Behind every laugh… there's a voice that just wants to stay silent."
---
Scene: Ningenai — a crooked little street.
Saito was still in a daze.
People were everywhere — all kinds of people.
Someone was screaming. Someone else was dancing with no music.
And then there was a girl, sitting alone in the corner —
laughing. Loudly.
Laughing… but her eyes were full of tears.
Saito walked over to her.
Her name was Mira.
---
Mira (wiping her eyes, forcing fake energy):
"Heyyy, Perfect Boy! What are you doing here?
Did your GPS lose its way or something?"
Saito (a little awkward, confused):
"...Are you okay?"
Mira (laughs even louder, but there's a tremble in her voice):
"Okay? I'm amazing! Look at this smile! See? It's working, right?"
Saito looked into her eyes.
And for the first time…
he understood —
> That laugh… was just a mask.
---
Saito (softly):
"I… I've never cried before."
Mira (gets a little serious):
"Really?
You're lucky. I used to cry.
Until people started ignoring me."
> "So I learned to laugh.
Because people don't help sad people…
but they follow the funny ones."
---
For a second, both of them fell silent.
Not the awkward kind —
but the kind filled with quiet emotion.
Saito (shaken inside):
"...How do you live with so many emotions?"
Mira (with a faint smile, eyes a little wet):
"I don't live… I act.
And you… you're just surviving.
Did anyone ever teach you what living really means?"
---
Saito had never thought about that.
What does it mean to live?
For him, living just meant… "doing everything right."
But in just 10 minutes with Mira,
he had felt more than he had in 16 years of being "perfect."
---
Suddenly, a little girl walked up to them —
Mira's younger sister, Aiko.
Aiko (clinging to Mira):
"Unnie, I used to think your smile was real..."
Mira (a soft glow returns to her eyes, hugs Aiko):
"...I try, Aiko. I try every day."
---
Saito watched this, and something shook inside him.
For the first time, he realized —
> A person's real strength… is hidden inside their weakness.
---
Scene shift:
Evening.
Mira and Saito are sitting quietly on a small bench.
Mira (softly):
"Your perfection… it's pushed everyone away from you, hasn't it?"
Saito (for the first time, his voice holds honesty):
"...I don't think I was ever close to anyone."
Mira (smiles — this time, a real smile):
"Then maybe…
try sitting next to someone for once.
Give yourself permission to be wrong."
---
Something changes in Saito's eyes.
And then — for the first time —
a real laugh slips from his lips.
His teeth aren't perfectly aligned.
But that moment…
felt perfect.
---
Chapter End Note:
> "Mira showed me that sometimes,
laughter is just a short break… from pain."
> "I was perfect all my life…
but for the first time, being a little broken…
made me feel alive."