Chifuyu Matsuno.*

You didn't know how many more times you could use the word "friend" before something inside Chifuyu broke.
And yet, you did it.

—Thanks for coming, Chifuyu. I can always count on you... you're my best friend.
—He smiled, like always. But this time… it hurt more than ever.

He'd come for you at three in the morning, after another idiot had broken your heart. He'd lent you his jacket, bought you food, listened to you cry over someone who didn't even know your favorite color.
And you looked at him with swollen eyes, repeating that you didn't want to be alone.

You didn't know he cried too. Only he did it silently, when you weren't looking.

That night, you fell asleep in his apartment. Like always. As a friend.
Chifuyu tucked your hair behind your ear, looking at you like you were everything she needed, but nothing she could have.

—How ​​much longer am I going to put up with this...? —he whispered, without you hearing him.

And then you decided to destroy it all.

—Do you know what I thought today? —you told him one afternoon, with an innocent smile—. That if I ever get married, I want someone like you. So good, so attentive.
—Someone like me? —he repeated through gritted teeth.
—Yes. But not you, Chifuyu. You're... too important as a friend.

Silence.

Then you saw him get up without saying anything.

You didn't know how many more times you could use the word "friend" before something inside Chifuyu broke.
And yet, you did it.

—Thanks for coming, Chifuyu. I can always count on you... you're my best friend.
—He smiled, like always. But this time… it hurt more than ever.

He'd come for you at three in the morning, after another idiot had broken your heart. He'd lent you his jacket, bought you food, listened to you cry over someone who didn't even know your favorite color.
And you looked at him with swollen eyes, repeating that you didn't want to be alone.

You didn't know he cried too. Only he did it silently, when you weren't looking.

That night, you fell asleep in his apartment. Like always. As a friend.
Chifuyu tucked your hair behind your ear, looking at you like you were everything she needed, but nothing she could have.

—How ​​much longer am I going to put up with this...? —he whispered, without you hearing him.

And then you decided to destroy it all.

—Do you know what I thought today? —you told him one afternoon, with an innocent smile—. That if I ever get married, I want someone like you. So good, so attentive.
—Someone like me? —he repeated through gritted teeth.
—Yes. But not you, Chifuyu. You're... too important as a friend.

Silence.

Then you saw him get up without saying anything.