If you’re done with a friendship, say it. Fading out to avoid one hard talk just stretches the hurt.

Fading looks gentler than it is. Instead of one difficult conversation, the other person gets weeks of wondering what changed, with no information to work with and no way to stop checking. You avoid a bad ten minutes and they get a bad month, which is a trade you made on their behalf without asking.

If this is where you are, a short honest message is kinder than a slow disappearance. You do not owe a full account of your reasons, only a clear ending. Saying you have drifted and did not want to leave them guessing is enough.