I Was Reincarnated Into A World Where I Was The Side Character

Sumire and I walked together toward our homes, but along the way, we decided to stop by a small café. It was called La Luna. The name means "moon" in Spanish. Kind of poetic, don't you think? Or maybe just odd—depending on your perspective.

As we settled at one of the cozy corner tables, a waiter approached us with a friendly smile. "What would you like to order?" he asked.

Sumire glanced at the menu briefly before replying, "I'll have a red velvet cake."

"I'll just go with a matcha latte," I said.

For a while, we sat quietly, letting the ambient chatter of the café and the aroma of fresh coffee fill the space. It felt surreal—almost like an unplanned rendezvous orchestrated by fate itself.

Sumire… she's here with me.

We hadn't seen each other since childhood. And honestly, I had no idea she was Yuka's stepsister. Life has a strange way of throwing surprises at you, doesn't it?

"Sumire," I said softly, breaking the silence.

She turned to me, her gaze calm and composed as she waited for our drinks. "Yes, Himeya-kun?"

Hearing her say my name after so long caught me off guard. I felt a small pang in my chest—nostalgia, perhaps. Her voice hadn't changed much, and yet it felt different.

Sumire's expression was as emotionless as ever—at least on the surface. But I knew better. Beneath that cool demeanor was a kind-hearted girl. If someone told me she'd been cast as the heroine in some story I wasn't aware of, I wouldn't even be surprised. Though, to be honest, that would feel a bit… strange.

"It's been a while since we've had a moment like this," I said, my voice laced with a mix of familiarity and awkwardness.

A soft chuckle escaped her lips. "Yeah. The last time we talked like this… you were crying."

The memory made me wince. "Hey, that's because you were moving away, remember?"

Her smile widened slightly. "Mhm, I remember. You know, I was crying too."

"Wait, really?"

She nodded, a playful glint in her eyes. "You didn't notice?"

Now that I thought back to that day, I did recall her avoiding eye contact when she told me about leaving. "That's what you call crying?" I teased, a small smile tugging at my lips.

She lightly punched my shoulder. "Hey, that's rude!"

"Hehe, sorry. I just never expected that shy, gloomy Sumire would grow up to be such a beauty."

Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink, and she looked away, flustered. "D-don't say stuff like that out of nowhere. It's weird."

"You're the one making it weird, ya know." I said with a playful grin.

Before she could retort, the waiter returned with our orders.

We sipped our drinks in comfortable silence for a while, but my thoughts began to drift. The lively chatter in the café faded into the background, replaced by a quiet heaviness in my chest.

Memories started to resurface—memories of people I could no longer have a part of... Touka, with her warm smile and her unexpected doings, and Uguisu-senpai, whose voice always carried a kind word to me. They were still vivid in my mind, yet so painfully distant.

And then there was me. The version of myself who walked away from their stories, leaving behind everything we'd been through together.

The ache in my heart grew sharper, and I found myself staring blankly at my cup. A lump formed in my throat, but I forced it down, unwilling to let the moment overwhelm me.

"Himeya-kun?" Sumire's voice pulled me back to the present.

I glanced at her, realizing she'd been watching me with concern. Her usually calm eyes now held a flicker of worry.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently.

I hesitated. How could I explain something she didn't know? Sumire wasn't part of those stories. She didn't know Touka or Uguisu-senpai. She didn't know about the pain of letting go, of walking away from bonds that once felt unbreakable.

"I'm fine," I lied, forcing a smile.

But Sumire didn't seem convinced. She reached across the table and placed her hand over mine. Her touch was light yet steady, grounding me in a way I hadn't expected.

The warmth of Sumire's hand lingered as I stared down at the faint ripples in my matcha latte. I didn't pull away. Maybe I didn't want to.

Her presence was steady, grounding me in a way I hadn't expected. Yet, in the back of my mind, the memories wouldn't let go.

Touka's determined smile, the one that could light up the darkest moments. Uguisu-senpai's calm, reassuring voice, always guiding me when I was lost. The moments we shared—they felt like another lifetime now. A chapter I had closed, even if I wasn't ready to.

And Sumire… she knew none of it. She had never met them. She couldn't understand the weight of what I had walked away from.

Still, she was here.

"Sumire," I said softly, breaking the silence.

She tilted her head, her calm gaze meeting mine. "What is it, Himeya-kun?"

I hesitated, the words stuck in my throat. "Do you ever feel like… you're walking away from something important? Like you're leaving a part of yourself behind?"

Her expression didn't change immediately, but I noticed her hand tighten slightly over mine. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe I have, but… why do you ask?"

I looked away, focusing on the swirl of foam in my drink. "There are people I used to be close to—people who meant everything to me. But life has a way of… separating us. I can't help but wonder if I made the right choice by leaving them behind."

Sumire was silent for a moment, her usual stoicism unbroken. Then, she said quietly, "You're still thinking about them, aren't you?"

I nodded, the weight of her words pressing down on me. "It's hard not to. They were such a big part of my life. It's like… even now, I can't shake the feeling that I should still be there, with them. But I'm not."

Her gaze softened, and she tilted her head slightly. "You care about them a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah," I whispered. "I do."

She didn't press further, didn't ask for details about who they were or why I had left. Instead, she gave my hand another squeeze and said, "You might not be with them anymore, but that doesn't mean your connection to them is gone. Sometimes, we can't stay in one place. Life moves us forward, even if we don't want it to."

Her words hit deeper than I wanted to admit. I glanced at her, surprised by how easily she seemed to understand, even without knowing the full story.

"But…" I started, my voice breaking slightly. "What if I don't know how to move forward?"

Sumire's lips curved into a small, almost imperceptible smile. "You don't have to figure it out alone. I'm here, right?"

Her voice was soft but steady, and before I could say anything, she shifted slightly closer and wrapped both hands around mine. The warmth of her touch cut through the fog in my mind.

For a moment, the memories of Touka and Uguisu-senpai faded to the background. It wasn't that they disappeared—they never would—but Sumire's presence was enough to remind me that I wasn't entirely alone in this new chapter.

I managed a faint smile, my voice barely above a whisper. "Thank you, Sumire."

She shook her head. "You don't have to thank me. Just… don't shut me out, okay?"

And for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt a flicker of something I thought I'd lost.

Not closure, not yet. But something simpler.

A reason to keep moving forward.