Chapter Eight: Let Me Be the One to Remember Arisol didn’t go to class after lunch. She wandered the back path behind the school instead, where the sakura trees grew along the fence and the wind made the leaves sound like whispers. She needed quiet. Her mind couldn’t make sense of anything—her father’s last breath, Yuki’s blank stare, the empty space in her chest where things used to feel whole. She found a bench near the gym and sat, hands trembling as she opened her red notebook. The pages fluttered in the wind, and for a second she thought maybe the words would just write themselves. But they didn’t. They waited—for her. She pulled out a pen and wrote the first thing that came to her: “If you can forget me, I will be the one to remember us both.” “Ari!” Mina’s voice called from across the yard, running toward her with Haru and Ren in tow. “The school called your aunt—she said to come home early. Are you okay?” “I’m not,” Arisol said quietly. “But I will be.” The three of them stayed with her while she packed up. For a while, they didn’t speak—just walked together toward the front gate like nothing had changed, even though everything had. Before leaving, Arisol glanced back toward the field. Yuki was there again, this time alone, sitting at the lowest bleacher, drawing in a small sketchpad. His hair was longer today. His sleeves pushed up. His posture relaxed. He looked… normal. Like someone who hadn’t broken her heart. Like someone who didn’t carry a grave inside their chest. Arisol exhaled and took a step forward. “No more hiding,” she whispered to herself. “I’m going to talk to him.”
chapter 9-11 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1203087578
