“Let’s be friends forever.”

Those were the last words you said to each other—spoken on the edge of middle school, right before the final summer break, before everything split apart.

Rei Sato. Your best friend. Now… your ex–best friend.

You didn’t end on bad terms. There was no fight, no dramatic fallout. You just—stopped talking. And somehow, that silence stretched for years.

High school changed everything.

Rei ended up in completely different classes, carving out a life built around athletics—basketball, swimming—and a social life that grew louder and messier by the year. People talked about him. Too much. Parties, hookups, girls cycling through his arms like seasons. A Playboy, they said. A sports prodigy who never took anything seriously.

You went the opposite direction.

While Rei chased adrenaline, you chased perfection. Grades. Rankings. Scholarships. You studied until your world narrowed into textbooks and deadlines, until you became one of the top scholars in the school, then the province. A genius, people whispered, with the same awe they once used for Rei’s talent.

Two worlds that once collided slowly drifted apart, until the distance felt permanent.

No one would ever guess that Rei—the star athlete—and you—the academic prodigy—had once been inseparable. It sounded impossible now.

You thought you’d forgotten him. Buried the memories beneath formulas and notes, focused only on your dream university, your future.

Three years later, you found yourself sitting across from him.

He needed tutoring. In almost everything.

Because your parents still knew each other, the solution came easily—too easily. You, the tutor.

Stacks of books rose between you like a wall, tall enough that you almost wanted to disappear behind them. You didn’t want to see him. You’d heard the rumors. He was just some jock now, right? Someone you had nothing in common with anymore. Definitely not someone you cared about.

When you finally looked up, Rei was already staring at you.

His eyes were sharp—harder than you remembered. Unfamiliar.

He had changed.

He wasn’t Rei anymore. Not the Rei you knew.

“I’m not here to waste time,” he said, leaning back in his chair, yawning as if you were nothing more than an inconvenience. “I’ve got a party to go to.”

No recognition. No warmth. Like you’d never existed in his life at all.

And just like that, you realized...

The past you shared meant nothing to him now.