Five words

Chapter 19 — Five Words
Akito stared at the photograph.
Fuku stood beside Hana in the village garden, smiling at the camera. It looked ordinary—until he turned it over.
Please don't tell him yet.
Who had written that?
And what weren't they supposed to tell him?
He called Tsukasa immediately.
“Where did you find this?”
“Inside the envelope Fuku left yesterday. Why?”
“Did you read the back?”
A pause.
“Of course I read it. I can read, Akito.”
“Tsukasa.”
“I don't know who wrote it. Fuku didn't explain anything.”
Akito examined the photograph again. Hana looked younger in it, but the expression on her face was unmistakable.
He wanted answers. Unfortunately, the only person who might have them was in the village—and he was supposed to leave in an hour.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Miko.
Miko: Have a safe trip.
He read it twice.
No question about when he would return. No mention of yesterday.
Just four words that somehow felt farther away than the five years they'd spent apart.
Akito typed a reply.
Akito: I wish you were coming.
He hesitated, then sent it before he could change his mind.
Miko read the message while standing outside the café.
For a moment, she considered asking him to wait.
Instead, she locked her phone and went inside.
She couldn't keep chasing someone who might not want her beside him.
And Akito, unaware of what she'd been telling herself, packed the photograph into his bag.
Whatever awaited him in the village, he would face it today.
But as his train pulled away from the station, another message arrived from an unknown number.
Unknown: Akito Kazama? Don't ask Hana about the photograph.
He stared at the screen.
Then a second message appeared.
Unknown: Especially not in front of Fuku.