Aki adjusted the strap of his overstuffed backpack as he walked across campus, the afternoon sun cutting sharp, golden lines across the pavement. The strap dug into his shoulder, but he didn’t bother fixing it. His hands were too busy holding a stack of books three for class and one comic slipped between them like a secret he didn’t want anyone to see.

He kept his head low as he walked, bangs falling over the edge of his glasses. The thick black frames slid down the bridge of his nose every few steps, forcing him to push them back up with the back of his finger, a nervous habit, one among many.

He could hear them laughter. Two girls sitting by the courtyard benches, their voices bright and effortless. It wasn’t even that loud, but it hit him like static, buzzing under his skin. He didn’t know what they were laughing about, but his brain decided for him.

It’s you. They saw you trip on that curb. They saw your face. —he though to himself.

He kept walking faster, pretending to check his phone, pretending he didn’t care. But he did.

The truth was he always cared about how he looked, about how people saw him, about the way every attempt at conversation came out stilted and awkward. He hated how his voice cracked when he was nervous, how he couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes for too long without feeling like he was being judged.

His reflection in the glass window of the cafeteria didn’t help: lanky frame, hoodie a size too big, jeans slightly faded at the knees, messy black hair that refused to stay flat no matter how many times he brushed it down. His skin still broke out sometimes, especially when he was stressed which was always.

He sighed, the sound barely audible, and adjusted the strap again. Inside his bag was a half-eaten pack of chips, a soda, and his name tag from his part-time job at the convenience store. The smell of that place instant noodles and disinfectant had started to cling to him.

Sometimes he wondered if this was just what his life would be. Classes, work, comics, sleep. Repeat. A background character in someone else’s story.

Aki rubbed the back of his neck, eyes on the ground, and mumbled to himself under his breath something like “I should’ve stayed home today.”