I'm going to vanish #AmanoWritingClub

Approx. 700 characters, short-short story

In that town, it rains only for those who are in love.

From a clear, ultramarine sky, droplets like shards of crystal fall without a sound.

“Oh, it’s happening again...”

I stopped walking and held my palm up to the sky.

The droplets that touched my fingertips were a little colder than my body temperature, yet they felt searingly hot when they touched my heart.

Hidekazu, my childhood friend walking beside me, squinted as if dazzled and tilted his head.

“Rain? It’s not raining. The asphalt is bone dry.”

In Hidekazu’s eyes, only the sunlight, without a single cloud, was reflected.

As I thought, he can’t see it.

I knew that. But watching the particles of light pass through him and be absorbed into the ground made my chest ache deeply.

It made me realize that I am the only one who can see this rain.

“I’m transferring schools soon. ...So, before I vanish, I wanted to tell you.”

“Vanish? What era is that word from?”

Hidekazu burst out laughing. His carefree smile refracted through the falling raindrops, shimmering like a kaleidoscope.

It was so beautiful that my throat grew tight.

“...I love you, Hidekazu. I have for a long time.”

The voice I squeezed out was so quiet it was almost drowned out by the sound of the rain.

In that moment.

Hidekazu’s body froze like a statue.

His gaze wandered through the void where there should have been nothing, and then came to rest on a single point.

In his blinking eyes, one by one, shining droplets were reflected.

“...So this is it. What Haruka was looking at.”

Hidekazu reached out with a trembling hand.

His fingertips struck light in the air.

“You can see it...?”

“Yeah. ...I see it now. I’m such a fool.”

Hidekazu smiled sheepishly.

Under the clear, unobstructed sky, only the two of them were being struck by a brilliant downpour.

The gentlest rain in the world continued to drench us.