The Message

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CHAPTER 10: THE MESSAGE

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───

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The group was walking home together.

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It was the first time all five of us had walked home at the same time. We were talking. Laughing. For a moment, it felt like we were real friends.

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Then Hana's phone buzzed.

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She looked at it. Her face changed. The smile disappeared. It didn't fade. It vanished. Like someone had turned off a light.

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"I have to go," she said.

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She didn't wait for a response. She just turned and walked away. Fast. Too fast.

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Yuki called after her. "Hana? Are you okay?"

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She didn't answer. She just kept walking.

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Ren made a joke. It wasn't funny.

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Mei said nothing. She just watched Hana go.

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I watched her too. I noticed she was walking too fast. I noticed she was holding her phone too tight. I noticed she didn't look back.

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───

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That night, I lay on my futon and thought about Hana.

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I thought about the bento. The house. The bare walls. The flickering smile. The message.

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I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know why she had left so fast.

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But I knew it was something. Something she was hiding. Something she didn't want anyone to see.

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I opened my notebook.

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The one with Akari's name.

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I looked at the last page. The date. The name. The sentence I had never finished.

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"The thing about being invisible is—"

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I closed the notebook.

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I didn't finish it.

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But I thought about it.

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For the first time in two years, I thought about finishing it. 114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSWXKh1xYz

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