Heaven Has No Place for Us
POV: Dual – Anika & Rai Kurosawa
Anika – Somewhere in the city
1:17 AM
She ran.
Barefoot. Breathless. Broken.
The silk kimono clung to her like a lie — a beautiful deception wrapped around her shattering heart.
Streetlights blurred as she fled through empty alleys, the taste of betrayal thick on her tongue. Every footstep echoed her question: Why?
Why her?
Why the lies?
Why did it hurt more that he didn't chase after her?
She found herself in a quiet park, under the skeleton branches of a winter-stripped cherry tree. She collapsed onto a bench, pulling her knees to her chest as cold wind sliced through her.
Tears spilled down.
Not because she loved him.
But because a part of her still did.
---
Rai – Kurosawa Penthouse, Balcony
1:32 AM
He watched the city as if it might burn for him.
He deserved that, didn't he?
Anika's slap still echoed on his skin. But the real sting was her eyes — the way she looked at him not like a monster, but like a fallen angel she once believed in.
He poured himself another drink, but the glass never made it to his lips.
"You made me wear her kimono."
Yes. He had.
A mistake? A test? A twisted homage to a ghost he couldn't bury?
Maybe all of it.
He whispered to the night, "She wasn't supposed to matter."
But she did.
More than he could admit. More than he was allowed to admit.
---
Anika – Flashback to Rai's Touch
His fingers in her hair.
His breath at her neck.
His kiss — trembling, restrained, like he was kissing a sin he didn't deserve.
It was all real. She knew it was.
But now…
What did that truth matter, if it was soaked in blood?
---
Rai – Internal Monologue
"If heaven existed…"
He closed his eyes.
"…she'd never let me in."
He remembered his mother's last words again.
"Kurosawa men don't get heaven. We make peace with hell and learn to love the fire."
And Anika — she was made of stardust and storms.
She didn't belong in his world.
And yet, she was there. Wrapped in his shadows. Stained by his hands.
And he hated himself for it.
---
Anika – Park Bench
A stranger approached.
Tall. Pale hair. A cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Not a threat. A presence.
Kenji.
"You should come back," he said quietly.
She didn't flinch. "To what?"
"To a man who's dying slowly without you."
She laughed bitterly. "Good. He deserves it."
Kenji didn't argue. He just dropped something beside her.
A phone.
"Rai's never apologized to anyone in his life," Kenji said. "But there's a message on that. If you want to hear it."
He walked away, disappearing into the mist like a ghost with perfect timing.
---
The Voice Message – Rai's Voice
"Anika..."
"You were never a replacement. Not even for a moment."
"That kimono was hers, yes. But when you wore it, I saw life again. You wore it better — not because of the silk, but because you made something broken look sacred again."
"I don't deserve forgiveness. I don't even deserve your hatred. But I need you to know one thing."
"If I had met you in another life, another world — I would have loved you like a man, not like a monster."
"But heaven has no place for us."
"Only this ruin. And I'm sorry for pulling you into it."
Click.
Silence.
Anika stared at the phone in her lap, heart splintering again.
She whispered into the cold night, "Then maybe I'll burn with you."