Chapter Text
ACORN'S POV
Dear Diary,
So, this is it.
College: Done.
Us: Still standing. Barely.
But if I had to pick one last thing to write down, one final scribble before I shut you forever, it would be this:
Tonight, we buried a box.
The Gathering
We met at the tree behind the Campus Dormitory — The same tree where Ibani climbed onto back then.
The place still smelled like soil and ghosts of cafeteria lunches. Luka brought pastries "for morale" though Hyuna swatted his hand every time he tried to eat half before we even began.
Mizi arrived in her cheer jacket, practically dragging Sua, who complained the entire walk. "It's cold."
"You are warm." Mizi said, shoving a scarf around her.
"I have medical exams to study for."
"You will study forever. Tonight's important."
Till lurked near the back, hair in his eyes, black coat making him look like a tragic poet.
Ivan, suit jacket abandoned but tie still on, hovered beside him with an expression that said touch him and you die happy but early.
And then there was Hyunwoo — Steady, calm, carrying the actual box under his arm like it weighed nothing, even though for me it weighed everything.
The Tokens
We went one by one.
Mizi tossed in a pom-pom keychain, grinning. "So future me remembers I was peak sparkle."
Sua followed with her old ID tag. "So future me remembers why I stayed sane."
"You're only sane because of me." Mizi muttered. Sua didn't deny it.
Hyuna placed in a frosting spatula, dramatic. "If our bakery's still alive in ten years, dig this up and return it. If it failed — Bury it deeper."
Luka tossed his student council arm band, looking at it with a bitter smile. "This will serve as a momento. I have been freed from the puppet strings."
Ivan folded in one of Till's early sketches — A half-crumpled doodle of Ivan. This was the first doodle that Till gave Ivan back when he got jealous.
Till muttered. "It's trash."
Ivan: "It's art."
Till: "Trash."
Ivan just smiled, and that was that.
Till, on the other hand, put the love letter he mistakenly put in Ivan's locker. "This is where everything begins with." He looked at Ivan, quietly but meaningful.
Hyunwoo set down a dragon prop we used when we did the stageplay. "A promise to be true to myself — and with my feelings."
I dropped in this diary.
"For every night I complained. And for the one who listened to my stories from the very start."
The Banter
We sealed the box, but nobody moved.
Luka: "Should we say a prayer? A spell? Blood pact?"
Hyuna: "If you bleed on this, I am leaving."
Mizi: "What if we put glitter inside?"
Sua: "No."
Ivan: "We're wasting time."
Till: "We should hurry. Before someone sees."
Everyone turned to stare at him. He shrugged, looking away.
Emo till the end.
The Dig
We dug with a rusty shovel Luka found in the greenhouse shed. The ground was damp, roots fighting us every inch. Mizi complained about mud, Hyuna threatened Luka when he nearly hit her foot, and Ivan eventually stole the shovel entirely because no one else was "efficient".
Till crouched nearby, silent, pale in the moonlight. For once, he didn not look scary — just young. Just ours.
The Burial
When the hole was deep enough, Hyunwoo set the box inside. We stood around it, quiet now. Even Luka. Even Mizi.
It wasn't just a box. It was years. Cafeteria fights. Beach vacation. Mall escapades. Cat problems. Family problems. Exes. Van rides. Forest hunts. Maid cafes. Exams. Weddings. Love letters gone wrong.
The chaos that somehow became a family.
I looked at everyone.
Their faces. Their futures. And for once, I didn't feel like joking.
We buried it slowly. Dirt over wood. Roots curling around it. A capsule. A memory. A promise.
The Words
Nobody planned speeches, but they came anyway.
Mizi: "We're idiots, but we're our idiots."
Sua: "That's not comforting."
Hyuna: "Still true."
Luka: "Ten years from now, when I am famous, I will come back and autograph the box."
Till: "Please don't."
Ivan: "We will come back together."
Hyunwoo: "Always."
Me? I just whispered.
"Goodnight, Diary."
The Closing
Acorn closed the diary for the last time, fingers lingering on the bent corners, the ink-smudged cover. He laid it gently among the tokens, and when the box shut, it was like a heartbeat ending.
Soft, final, inevitable.
The earth swallowed their laughter, their chaos, their everything. But above the soil, under the dark stretch of sky, they stood together.
Not kids. Not students. Not the dorm full of lunatics they had once been.
Adults now. But still them. Still us.
And as the night wrapped them close, as hands brushed, as eyes met and promises settled quietly between heart beats.
It felt less like an ending.
More like the beginning of forever.
FIN.