Chapter Sixteen: A Rumor and a Question

The weather turned colder overnight, the kind of sharp autumn air that snuck beneath scarves and sleeves and made everyone hunch their shoulders. At Aoba High, students shuffled into classrooms red-cheeked and shivering, breath fogging the hallways.

Inside the dorm, Takara Minami was wrapped in two blankets, a hoodie, and a look of pure betrayal.

"Kayo," he whined from his bed, "I can see my breath. Indoors. Indoors!"

Across the room, Kayo Tsukishiro was layering a cardigan over his uniform with all the calm of a monk in meditation. "It's October."

"Yeah, but we're dying. Together. In this frozen tomb of a dorm."

Kayo sighed. "The heater's scheduled to cycle on in twenty minutes."

Takara groaned and rolled off the bed in a tangled mess of flannel. "I hate it here."

Kayo handed him a warm can of coffee from the mini-fridge. "Drama aside, are you okay?"

Takara took the can and gave him a tired smile. "I just didn't sleep much. I kept dreaming about weird stuff. Like, losing my voice while shouting in a crowd."

"Sounds like stress," Kayo said gently. "Is it school?"

Takara hesitated. "Not exactly…"

And he didn't elaborate.

Because something else was on his mind.

It started after second period.

Takara had just left his literature class when a group of third-year girls passed him in the hallway, whispering behind cupped hands. He didn't catch everything, but he heard enough.

"Is it true they're actually dating now?"

"Didn't you see them at the lounge last night?"

"Kayo Tsukishiro's smiling now—like, actual smiles."

Takara ducked his head and walked faster.

He wasn't embarrassed exactly—but he hadn't realized how visible he and Kayo had become. People were noticing, speculating. Turning their late-night studying and quiet hand-holding into campus folklore.

And part of him wondered… did Kayo know?

Was he okay with it?

By lunch, Takara's nerves had caught up with him.

He poked at his rice, appetite shot, while Kayo quietly unpacked their shared bento under the ginkgo trees behind the science building.

"You're not eating," Kayo said.

Takara leaned back on his elbows. "Not hungry."

Kayo frowned. "That's not like you."

Takara hesitated. "Can I ask something? And don't get weird."

Kayo blinked. "That's a very suspicious preface."

Takara laughed once, dryly. "Have you heard the rumors? About… us?"

Kayo chewed a piece of tamagoyaki before answering. "I've heard a few things."

"And?"

"I don't care."

That threw Takara off. "You don't care that people know?"

Kayo shrugged. "They were going to find out eventually. We live together. You talk about your feelings loudly."

Takara squawked. "I do not!"

"You once called me 'your moody ray of winter sunshine' in front of the vending machines."

"That was poetic!"

Kayo smiled. "It was."

Takara played with the edge of the bento box. "So it doesn't bother you?"

"No," Kayo said. "But I don't want them defining us. They only see a piece of the picture."

Takara looked up. "What's the full picture?"

Kayo leaned in slightly. "You. Me. Two boys figuring out how to care about each other. Messily. Quietly. Loudly. All of it."

Takara stared at him, heart pounding. "You're getting good at this."

"At what?"

"Being romantic."

Kayo smirked. "I've had practice."

Later that evening, Kayo returned from study hall to find Takara sitting on the floor by their beds, a stack of hand-folded paper stars in front of him.

"What's this?" Kayo asked, setting down his bag.

Takara held one up. "Paper stars. You write a wish inside before folding. My grandma used to do this with me."

Kayo knelt beside him, watching as Takara scrawled something onto a thin strip of paper, rolled it, and creased the shape into a tiny star.

"What do you wish for?" Kayo asked.

Takara bit his lip. "Can't tell you. That's the rule."

Kayo reached for a strip. "Then I'll write one too."

They sat in comfortable silence, folding stars until the dorm lights dimmed automatically at curfew.

By the end, a small glass jar sat between them, half-filled with wishes unspoken.

Takara held it up to the lamp. "Do you believe in this stuff?"

Kayo looked at him. "I believe in you."

Takara's breath caught.

They didn't kiss.

But they didn't need to.

The jar glowed between them like a shared secret.