Chapter 27 : two women, one plan

Mikito Nijima had been at the company for exactly three weeks.She still got lost in the corridors.She still double-checked every email.And she still didn’t know where the good coffee was.But she already liked Ayase.“Are you settling in okay?” Ayase asked, leaning on Mikito’s desk.“I think so… I’m still afraid I’ll send the wrong file to the boss one day.”Ayase laughed.“Don’t worry, I did that once. He survived.”Mikito smiled.That’s why, when Ayase lowered her voice and said, “Can I ask you something a little… personal?”, Mikito didn’t immediately refuse.“It’s about your husband.”Mikito’s smile faded slightly.“…Toma?”“I know I just met you, but… Ren really wants to meet him. Properly.”Mikito hesitated.“He’s not ready.”“I know. But I think he needs it.”Silence.Mikito looked at her hands.“Toma thinks the world forgot him.”Ayase shook her head.“It didn’t. It just learned to miss him quietly.”Mikito closed her eyes for a second.“…One meeting,” she whispered.The meeting place was a small picnic shelter inside a park.Ren was already there, sitting nervously, fixing and unfixing his sleeves.Then the sound of a wheelchair.Toma entered first pushed by Mikito.Ren’s breath caught.Toma’s eyes met his.Neither spoke.Ayase, outside, smiled softly.The plan had worked.Maybe.~Mikito left.Ren and Toma were alone.For a long moment, neither of them spoke.The ticking of the Ren's watch felt too loud.“…You didn’t have to come,” Ren said finally.Toma straightened.“I wanted to.”Then he looked at him.“You don’t need anything from me.”Ren shook his head.“That’s not true.”He hesitated, then bowed his head.“When I was a rookie… I was terrible.”Toma’s fingers tightened on the wheels of his chair.“You were loud, slow, and you missed your marks,” Toma said flatly.Ren smiled weakly.“Yes. Exactly.”“…You stayed after shooting. You repeated scenes with me. You told the director to give me one more chance.”Toma looked away.“I don’t remember.”“You taught me how to breathe before a scene,” Ren continued. “How to listen. How to fail without breaking.”His voice trembled.“I wouldn’t be here without you.”Silence.Toma closed his eyes.“That was another life.”“But you’re still the same person.”Toma laughed bitterly.“No. I’m not.”Ren stood before knelt in front of him.Carefully. Slowly.“…You’re still my actor.”Toma’s breath caught.“Don’t,” he whispered.

A little bit far from the shelter.Ayase leaned against a tree.Mikito stood beside her, hands folded.“I know Toma since highschool, he was already in the drama club, he was kind and adorable, I'm still surprised that he picked me to be his girlfriend and later his wife" she glanced and the golden ring on her finger, “when I went to college his career started, but we always had time for each other, on my graduation day he proposed” she looked at the starry sky, “he needed support so I became a housewife, my parents were disappointed, they never met dear grandchild, no matter how much we tried” Mikito said with a sad voice, Ayase just looked at her “For years, my world was Toma, it's still the case, and then the accident, I was picking up Kenta from kindergarten, it's the most painful memories of my life even childbirth wasn't that painful, but here we are.”“do you hate his fame ?”“ I used to...but he loved that fame, I thought we wouldn't survive, people from the industry divorce so quickly and easily, or I thought I could never understand his world. And then I started loving it, but I was afraid too. Afraid that if I wasn’t useful, I’d disappear.”Ayase nodded and after a long Silence she talked.“My parents were firefighters. They died on duty.”Mikito turned to her, shocked.“I’m raising my two brothers alone now.”“…That’s… very brave.”“It’s not bravery,” Ayase said softly. “It’s just necessity.”Mikito smiled sadly.“Then maybe this is ours.”

Back to the picnic shelter, Ren whispered:

“I just wanted to say thank you.”Toma looked at him, eyes burning.“…You should have let me disappear.”Ren shook his head.“No.”Toma felt seen.~The meeting ended quietly.Too quietly.Ren came out, eyes red, shoulders heavy.Ayase was still there.Mikito entered.“…How did it go?” she asked.Ren tried to smile.“I told him everything.”They walked side by side toward the park entrance.The silence felt different now. Warmer. Dangerous.“Ayase,” Ren said suddenly. “Thank you”“ don't mention it” she smiled shyly.

He stopped a cab for her

Ren stared at her “Do you ever get tired of being strong?”She froze.“…Every day.”He looked at her, really looked.The woman who held too much on her shoulders.The woman who never asked for anything.“You don’t have to carry everything alone,” he said softly.She swallowed.The space between them felt smaller.Ren’s hand trembled as he reached out.Their faces were close.Too close.Ayase’s breath caught.For a second, she almost leaned in.Almost.Then she stepped back.“…I can’t.”Ren froze.“Why?”“I just can't ” she whispered,She opened the door's cab and enteredRen stayed outside, watching the door closes.Not broken.Just… waiting.End of chapter 27