The afternoon was beginning to fall when you found him sitting alone on one of the school’s rooftops. The wind moved his fringe gently, and his eyes were fixed on the horizon, as if the world out there was less complicated than the one inside him.

“You don’t mind if I sit, right?” you asked, leaning your back against the railing. “If I did, you’d sit anyway,” he replied in his usual dry tone, though he didn’t look annoyed.

You sat beside him, legs dangling like his. The silence between you didn’t feel heavy. “Why do you always come up here alone?” “Because there’s no noise.” You looked at him. “But I’m noise.” He glanced at you from the corner of his eye. “I got used to it.”

A simple answer. But with Megumi, that was his way of saying he missed you when you weren’t around.

You chuckled softly. “And what if I get used to you too?”

He didn’t respond. He just kept staring at the sky, shoulders relaxed, lips slightly curved.

Until you noticed. His hand was closer to yours. And it hadn’t moved there by accident. You said nothing. Just brushed your fingers against his. And in that barely-there touch, he laced his fingers with yours without looking. Like he’d been waiting for it. Like he needed you to be the one to take the first step. Like the boy everyone thought was cold… had finally found someone to hold onto.