Evening washed the sky in molten hues of orange and violet as the city skyline gleamed in the distance. On the rooftop of the old building across from Leblanc—quiet and half-forgotten—Ann sat alone with her knees drawn to her chest.
Ren found her there, silhouetted by the dying light. She didn't turn as he approached, but he saw the way her hair caught the breeze, a living flame in the twilight.
"You always find me," she murmured.
"I always look for you," Ren replied, easing down beside her.
Silence hung between them for a moment, not cold, but weighty with everything unsaid. She pulled her knees closer, burying her chin atop them.
"Back then, in that dreamworld… I wasn't just seeing what I feared. I saw what I kept buried."
Ren waited. He never rushed her. That was something she treasured about him—how he knew when to speak and when silence was the answer.
"I was more than just a model. More than just someone who wanted to prove she was strong. I saw a version of me who stopped pretending, who let herself love fully." She looked at him then, eyes shimmering with conflicted emotion. "And it terrified me."
Ren reached out, gently brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Why?"
"Because… it was you. Every version of that future, it was always you. And I didn't know what to do with that."
Her voice cracked slightly at the edge, vulnerable and raw.
Ren exhaled, quiet and steady. "You don't have to do anything with it. I'm right here."
Ann laughed softly, bittersweet. "I've never wanted to be vulnerable. Not after everything with Kamoshida. But you… you made me feel like it was okay again."
She leaned forward, her forehead gently resting against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and the motion felt like coming home.
"I wanted to tell you before," she whispered. "But I wasn't sure if it was real or just the dream bleeding into us. But now, sitting here, feeling this… I know it's real."
Ren tilted her chin up with two fingers. She met his eyes, full of hope and hurt and longing.
"I've always seen you," he said. "Not just the strong Ann, not just the bright one in every photo. The one who's still healing, still searching. And I want to be with her."
She didn't answer with words. Instead, she leaned in and kissed him—soft, uncertain, but full of everything she couldn't say. And Ren kissed her back, letting the rooftop, the world, the expectations all fall away. For this moment, there was only her. Only them.
When they finally parted, she rested her head on his shoulder, their fingers intertwined.
"You're kind of stuck with me now," she teased, voice light but sincere.
Ren smirked. "I think I can live with that."