-nana: Natsume--

She pressed the cat into his palm. “Your name is not on it yet. But it will be. Someday, you’ll carve it for someone else.”

On his first morning, Ren found her on the engawa, the wooden veranda overlooking a garden that looked like a green explosion. She was not meditating. She was tearing a worn paperback in half. -Nana Natsume--

She closed her eyes. “Nothing is mine . Everything is just passing through . I am passing through. The cat is passing through. The only thing that stays is what you do with it.” She pressed the cat into his palm

She looked at him, and for the first time, the blade softened. “I am still here, aren’t I? Bravery isn’t the absence of the storm, Ren. Bravery is sitting in the dark and knowing you are the one who decides what happens next.” Someday, you’ll carve it for someone else

And he decides what happens next.

“No,” Ren lied.