[SORA POV]
She collapsed onto her couch the moment she got home. The app had been delivered safely. She finally had a small window before the next project started. It had been a week since she posted Chapter 35. She hadn't opened Nestory since.
After a while, she moved to her desk and turned on her computer. Her hands moved on autopilot as she clicked through folders buried three layers deep.
/Stories/Unfinished
The list stared back at her—files she'd once chased, once loved, once abandoned. Some were half-formed ideas. Some were chapters written in a rush, then never touched again. Some were stories she hadn't been able to finish.
Her cursor hovered over them one by one until her eyes landed on a familiar draft. A story she started on a winter train ride to the countryside. The ride had been long. She had written most of it while waiting to arrive.
She opened it.
The last sentence blinked on the screen, unfinished. She hadn't touched it since that trip. She rubbed the back of her neck, half-expecting to cringe when she started reading. But as the first lines unfolded, she stilled.
It wasn't bad. It just felt… distant. Like something left behind on a train she never took back.
She kept reading.
The traveler had spent many days riding trains through towns both large and small, stopping wherever a bookstore caught his eye.
It wasn't a planned journey. He wasn't searching for anything in particular. But there was comfort in the rhythm of travel—getting off at new stations, walking streets he didn't know, following the faint scent of paper and ink.
Sora paused, her finger hovering over the delete key. The sentence was too simple. She could fix it. She should fix it. But she didn't. She let the paragraph stay exactly as it was.
His fingers rested on the spine of a book when the owner approached, offering another he hadn't noticed.
"Here," the owner said. "This is yours."
The traveler blinked. The book was light in his hands. Familiar, though he'd never seen it before.
Sora kept reading.
His pace slowed. Then stopped.
His grip tightened around the book. He was meant to move on—to the next town, the next store, the next stop. But standing there, at the edge of the road, he realized:
He had arrived. And he hadn't known he was searching for a place to stay.
Sora reread the last lines, her throat tightening.
It wasn't perfect. She had always thought of it as unfinished. But maybe it didn't need more.
Maybe it had already found its ending. She had only adjusted small things—typos, loose lines—but the core of the story stayed the same.
She clicked the "Publish" button.
Chapter 36: The Book at the Last Stop
Published successfully.
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[RIN POV]
The studio lights buzzed quietly in the background. The team was still moving around, adjusting sets and calling for the next outfit. Rin sat on the couch in the dressing room, his solo shots done, waiting for the others to finish. His hair was slightly tousled from the last shoot, but he didn't bother fixing it.
His phone buzzed.
A Nestory update.
He had turned on notifications after she posted the last chapter. Ever since then, he made sure he wouldn't miss an update.
She posted late at night. The days were unpredictable, but the time was always about the same.
She must have work, he thought.
Across the room, Jiho caught the flicker of movement. "Is that—" Jiho's grin spread slowly. "Don't tell me. New chapter?"
Rin didn't answer, but the corner of his mouth twitched—just enough to give him away.
"I knew it. You were like that in the van the other day too."
"Shut up," Rin muttered, already unlocking his phone.
"It's that story, right? The one you've been glued to since forever? Damn. She really got you bad." Jiho leaned in, but Rin angled his screen away, just enough to make Jiho groan. "Seriously? We're still pretending I'm not your biggest cwfan wingman?"
"I'm reading."
"Yeah, yeah. Go on. I'll cover for you."
The studio faded around him as Rin sank into the words.
It wasn't the story he expected. Not the main thread. It was from the visitor's point of view.
The rhythm was different. The pacing, slower. The voice—it didn't sound like she'd written it for anyone else. It felt like she'd written it for herself.
There was no plot pushing forward. No clever twists. Just a visitor wandering through bookstores.
Rin kept scrolling. His chest tightened in that familiar way, like the story had wrapped itself around a part of him he hadn't realized was still waiting.
When he reached the author's note, he read it twice.
Author's Note – Chapter 36: The Book at the Last Stop
It's a story I wrote a long time ago. I thought maybe it deserved to see the light.
Thank you for staying.
— haneulsky
His throat tightened.
Jiho's voice cut back in. "So? Good?"
"Yeah." Rin's voice came out softer than he expected. He typed something.
Jiho raised a brow. "She's really back this time?"
Rin hit send before he answered. "She is."
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[SORA POV]
Sora posted the chapter without an announcement. No schedule. Just a quiet upload. She expected silence. Maybe a few lingering readers. Viral moments never lasted long.
But when she opened Nestory the next evening, the notifications caught her off guard.
Comments. Bookmarks. Readers. They were still here.
She scrolled carefully, reading each reaction.
"I didn't expect this story, but I love it."
"Your pacing is different here, but I can tell it's still you."
"I've missed this. I didn't know how much until now."
"Thank you for coming back."
Her chest felt light. A little shaky. She kept scrolling, quietly holding on to each word.
Sora blinked. She scrolled further down the comments on the chapter, skimming through the flood of reactions, until a familiar username caught her eye.
reader_cwfan had commented. It was short. Simple. Just like last time.
[reader_cwfan]
This feels like finding an old suitcase you didn't remember leaving behind.
Thank you for opening it again.
It was exactly the kind of comment he would leave. Not asking for more. Not expecting a reply. Just quietly glad to have found it.
She read it again, then again, letting the words settle.
She had left this story behind like an old suitcase. But someone had been waiting to open it with her.
Her chest warmed—the kind of warmth that lingered after the snow had stopped falling.
A few days later, Sora and Nana met at a small café tucked between office buildings. It was warm and rustic, like a quiet English countryside cafe hidden in the heart of the city.
"Look what I made." Nana beamed as she spun her phone around to show Sora the screen. A fanart—FlyMe in their signature tour outfits, reimagined with a dreamy, celestial theme.
Sora leaned in, genuinely impressed. "Did you sleep at all?"
Nana waved her hand. "Sleep's optional. I have priorities. Their third anniversary's tomorrow, and I'm dropping this right at midnight. I'm thinking of adding a thread with some practice shots too. My followers love that nostalgia hit."
She'd drawn Taeki in the center. Jiho, Ruki, and Haru were there too. And Rin—his quiet gaze catching light from the side.
Sora smiled, sipping her tea. "You really put Taeki front and center, huh?"
Nana rolled her eyes, full drama. "Obviously. I've been loyal since the debut teaser. That man's basically my religion."
"Not even tempted by Jiho?"
Nana made a face on instinct. "Ugh. Jiho's chaos. He's a walking disaster. I don't know how FlyMe survives with him."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "You've got a strangely specific grudge for someone who claims to be neutral."
"He's just—that type. Loud. Always pulling people into trouble. Always dragging people along with his weird ideas."
Sora smirked into her cup. "Sounds like personal experience."
"Don't start."
"You're talking about him like you sat next to him in homeroom."
Nana's ears flushed, but she kept her face steady. "I just know the type. You can spot them from a mile away."
"Uh-huh."
Nana cleared her throat and pulled out her phone like she was officially done with the topic. "Anyway, their anniversary stream is live tomorrow night. I'm sending you the link. You better watch it."
"Okay."
"Come on, you can be a Pixie this time."
Sora gave her a flat look. "I am a casual fan."
"Casual fan? Really?" Nana leaned in, unconvinced. "You literally know their entire discography."
"I like watching them," Sora said with a shrug. "I like their music. That's enough, isn't it?"
Nana gave her a long, knowing look. "Yeah, sure. Casual."
Sora sipped her tea, unfazed. "What? I just watch what I like."
Nana's grin sharpened. "Funny how what you like is always Rin's videos first."
Sora almost choked. "What—?"
"I knew it." Nana grinned, smug and fully satisfied. "I knew it. From now on, I'm sending you Rin content daily. I'm going to flood your inbox until you're officially a Pixie."
Sora groaned but couldn't hide her smile. "Seriously?"
"Every. Day."
Sora shook her head, defeated but amused. "Fine. Send it."
"I'm starting today."
A second later, her phone buzzed with a new message from Nana. It was a photo Rin had just posted on Nest. In the picture, he was walking across an open snowfield—one of those vast, quiet places where the white stretched endlessly in all directions. There was only a single tree in the distance, bare but still standing.
The caption was simple: Found some peace today.
Sora stared at it longer than she meant to.
It wasn't staged. It wasn't a polished selfie or a fan-service shot.
It was just… a moment. Unfiltered. Caught in between things.
"You know…" Nana's words slowed, like she was piecing it together on the spot. "You and Rin—you two really are kind of alike."
She tilted her head, catching how long Sora's gaze lingered on the photo. "You both like disappearing to places far from the city. Away from people."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Nana blinked, then grinned like the thought had just clicked. "I'm just saying—you'd probably get along. You'd probably enjoy sitting in silence together."
Sora snorted, looking away. "That's a weird thing to say."
"Is it? You always click his posts first. Even when you swear you're just a casual fan."
"I just like quiet things," Sora muttered, swiping the photo away. But her thumb lingered a second longer than it needed to before she set her phone down on the table.
"Right," Nana said, completely unconvinced. "Casual fan."