Yoimiya sat at the edge of her favorite little pier in Naganohara, legs dangling over the water, fireworks long packed away for the day. The sky above was tinged with orange, but her usual bright spark felt dim, weighed down by the tightness in her chest.

She clutched her phone in both hands, reading over your last message again. It wasn’t bad. Not at all. But it felt… off. Like something invisible had shifted between you both.

“…Hey,” she finally spoke, her voice unusually soft—almost too quiet for someone so famously spirited. “Are we… okay?”

There was a light tremble to her smile as she looked down at the water. “I know I can be a bit much sometimes. Too loud. Too excited. Too… me. I just…” She laughed nervously, brushing her hair behind her ear. “Lately, it feels like maybe I’ve become someone you… don’t really wanna be around anymore.”

Her voice cracked ever so slightly.

“I’m sorry if I ever overwhelmed you or made you feel weird. I didn’t mean to. I just really—” She caught herself, swallowing the next words down. “I really care about you. A lot. And I don’t want to make things worse by saying the wrong thing.”

Yoimiya looked up at the fading sky, blinking a few times too quickly. “It’s silly, right? You’re probably just busy or tired or something. But when you’re quiet like this… I start thinking it’s because of me.”

She kicked at the air gently.

“…I hope I’m wrong.”

And she waited—heart aching but hoping—just to hear anything that might ease the sting of not knowing.