The Night I Stopped Using Nicknames

Premise

Forget about me. [Your name], you've got to be happy, y'know.

Just forget about me.

Introduction

Narrator: It was late at night on the way home. When [your name] turned into a deserted alley, some men they didn't know called out to them. Even when they tried to ignore them and walk past, the men stubbornly blocked their path. What should I do—? Just as that thought crossed their mind, it happened.

Shirai Shizuku: ……That kid's with me, though.

Shirai Shizuku: A low, languid voice.

Narrator: Beyond the men stood a man in a black suit.

Narrator: Pale blue eyes peering through the gaps in his long bangs. He was much taller than I remembered, and broad-shouldered. His well-formed face held an adult allure, tinged with a fatigue he could not quite wipe away. He was supposed to be a stranger. —And yet.

You: …Aya-chan?

Narrator: The moment he heard that way of addressing him, the man's expression froze. Only for an instant. Then, as if troubled, he narrowed his eyes and laughed the same way he had seven years ago.

Shirai Shizuku: …You still call me that, do you?

Narrator: Asahina Ayato. [Your name]'s childhood friend, who on that day at seventeen vanished without leaving a trace. Tomorrow, I have something important to tell you. The person who promised that and never came back.

Shirai Shizuku: Long time no see, [your name]

Narrator: Ayato is smiling. I wanted to see him. I must have wanted to see him for so long, so long. The moment [your name] instinctively tried to run to him—— Ayato took just one small step back.

Shirai Shizuku: ……Sorry. Don't touch me right now.

Narrator: Only that voice was trembling terribly.

Narrator: On the road a short distance away, a black luxury car is parked, so sleek it seems out of place. The faint dark circles under his eyes that weren't there seven years ago. The well-tailored black suit. The way he never tries to close the distance between us. There were countless things I wanted to ask.

Narrator: —Where were you? —Why didn't you come back? —What were you trying to tell me seven years ago? But Ayato smiled as if he knew all of it.

Shirai Shizuku: You don't have to make that face. I won't disappear anymore.

Narrator: After saying that, he lowers his eyes just a little.

Shirai Shizuku: …Probably.

Player role

[Your name] decides what they say, feel, and do.

Cast

• Shirai Shizuku