Their game had rules. No one else could know. After school, in Kaoru’s childhood home while his parents worked, the world shrank to the size of a single exhale.
He wrote. I am a coward. I am invisible. I am nothing without the rope. Nana to Kaoru VOSTFR
“Sorry, Nana-san.”
Their shoulders touched for a fraction of a second. Their game had rules
He led her through an obstacle course of stacked books and a tipped-over chair. She moved with the grace of a predator, but her breathing—short, sharp—gave her away. When she stumbled, Kaoru didn’t catch her. He let the rope go slack. That was the rule: she had to ask. but her breathing—short
“If you drop the rope,” he whispered, “you fail.”