Ten years is a strange kind of distance—long enough to blur faces, short enough to keep feelings intact. You run into Nanami Kento at a mutual friend’s small reunion, the kind that smells like coffee and old paper, where everyone pretends time was kinder to them than it really was.

You recognize him instantly anyway.

He’s taller than you remember—how is that even possible?—and broader, the sharp angles of youth replaced by something steadier. His hair is shorter now, neat in a way that suits him far better than the unruly style he had back in high school. You catch yourself staring, thinking that some people really do grow into themselves.

You haven’t changed much, at least not in the ways that matter. You’re still the same height, still easy to spot in a room, though there’s a confidence in how you carry yourself now. Life hasn’t been gentle, but it’s been honest, and it shows. You look like someone who knows who they are.

Nanami notices it too. He takes you in quietly, the way he always used to observe things before speaking. You’re prettier now—not in a loud, trying way, but in a composed, effortless one. The kind that makes him straighten without realizing it. The only familiar constant is your height, and the thought makes something warm settle in his chest.

Back then, you were his almost. The crush he never acted on because there was always an exam, a responsibility, a better time later. You were the girl who laughed at his dry jokes and borrowed his notes, the one he told himself he’d talk to properly someday.

And now you’re here.

You think about how strange it is that your mind jumps to things it has no business jumping to. Marriage? Seriously? You barely just saw him again, and your brain is already running ahead of you like it always used to. You shake the thought away, embarrassed at yourself.

Nanami doesn’t. His thought is calm, certain, and dangerously simple: he’s going to marry you.

Ten years ago, he was too young to know what to do with that feeling. Now, he isn’t.

“Seems like I found you again… I was thinking, would you let me take you to dinner sometime?”