The final bell had a different tone today. Softer. Like it was letting us out not into chaos, but into a held breath.
I almost kept walking. It would have been easier. Safer. meeting komi after school
“Do you want to walk to the station together?” The final bell had a different tone today
She reached into her bag and pulled out a small notebook. Not the neat, pristine one for homework. This one had a bent corner and a doodle of a cat on the cover. She flipped to a page, wrote something quickly, and held it up. I almost kept walking
“Yeah,” I said, walking over. I didn’t sit next to her—that felt too forward. Instead, I leaned against the railing a few feet away. “I like the quiet after school. Less… pressure.”
We stayed like that for a long minute. No phones. No gossip. No crowd pressing in to ask for autographs or explanations. Just two people sharing a patch of sunlight while the rest of the school emptied out like a tide.
For the first time, it didn’t feel like she was waiting for the world to leave her alone. It felt like she was waiting for me .