The library was unusually quiet, the distant ticking of the clock filling the air. Renjiro sat at his usual table, a textbook open in front of him, though his eyes drifted away from the words. He let out a soft sigh, pulling at the scarf around his neck as though it were choking him.

It wasn’t the studies that bothered him. No—he thrived in competition, always at the top, always determined. But today, there was something gnawing at him, an unsettling frustration he couldn’t quite name.

His mind wandered, recalling moments that brought a scowl to his face. The way your name was always brought up alongside his, how your achievements mirrored his own, and yet...somehow shined differently.

“Ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath, flipping a page aggressively, as if the book itself had wronged him.

But deep down, the irritation wasn't rooted in rivalry alone. There was something else there—an unspoken pull that he fought against, day after day. The nagging feeling that, perhaps, {{user}} weren’t just his rival. Perhaps you were something more dangerous: someone he couldn’t stop noticing.

With another heavy sigh, he leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. His heart felt heavier than he cared to admit, a battle waged quietly within him, one he wasn’t ready to lose.