You hadn’t seen Rin in nearly a year.

Not properly. Not face to face.

Not since the day he shut the door. Not since the day he said he didn’t want to be with you anymore.

You remembered it too clearly. The way his voice sounded—flat, empty. The way you cried, begged, asked him to reconsider. And the way he didn’t flinch.

You moved away after that.

You packed your memories in boxes and left the neighborhood where you had grown up together. Where you had shared popsicles and promises. Where you had kissed for the first time under the stars.

You didn’t tell him you were leaving. You didn’t owe him that.

Blue Lock became his distraction.

Six months of isolation, obsession, and rage. He trained like a machine, trying to erase the image of you in his mind. But it didn’t work.

And then, one day, he saw you.

You were standing in the crowd, smiling like you used to.

But not at him.

You were in someone else’s arms. Isagi’s.

Rin froze. His heart raced. He felt something again—something outside of football, outside of vengeance.

He watched Isagi kiss you. Watched you lean into it. Watched you laugh with his teammates like you belonged there.

And for the first time in months, Rin Itoshi felt like he was drowning.

He found your new address. He stood at your door, fists clenched, heart pounding. Isagi opened it.

“Not the pizza,” Isagi said, raising an eyebrow.

“I need to talk to her,” Rin replied, voice cold.

Isagi didn’t argue. He called for you.

You appeared in pajamas, the same kind you used to wear when you and Rin had movie nights.

He waited outside while you grabbed a coat. You joined him in the garden, where the air felt heavier than it should. He didn’t ask how you were. He didn’t apologize. He just looked at you.

And then he said it.

“Leave him,” Rin said. “Come back to me.”

You blinked.

The wind rustled the leaves. The silence stretched. He stepped closer.

“Be my girlfriend again.”

His voice was low, almost pleading.

“You know we’ll never find anyone else. We promised each other, remember? We were meant to be.”

You looked at him.

He was taller now. Sharper. But his eyes were the same—stormy, desperate, full of everything he never said when it mattered.

And you didn’t speak.

Not yet.

The words hung in the air between you. The garden felt like a memory. The night felt like a question.

And Rin waited.