Into The Rain With You

After school, I found myself back in the park. The rain from earlier in the week had left the ground wet and cold, but I didn't care. I needed to be alone again. To think.

As I walked down the familiar path, I spotted someone sitting under the same tree near the bench. My first instinct was to look away, to pretend I hadn't seen her, but something kept me rooted to the spot.

It was Haruka.

She wasn't reading a book this time. Instead, she was just sitting there, looking at the sky with a distant, almost wistful expression. For a moment, I hesitated, unsure whether I should approach her or not. But then, as if sensing my presence, she turned her head slightly and caught my eye.

"Back again?" she asked, her voice low but warm.

I stopped a few feet away from her, unsure of what to say. "Yeah… just needed to get out of there for a bit."

She nodded, her gaze drifting back to the sky. "It's better out here, isn't it? Less noise. Less expectation."

I didn't say anything at first. Instead, I sat down next to her, the cool breeze tugging at my jacket. We sat in silence for a long moment, just watching the world go by. It was strange, being here with her like this, so far removed from the usual chatter and chaos of the school.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this," I said suddenly, my voice feeling too loud in the stillness, "but I don't think I know who I am anymore."

Haruka didn't look at me when she spoke. Her voice was soft, almost detached. "It's okay not to know. We spend so much time pretending to have it all figured out, but sometimes it's better to just… be. Even if you don't know what comes next."

Her words hit me harder than I expected. There was something so honest in her simplicity. She wasn't asking for anything. She wasn't trying to fix me. She was just… present.

I looked at her, finally seeing the calm I had been searching for in someone else. She was the one person who didn't need to perform. She didn't need validation or praise.

It made me wonder… Could I be like that too?