The next morning, I woke up to sunlight bleeding through my curtains and my phone buzzing somewhere under my pillow.
Groggy, I fished it out — expecting spam, maybe some random notifications.
Instead, it was a message.
From Kane.
[ 7:42 AM ][ u alive dumbass? 👀 ]
I blinked at the screen, still half-asleep.
Before I could even type back, another text popped up.
[ if ur dead im stealing ur manga collection btw ]
I snorted, rubbing my eyes.
Typical Kane. Flirting with robbery as a love language.
I thumbed out a reply:
[ still alive unfortunately 🙄 ]
She responded instantly.
[ tragic. i was gonna sell ur limited edition volumes for strawberry milk money. ]
[ you're actually evil ]
[ only to you 💖 ]
I stared at the screen for a second longer than I meant to.
That dumb heart emoji. That stupid way she made every insult feel like affection.
My chest squeezed painfully — but not in a bad way.
In a terrifying, wonderful way.
Before I could overthink it, I typed:
[ wanna hang out again today? ]
A heartbeat passed.
Two.
Then:
[ duh. pick me up loser ]
I smiled — a real smile — and threw the covers off.
Today wasn't some epic battle. Today wasn't about surviving the past.
Today was just...
Getting dressed. Meeting Kane.
Maybe getting teased until I wanted to strangle her.
Maybe laughing until my ribs hurt.
Maybe —
Just maybe —
Starting something new.
Something real.
And for the first time in a long, long time,that thought didn't scare me at all.
The arcade was loud.
Louder than I remembered.
Bright, blinding lights blinked from every machine, colors flashing like we were standing inside a thunderstorm made of neon.
Kane practically vibrated with excitement the second we stepped through the doors.
"This is gonna be so fun," she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
I raised an eyebrow, stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets."You're acting like you've never seen an arcade before."
She shot me a grin."Not with you, idiot."
My stomach did that annoying flip thing again — the one I thought I'd buried for good.
I scowled to cover it up."Yeah, well. Don't start crying when I destroy you at everything."
Kane let out a loud, disbelieving laugh."Destroy me? Oh, Yuki. Sweet, dumb Yuki."
Before I could even defend myself, she grabbed my sleeve and dragged me toward the first machine she spotted — some ancient-looking racing game with cracked plastic seats and sticky steering wheels.
"Come on, slowpoke! I'll go easy on you!"
"You're talking a lot for someone who's about to lose," I grumbled, sliding into the seat beside her.
We picked our cars.The countdown started.
3...2...1...
GO.
Chaos.
Absolute chaos.
Kane immediately slammed into my car on purpose, sending my pixelated vehicle spinning into the guardrail.
"WHAT THE HELL, KANE!" I shouted, wrenching the wheel.
"IT'S CALLED TACTICS, LOSER," she cackled.
I gritted my teeth and slammed my foot down on the gas.She was not winning this.
I swerved, cutting her off at the last second, and her shriek of outrage was the single greatest sound I'd ever heard.
"YOU CHEATED!"
"OH, CRY ABOUT IT!"
In the end, she beat me by like, half a second — but only because she threw a handful of popcorn into my face mid-race.
"Unfair tactics," I grumbled as we stumbled out of the machine, both breathless from laughing.
"Skill issue," she said, sticking her tongue out.
I bumped her shoulder with mine — harder than necessary — and she shoved me right back.
It felt stupid.
It felt reckless.
It felt good.
We wandered through the arcade, challenging each other to shooting games, claw machines, whack-a-mole —losing and winning and yelling and laughing so hard it felt like my heart might actually burst.
At one point, Kane spotted one of those cheesy photo booths tucked away in the corner.
She turned to me, eyes shining mischievously.
"Let's do it."
"No way."
"Coward."
I opened my mouth to argue — but then she grabbed my hand and dragged me into the booth before I could protest.
The tiny screen blinked to life.
POSE IN 3... 2... 1...
Kane threw up a peace sign right in front of my face, sticking her tongue out.
I blinked, stunned.
FLASH.
Next frame.
She grabbed my cheeks and squished them, making me look like a pouting goldfish.
FLASH.
Next.
I reached out, messing up her hair in revenge.
FLASH.
The last frame —
I don't know why, or maybe I do —
I leaned in and bumped our heads together.
Gentle.
Warm.
FLASH.
The machine whirred and buzzed as the photos printed out.
Kane grabbed the sheet before I could, holding it high over her head.
She stared at it for a second — and then grinned.
"You're not even that ugly," she said.
I rolled my eyes, snatching the photos out of her hands.
But secretly, quietly, I folded the strip and tucked it into my jacket pocket.
Close to my heart.
Where it belonged.
We stayed until the arcade started to shut down, the machines dimming one by one, the air buzzing with leftover laughter and energy.
And when we finally stepped outside, the cold night air hit us like a wall.
Kane turned to me, her cheeks pink from the cold — or maybe the leftover adrenaline.
"Same time tomorrow, loser?" she asked.
I smiled.
A real one.
"Yeah," I said. "Same time tomorrow."
The streets were mostly empty, the world quieter now except for the sound of our footsteps and the occasional car humming by.
Kane swung the plastic bag she'd won — a dumb, fat strawberry plush — back and forth like a pendulum.Every so often, she bumped it into my side just to be annoying.
I didn't even mind.
The stars stretched wide and scattered above us, blurry through the city haze, but still beautiful if you knew how to look.
Kane tilted her head back, staring up at them.
"Bet you can't name a single constellation," she teased, a sideways smile tugging at her lips.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, shrugging."Does it matter? They're still there, even if I don't know their names."
She looked at me then — really looked — and for a second, she didn't say anything.Just smiled, small and soft and secret, like she was tucking that answer somewhere safe.
We kept walking.
Our shoulders brushed sometimes — not by accident anymore.
I stole a glance at her, and something inside me just... stopped.
The way the wind caught her hair.The way her laugh still echoed faintly from earlier.The way she was still here —after everything —after me.
I thought maybe I just liked her.Maybe it was something silly, something light.
But now, under the quiet crush of the stars and the cold, sweet night,I realized it was bigger than that.
I loved her.
Not the way you love a crush — fast and bright and burning out too soon.
I loved her like breathing.Like gravity.Like something that had been stitched into my bones long before I even noticed it.
Kane must have felt me staring because she glanced over, eyebrows raised.
"What?" she said, feigning suspicion. "Did I grow another head or something?"
I blinked, startled out of my thoughts."You're just...," I started — then stopped, the words catching in my throat.
Beautiful.Wild.Home.
Instead, I just shook my head and gave her a half-smile.
"You're annoying," I said, because I was a coward.
She snickered, bumping her shoulder into mine.
"Right back at you, loser."
We kept walking, and after a minute — after the streetlights blurred into gold smudges and the world felt small enough to hold in one hand —Kane reached out.
Casual.Careless.
She hooked her pinky around mine.
Not a full hand-hold.Not yet.
Just a small tether.A promise.
And this time, I didn't pretend not to notice.
I squeezed back.
And for the first time in a long, long time,I let myself believe in happy endings.Even if we were still writing ours one clumsy, chaotic, starlit step at a time.
We slowed to a stop in front of Kane's gate.
The porch light flickered above the door, casting a tired, golden glow over the cracked steps and the worn welcome mat.
She turned to me, one hand on the latch, the other still fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket.
For a second — just a second — neither of us moved.
The world felt too still.Too quiet.Like it was holding its breath right along with me.
I looked at her — really looked at her — the messy hair, the faint bruises of exhaustion under her eyes, perfectly imperfect.Perfectly Kane.
Something heavy swelled in my chest.
Words crawled up my throat, fighting to get free.Something real.Something terrifying.
"Kane," I said, my voice breaking a little.
She glanced up at me, eyes wide, waiting.
The words teetered on the edge of my tongue —I love you.
But I choked them back at the last second, swallowing them like broken glass.
Instead, I shoved my hands deeper into my pockets and looked away.
"Don't forget to bring more popcorn next time," I muttered.
Her mouth twitched — a half-smile, half-sigh — like she knew I was full of shit but decided to let it slide.
"Loser," she whispered, so softly it almost sounded like something sweeter.
And then she was gone, slipping through the gate with a wave, disappearing into the soft, humming light of her house.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty spot where she'd been.
Feeling the words I didn't say throb in my chest like a second heartbeat.
Maybe someday.Maybe tomorrow.
But not tonight.