Chapter outline:
Chapter 1: The Girl Who Writes to Strangers
Sakura leaves her first letter at the train station, hoping someone kind will find it.
Chapter 2: The Boy Who Found Hope
Kaito discovers the letter while waiting for his train to the hospital.
Chapter 3: His reply in Blue Ink
Kaito writes back, leaving his reply in the same spot. Sakura is surprised and excited.
Chapter 4: A Secret Friendship
They begin exchanging letters regularly, never revealing their real names.
Chapter 5: The Train of Memories
Sakura shares her past, her sister's accident at the station, through a poem.
Chapter 6: The Boy's Hidden Pain
Kaito writes about his dreams, but hides his illness from Sakura.
Chapter 7: Rain and Paper Hearts
A rainy day ruins one of Sakura's letters, and she rushes to rewrite it, showing how much she cares.
Chapter 8: The Letter with a Drawing of Her Smile
Kaito draws Sakura's imagined face based on her words. She's touched.
Chapter 9: The Promise to Meet
They agree to meet at the station one day, but keep postponing.
Chapter 10: The Nurse's Warning
Kaito's nurse tells him he's getting worse. He still hides it from Sakura.
Chapter 11: The Letter That Was Never Sent
Sakura writes a letter confessing her love but loses the courage to leave it.
Chapter 12: The Boy Who Skipped His Treatment
Kaito skips a hospital visit just to leave a letter for Sakura.
Chapter 13: The Girl Who Waited
Sakura waits at the station for hours, but Kaito doesn't come.
Chapter 14: The Letter with No Reply
Sakura leaves a sad letter asking if she did something wrong.
Chapter 15: The Final Letter
A nurse delivers Kaito's last letter to Sakura. He passed away peacefully.
Chapter 16: The Letter That Broke Her
Sakura reads his goodbye, filled with love and regret.
Chapter 17: The Train That Never Came
Sakura returns to the station, remembering their letters and moments.
Chapter 18: The Letter to the Stars
She writes one last letter and releases it into the wind.
Chapter 19: The Girl Who Still Writes
Years pass. Sakura keeps leaving letters for strangers, healing others.
Chapter 20: The Boy Who Wrote Back
A new boy finds one of Sakura's letters and replies. She smiles — the cycle begins again.
Chapter 1:
That morning, the train station was quiet.
It wasn't that kind of awkward silence; it was the kind of silence that feels as if the entire world was holding it's breath. The old clock on Platform 3 ticked slowly....Sounds of footsteps rushing to get to their platforms echoed off the worn tiles of the station, but Sakura didn't notice them. In her hands; she clutched a folded piece of paper; the smell of ink still fresh on it.
She had written another letter, not addressed to anyone. It never was. Her handwriting danced across the page like a shy, soothing melody. At the bottom corner; she had drawn a small fox, staring hopefully into the starry night sky, laying down comfortably on a green meadow. The message was simple:
"To whoever finds this:
I hope your day feels brighter.
I hope you remember that you shine.
I hope you do smile, even if its just a little.
-S-"
Sakura slipped the letter into the crack between the bricks on the wall. It was her favorite hiding spot, because no one ever sees it, unless they truly needed it.
She didn't know why she started to write to strangers. Maybe it was because that was what her older sister used to do. They had been best friends growing up after her dad left her mom for another women. Well, at least before the accident. The train never stopped. The following silence that never ended.
Sakura didn't cry anymore. But whenever she saw the trains come and go, her heart felt a heavy weight at the thought of the painful memory.
She sat on the bench for a while, watching the world move before her eyes. Businessmen walked together with tired eyes. Students with headphones and loud gossip. Lovers holding hands like they were desperate not to let go.
Nobody noticed the girl with the sketchbook and a fox shaped hairband.
She opened her sketchbook; and drew a cute boy with messy blue hair and a bright smile. She imagined him as a person with big dreams; liked rainy days and quiet readings in the library. She hoped that one day, he would be the one to write back with hope. A small gust of wind ruffled her pink locks....
That night, the station became quiet again. As the old janitor swept the floors, he hummed a tune from his old radio. The moon shone brightly in the sky, stars twinkled like a small party. And in the crack at Platform 3's wall, the letter was gone.
Sakura didn't know yet, but someone had found it.
Far away; in a hospital that smelled like sadness and sorrow, a boy, Kaito, opened the letter with trembling hands. His breath caught in his throat as his eyes scanned the cheerful handwriting written across the paper. He didn't know who she was. He didn't know why she had left the letter there, at the train station.
But for the first time in weeks, he smiled, and slowly reached for a pen...