[Serina Mikage POV]
"If you're free tomorrow, Mikage-san, would you like to go get those promised crepes together?"
Even after I finished reading the words on the screen, I couldn't move a single finger.
Tomorrow.
Not some distant, hazy "someday"—tomorrow, the two of us were going to fulfill the promise we made that day.
Joy surged up from deep within my chest, threatening to spill across my face. Remembering my parents were sitting right across from me, I pressed my lips together in a hurry.
Watching me, Mom tilted her head gently.
"What did he say this time?"
"...Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?"
As she asked, I hesitated over how to explain. Dad set his remote control down on the table.
"Where are you going? Well, if you don't want to say, I'm not going to pry, but..."
"No. Tomorrow, we're... going to eat crepes together."
Dad and Mom blinked in near-perfect unison.
Without knowing the full story, it was only natural for them to wonder why crepes, of all things.
"We made a promise, back on the day of the fire."
"A promise?"
Mom's voice wavered.
It wasn't that I'd kept everything about that day a secret from my parents.
I had told them about getting separated from my friends. About hurting my right leg and being unable to move. And about a boy who came along, carried me, and got me outside.
I had also told Rio and the others about the crepe promise, since they'd been in the same fire and stayed by my side while I looked for Aiba-kun, even when I didn't know his name.
But how cornered I'd really felt in that smoke... and just how fiercely Aiba-kun had protected me...
I simply hadn't been able to bring myself to tell my parents the full truth.
I was afraid talking about it would make them relive the terror of that day. Besides, back then, every time I remembered what we'd said in the smoke, it only painfully reminded me that our promise remained unfulfilled.
Things were different now.
The memory of that day was no longer trapped in the smoke.
Beyond it lay tomorrow.
That was why I felt ready to share what I hadn't been able to say before.
"...When Aiba-kun found me, I'd already hurt my right leg. I couldn't walk on my own from the start."
Dad's expression stiffened.
"He tried to carry me out on his back. But I... I was terrified of a boy touching me, so when he reached out, I told him not to."
My own voice from that moment came rushing back.
The smoke was so thick we couldn't see, and scorching heat was bearing down from the hallway.
Every second counted. Even so, he didn't ignore me or try to drag me away against my will.
"When I said that, he stopped right away. He lowered his hands where I could see them, and he promised he wouldn't touch me without my permission."
Mom quietly tightened her grip on her teacup.
"But he also said he wouldn't leave me behind. He waited the entire time until I could calm down and reach out to him myself."
Even now, I could clearly hear his voice.
He didn't blame me for being afraid of being touched, nor did he snap and say there was no time for that.
Neither the fire nor the smoke cared about our circumstances.
Yet, he refused to leave my feelings behind.
"When I grabbed his sleeve and begged him not to leave me... he promised he would never leave me alone."
Mom's eyes glistened faintly.
"Even when he carried me, he didn't just grab me. He turned his back first, telling me he'd look forward so I wouldn't have to make eye contact... He explained everything beforehand, showing me how to hold on and warning me before supporting my legs. He waited until I wrapped my arms around his neck on my own and told him it was okay to hold my legs."
"...He was really that considerate of your feelings, Serina?"
Mom's voice was thick with emotion.
I gave a small nod and went on.
"Even after he picked me up, he kept asking if my leg hurt, or if I was having trouble breathing. He walked as carefully as he could so he wouldn't jostle me... and he kept repeating that he would definitely get me outside."
I looked down at the phone resting on my lap.
On the other side of that screen was the boy who had risked his life to carry me that day.
"When the ceiling collapsed, he shielded me. That's when his right shoulder was... horribly burned."
A deep furrow creased Dad's brow.
"Right after that, I smelled something scorched from his shoulder, different from the smoke around us. Aiba-kun's right arm was shaking... Looking back, he really wasn't in any condition to carry anyone. So I told him to put me down and run by himself."
Even then, he hadn't stopped.
How suffocating it must have been. How agonizing the pain must have felt.
Now, I understood it so much better than I had back then.
"But he refused. He said, 'Didn't I tell you I wouldn't leave you behind?'... and he wouldn't put me down, right to the end."
Dad's hands clenched tight over his knees.
"When I asked if it hurt, he told me he was fine. His voice and his arm were shaking—there was no way he was fine... but he said it only hurt a little, and that he wouldn't let go, so I didn't need to worry."
My voice cracked.
Even then, I had known it was a lie to keep me calm.
Still, I'd wanted to believe him.
His voice was the only path leading out of that smoke-filled darkness.
"Even with an injury like that, he did everything he could to keep me from being scared. He kept talking to me so I wouldn't fall asleep or pass out."
When he asked what my favorite food was, I told him I loved crepes.
Talking about the new shop near the station gave me a glimpse of a future beyond the smoke, if only for a moment.
"I was the one who asked him. I said if we both made it out, we should go eat crepes together. And he promised we would—that as long as we made it out, we'd definitely go."
He told me he'd share his name when we went to the crepe shop.
He said he wouldn't forget our promise.
And he asked me to just focus on his voice for now.
Every single word he spoke carved out a future for us to reach, right through that suffocating smoke.
"There were so many times I almost gave up. I'd breathed in so much smoke, and I kept slipping in and out of consciousness."
I paused. Neither of my parents said a word, waiting patiently for me to go on.
"...But his voice never stopped. He took the wish I blurted out and treated it like a promise he had to keep no matter what... That was the only reason I was able to hold on to his voice until the end."
I slowly let out the breath caught in my chest.
"That promise wasn't just about getting crepes. It was the future we made together so I could believe there was something waiting for me on the other side."
Silence settled over the living room.
Only the faint sound of the television echoed in the background.
Mom brushed a tear from the corner of her eye with her fingertip, while Dad sat with his head bowed, silent for a long moment.
Eventually, Dad looked up.
"...We thought Aiba-kun had simply saved your life, Serina."
"...Yeah."
"But it wasn't just that, was it?"
His low voice trembled.
"Aiba-kun didn't just carry you out of there. He didn't abandon your terrified heart—he brought you all the way back, through and through."
A rush of warmth surged straight to my chest.
He hadn't brushed off how scared I was of being touched.
Yet, he hadn't left me behind.
He waited until I could reach out my hand on my own, and once he took it, he never let go, no matter how badly he was hurt.
"Yeah. That's right."
Though my voice shook, the words came out clear.
"Aiba-kun brought me home."
A tear slipped down Mom's cheek.
"When we couldn't be there for you... he cared for you that much and kept you safe."
Mom wiped her face, offering a soft smile through her tears.
"You go and fulfill that promise tomorrow."
"...Okay."
"We'll thank him properly another day. Tomorrow is for you, Serina. Go see him for yourself."
I gave a firm nod.
Before I knew it, tears were welling in Dad's eyes, too. Wiping them away, he spoke in a gentle tone.
"Go on. You two have been waiting a long time to see that promise through, haven't you?"
"...Yeah. Thank you."
Looking down at the phone on my lap, the invitation from Aiba-kun was still right there on the screen.
Tomorrow, we would finally reach the future we'd pictured in the smoke.
At the thought, I couldn't stop the tears in my eyes, nor could I keep a smile from breaking across my face, right in front of my parents.
"Isn't Aiba-kun waiting for an answer?"
Mom's reminder snapped me out of it.
"R-Right!"
Clutching my phone, I jumped up from the sofa.
"I'll go reply in my room."
"All right. Make sure you give him a good answer."
"...Okay."
A warm smile still lingered on Mom's face.
Dad gave a quiet nod, picked up the remote, and turned the TV volume back up.
Slipping away from their gazes, I hurried out of the living room and up the stairs.
The moment I stepped into my room and shut the door, I finally let out a long breath.
Leaning against the wood, I opened the message again.
No matter how many times I read it, the words didn't change.
Tomorrow, I was seeing Aiba-kun.
We were meeting up to go eat crepes.
We'd already agreed on it outside the mall this morning, so the invite shouldn't have caught me off guard. Yet having a specific day—tomorrow—made my heart flutter wildly.
I had to reply.
He was waiting for me right now.
I sat on the edge of the bed and tapped the text box.
"I don't have any plans tomorrow."
I stopped after typing that much.
It was true, but it felt incomplete.
I wasn't agreeing just because my schedule was clear.
I wanted to fulfill the promise we'd carried in our hearts since that day. I wanted to see him tomorrow, and I wanted us to spend that time together.
I wanted him to know that, too.
Tapping the screen again, I added to the message.
"I don't have any plans tomorrow. I'd really love to go with you, Aiba-kun."
The second I finished typing, embarrassment hit me like a wave.
I'd told him the same thing this morning, so maybe repeating it was overkill. Just saying I was free would be enough to show I wanted to go.
Still, Aiba-kun hadn't hidden how he felt when he asked me this morning.
He'd made it clear that he wasn't asking just because of the promise—he was asking because he personally wanted to go with me.
In that case, I didn't want to play it cool either.
Catching my finger before it hit backspace, I tapped send.
The moment the text popped up on the screen, my heart slammed against my ribs.
Too late to take it back now.
Holding the phone in both hands, I waited.
Only a few seconds ticked by, but watching the screen felt like an eternity.
Then, a short buzz.
"That's great. How about ten in the morning in front of the station, then?"
Reading his reply, the tension melted right out of me.
I knew there was no reason for him to turn me down, but seeing that "That's great" made it sink in all over again: he really wanted to see me tomorrow, too.
"Sounds good. Ten in the morning in front of the station."
An immediate reply popped up.
"Got it. See you at the station tomorrow."
Time and place, set.
At ten o'clock tomorrow, Aiba-kun would be waiting for me by the station.
Wondering how to close out the conversation, I typed one last line.
"Yeah. I'm really looking forward to it."
Right after hitting send, I worried I'd been too forward again.
"...I could've phrased that a little better."
Muttering to an empty room wouldn't undo the message.
Flustered, I set the phone face down on the bed.
Panic flared that he might text while I wasn't looking, so I snatched it back up less than three seconds later.
Right on cue, the phone vibrated in my palm.
"I'm looking forward to it too."
I froze, staring at the words on the screen.
He was looking forward to it, too.
He'd made that clear enough when he asked me in person this morning, but seeing it written out—something I could read over and over—carried a whole different punch.
Desperate to hide my burning face, I clutched the phone to my chest and flopped onto the bed.
Burying my cheek in the pillow did nothing to cool me down.
"Tomorrow..."
The whisper vanished into the fabric.
Tomorrow, the two of us were going out.
Not on the walk to school, and not at the Aiba household with his family around. Meeting up on a day off, just the two of us, to go eat crepes.
As the reality set in, a realization struck me.
"Wait... isn't this basically a... a d-date?!"
I bolted upright, and the phone in my arms slipped onto my lap.
Fumbling to grab it, I shook my head frantically to bat the thought away.
"N-No, it's not. We're just following through on our promise..."
The excuse sounded completely hollow in the quiet room.
Sure, we were going out to fulfill a promise from the day of the fire.
But Aiba-kun had told me this morning that it wasn't just that.
He wasn't doing it out of obligation—he wanted to invite me because of his own feelings.
The moment his voice and that earnest look on his face flashed in my mind, heat rushed straight to the tips of my ears.
"Aaaagh!!"
Overwhelmed, I pulled the pillow tight against my face and curled into a ball on the mattress.
Hearing it in person had made my heart race, but turning it over alone in my room made the weight of his words sink in even deeper.
Not just because of a promise.
Aiba-kun wanted to go with me.
Every time the thought crossed my mind, my face buried in the pillow grew hotter.
"When you put it like that... how am I not supposed to overthink it...?!"
I pressed my flushed cheeks deeper into the pillow, trying to cool off.
I shouldn't jump to conclusions about what he meant.
We were nowhere near ready to put a label on what we felt.
Even so, he genuinely wanted to go with me. That much was certain.
And that alone was enough to fill my chest to bursting.
Trying to collect myself, I sat back up on the bed.
Then my eyes landed on the closet across the room, and another problem hit me.
Tomorrow wasn't a school day.
What on earth was I supposed to wear?
We were just getting crepes, so casual should be fine.
When I hung out around town with Rio and the girls on weekends, I usually just threw on an oversized sweatshirt. Plenty of times, I'd fix my hair and walk out the door without a second thought in front of the mirror.
But tomorrow, I was going with Aiba-kun. Just the two of us.
Remembering how long I'd fussed over my hair this morning, there was no way I could just throw on whatever.
I opened the closet doors and scanned the hangers.
Nothing too flashy that looked like I was trying way too hard.
On the other hand, I didn't want to look like I threw something together without caring, either.
I had no idea what his taste was like. Even so, when we met tomorrow, I wanted to wear something that would catch his eye, even just a little.
I pulled out an outfit, held it up in the mirror, immediately shook my head, and put it back. I tried another, but the moment I pictured standing in front of Aiba-kun in it, something felt off.
"...Not this one either."
Before long, a small mountain of clothes covered my bed.
Everything had been hanging neatly a few minutes ago, but the more I tried to narrow it down, the more options piled up.
"Ugh... what am I supposed to wear...?"
At a complete loss, my hands kept sorting through the hangers anyway.
The more I looked forward to seeing him tomorrow, the harder it became to settle for "good enough."
A light knock sounded on the door.
"Serina, the bath is ready."
"...Okay. I'll go in a bit."
"After you finish getting ready for tomorrow?"
"Wait, what?!"
Mom's soft chuckle filtered through the wood.
"Take your time."
"...Mom, please."
Waiting until her footsteps faded down the hall, I tossed the top in my hands onto the bed.
Getting teased was embarrassing, but strangely, I didn't mind.
Both Mom and Dad knew Aiba-kun was the one who had saved me in the fire.
And tonight, I had finally told them how he protected me in that smoke.
Still, tomorrow wasn't for my parents.
I was going because I wanted to see Aiba-kun for myself.
Picking up my phone, I opened my contacts.
His entry still simply read "Aiba-kun."
A name left unsaid since our promise in the smoke, one I'd gone all this time without knowing.
Tomorrow, when we went for crepes, maybe I'd finally hear it from his own lips and type it onto this screen.
The thought alone made my pulse jump.
Even so, more than learning his name, I was just happy I got to see him again tomorrow.
His last message remained on the screen.
"I'm looking forward to it too."
No matter how many times I reread it, I couldn't keep from smiling.
There was no one around to see, but I hugged the phone to my chest and buried my face in the pillow anyway.
Tomorrow, the two of us were going out.
Taking the first step beyond the promise that had connected us since that day.
Walking side by side with Aiba-kun, somewhere far away from school.
With tomorrow so close within reach, the fluttering in my chest showed no sign of quieting down, even as the night wore on.