The Pursuit of Secrets

Ethan had been avoiding Mira's eyes all day, too aware of the tension between them ever since the discovery of the sketch. Her words—"You've been drawing me?"—echoed in his mind, but it was the image of Kaito, drawn so precisely, that kept him awake at night. The stranger from the rooftop, the name he had written years ago, and now, this sketch that felt like an omen.

He couldn't ignore it any longer.

The next afternoon, Mira invited him to meet at the café they often went to after school. She seemed lighthearted, almost playful, but there was an edge to her that made Ethan nervous. It was like she was waiting for him to say something, and every time he opened his mouth, the words stuck.

He could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he walked up to her table, her gaze fixed on him. She was sitting there, sketchbook open on the table. His pulse quickened, but he couldn't back out now.

"Mira, about the sketch..." Ethan began, but she held up a hand, stopping him.

"I know. You've been thinking about it, haven't you?" she asked softly, her voice a little too understanding for his liking. She didn't look at him as she spoke; instead, she stared at the page in her sketchbook, tracing the edge of the paper with her finger.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew him?" Ethan asked. His voice was quieter than he intended, the words coming out almost like a whisper.

Mira closed the book, the soft thud of the cover closing seemed to pull Ethan from his thoughts. She finally met his eyes, her expression unreadable. "I didn't know him. Not in the way you think."

Ethan frowned. "Then why… Why did you draw him?"

Mira hesitated, her fingers gripping the edges of her coffee cup. "I don't know, Ethan. It's like he's been following me, in my dreams. I can't explain it. The face keeps showing up."

Ethan's breath caught. Dreams. Was it the same for her? The sense of something familiar, a pull toward a life he couldn't remember? His mind raced as he tried to connect the dots between Mira's dreams and the person he had met on the rooftop.

"Wait, you've seen him in your dreams?" Ethan asked. He leaned forward, suddenly more alert than ever.

Mira nodded. "I have. And I think—" She broke off, biting her lip. "I think I was meant to find you, Ethan. You're the key to all of this."

Ethan's heart pounded in his chest. "The key to what?"

Mira looked at him, her eyes dark with uncertainty. "I don't know. But I feel like there's something bigger happening. And I don't think it's a coincidence that we're all connected."

A shiver ran down his spine. Kaito, dreams, this feeling that something was wrong. Ethan could feel it, too—the way his life had shifted ever since that moment on the rooftop, how every part of him felt drawn into something much larger than what he had known before.

"Maybe we should figure it out," Ethan said, his voice barely a murmur.

Mira's lips curved into a small smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I've been trying to figure it out for months, Ethan. I don't know where it's going, but I can't shake the feeling that we're all supposed to meet—Kaito, you, and me."

The words sent a chill through him. He glanced at the door, as though expecting Kaito to walk in at any moment, but the café remained empty except for the two of them.

"You're not alone in this," Mira added, breaking the silence that had stretched between them. "I'm not going anywhere. But we need to be careful. Whatever this is… it's bigger than us."

Ethan stared at her, the weight of her words sinking in. The soft hum of the café suddenly seemed so far away, as if they were standing on the edge of something dangerous and unknown. There was no turning back now.

Before he could speak again, a sudden knock at the door startled them both. Mira's hand froze mid-air, and Ethan's heart skipped a beat.

The door opened just a crack, and there he was.

Kaito.

He stood there, his expression unreadable, his eyes flicking between Ethan and Mira. A shiver ran down Ethan's spine.

"Looking for me?" Kaito asked, his voice as cool and distant as it had been the last time they met. "I think it's time you remembered."