Becoming Yukimura's Childhood Friend

This story will enter the paid section on January 16, 2026. Writing isn't easy, and good ideas are hard to come by, so please support the official release!

[Childhood]

Little Yukimura was troubled.

His neighbor, Tenjun Mirai, insisted he call her big sister and often said strange things.

“Hehe, my goal as a wage slave is to enjoy life and eat my fill until I die!”

What's a wage slave? Why does she have to wait to die?

Yukimura burst into tears. “Mirai! You can't die...”

Mirai scrambled to comfort him. “Um... I was just speaking figuratively. I mean, I'm not going to kick the bucket that easily!”

Yukimura cried even harder because he didn't understand.

[Teenage Years]

After entering middle school, Yukimura was even more troubled.

His childhood friend Tenjun Mirai had far too many hobbies.

And he was taking up less and less space in her heart.

Then one day, he fainted on the station platform. When he woke up, he found her lying in the next bed.

“Thanks a lot,” Tenjun Mirai said through gritted teeth. “If you were going to faint, why did you have to land on my foot?”

Yukimura didn't dare say a word.

[Adulthood]

Yukimura had lost track of how long it had been since he'd seen Tenjun Mirai.

Every afternoon after training, he would open social media and see what Mirai had posted.

Yesterday, she was photographing the great migration of wildebeest. Today... she was having dinner with Fuji Shusuke.

Yukimura nearly ground his back teeth to dust, then turned around and bought a plane ticket to Africa.

Blurb added on December 15, 2025, at 12:10.

(A writer who writes on impulse, just having fun. Compliments are my inspiration, so please don't tell me if you drop the story or find a plot point off-putting! For now, I have no plans to step outside my comfort zone.)

Theme: The beauty of youth