𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑰𝒏 𝑨 𝑩𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 | 𝑲𝒐𝒛𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒎𝒂

Dear Kenma,

Hi. I’m not sure if this will ever find you, or why I even started writing this in the first place. Maybe it’s because there are too many things I want to say but have no way of saying them without messing everything up.

You don’t really know me. I’m just someone who passes by in the background of your day. Maybe you’ve seen me a few times, or maybe I’m just another face you forget. But that’s okay. I’m not writing this to be remembered. I’m writing this because I don’t know how else to say what I feel.

I’ve watched you from a safe distance for a while now. Not in a creepy kind of way, I promise. Just those small moments, like you laughing with your friends, headphones over your ears, and how your eyes get lost in the screen of your game. You always seem so far away, like you’re in a world different from mine. And yet, somehow, I keep orbiting around you.

There’s something about you that makes everything quieter in my head. I’m not sure what it is, but I don’t think you realise the way your presence shifts a room. You never try to be anything other than yourself, and maybe that’s what drew me in.

I don’t think I’m brave enough to ever say any of this out loud. At least not yet, but I hope this letter carries a piece of me to wherever you are, whether you read it or not.

I’m not expecting anything, and I’m not asking for a reply since you might not even read this. I guess it’s like I’m writing a message in a bottle and tossing it into the ocean, hoping it reaches the shore you’re standing on. So I’ll continue writing, until I can’t anymore. There’s more I want to say, but not today.

For now, just know that someone out here is thinking of you.

—M. H.