Hikari didn’t come to school again.

At first, I told myself she’d just overslept, or maybe skipped for one of her “adventures.” But by lunch, her seat remained empty. The sunlight through the window kept falling on her desk, unclaimed, as if even the day was waiting for her.

I glanced at my phone again — no messages. Usually, she would’ve texted something silly like: "I found a cat that looks like you, Haruki. Be jealous."

But there was nothing.

By the time school ended, unease had already settled in my stomach.

Scene 2: The Bridge Without Her

I went to the bridge where we first met, the railway bridge where she loved to sit and hum against the noise of trains.

The place felt different without her — quieter, heavier.

I almost turned back when I noticed something near the step where she always sat: a notebook, its cover scuffed, corners bent, as if it had been carried around everywhere.

I picked it up.

It was her sketchbook.

Scene 3: The Pages

My first instinct was to close it — it felt wrong to pry. But my hands moved before I could stop them.

Page after page of sketches filled the book: broken bridges, firework bursts, rooftops with stars above them. Almost all were places we had been together.

Then I found the page that made my chest tighten.

It wasn’t a drawing. It was a list. Longer than the one I’d seen before.

•Eat shaved ice until my tongue turns blue.

•Touch the ocean.

•Watch the sunrise without falling asleep.

•Visit the observatory again.

•Ride the train without knowing the destination.

•Finish the summer without regrets.

And beneath it all, scribbled smaller, almost hidden at the bottom corner:

•Keep smiling, even when it hurts....

My throat went dry.

Scene 4: The Voice

“Haruki?”

I turned, startled.

Hikari was standing there, slightly out of breath, as if she’d been running. She was holding her bag close to her chest, her face pale but her eyes shining.

“You found it,” she said softly, nodding toward the sketchbook.

I scrambled for words. “I—I didn’t mean to… it was just lying there—”

She giggled, cutting me off. “It’s okay. I guess I dropped it yesterday.”

She reached out, gently taking the notebook back, holding it like something precious.

Scene 5: The Lie

I hesitated, then blurted, “Hikari… what’s with that list?”

Her eyes flickered for the briefest moment. Then she smiled — the same wide, brilliant smile that always seemed to chase shadows away.

“It’s just for fun,” she said. “A silly list of dreams. That’s all.”

But her voice trembled, so faintly I almost thought I imagined it.

I wanted to ask more. I wanted to demand the truth. But the words died in my throat.

Because she looked so fragile, standing there in the fading light, clutching that sketchbook as if it were keeping her together.

So I only nodded. “...Alright.”

She smiled again, brighter this time. “Then let’s keep going, okay? We’ve still got so many things left to do.”

And just like that, the silence between us was filled again — but it wasn’t the same.

Behind her smile, I had seen something.

Something she didn’t want me to see.

[To Be Continued in Chapter 10]