Why? Why would this person step out now? Usually she was lukewarm to me, careless as drifting leaves. Since she learned my secret, it’s always been Maya Hanazaka reaching out. Always. Yunshi Bianqi, why are you doing this?

“Enough!”

Once they were far from that place and the two familiar figures were gone, Maya yanked her hand free. She stopped at the curb. A car swept past, wind like a sleeve, snatching her tears. Droplets flew in the air and fell by Yun Shi’s shoes. Yun Shi stopped too, expression blank, watching Maya cry.

“I don’t care what you do. I’m a freak. I like girls. You know that. I wanted to forget, but… but…”

Maya cried into her hands. The mischief was gone—the girl who’d grin at pretty faces and fish for a touch looked like a kitten in the rain.

To say Yun Shi felt nothing would be a lie. Her worst weakness was a girl’s tears. In past life or this one, that was the chink in her armor.

But she couldn’t accept it. The scene grated like a cracked mirror.

“Because I hate you.”

She should have offered comfort. Instead Yun Shi’s words fell like frost. Maya stared, shocked, at the girl in boys’ clothes.

“Maya Hanazaka, I hate you. No reason. I just do.”

Maya reeled. She needed a balm, and got a blade. No way that wouldn’t hurt.

She’d expected a soft “It’s okay,” a gentleness. Instead she got salt on fresh wounds. Old friends had already misread and cursed her; now this person piled on too.

“I hate you when you don’t take things seriously. I hate you even more when you’re not yourself, so—”

“If you hate me, then leave! Go! I don’t want to see you!”

Maya snapped before Yun Shi could finish. She screamed, her voice tearing like cloth.

In Maya’s heart, Yun Shi pulling her from that thorny place should have been comfort. She’d said what Maya wanted most to hear. So why this after? If she came just to scold, why take her away? None of it fit.

Yun Shi watched her coolly, no surprise in her eyes, as if she’d known this storm would come.

“What are you still doing here? Staying to laugh at me? I told you to leave!”

Anger flared. Maya gave Yun Shi a small shove, like a sparrow peck.

“I’m not leaving.”

No one expected it. Yun Shi dug in, stubborn as a rock, refusing to go.

“Yunshi Bianqi, what do you want? You dragged me off like an idiot, now say you hate me, and won’t leave. Tell me—what do you want!”

“I’m not leaving. What of it? I just can’t stand you.”

“Then get lost! I hate you too. It’s none of your business—why did you even come!”

“Because you’re Maya Hanazaka.”

“I don’t know. I have no idea what you mean. From the start, I haven’t. You’re a girl—why dress as a boy? I don’t get your head. Not at all.”

“So what.”

“Do I need to spell it? I told you to leave because I hate you most. Since you came as a boy, I’ve hated you. You’re always cruel, making me look small. I told you to go home, yet you showed up to watch the spectacle. You saw it all—what I am. So you should know.”

“…”

“Go away. I don’t want to see you.”

Maya delivered the final ultimatum, voice cold. She pointed down the road. No doubt—she was driving her off.

Yun Shi stayed quiet. She didn’t speak, didn’t leave. She stood there, blank-faced, her knuckles pale as frost.

The empty street felt like a stage for two. The driven girl stayed mute. Maya Hanazaka, her fringe a curtain, pointed away, cold as winter. The picture held both beauty and ache, telling where they stood.

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

After a long moment, Maya lifted her head and saw the girl still there. Her voice was cold, the dismissal plain.

“It was a lie, right? You said you like girls just to fool my friend, right?”

“…”

“Right. How could you be like me… no, you could never accept me like Mizuki. Only her—only Mizuki accepted me from start to finish. You were just acting on a whim, weren’t you!”

Maya had been self-mocking. Suddenly her face hardened. She glared at Yun Shi, eyes like knives.

Anger was natural. Yun Shi’s harsh words, to someone needing comfort, sounded like every voice that denied her. Disgust was expected.

But it wasn’t Yun Shi’s fault. She didn’t know how to comfort. She could be gentle, but it was hard. She was simply not candid, her mouth a locked box.

“At least this isn’t wrong: I’m a girl who likes girls.”

Yunshi Bianqi was a girl who liked girls. That fact was iron. It had never changed.

She saw surprise rise on Maya’s face. She said nothing more.

“Hey, Maya, why are you here? Oh, Yun Shi, you’re here too. What’s going on?”

“Yan Er…”

Maya only spoke the familiar name. Even she heard the tremor.

“Maya, you’re crying? What’s wrong? What happened!”

Seeing tear-tracks on Maya’s face, Yan Er came straight over, worry filling her like rainclouds.

It soothed Maya a little. At least someone cared.

Seeing Maya on the verge of tears again, Yun Shi felt her part was over. It shouldn’t have been hers to handle anyway. If someone else could, all the better.

“Maya Hanazaka, listen. I hate you. I envy you. You can at least choose to love girls, you can push back. But I… I can’t even steer my own fate.”

With that final line, Yun Shi turned and left. She ignored Maya’s face. No one saw the sliver of loneliness on hers, moonlight thin.

Yes. Maya could rebel, could choose her path. Yun Shi couldn’t; she couldn’t change her fate. Watching Maya throw herself away made Yun Shi angry. Maya was luckier than her—so why this despair? Yun Shi was the one who most needed comfort.

Maya stared at that lonely back. Her mouth opened, then closed. No words came.

Why… It felt like she was hurting, a hidden thorn under skin.

“Maya…”

Yan Er’s worried eyes pulled her back. Maya shook her head, brushing off the dust, saying she was fine.

“Yan Er, can you stay with me? I want to talk.”

Her voice was close to pleading. She clearly needed someone to hear her, like a tipped jar spilling water.

“And Yun Shi… is it really okay to just let her go…”

Thinking of the girl who had just left, Maya’s face went still, her eyes fogged.

That girl had pulled her away earlier, dragged her out of there. Her words were harsh, but she’d helped her, no matter how. But…

“I… don’t know…”

Maya spoke blankly. About Yun Shi, she was truly lost, walking in mist.

Yun Shi kept walking, face composed. Only in her deep eyes, loneliness leaked like shadow in still water.

She didn’t regret saying those words. She only felt heavy, a stone on her chest. If only she could turn a blind eye to friends.

Well, she’d done what needed doing. The rest, she’d let go, dropping the rope.

They walked together, she and Yan Er, and the distance to Yun Shi’s back stretched like dusk, until it vanished.

“Why.”

“Hm? What?”

“I mean Yun Shi… why did she do that.”

“…”

The two walking fell into silence. The topic was raw, and they were at a loss, snow-quiet.

They stayed quiet for a while. The setting sun bled west, marking time slipping away.

“Um, Maya, no one’s home at my place tonight, so…”

Yan Er turned back to fish for a safer topic, smiling, hope bright as lanterns in her eyes.

Maya didn’t bite. Normally she’d be delighted. But now, her mood was rain.

“Yan Er, back in middle school, I was a messed-up lesbian.”

Yan Er hadn’t expected it. She’d kept quiet out of respect, but Maya brought the blade of the topic out herself.

“I’m a girl who loves girls. It isn’t much of a secret at school now. But in junior high I hid it. I hid because I was afraid of those strange eyes, needles on my skin.”

Yan Er listened quietly, focused. Then Maya stopped, her back a shield to Yan Er.

“Until I confessed to my first love, Mizuki, no one knew. After that, the secret was out, like a stone dropped in a still pond.”

But Maya Hanazaka’s face knotted with struggle and pain.

The moment the past was spoken, her heart plunged to the bottom of the valley.

It’s a memory she can’t wash away, a shadow that never loosens its grip.