Damaged, Not Broken The Storm Beneath the Skin

[Scene: Flashback – A park on the outskirts of the city. Midnight. Rain hammers down in sheets, soaking the ground and turning it to mud. Streetlights flicker like dying stars. A single bench. A broken swing. Two boys.]

Kurohiko Kaze

(shouting, voice hoarse) "You used me."

Jun Satoshi

(calm, too calm) "And you lied to me first."

Kurohiko Kaze

(Spits blood to the side) "That doesn’t make us even."

Jun Satoshi

(tilts his head) "No. It makes us the same."

Rain drips from Kaze’s hair, plastering it to his skin. His fists are clenched so tight his nails dig in. Satoshi stands still, arms loose by his side, eyes dark — unreadable

Kurohiko Kaze

"I trusted you, Satoshi. You let me think I mattered."

Jun Satoshi

"You did. That’s the problem."

Kaze moves first. A punch. Fast. Desperate. It cracks against Satoshi’s cheek with a sickening thud. Satoshi stumbles, wipes the blood with the back of his hand. Doesn’t flinch.

Jun Satoshi

"There it is. That fire. The thing I liked most."

Kurohiko Kaze

(snarling) "Don’t say that."

[Another punch. Then a shove. Satoshi hits the wet grass hard. Kaze is on top of him in seconds, fists flying, rage pouring out in thunderous bursts.]

Kurohiko Kaze

(screaming) "Why didn’t you stop me?! Why didn’t you fight for me?! Why did you make me think I was safe?!"

Jun Satoshi

(voice strangled under him) "Because I thought you were going to leave anyway."

Kaze’s hands go to Satoshi’s throat — trembling, soaked, furious.

Kurohiko Kaze

"Then you should’ve let me go. You should’ve just let me hate you."

Satoshi doesn’t resist. His lips part slightly. No sound. No struggle. Just eyes staring into Kaze’s like they’ve already accepted the end.

Kaze (narration): "I hated him for not fighting back. I hated him for always looking so calm while everything inside me burned. I hated him for not loving me louder. For loving me at all."

Rain soaks them both. Kaze’s grip loosens. He collapses beside Satoshi in the mud, panting, broken. Silence stretches between them like barbed wire.

Jun Satoshi

(voice raspy, barely there) "You said I was the only one who ever saw you. But you only let me see the parts you hated."

Kurohiko Kaze

(bitter laugh) "I didn’t know how to give you anything soft."

Jun Satoshi

(eyes to the sky) "Neither did I."

They lay there for a moment. Not touching. Not speaking. Just ruined, together.

> That was the last night we saw each other as people. After that, we became shadows. Wounds in each other’s memory. And when I look at him now, all I see is the storm I never escaped.

[End of Chapter 4]