The first night in the new apartment didn't feel like a movie. There were no grand celebrations or fancy dinners. Instead, it felt like the quiet moment after a twenty-four-hour shift—a deep, settling peace that only comes when the work is finally done.
The studio was bathed in the blue-grey light of the city. They hadn't put up curtains yet, so the neon glow from a distant billboard splashed across the floor in rhythmic intervals.
"The desk alignment is off by three centimeters," Rika whispered, though there was no real bite in her voice.
She was sitting on the floor next to Rentaro, their backs against the base of the sofa. They had spent the last three hours setting up their twin workstations side-by-side. On the left, Rika’s desk was a model of mathematical precision—laptop, high-intensity lamp, and a row of physics journals organized by publication date. On the right, Rentaro’s desk was a controlled chaos of sketchpads, drafting tools, and his newly unboxed "Vanguard Knight" figure standing guard over his laptop.
"It’s not 'off,' it’s 'organic,'" Rentaro replied, resting his head on her shoulder. "Besides, if they were perfectly aligned, we’d look like a cubicle farm. This way, it looks like a home."
Rika leaned her head against his. The silence of the apartment was different from the silence of Sunrise Heights. There, the silence had been a wall between them. Here, it was a bridge.
"Rentaro?"
"Yeah?"
"We don't have a shift tomorrow," she said, her voice sounding small in the empty room. "For the first time in a year, we don't have to wake up for an exam, a lecture, or a delivery truck."
Rentaro shifted, turning to look at her. In the dim light, her silver star necklace glittered. "I know. It’s almost scary, isn't it? No one telling us where to be. No one grading our performance."
He reached out and took her hand, his fingers lacing with hers. "But I think we’ve had enough practice at managing ourselves. We survived the 'Ice Queen' phase, the 'Ghost' phase, and the '7-Eleven' phase. I think we’re ready for the 'Us' phase."
Rika squeezed his hand. She looked at their two desks, sitting side-by-side in the dark. They were two separate paths that had finally merged into a single destination.
"I'm not scared," she said, and for once, it wasn't a logical assertion—it was the truth. "As long as the inventory is balanced."
"The inventory is perfect," Rentaro promised.
They stayed there on the floor for a long time, watching the city lights flicker and fade. There were still boxes to unpack, a stove to figure out, and a whole world of university life waiting for them in the morning. But for tonight, the only thing that mattered was the steady, quiet rhythm of their breathing in their own space.
The first night wasn't an ending. It was the first quiet breath of a brand-new story.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUVtY1LIV2
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