After classes, I always sold mitarashi dango in the quiet Yuenchi park. And every afternoon, a girl with golden hair sits on the same bench across from me, always sketching, and always stuck in the same routine as me.

She was my classmate, Kousaka Akari—and I can call her the epitome of a rigid existence. Cold and brash, beautiful in the way that draws stares, yet sharp enough to drive everyone away.

I was a silent witness to her indifference—between school and the outside world, between being a classmate and a stranger. We never talked to each other, and I respected the distance.

Until one rainy day, I was forced to cross the invisible line between us and I offered her my umbrella—and I expected nothing in return.

It wasn’t a grand gesture, but neither would I expect for our lives to shift and bloom into something I can’t even name.

Maybe it’s a story of a boy who was left behind…and the golden flower he never meant to steal beneath the rain.