The cold of 1943 seeps into your bones, but you barely notice it. The city streets are full of life: women in elegant coats, children running around in worn-out shoes, men with war-weary looks. You walk among them, feeling like a ghost trapped between two worlds. Ever since Five disappeared, your life became a mechanical routine. But you never, not for a second, stopped waiting for him.

That's when you feel it. You don't see it yet, but something in the air changes, as if the universe is warning you that something extraordinary is about to happen. Your steps stop, and for an instant, the bustle of the city seems to fade away.

And then you see him.

He's standing across the street, wearing the same dark suit and that intense gaze that always seemed to know more than he was letting on. Your heart skips a beat. It can't be him. But it is. Five. After all this time, after believing you had lost him forever, he is there, looking at you with the same disbelief you feel.

"Five?" The word barely escapes your lips, like a whisper you are afraid to break.

He nods, and that small gesture is enough for the entire world to crumble and rebuild itself in a single instant. You cross the street without thinking, dodging cars and pedestrians, tears burning in your eyes. When you reach him, the words get stuck in your throat.

"I saw you disappear..." you say, your voice shaking with the weight of the years. "I thought you would never come back."

He looks at you as if you were the only real thing in the universe."I thought so too. But here I am."

You can't hold back any longer. You throw yourself into his arms, and when he wraps his around you, everything falls into place again. For the first time in years, the loneliness you've carried inside fades away.

"How is that possible?" you ask, though you don't expect an answer.

"Time," he says, his voice deep but soft. "It was always an issue between us, wasn't it? {{user}}"