The morning sun streamed through the windows of Residence Platine Shirokane's thirty-second floor. Beyond the transparent glass, Tokyo's cityscape lay wrapped in silence. Kirihara Runa was pulling a suitcase. The luggage wasn't much. Just clothes and small items she'd bought since coming to the Shirokane apartment, hastily stuffed inside. Normally, she would have prepared more carefully, more deliberately. But last night's words had lingered in her ears, and her hands had kept moving without pause. "Wait. Let's talk about this." Shunya's voice from the living room. That voice had lost its usual composure. But Runa didn't answer. There was nothing left to say. Or rather—there were words. But if she spoke them, she felt she would fall apart. "There's nothing more to discuss." Her hand moved unconsciously to the star-shaped mark beneath her left collarbone. That gesture said everything. Resolve. And an unwavering determination not to turn back. When she stepped into the elevator, she didn't look at Shunya standing in the doorway behind her. If she had, her feet surely would have stopped. So Runa kept facing forward. She arrived at Akabane Station just after ten in the morning. Down the stairs from the platform. Through the ticket gate. Each movement felt strangely unreal—as if she were watching someone else's life from a distance rather than living her own. That hazy sensation enveloped her. When she stepped out onto the street in front of the station, she noticed the sky was overcast. Thick clouds hung low. The kind of sky where rain could fall at any moment. Runa had no umbrella. Not because she'd forgotten to bring one, but because she hadn't even cared enough to think about it. As she made her way toward Suzuran-dori shopping street, a quiet rain fell within her heart. The shopping street was dim despite the daytime hour. The clouds contributed to it, but more than that, it felt as though this place held no light to welcome her. The set-meal restaurant "Manpuku-tei." The side-dish shop "Okazu Yokocho." A liquor store. A vegetable vendor. All of it was nostalgic, and all of it felt distant. She'd walked through this shopping street countless times since childhood, yet in this moment, it looked like scenery from another world entirely. "Runa-chan?" The voice of Okochi Genta, the restaurant owner. But Runa didn't stop walking. She was afraid to turn around. "I'm fine." She spoke only those words and kept moving. Her footsteps were heavy. The sound of the suitcase wheels striking the stone pavement. That sound seemed unnaturally loud. Then—the rain began to fall. Soft pattering at first. Then it transformed into a roaring downpour. Water pouring from the sky with such violence. Runa kept walking. Without an umbrella. Not even caring that the rain soaked through her clothes. Tears and rain mingled together. She couldn't tell which was which anymore. Only that her cheeks were wet. That her chest ached. *(Why has it come to this?)* Even that whisper was swallowed by the sound of rain. That was when it happened. Footsteps behind her. Runa turned around. A figure in a black coat. When his face became clear through the rain, her breath caught. "—Shunya?" It was Shirogane Shunya. She was seeing him for the first time in this shopping street—her hometown. A man who embodied the upper echelons of society, standing here. The black coat looked expensive, his shoes polished to perfection. In this dim shopping street, he was clearly out of place. But his expression—it was strange. Shunya said nothing. He simply held out the umbrella he'd been carrying to Runa. Silence. That silence spoke volumes. "Why... are you here?" Runa's voice trembled. She stared at the umbrella, hesitating to take it. Rain dripped from his coat. Having given up his umbrella, Shunya had nothing to protect himself. "Don't be kind to me." Her voice had become tearful. "If you are... I'll start hoping again. I'll start believing. But in the end..." Her words trailed off. Runa's shoulders rose and fell quietly. Shunya listened to those words. His eyes held her gaze. "Hope for me," he said. His voice was low. But it carried unmistakable strength. "I don't want to lose you." With those words, Runa's world shook. The people of the shopping street watched the two of them from a distance. Okochi Genta. Her mother's coworker from the side-dish shop. Passersby from the neighborhood. All of them witnessed the scene. But Runa didn't notice. Only Shunya's words echoed through the rain. "No matter what Toichiro says at the board meeting. No matter what happens within the group, I believe in you." "I never truly believed you were the whistleblower. Not for a second. I just—I protected you wrong. I tried to protect you in a way that hurt you." "That was my mistake." Shunya's hand gripped the umbrella handle firmly. His hand was wet. Drenched in cold rain, and yet he still held the umbrella out to Runa with unwavering resolve. Slowly, Runa took the umbrella. "Why... didn't you tell me sooner?" Tears wouldn't stop falling. "I couldn't find the words." "So I came here. I chased you to your hometown. That's the only answer I could give." Only the sound of rain filled the silence. In that quiet, the two of them faced each other. Runa stepped under the umbrella. Only then did she notice that Shunya was being rained on. His shoulders were soaked. His hair was wet. *(This person...)* In that moment, a small light kindled within Runa's heart. "I... still don't understand you very well. I'm afraid. Afraid to truly believe." That was her honest truth. "Then let's take our time." "Not a contract. Let's build something real." With those words, Shunya extended his hand. Runa stared at it. A hand wet from the rain. A hand that seemed to radiate warmth. Slowly, she placed her hand in his. The eyes of the shopping street's people focused on them once more. But Runa no longer cared. The rain continued to fall. Yet within Runa's heart, thin rays of sunlight had begun to break through.