📘 2007: A Girl with No Tomorrow

✦ Chapter 9: She Called Me Brother

> “She lied to save me.

But I think it’s the most honest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

— Unknown Boy

---

The boy woke up in a white room.

The light was too bright. His chest hurt. His side was on fire. Tubes ran from his arms and nose. Everything smelled like antiseptic and something metallic — blood, probably his own.

He blinked.

Tried to speak.

The nurse noticed immediately. “You're awake.”

He coughed. “Where… where is…”

The name didn’t exist. He didn’t know what to say.

But one word came out:

“My sister… where’s my sister?”

The nurse paused, surprised.

“You mean the girl who brought you in?”

He nodded weakly.

“She said she was your sister.”

“Where is she?”

The nurse gave a soft smile. Walked over to the side table. Picked up a white envelope — slightly bent, stained faintly at one corner.

“She left this for you,” she said gently. “Told us to give it to you when you woke up.”

He opened the envelope with trembling fingers.

Cash. Clean. Neatly packed. More than enough to cover the rest of the treatment.

And a note inside. Only one line.

> “You owe me nothing.”

That was it.

No name. No number. No way to find her.

Just those words. Written in tight, even handwriting.

He stared at the paper.

“Who the hell… was she?” he murmured.

He tried to remember her face.

Gray hoodie. Pale skin. Hair hidden under a cap.

Eyes — not soft, not cold — just empty.

Not afraid of him. Not afraid of blood.

A girl who lied with the calm of someone who no longer cared if she was caught.

He didn’t even know her name.

But for some reason…

> He whispered, “Thank you… Sis.”

And it didn’t feel like a lie.

---

Far away, at that moment, Aki was standing at her school gate.

Another day. Another perfect uniform. Another quiet storm inside her.

She didn’t know he was awake.

Didn’t want to.

She had already filed that moment away — not as kindness, not as memory —

but as something else:

> A reminder she hadn’t disappeared yet.

---

End of Chapter 9

---