---
After the festival had ended and the noise faded into a distant hum, Reiji wandered behind the school building.
There she was—Nao—walking alone through the overgrown backyard, her shadow long under the dimming sky.
He didn't think. His feet moved on their own.
"Hey," he called out.
She turned slightly but didn't stop walking. "You always appear when no one's looking," she said softly.
Reiji caught up beside her, pacing her steps. "I saw you practicing yesterday. Before anyone even knew what happened."
She stopped, smirk tugging at her lips without turning around.
"Did you know?" he asked. "That the leader twisted her ankle... even before everyone else did?"
She slowly turned her head, her eyes calm but sharp.
"Why would you care about someone you gave meaning to?" she asked, her tone quiet but cutting.
Reiji froze for a second—her words echoing the very philosophy he used to distance himself from everyone else.
A pause.
Then she continued, as if nothing had happened.
"She told me herself. Asked me to be her backup in case it got worse."
Nao looked up at the fading sky.
"But she didn't want the others to worry, so she waited until the last minute to tell them."
She turned back toward the path, leaving Reiji standing in silence.
---
As she walked away, her words echoed louder than the fading festival behind them.
"Why would you care about someone you gave meaning to?"
Reiji stood still, eyes fixed on the spot she'd just been.
He wanted to laugh—maybe even scoff—but the sound caught in his throat.
For a moment, he wondered if someone like her could actually see through him.
And for the first time in a long while…
He didn't know how to feel about that.
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