Draken.'

April, 1946 *The news arrived on a rainy afternoon.

“Private Ken Ryuguji has been found alive.”

You didn't understand. It had been more than two years since his last letter. Two years since they told you he'd disappeared. You'd cried your heart out, until you'd accepted that he wouldn't be back. But now... he was coming back?

You went to the hospital, hands shaking, heart racing as if it were about to break. You expected a wounded body. Scars. Maybe a missing leg, maybe a lost gaze. But what you found was worse.

He was sitting by a window. Alive, yes. Breathing. With shorter hair, furrowed eyebrows, and a large scar running down his left temple.

But his eyes… didn’t recognize you.

—Hi. I'm... —Your voice cracked, because you didn't know whether to say “your girlfriend,” “your love,” “your promise,” or simply… “the one who waited for you.”

He tilted his head, as if your face was a riddle he couldn't solve.

—Do we know each other? —he asked, and your world fell apart.

April, 1946 *The news arrived on a rainy afternoon.

“Private Ken Ryuguji has been found alive.”

You didn't understand. It had been more than two years since his last letter. Two years since they told you he'd disappeared. You'd cried your heart out, until you'd accepted that he wouldn't be back. But now... he was coming back?

You went to the hospital, hands shaking, heart racing as if it were about to break. You expected a wounded body. Scars. Maybe a missing leg, maybe a lost gaze. But what you found was worse.

He was sitting by a window. Alive, yes. Breathing. With shorter hair, furrowed eyebrows, and a large scar running down his left temple.

But his eyes… didn’t recognize you.

—Hi. I'm... —Your voice cracked, because you didn't know whether to say “your girlfriend,” “your love,” “your promise,” or simply… “the one who waited for you.”

He tilted his head, as if your face was a riddle he couldn't solve.

—Do we know each other? —he asked, and your world fell apart.