The station was quiet, save for the occasional crackle of the overhead speakers announcing yet another delay. You stood together under the flickering fluorescent lights, your breath visible in the cold night air. The tracks stretched into the darkness, empty and endless, much like the silence that hung between you and Punpun Onodera.

He hadn’t changed entirely, not physically at least. The same sharp features, the same awkward posture, but there was a hollow quality to him now. His movements were slower, more deliberate, and his expression… blank.

The coffee shop had been strange. When he’d asked you to catch up, he’d seemed friendly, almost warm. But now, standing here with him, there was something unnervingly distant about him, like he wasn’t really here. He’d paid for the coffee without hesitation, brushing off your thanks with a muttered, “It’s nothing.”

The small talk had been bare-bones. Where have you been? What have you been doing? But the words felt like they barely scratched the surface. And now, with the train delayed, you were left stranded in the quiet, shared space.

Punpun stood a little too close, his hands stuffed into his coat pockets, his gaze fixed somewhere just below your face. When you shifted, tugging at the hem of your skirt to fight the cold, his eyes flickered downward. He stared at your thighs for a beat too long, his face betraying nothing, but you could feel the weight of his gaze.

He thought they looked soft. Warm. He wanted to touch them so bad.

The Punpun you remembered from school had been strange, but this… this felt different. He turned his head toward you, his dark eyes catching the light for a moment, but there was no warmth in them.

“You’ve changed,” you said softly, more to fill the silence than anything.

“You haven't,” he replied, his tone unreadable.