Days passed.

  Not the kind that felt heavy. The kind that felt light, like something inside the air itself had changed.

  Toviro walked with them to school every morning, cloaked and invisible, his voice a whisper in Mayo's ear. "That teacher likes you." "Ozair's heart rate spikes when he sees the soccer ball." "Elina looked at you three times during lunch."

  Mayo told him to stop analyzing everything.

  Toviro said he would try, but he didn't.

  On Wednesday, Ozair convinced Toviro to play soccer.

  Not visibly, of course. But Toviro stood in the goal, cloaked and unseen, stopping every single shot. The ball would change direction at the last second, or freeze midair before dropping harmlessly to the ground.

  Ozair shouted at the empty net. Aryan just watched, never saying much. And Elina smiled as if none of it mattered.

  Afterward, Ozair lay on his back in the field, breathing hard, staring at the sky. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to us."

  Toviro appeared beside him, his chest light glowing softly. "I enjoyed it."

  Ozair sat up instantly. "You enjoyed it? You enjoyed stopping my goals?"

  "Yes."

  Ozair stared at him for a long second. "You're so weird," he said. "But I like you."

  On Friday, Elina brought snacks to the empty lot. They sat in a loose circle on the cracked pavement while the sun dipped lower in the sky. Toviro lifted his hands, and small lights flickered into existence above them—tiny,

  glowing shapes, drifting and swirling like slow fireflies.

  Nothing grand. Nothing dramatic. Just simple, gentle light.

  Elina reached up and caught one in her palm. It rested there for a moment before fading softly into nothing.

  "This is nice," she said quietly. "This is really nice."

  Aryan nodded slowly, eyes still on the glowing shapes above them. "Yeah. It really is."

  Ozair threw a chip at him. "From you, that's basically poetry."

  Aryan's lips twitched. Then a small laugh slipped out, soft and unexpected.

  Mayo watched them all. Watched Ozair arguing with someone no one else could see. Watched Elina smiling without hesitation. Watched Aryan sitting close, silent but steady.

  And Toviro, sitting among them as if he had always been there.

  Mayo didn't feel dim anymore.

  Not in the background. Not like a shadow beside brighter people.

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  Just… present.

  A week passed like that—maybe more. Mayo stopped counting.

  Toviro became part of everything. Morning walks. School hallways. Lunch tables. Afternoons in the empty lot. Even the quiet moments between words.

  Ozair challenged him to games constantly. Elina asked questions about space, about stars. Aryan stayed nearby, saying little, but never leaving.

  The forced smiles stopped. The automatic yeses stopped. When Mayo meant no, he said no.

  Toviro noticed. His chest light pulsed brighter each day.

  "You are doing well," Toviro said one night as they walked home beneath a pale sky.

  Mayo glanced at him. "Yeah?"

  "Yes. The light is stronger."

  Mayo didn't fully understand what that meant. But something about the way Toviro said it made him believe it.

  "Thanks," he said quietly.

  Toviro tilted his head. "You are welcome."

  Then came a day like any other.

  Mayo sat in class, half listening to the teacher, the sound of chalk against the board blending into a steady hum. A paper slid onto his desk.

  A test from last week.

  He looked at the top corner.

  The number was lower than before. Lower than usual.

  For a second, he simply stared at it.

  Then he folded it and put it in his bag.

  No tightness in his chest. No panic. Just... acceptance.

  It's just a number.

  That thought surprised him. A few days ago, finding that paper would have ruined his entire day, but now it was just a piece of paper—nothing more than that.

  He looked out the window, and the sunlight poured through the glass, warm and bright against his face.

  Elina leaned toward him from the seat beside his. "Are you feeling alright, Mayo?"

  He turned to her with a small smile. "I was just thinking about the day it all began."

  She looked into his eyes, and for a moment, she just stayed there, searching. Then something in her expression softened—like she had found exactly what she was looking for.

  There you are... Not hiding anymore.

  Their gazes held, and a quiet smile spread across both their faces at the same time.

  After school, they walked to the gate together.

  Ozair was already talking about tomorrow, about some new game he wanted Toviro to try. Elina nodded along, smiling. Aryan walked beside Mayo, quiet as always.

  At the gate, they paused.

  "I'll see you guys tomorrow," Mayo said.

  Ozair raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

  "Just... walking."

  A soft warmth spread across Elina's face. "Okay. Tomorrow."

  Aryan's eyes flicked toward Mayo. "You better not be late."

  They split off in different directions.

  Mayo's feet carried him forward. Not toward home but another direction. Toward the edge of town. There was a hill at the edge of town, covered in flowers and trees, a quiet green place not far from his house.

  The sun was warm against his skin. The sky stretched wide above him, endless and blue.

  He climbed slowly, the grass soft beneath his feet, the wind brushing through his hair. With every step, the noise of the town faded.

  At the top, he stopped.

  The view opened beneath him, houses and roads winding through patches of green. It looked ordinary.

  Peaceful.

  Beautiful in a way he had never truly noticed before.

  He sat down first. Then slowly lay back, letting the grass cradle him.

  The warmth of the sun rested on his face. Clouds drifted lazily overhead, occasionally softening the light with shade. The wind moved through the flowers, bending them gently.

  He reached into his bag and pulled out the test paper.

  He looked at the number again.

  It still wasn't great.

  But it didn't define him.

  A small smile formed at the corner of his mouth. Then it widened.

  And there, lying beneath the open sky, he laughed. Quietly. Freely. As if something heavy had finally slipped off his chest and dissolved into the air.

  The sun kept shining. The wind kept blowing. The world kept moving.

  He didn't know what was coming.

  Yet for now, lying there with grass beneath him and sky above, that felt okay.

  ______________________________________________________________________________________

  But that was then…

  And now Mayo stood on the same hill.

  The wind was cold. The sky was dark. Stars fell around him like tears from the universe.

  He looked down at his hands. The same hands that had held that test paper in the sun.

  How did I get here?

  The question had no answer.

  He looked up, and the stars were still falling.

  Without staying there another moment, he turned and started running toward home.

  But what exactly had happened that day? What had changed while he was sleeping? Why were the stars falling, and why did everything feel so different now?