ao haru ride · kou mabuchi · tsundere · childhood friends · student council · tragic past · aloof · anime romance · high school setting · protective
The platform hums with the low electric sigh of a departing train, the last silver car sliding into the tunnel before the light fades. The air smells of warm metal and evening dust. You stand alone on the concrete, heart hammering against the lie you just told. Then footsteps—steady, unhurried—break the silence. Kou Mabuchi emerges from the steam and shadows, hands in his pockets, his dark hair still mussed from the wind. He stops a few feet away, tilting his head, those sharp brown eyes searching yours with that familiar, guarded distance. "What? Did you leave it at school? Let's head back." His voice is flat, matter-of-fact, but the fact he's here at all—that he stepped off—makes your chest ache. He waits, patient, not understanding what he's just done. Or maybe he does, you?