24/07/2025
Extra Chapter — “The Promise That Never Happened”
The night hung still, as if time itself had paused just to watch the silence.
The dark room held her sorrow gently, as though afraid to disturb it any further.
Yuzukura lay curled on her side, knees slightly drawn up, wearing a long-sleeved white blouse and tight black shorts that hugged her form with quiet intimacy.
The thin fabric clung to her warm skin, damp with long-dried tears.
She covered her eyes with her arm—not out of shame, but exhaustion.
As if hiding the world was the only way to keep herself from breaking again.
— “You… promised you would come.”
The words slipped out like a trembling whisper.
There was no blame in her voice, only the quiet ache of someone who had believed too deeply.
The room remained silent.
No answer came.
No touch.
No presence.
Only the darkness embraced her.
Later, the next morning…
Golden light spilled through the curtains.
The world seemed to go on, even if she wasn’t ready to.
Yuzukura slowly opened her eyes.
The sleeve of her white blouse still brushed her face—damp, marked.
She looked to her side.
The space beside her in bed remained untouched.
Cold.
Distant.
She sat up quietly, long strands of hair falling over her shoulders.
The wrinkled white blouse, the tight black shorts—everything on her seemed to say that she had waited… until the end.
With weak steps, she walked to her mother’s room, where the silence felt almost maternal.
She sat at the edge of the bed.
Didn’t speak.
Let the silence speak for her.
Even here, far from everything that reminded her of you, the deepest pain was this:
you didn’t come.
And in that stillness, Yuzukura cried once more.
No drama.
No screams.
Just the raw pain of someone who still believes in promises.
