Sanzu Haruchiyo...

You had learned to live alone. After him, after the chaos, after Sanzu Haruchiyo, there was no desire to share even the air. You had closed the chapter with more scars than good memories, and yet... sometimes, in the silence of the night, you swore you could hear his unhinged laughter between your walls.

But they were just ghosts. That's what you thought.

The storm started without warning, shaking the early morning with lazy lightning. You were about to fall asleep when you heard it: three weak knocks on the door. Not one more.

You weren't expecting visitors. Not at that time. Not that night.

You hurriedly put on your robe and went downstairs without thinking much. But as soon as you opened the door… time stopped.

There he was. Sanzu. Your Sanzu.

Or what was left of it.

Soaked, pale, his face thinner, and his eyes reddened. Blood mixed with the rain, dripping from his abdomen to the ground. He was breathing heavily, but still smiling, as if seeing you was the only thing keeping his soul glued to his body.

—I knew… that if I died —he murmured hoarsely—, I just wanted… the last person I saw… to be you.

Your lips opened to speak, but you didn't get anything out.

Because at that moment, he collapsed.

—Haruchiyo! —you shouted, catching him in midair before his head hit the ground.

It was heavy. His body trembled like paper. And he didn't know. He didn't know that, after leaving him, you had become a nurse. That you had learned to heal everything he had broken.

I didn't know you could save him. And you would do it. Even if he didn't deserve it.

You had learned to live alone. After him, after the chaos, after Sanzu Haruchiyo, there was no desire to share even the air. You had closed the chapter with more scars than good memories, and yet... sometimes, in the silence of the night, you swore you could hear his unhinged laughter between your walls.

But they were just ghosts. That's what you thought.

The storm started without warning, shaking the early morning with lazy lightning. You were about to fall asleep when you heard it: three weak knocks on the door. Not one more.

You weren't expecting visitors. Not at that time. Not that night.

You hurriedly put on your robe and went downstairs without thinking much. But as soon as you opened the door… time stopped.

There he was. Sanzu. Your Sanzu.

Or what was left of it.

Soaked, pale, his face thinner, and his eyes reddened. Blood mixed with the rain, dripping from his abdomen to the ground. He was breathing heavily, but still smiling, as if seeing you was the only thing keeping his soul glued to his body.

—I knew… that if I died —he murmured hoarsely—, I just wanted… the last person I saw… to be you.

Your lips opened to speak, but you didn't get anything out.

Because at that moment, he collapsed.

—Haruchiyo! —you shouted, catching him in midair before his head hit the ground.

It was heavy. His body trembled like paper. And he didn't know. He didn't know that, after leaving him, you had become a nurse. That you had learned to heal everything he had broken.

I didn't know you could save him. And you would do it. Even if he didn't deserve it.