The summer Shirakumo Died

(EraserCloud AU - inspired by The Summer Hikaru Died)

Aizawa Shouta watched his best friend die.
The building collapsed in seconds, and when the dust settled, there was nothing left but silence.
There was no funeral. No body. Only the unbearable certainty that Oboro Shirakumo no longer existed anywhere in this world.

For days, Aizawa forced himself to keep breathing, to take one step after another, to avoid looking back.
Until one ordinary afternoon, on a street where the wind sounded hollow, someone called his name.
The voice was Oboro's.
And when he turned around, he was standing there.

Same hair, same awkward smile, same memories only they could share.

But something was wrong.
In the way he blinked, in the tone he used to say his name, in the stillness that surrounded him-as if even the air was afraid to touch him.
Aizawa knew instantly: that was not Oboro.
And yet... he didn't leave.

Since then, they have lived a routine built from silence, half-spoken words, and gestures repeated from memory.
Aizawa knows his friend is dead.
He knows that what now walks beside him is something else, something that watches him with patience and something like affection.
But every night, when the "Oboro" who returned smiles at him with those empty eyes, Aizawa tells himself it doesn't matter.
Because accepting the truth would mean losing him all over again.