If We Had More Time

The afternoon sky was a dull shade of gray, heavy with the remnants of the morning rain.

 The classroom air felt thick, a mixture of chalk dust and humidity.

 Kaizen sat by the window, his chin resting on his palm, staring at the droplets clinging to the glass. The world outside looked blurred, as if it, too, had lost its focus.

"She used to love the rain."

She once told him that rainy days were like unfinished poems—soft, melancholic, waiting for an ending. 

He never understood what she meant back then. Now, he wished he had asked.

"Kaizen."

A voice pulled him back. 

He blinked.

The teacher stood at the front of the classroom, arms crossed, looking unimpressed. "Read the next passage."

He glanced down at his open textbook, but the words made no sense to him. He hadn’t been paying attention.

There were a few muffled chuckles around the room.

Beside him, Ren sighed. "Page 87, second paragraph," he muttered under his breath.

Kaizen found the line and read aloud, though his voice lacked any real tone.

 When he finished, the teacher simply moved on, and the class carried on as usual. 

But Ren, his best friend, wasn’t fooled.

After school, as they walked toward the gates, Ren shoved his hands into his pockets.

 "You’re getting worse," he muttered. 

"You barely talk. You never laugh. You’re just... existing."

Kaizen kept his gaze ahead. "I’m fine."

Ren scoffed. "Yeah? That’s what you said yesterday. And the day before that. And last week. Look, man... I know—"

"You don’t know," Kaizen cut in.

 His voice was quiet but sharp. "No one does."

Ren clenched his jaw but didn’t snap back. 

Instead, he stopped walking, forcing Kaizen to halt too.

"I know you miss her," Ren said carefully. 

"I know it hurts. But she’s gone, Kaizen. You’re still here. You have to start living again."

Kaizen’s hands curled into fists at his sides. "She wasn’t just someone, Ren."

Ren’s face softened, but he didn’t speak.

Kaizen took a shaky breath. "She was the only one who ever understood me. And I never even told her."

There it was. The truth he never said out loud.

Some wounds don’t heal. Some regrets don’t fade.

Kaizen closed his eyes as 

the rain began to fall again, soft and endless.

"If only we had more time."

But time had never been on their side.