The day after the funeral felt unreal.
The house was too quiet.
No visitors.
No condolences.
No voices pretending everything would heal with time.
Only silence remained.
Morning light slipped gently through the curtains of Akira’s house.
Hanoka slowly opened her eyes.
For a moment, she forgot.
Then reality returned like cold air filling her lungs.
Toru Nitagawa was gone.
She sat up, rubbing her tired eyes.
“Akira…?”
No answer.
She assumed he was already awake.
He must be making breakfast, she thought.
Akira always did that when he couldn’t sleep.
She walked downstairs.
The kitchen was empty.
No sound of cooking.
No clatter of plates.
No smell of food.
Just stillness.
A strange uneasiness crept into her chest.
“Akira?” she called again.
Nothing.
Hanoka walked toward the sitting room.
She pushed the curtain aside and looked outside the window.
Her eyes widened.
The driveway was empty.
Akira’s S13 — his beloved Demon — wasn’t there.
A cold feeling ran through her body.
She immediately grabbed her phone and called him.
One ring.
Then silence.
Phone switched off.
Her breathing grew shallow.
Then she remembered.
Yesterday… after the funeral…
Akira had quietly said:
“Nitagawa’s grave… is near the beach cemetery.”
Her heart dropped.
She got a feeling that Akira might be there
Without wasting another second, Hanoka took out her phone and opened a ride app and booked a cab.
Five minutes later, headlights stopped outside the house.
Rain had already begun falling — light at first, like the sky hesitating.
She stepped inside the cab.
“Beach graveyard,” she said quickly.
The driver nodded and drove off.
The rain grew heavier during the ride.
Clouds darkened.
Thunder rolled quietly in the distance.
Hanoka stared out the window the entire time, fingers tightly gripping her phone.
A single thought echoed in her mind.
Please be okay.
When the cab arrived, the rain was pouring violently.
Sheets of water fell from the sky.
And there it was.
Parked beside the graveyard entrance—
Akira’s Demon.
The S13 stood silently under the storm, engine off, rain sliding across its hood like tears.
Waiting.
Watching.
Hanoka stepped out.
Rain instantly soaked her clothes.
She barely noticed.
Her eyes searched desperately toward the cemetery gates.
Then she saw him.
Akira.
Standing alone in the middle of the graveyard.
No umbrella.
Completely drenched.
Rain ran down his face, mixing with tears she could see even from afar.
Beside Nitagawa’s grave lay his phone, abandoned in the mud.
Thunder cracked across the sky.
Akira didn’t move.
He looked… broken.
Hopeless.
Hanoka felt a painful squeeze in her chest.
Time seemed to freeze.
The world disappeared.
There was only Akira.
Only his pain.
Only his voice— shattering through the storm.
“I’m sorry, Nitagawa…!”
His scream echoed through the rain.
“I miss you…!”
Lightning flashed.
“COME BACK!”
His voice cracked violently.
“Give me another chance… please…!”
Hanoka couldn’t bear it anymore.
She ran.
Rain splashed beneath her feet as she rushed toward him.
“Aki—!”
Before she reached him—
Akira’s body gave out.
His knees buckled.
He collapsed forward.
Hanoka lunged and caught him just in time, pulling him into her arms.
“Akira…!”
He trembled uncontrollably.
His breathing uneven.
His hands gripping her clothes as if trying not to disappear.
Tears streamed down her own face now.
“Akira… please… let me bear this pain too,” she cried softly.
“I won’t let you carry everything alone.”
Her voice shook.
“You always take too much stress… let me share it… please…”
Akira’s voice came out broken.
“He… he was more than a friend…”
His shoulders shook violently.
“I lost him… because of my stupid mistake…”
The words tore out of him.
Then suddenly—
He screamed toward the sky.
“TORU NITAGAWA—!”
Thunder roared in response.
“COME BACK!”
Rain slammed against the ground harder.
“COME BACK!”
His voice shattered completely.
“COME BACK!!”
He fell fully to the ground, crying uncontrollably.
Hanoka knelt beside him, holding him tightly as both of them cried together.
No dignity.
No restraint.
Only grief.
Rain poured endlessly over them.
Thunder rolled above.
Their tears blended with the storm, indistinguishable from the falling sky.
At the cemetery entrance…
The Demon remained still.
Silent.
Engine off.
Water streamed across its body as if it too understood the moment.
Watching.
Witnessing.
Guarding its owner in silence.
The storm raged on.
And beneath it— two hearts mourned someone who had changed their lives forever.
The rain did not stop.
could not end in a single day.
They cried and cried
Akira yelling
“TORU COME BACK.”
Rain poured harder around them.
Akira:
“PLEASE…!”
Hanoka started crying beside him, unable to stop her own tears anymore.
And without them realizing—
Behind Akira…
A faint figure stood silently in the rain.
Toru Nitagawa.
His expression was gentle.
Sad.
One arm resting softly around Akira like a final embrace.
Even if Akira and Hanoka couldn’t see him…
He was still there.
The black S13 remained parked silently outside the graveyard gate.
Engine off.
Dark.
Still.
Like it too was mourning.
Minutes passed.
Maybe hours.
Neither of them knew anymore.
Eventually, Hanoka slowly helped Akira stand back up.
His body felt weak from exhaustion.
His eyes were swollen red.
Hanoka carefully held his arm so he wouldn’t collapse again.
For a moment, Akira stared silently at the gravestone.
Then quietly—
Akira: “Hanoka… I can’t drive.”
Hanoka sniffled softly
Hanoka:.”…Neither can I.”
For the first time that night, Akira let out a weak, broken laugh.
Then he took a deep breath.
Akira:”I’ll try my best.”
He looked toward the dark ocean beyond the graveyard.
Akira:”I’m drowning in guilt…”
His grip tightened around the car keys.
Akira:”But I won’t let it destroy me.”
A pause.
Akira looked back one final time at Nitagawa’s grave.
Akira:”Nitagawa wanted me to succeed.”
His voice was quieter now.
But steadier.
Akira:”And I’ll never let him down.”
The S13’s engine slowly came to life.
A deep rumble echoed softly through the rainy night.
Hanoka quietly sat in the passenger seat.
This time…
She didn’t try forcing a smile.
Didn’t try fixing his pain.
She simply stayed beside him.
And somehow…
that alone made Akira feel less alone.
The drive home felt slow.
Painfully slow.
Rain continued falling across the windshield while streetlights reflected across the wet roads.
The midnight sea breeze drifted softly through the slightly opened windows.
Hanoka eventually fell asleep quietly against the passenger seat window.
Exhausted from crying.
Exhausted from trying to stay strong.
Akira glanced at her for a moment.
Then looked back at the empty road ahead.
His eyes were still filled with tears he was trying desperately to hold back.
The black S13 continued moving silently through the coastal road beneath the stormy night sky.
And somewhere behind them—
At the graveyard near the sea—
Toru Nitagawa’s spirit watched the car disappear into the rain.
Smiling softly.
Hey Isamu here , How far you have come across my book?