Ocean,promises and Shadows.
573 Words
The day Haruto left was as quiet as the day he arrived.
There were no banners. No goodbyes over intercoms. Just early morning mist, a black sedan, and Aoi Tsukishima standing alone beneath the sakura tree in her academy uniform, her long hair pinned back and her eyes rimmed with sleeplessness.
He stepped out with his suitcase in hand. No fanfare. No words.
Until he stood before her.
Aoi reached into her pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch. She pressed it into his hand.
“What is it?” he asked.
“A key,” she said, voice low. “To the greenhouse. I had the old lock replaced. Just in case someone else ever tries to steal it from us.”
Haruto gave a soft breath of laughter, eyes stinging. “You’re insane.”
She smiled. “You made me insane. Now go before I make a scene.”
They kissed. Not fast. Not dramatic. Just slow, real, and full of the kind of love that didn’t need witnesses.
Then he turned and walked away.
And Aoi stood alone again.
But this time… stronger than ever.
One Month Later
Tokyo – Avalon Corporate Headquarters
Aoi stood in a glass-walled boardroom, dressed not in her school uniform, but in a crisp black blazer and her mother’s heels. She was seventeen. But in that room full of men twice her age, she might as well have been a queen without a crown.
“You’re making noise,” said one of the directors. “Renji’s family is still licking their wounds. You should be lying low.”
Aoi stared him down. “I’m not here to please the wounded. I’m here to clean up the mess they left behind.”
Her father sat across the table. Silent. Watching.
“You’re asking for your own seat on the board,” he said at last. “Is that what this is?”
“No,” she said coolly. “I’m taking one. Because if you want me to keep wearing the name Tsukishima, then you better let me reshape it before someone like Renji tries to buy it back.”
That was when the call came in.
From overseas.
From Haruto.
She stepped out onto the balcony, answering with a quiet smile.
“Hey,” he said.
“I’ve been waiting,” she replied.
They didn’t need to say much. Not yet. But that call was their rhythm. Their anchor. Their promise that the distance was just another trial.
But Peace is Never Still
Three days later, an envelope was delivered to Aoi’s private dorm suite.
No return address. The paper was thin, typewritten, clinical.
Subject: Psychological and Institutional Review – Haruto Kisaragi
Flagged under IFF Internal Monitoring – Status: Suspended Pending Investigation
Attached was a grainy photo. Haruto, standing outside a university lab in London. Someone else in the frame. A girl. Smiling. Close.
A second image. Haruto inside a cafe, typing on a laptop. A man in a black coat seated nearby, watching.
At the bottom of the page, a sentence:
“Avalon was just your first battlefield. He is not as untouchable as you think.”
Aoi’s hands trembled. Her jaw set.
She reached for her phone and dialed a number she hadn’t used in years.
“Uncle Riku. I need a favor. And I need it off the books.”
Pause.
“I’m going to London.”
End of Chapter 16
- Writer
