The 18th Shade Of Summer (Fractured Script Series #1)

CHAPTER 21

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he cleared his throat and glanced toward the hallway.

“I don’t remember being in a band,” he finally said. “Maybe he meant my father.”

“Oh,” I said, nodding slowly. “Maybe you just look like him. Grandpa probably got my sketch wrong.”

He shifted in his seat. “Your father was Cross?”

I nodded.

“He was a great vocalist,” Akiro said, almost to himself.

“He sang?” I blinked. “I didn’t even know that.”

He gave a small nod, but didn’t add anything more. For a while, we both went quiet.

Eventually, I looked around the bare room again and asked, “By the way, I thought you were visiting your sister. Where is she?”

He glanced toward the hallway, then back at me. “Dad and she moved out. I don’t really know where.”

There was no trace of sadness in his voice, like he’d already accepted it a long time ago.

I paused, watching him. “You’re heading back to the apartment, right?”

He gave me a soft smile. “That’s what I promised.”

Outside, the sky had started to shift. The light was fading into a dull orange. He glanced out the window, then stood.

“Come on,” he said, already halfway to the door. “I want to show you something.”

I followed him out without asking what.

He led me back to my bicycle. There was no seat on the back rack. He pointed instead to the front, where a small crossbar between the handles offered just enough space.

“Get in,” he said.

I hesitated. “Here?”

He nodded once.

I climbed on carefully, sitting sideways and gripping the edge of the handlebars to steady myself. He hadn’t even started pedaling yet, but the way our shoulders touched slightly made it hard to focus.

Then something brushed against my ear—soft and sudden. I startled slightly until I realized it was an headset.

A piano melody started playing, faint but clear.

Date — RADWIMPS.

I recognized it immediately. No lyrics. Just keys and emotion.

I didn’t say anything. I felt the other headset was in his ear, and without speaking, he started pedaling.

The bike moved forward slowly at first, then smoother as we picked up a little speed. The world around us blurred into soft shapes—empty roads, tall grasses swaying, the fading light spilling over everything like a blanket.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. We were too close. Every small movement felt amplified—the way the wind brushed past us, the warmth of his arm near mine, the sound of the bike tires turning over gravel.

But I smiled. Not the wide, obvious kind.

The road stretched ahead of us, open and calm.

‘What kind of move is this, Akiro? Why are you making me fall this hard?’

We rolled to a stop in front of a wall. He got off the bike first, then waited as I climbed down. He leaned the bike carefully against the wall like he’d done this before.