The weather the next day was annoyingly perfect.
Clear sky. Warm breeze. The kind of day people in romance movies go out for ice cream or confess feelings under trees.
Aki hated it.
He walked toward the school gate, earbuds in, trying to drown out the world with classical piano. Chopin, mostly. The one thing that kept his brain quiet.
"Morning, partner!"
Too loud. Too close.
Aki flinched and pulled an earbud out.
Haru.
Of course.
"Let me guess," Haru said, peeking at Aki's phone screen. "Dramatic sad piano again?"
"It's not sad. It's calming."
Haru scrunched his nose. "Sounds like background music before someone dies in a movie."
"…You have no taste."
"And you have no fun," Haru shot back, grinning. "Anyway, we're eating lunch together today."
Aki stopped walking. "We are?"
"Yup. I already told everyone I'm not sitting with them."
Aki frowned. "Why?"
Haru blinked at him, like the question itself was weird. "Because I want to sit with you."
Aki didn't know what to say to that.
He thought people like Haru needed attention, noise, chaos. Not someone like him — quiet, boring, forgettable.
But here he was again.
Lunchtime. Rooftop.
They sat cross-legged on opposite sides of a bench.
Haru had a plastic bag full of snacks — melon bread, canned coffee, two rice balls, and something suspiciously spicy.
"You didn't bring lunch?" Aki asked.
"I live on impulse," Haru said proudly, mouth full.
"You live on junk."
"Details, details."
Aki sighed, then silently pushed half of his neatly packed bento toward Haru. Just a bit of rice and grilled salmon.
Haru blinked. "Wait, really?"
"Take it before I change my mind."
Haru took a bite. "Holy crap—this is good. You cook?"
"No. My sister made it."
"She should adopt me."
"…She'd regret it."
Haru snorted, nearly choking.
A moment of silence passed. Aki looked out over the schoolyard below. Tiny students walked around, laughing, yelling, living their lives without hesitation.
"You're different than I thought," Haru said suddenly.
Aki glanced at him. "What do you mean?"
"I dunno. You seemed… cold. But you're not. You're just quiet."
Aki lowered his eyes. "People assume things when you don't speak."
"Yeah. But I hate assumptions," Haru said with a shrug. "That's why I wanna figure you out properly."
"…Why bother?"
"Because you matter," Haru said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Aki froze.
He didn't know what to do with those words.
So he just looked away again.
That night, his journal entry was shorter than usual:
"He said I matter.
I wish I knew how to believe that."