✯The Ones Who Leave, the Ones Who Stay✯

The morning felt too quiet.For the first time in years, Shinchan didn’t have a reason to hurry out of bed. He just stared at the ceiling fan turning lazily above him, hearing his own voice echo inside his head.

> “We never met again after that evening.”

He tried to tell himself it was fine—people move on, dreams take them far away—but every memory under the banyan tree replayed like a film he couldn’t pause. The way Kazama used to glance at him mid-sentence, the way their laughter filled the empty schoolyard after everyone left.

His phone buzzed.Masao’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hey, Shinchan,” Masao’s voice was trembling a little, “did you hear? Kazama’s leaving today. He’s going to America.”

“I know,” Shinchan replied flatly.

Masao hesitated. “You knew? Then… aren’t you going to meet him for the last time? You two were—well, are—best friends.”

Silence. Shinchan’s throat tightened. “No. There’s no point.” He hung up before Masao could say anything else.

The phone slipped from his hand onto the bedsheet. For a long moment, Shinchan just sat there, blank. Then, slowly, the memories started to flood back—every conversation under that tree, every smile, every silence that had meant something more.

He pressed a palm against his chest.It hurt. It actually hurt.

And that’s when it hit him.He didn’t just like Kazama.He loved him—more than himself.

Without thinking, he grabbed his phone, shoved his feet into his sneakers, and bolted out the door.

“Shinchan! Where are you going?” Misae shouted from the kitchen.

“Wait—take an umbrella!” Himawari squealed, toddling after him.

But he didn’t stop. He couldn’t. The only thought in his head was get there, now.

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At the Airport

The traffic was a blur. Shinchan reached the terminal breathless, scanning faces, searching desperately for the one he knew too well.

“Kazama!” he shouted once, then again, louder, but his voice drowned in the noise of rolling suitcases and boarding calls.

He pushed through the crowd until he reached the glass window just in time to see a plane taxiing toward the runway—Kazama’s flight.

His knees weakened.He had missed him.

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At the Riverside

The evening sky was painted in bruised shades of pink and violet when Shinchan reached their riverside spot—the quiet place where they used to sit when the banyan tree felt too crowded with memories.

He looked up at the fading contrail of the departing plane and felt something inside him break.

Tears stung his eyes as he shouted, voice cracking,“I LOVE YOU, KAZAMA!”

The wind carried the words into the distance, across the water, disappearing like ripples.

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In the Sky

High above the clouds, Kazama stared blankly at his phone. The SIM card lay snapped in his palm. He’d broken it before take-off, thinking distance would make everything easier.

But when the city lights faded beneath him, a sharp ache clawed at his chest. He closed his eyes, a single tear slipping down his cheek.

> “If you’d just told me to stay…”

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End of Chapter 11

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