Chapter 26: The Goodbye He Couldn’t Say

The city lights flickered beneath us, scattered like broken stars struggling to stay alight.

The rooftop was colder than usual, but she didn’t seem to notice — or maybe she did, and it didn’t matter anymore.

Yume stood close, her blind eyes turned up toward the sky as if trying to catch every sound, every whisper the night carried.

The wind tangled her hair, and I reached out to brush it away, fingers trembling against her cheek.

“Do you think dreams ever get tired?” she asked quietly.

I blinked, surprised by the sudden softness in her voice.

“What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath. “Like… sometimes I wonder if dreams just... give up.”

“Why would they?” I asked, my voice rough.

“Because sometimes,” she said, voice barely above the breeze, “the world’s too heavy for them.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked down at her, wanting to say something—anything—to make the heaviness lighter, but the words got stuck.

“So,” she said, turning her face toward me, “if I die tomorrow…”

My heart seized.

She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.

Her next words came like a fragile confession, the kind that shatters before it lands.

“I’d want tonight to be like this.”

For a long moment, silence wrapped around us, thick and suffocating.

I wanted to reach for the stars and pull them down for her—promises she could hold on to—but all I could do was breathe.

“I promise,” I said finally, voice steady despite the storm inside.

“Always,” I added, because ‘forever’ was a word I wasn’t allowed to say.

Her lips curved into a small smile, a smile that felt like the last light before a long, dark winter.

“I’m glad,” she whispered.

We stood there, hand in hand, the city breathing beneath us like a living thing, unaware of the quiet farewell that hung between two souls clinging to time.

The night folded around us as if trying to keep our secret safe—our goodbye, unspoken but understood.

Tomorrow, I would fight not just for money or pride.

I would fight for her — for the moments still left in this borrowed time.

And if I didn’t come back…

I wanted her to know, I never stopped loving her.