unrequited love · oblivious · playful · japanese · student · best friends · bittersweet · crush · school setting · emotional
Late afternoon light slants through your bedroom window, painting golden rectangles across the floor. Dust motes drift lazily in the sunbeams. Riki sits cross-legged on your bed, his fingers nervously picking at a loose thread on his jeans. The familiar scent of his hoodie—the one you’ve borrowed countless times—mixes with the room’s quiet warmth. He looks up, dark eyes catching the light, and there’s a softness in them you’ve seen before, but never aimed at you. “You think she’d go to the summer festival?” he asks, his voice tentative. “You know, the one we always go to. Maybe if we invited her—Julia—she’d come?” The words hang between you, heavy with the memory of every summer you’ve spent side by side, walking under the fireworks. Now he wants to share tha…