Chapter 3: The Gift She Didn’t Name

This chapter is a quiet one. A pause in their usual rhythm.

It’s not always the loud moment that stays with us. Sometimes, it is the small ones. Like a soft breeze, a quiet forest.

Thank you for giving it a read :DD

The train ride wasn’t particularly long. Just long enough for the city to fade behind them, replaced by stretches of quiet roads and empty hills.

Mio leaned her head against the window. Watching the landscape blur past. Not thinking too hard but not not thinking either.

Akari sat beside her, one hand curled around the strap of her bag, the other resting on her lap. The train wasn’t crowded, but not completely empty as well. She hadn’t said much since boarding the train. And somehow, Mio didn’t mind. There was something soft about that silence, like it was meant to be there.

When the train slowed down to a stop at the next station, Akari stood up smoothly.

“Let’s go. It’s this stop.”

“Alright.”

Mio followed. Unsure where exactly ‘this’ was. But she trusted her. Enough to let the silence continue, even as they stepped off the train, out into the evening air.

The station wasn’t crowded or big. It was quiet and looked desolated.

They walked for a while. Mosts of the shops was already winding down, through the streets, the sky beginning to dim.

Akari wasn’t rush, but pace steady. Like she was waiting for something, maybe, stretching time. Looking around constantly.

“Let’s drop by that store.” She pointed ahead at the modest little shop. It’s light still open.

“There’s something I need to pick up.”

“Sure.” Mio raised an eyebrow, but followed without question.

The shop wasn’t big, but the kind that sold a little of everything. Stationery, snacks, some hand-crafted trinkets. You name it.

Akari lingered there for a moment. Then gestured at something.

It was a set of keychains. Simple, but shaped like 2-halves of a star. Inside each half was a tiny engraved flower. Delicate and fragile. Like it had been etched with care.

‘click!’

Akari brought one half of the keychain, magnets clicking together with Mio’s keychain.

“Let’s get this.”

“Why?”

“It’s not expensive, and it looks cute doesn’t it?” She replied, already handing both of the keychains to the shopkeeper.

Akari being a little more forceful than usual. But Mio didn’t mind or press further. Holding on to the small little piece a little tighter than she meant to.

They left the shop, bags in hand, buying two canned peach tea and matching pens. She was hesitant about the pens but thought they actually had good designs. So she bought it anyways.

Akari turned slightly. “Lets go. It’s not that far now.”

Mio initially thought that Akari had brought her here to shop around. It wasn’t often that they went this far, and she couldn’t think of any other reasons, other than window shopping.

They didn’t speak much as they walked. Shoes tapping against the uneven pavement. Then fading into the gravel.

The Streep lamps ended, but Akari didn’t hesitate. She led Mio down a narrow path, barely visible between 2 sets of trees.

It looked like a forest, but it didn’t feel like one.

Just darker. Cooler. The leaves catching mosts of the light, occasionally letting some moonlights through, like a ceiling of green and shadows.

The further they walked, the quieter everything became.

Even Mio’s thoughts started to settle.

Then, the trees opened up.

There was no sign, no bench, nothing that said “you can rest here”.

But there was a gentle slope, that dipped into a small clearing right at the edge, where the trees spread apart.

Stars peeking through.

And the city? It glittered below them in the distance. Small. Faraway. Like another world.

Mio paused. Taken aback by the sight.

Akari, already a few steps ahead, turned to her with a smile.

“It’s nice right?” She said, pulling something from her bag.

She took out her wallet, inside with a cylinder-looking shape. It was quite dark, she couldn’t see very clearly.

Akari hunched over to the side of the tree.

Standing up, holding whatever she picked up.

Akari probably put something into that, thing, she was holding.

“I accidentally found this place a long time ago.” She said, as if that explained everything.

She sat down where the roots of a tree curved up in a strange seat-like shape. As if the forest had made a spot just for her.

Mio looked around once more. The darkness strangely didn’t feel heavy. Just quiet, like it would listen to anything.

She sat down beside her.

‘Click’. Immediately, light started emitting from whatever she was holding. It wasn’t overly bright, and dim enough to be mistaken as a small glow. Enough to soften the dark.

In that quiet, Mio felt something settle.

She thought, It was a nice feeling.

Akari was more soft-spoken this time. But she decided not to pry.

There was silence for a while. It didn’t feel stuffy or awkward but chill.

“This place is really… soothing.” Mio said as she glanced around, taking in the sight.

The glow revealed some flowers that couldn’t be seen without the light.

Akari face looked almost painted. A dim light over her face, revealing her cheeks, a little blush and the smile that never fades. pretty.

Mio snapped out of it, face flushed. She stared for too long. But Akari didn’t react to it or maybe… she simply didn’t mind.

After a pause, Akari replied slowly. “…it is soothing.”

The wind whispered through the leaves, blowing slightly chilly but comfortable and relaxing air.

Mio didn’t know how much time have past. But somehow it felt… just right.

Reached at afternoon. Shopped until the sun was soon to set. Reached the forest when the sun reflected an orange-red glow across the horizon while the city light flickered below like tiny stars.

The more she thought about it, the more she noticed the small things. Like how Akari checked her phone more than usual. How she brought them to a shop to slowly pick up keychains.

Mio didn’t want to be presumptuous, or delusional, but she thought it was nice. It was nice Akari had timed it all.

And that alone made her felt something.

She liked it. Felt worth. Felt Seen. And felt Cared for

Was this her way of saying “it’s ok to pause.?”

To rest? To not keep running just because you’re afraid to stop?

Mio didn’t know. But she did knew, Akari brought her here, and it was soothing.

It was quiet, a silent that listens without needing to respond, without judging.

Mio leaned back slightly, arms supporting behind her on the tree root.

“I can’t tell if you planned this, or if the universe is just, really good at timing,” she murmured.

Akari chuckled softly, eyes still on the city below. “Maybe both?”

The air was still, but not lifeless. It felt like everything was gently holding its breath.

Mio tilted her head slightly. “...Do you come here often?”

“…not sure” Akari paused. “Sometimes. When things feel too loud.”

Mio didn’t ask. But she heard the weight in those words.

Akari’s gaze stayed forward. She didn’t turn. Didn’t need to.

“…I like it here,” Mio said after a while. “It doesn’t ask anything of you.”

Akari smiled. “Yeah. That’s why I come back.”

A moment passed.

Mio glanced at the faint light beside them. Then the flowers.

Maybe some things only bloom in quiet.

And maybe that was okay too.

A small rustle stirred above them.

Mio didn’t think much of it. Just the wind passing through leaves. But then, something light brushed her arm.

A leave? A petal?

No.

It was a flower.

A tiny one. Pale, delicate. It had landed softly on the edge of the tree root between them, like it had drifted all that way here just to rest there.

Akari didn’t move.

She simply looked down at it with quiet eyes. Not surprised. Just watching.

Mio paused. Like she wasn’t exactly sure what she was doing.

She reached out. Slowly.

Picking it up, brushing off the bits of dirt with her thumb, and turned it a few times between her fingers.

Without really thinking, she leaned slightly closer, tucking it gently behind Akari’s ear.

“It suits you,” she said. Calm. Steady. Like a fact.

No dramatic voice. No blush she allowed to show. Just a simple observation.

But inside? Her brain short-circuited just a little.

Woah. Did I really just do that?

She could practically feel the temperature rising.

Akari blinked. Just once.

Then smiled. so light, that it didn’t even fully reach her lips, but warmed the air around them anyway.

She didn’t blush. Always acting so mature. Like an older sister of sort.

“Thank you,” she said faintly, her voice barely a whisper.

Mio looked away, back to the stars flickering below.

Her heart was doing something strange again. But she didn’t mind.

Maybe, just maybe—

This kind of quiet… was the kind she wanted to stay in a little longer.

She didn’t say anything.

But maybe that silence was its own kind of reply.

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How was it? I hope this chapter gave you a bit of a calm.

If it did, I’d love to hear what you thought/felt :DD.