"Rain never asks permission. It simply arrives, quietly filling the spaces between people."
It rained on Thursday.
Not a heavy rain. Just enough to soak the tips of your shoes and make the world seem quieter than it really was. Like the clouds had pulled a curtain across the sky, dimming the light and muting the volume of everything.
Kazuki Minamino walked without an umbrella.
Not because he forgot it—he hadn't—but because he liked the sound of rain when it hit his hood. It gave him something to focus on besides the steady drone of life, besides the chatter in classrooms and the bright lights in hallways and the voices that filled the air like clutter.
It was that kind of day. The kind that felt like it came from a memory you hadn't lived yet.
His shoes were soaked by the time he turned onto Shinonome Street.
And there it was.
The old bus stop. Curved roof. Rusted bench. A faded map behind fogged glass that nobody ever read. It looked like a place that existed outside of time. Like if he stood there long enough, the world would forget to move forward.
And she was there.
A girl. His classmate, technically. But he didn't know her name. He didn't need to. She was always quiet. The kind of quiet that didn't feel shy, just… self-contained. Like she'd built a world for herself and didn't invite anyone in unless they had the password.
She sat on the far side of the bench, reading a small book. The cover was faded, the pages slightly curled from past rains. Her hair was long and dark, tucked behind one ear. Drops of rain clung to her bangs. Her uniform was neat, even though her shoes looked worn out. A black umbrella leaned against the bench, closed, almost forgotten.
Kazuki hesitated before stepping under the roof.
The rain made a soft thup-thup sound against his hoodie. He glanced at her. She didn't look up.
So he sat.
One meter apart. Exactly. The rain made everything feel narrower. Time. Distance. Thought. He wondered if she even noticed he was there. Or if he was just another body passing through her quiet afternoon.
The bus wouldn't come for another ten minutes.
And that was okay.
Kazuki didn't check his phone. He didn't try to make conversation. He just sat and listened. The rain wasn't loud, but it filled the space between them like a conversation neither of them wanted to start.
She turned a page.
Her fingers were pale and careful, like she was afraid of bending the paper too fast.
He looked away.
A few students passed by with umbrellas, glancing at the bus stop but not stopping. The kind of glances that said oh, someone's already there, and then moved on.
Kazuki watched the water drip from the edge of the roof. One drop. Then another. Like a metronome counting down something only the two of them could hear.
He didn't know how much time passed before the bus pulled up. It came with a soft hiss, like even it didn't want to interrupt the moment.
She closed her book.
Not a single word had been spoken.
She stood and stepped onto the bus. He followed. They didn't sit next to each other. Of course not. That wasn't how it worked. The unspoken rules of strangers were still in play. Still sacred.
He sat two rows behind her, by the window. She looked out the other side.
The bus moved. The rain tapped against the glass. Kazuki traced a line with his finger across the condensation. Not a name. Not a word. Just a line. A direction. Forward.
The ride home took twelve minutes.
She got off two stops before him. Didn't look back.
The bus rolled on.
Kazuki leaned his head against the window. The rain made everything outside look softer, like the world had been blurred on purpose. A watercolor painting left out too long.
He didn't know why, but something about the silence had settled deep inside him. Not like loneliness. Not like love. Just… the sense that something had changed. Or would change. That somehow, he'd remember this Thursday more than the others.
And the next day at school, she sat in her usual seat. Second row from the window. Head down. No book today. No rain.
She didn't glance at him.
And Kazuki didn't speak.
But when Thursday came again, and the clouds rolled in, he took the long way home.
Just to see if she'd be there.