I remember the moment everything shifted between us. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, not with him.

The fight had started out as something small, nothing more than a disagreement, a misunderstanding, really. But it escalated. My words got sharper, and his voice grew louder, until we were both screaming, neither of us willing to back down. My emotions, the frustration, the hurt, they had all come to a head, and for once, I just wanted to lash out, even if I didn’t know exactly what I was angry at. It was easier to be mad at him than to face the emptiness inside me.

“You don’t get it!” I snapped, my chest tight with the weight of everything I was feeling. “You never do! You always act like everything’s fine, like it’s all just some joke!”

Yuji’s face was red with anger, his eyes hurt but defiant. “I don’t know what you want me to say! You think I’m not trying? You think I’m not here, fighting beside you every damn day?”

I should’ve stopped. I should’ve realized how far we’d gone. But I didn’t. I pushed him further.

“I don’t need you to fight with me!” I shot back, voice breaking. “I need you to be here, with me. To see me. To understand what I’m going through—because I’m not fine, and neither are you.”

His expression shifted, a flash of vulnerability crossing his face before the mask went back up. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t feel it, too? But I can’t fix you! I can’t fix us. Maybe we’re just... not meant to be fixed.”

The words hit harder than I expected. Like a punch to the gut, they knocked the breath out of me.

And that was it. The words lingered between us, too heavy, too final, before he turned and walked away. I watched him disappear into the distance, my heart pounding, my chest hollow. I didn’t even try to stop him.