They still fight. They still cry. Aki still has nightmares about her broken tendon. Ren still forgets to eat.

Each night, she would whisper: “Kanjisasete, baby.”

“It’s yours,” Ren said. “And mine.” Yumemi Hoshino loved the song. Her A&R team hated it. “Too dark. Too raw. No one wants to feel that much on the radio.”

Ren felt something crack open in his chest — not his ribs, but something deeper. A cage he didn’t know he had.