The day of Rika’s discharge was gray and drizzling, matching the heavy pit in her stomach.
A nurse stood by with a pair of crutches, explaining how to navigate stairs and keep the weight off her healing leg. Rika nodded along, but her eyes were fixed on the white curtain that separated her world from Marin’s.
"You’re being too quiet," Marin’s voice drifted from the other side. "I can hear you overthinking from here. It sounds like gears grinding."
The nurse smiled sympathetically and stepped out to finalize the paperwork, leaving them alone for a final moment.
Rika hobbled to the edge of the curtain and pulled it back. Marin was sitting up, her sketchbook in her lap, looking smaller than she had the day before. The IV line was back in her arm, a clear tube pumping life into her at a steady drip.
"I don't want to go back," Rika admitted, her voice cracking. "Back there... I'm just the girl people push around. Here, I'm just Rika."
Marin put down her pencil and looked at Rika with a piercing gaze. "You aren't 'going back,' Rika-chan. You’re going forward. You have a mission now, remember? You’re the lead writer for the greatest romance of the century."
Marin reached under her pillow and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. She handed it to Rika like it was a state secret.
"This is our first chapter," Marin whispered. "In exactly one week, my doctors are letting me out for a 'day pass'—a reward for being a model patient, which we both know is a lie. Meet me at the old clock tower by the canal at 10:00 AM. Wear something that isn't a school uniform."
Rika opened the paper. It was a hand-drawn map of the canal, decorated with tiny, clumsy doodles of cats and stars. At the bottom, in Marin’s loopy handwriting, it said: SCENE 1: THE REUNION.
"Until then," Marin continued, her voice taking on a rare serious tone, "don't let the bullies steal your ink. Every time they say something mean, I want you to imagine you're a character in a book who's just waiting for the plot twist. Because the plot twist is coming, Rika. I’m the plot twist."
Rika tucked the map into her navy notebook, pressing it tight against her heart. "I'll be there. I promise."
"Good," Marin smiled, though she looked a bit breathless. "And Rika? Write down everything. How the air smells without the scent of disinfectant. How the wind feels on your face. I want to read it all when I see you."
The walk out of the hospital felt like walking into a storm. The sound of traffic was deafening, and the world felt too fast, too bright, and too cold. When Rika’s parents picked her up, they talked about "getting back to normal," not realizing that "normal" was exactly what Rika was terrified of.
That night, Rika sat in her room, her leg propped up on a pillow. She looked at her notebook. For the first time, she didn't feel like a victim of a bike accident. She felt like an explorer on a deadline.
She opened to a new page and wrote:
The protagonist left the castle of white walls today. The air was cold, but she carried a map to a hidden treasure in her pocket. The treasure's name is Marin.
ns216.73.216.141da2
and then Add to home screen.