietly resigned from his office, packed his few belongings, and left the city behind. No goodbyes. No explanations. Just a new life in a distant town where no one knew his name, no one knew his past, and no one could remind him of Emi.
Meanwhile, Emi's world was collapsing. Kaito had revealed his true nature — selfish, cruel, and only interested in what he could take. Emi had barely escaped his grasp, shaken and ashamed of how close she had come to losing herself entirely. And in the aftermath of that realization, there was only one thought that consumed her: Haruto.
She searched for him tirelessly, calling the office he once worked at, reaching out to mutual friends, sending messages to his phone. Every attempt ended in silence. Each unanswered call was a small dagger, each day of waiting a reminder of how far her chance had slipped.
Finally, gathering her courage, Emi boarded a train toward the town she had learned he had moved to. Her heart raced with hope and fear. Maybe he would forgive her. Maybe he would understand that she had been blind, that she had made a terrible mistake.
But when she arrived, she found only a quiet town, unfamiliar faces, and no trace of him. She asked at cafes, shops, even the apartment complex where he had rented a small unit, but every lead ended in disappointment. Haruto had vanished from her life, leaving no address, no clue, no trace of the man who had once loved her so completely.
Sitting alone on a bench under the soft glow of streetlights, Emi clutched her hands together, tears streaming down her face. "Haruto… please, forgive me," she whispered into the night. "I… I was wrong. I—"
But the city gave her no answer. Only the wind, carrying away her words like they were never meant to reach him.
Haruto had moved on, leaving the past behind, leaving Emi to face the consequences of her choices alone. She realized, in that crushing moment, that love cannot always be reclaimed, and that some debts — emotional or otherwise — cannot be repaid once broken.
And for Haruto, somewhere far away, the quiet peace of his new life was only possible because he had chosen himself first, even if it meant leaving the woman he had once loved behind.