The hallway was quiet.
Too quiet.
Her footsteps had already disappeared, but I chased anyway.
Not because I knew what to say—
But because I couldn't let her leave thinking I didn't care.
---
Outside – Behind the School
Riko was sitting under the tree.
Arms around her knees.
Looking up at the sky like it owed her answers.
I approached slowly.
> "Riko—"
She didn't look at me.
> "Did you enjoy it?"
I stopped.
> "Yuna flirting. Airi confessing. Akari kissing you. Was it fun?"
"…No."
> "Liar."
She finally looked at me.
Her eyes weren't angry.
They were tired.
> "I didn't need you to pass a test. I needed you to choose me again, even when no one was watching."
That hit harder than any scorecard ever could.
---
Reina's Final Bombshell
I got called to the student council room.
Reina sat at her desk.
No clipboard this time.
Just a single envelope.
> "The final phase of the Stability Test is simple."
She pushed the envelope forward.
> "You write her a letter.
If it's honest enough… she'll come back.
If it's not… she won't."
I opened the envelope.
Inside:
A blank page.
---
Meanwhile – The Girls
Yuna sat alone on the rooftop.
Clutching her phone. Typing. Deleting. Typing again.
> "Do I really want someone who needs a poll to love me…?"
---
Airi was in the library again.
But this time, she wasn't analyzing.
She was just staring at Kaito's old seat.
A sticky note on her notebook:
> "No more graphs. Just goodbye."
---
Akari stood on the bridge.
One hand on the rail.
A letter in her other hand.
The same one Kaito gave her when they were kids.
She looked at it.
Then ripped it in half.
---
Kaito – That Night
I stared at the paper for hours.
Wrote.
Erased.
Wrote again.
I didn't want it to be perfect.
I wanted it to be real.
So I wrote everything.
About the fear. The doubt. The mess.
And the fact that even when I messed up—
She was the only one I ever wanted to chase.