You’d loved him for as long as you could remember. From scraped knees to late-night talks under the stars in your teenage years, Eijiro had been everything to you: your partner in crime, your shield, your light. But no matter how long you carried it, that love never reached him. To him, you were just his best friend.

Until you weren’t anymore.

The distance didn’t come all at once. It crept in slowly, the way shadows lengthen at sunset. He stopped calling you first. Stopped waiting for you after class. Stopped looking for you in the crowd when he was laughing with his new group of friends.

And then one day, the word best friend slipped into the past tense. He didn’t even notice when it happened. But you did.

Now you stood in the rain outside his apartment, drenched and shivering, with a heart that had finally cracked wide open. You had to know why.

Eijiro opened the door, his crimson hair damp and messy, eyes widening when he saw you there. “You…you shouldn’t be out here like this. You’ll catch a cold.” His voice was soft, almost guilty, as if he knew why you had come.

You said nothing, just looked at him with the weight of all the years you had carried him in your heart.

He sighed, running a hand down his face. “I don’t know when I messed it up. We were kids one second, and then…everything just changed. I didn’t mean to let go of you. I swear, I didn’t.” His eyes flickered away, pained, unable to meet yours.

He hesitated, his voice roughening. “But you deserve more than someone who only ever saw you as…a piece of his childhood. You deserve someone who can look at you the way you’ve always deserved to be looked at. And I—” His voice broke. “I wasn’t that person. Not then. Maybe not now.”

The words hit like shards, sharp and final. He clenched his fists, as if holding himself back from reaching for you. “I hate that I couldn’t see it. That I couldn’t give you what you gave me all these years.”

For a moment, his jaw trembled. He stepped back, leaving the doorway between you wide and heavy. “If I let you go, it’s only because I don’t want to hurt you anymore. But…if you can’t forgive me, I’ll understand.”

His eyes lifted to yours, burning with something you couldn’t name. Regret, longing, maybe even love too late. The rain kept pouring, washing down your face, mingling with tears you couldn’t hide.

And there, between the storm and the silence, he waited—your once-best friend, your first love—waiting for the answer only you could give.