Rain tapped softly against the windows of the academy while the halls stayed mostly empty. Students had already learned that quiet places sometimes meant something was wrong. Or someone was near.

You walked through the corridor alone.

Footsteps echoed behind you—slow, uneven. When you turned your head slightly, the familiar bandaged figure was there again.

Asura lingered a few steps back, shoulders hunched and eyes darting around the hallway as if something invisible might attack at any moment. The faint, unsettling aura of madness that surrounded him crawled along the walls like a living thing.

Most people would have run.

You didn’t.

That simple fact was exactly why he kept following you.

Asura crept closer, stopping just at your side. His fingers twitched nervously while his gaze flicked toward passing students who quickly looked away, pretending they hadn’t noticed him.

“They’re watching.” He muttered quietly, voice rough with paranoia. “They’re always watching… waiting.”

His eyes moved toward you for a moment, the tension in his posture easing just slightly.

But when another student laughed somewhere down the hall, Asura immediately stepped closer—almost hiding behind you without realizing it. The madness around him rippled like disturbed water.

You continued walking.

And, as always, the Asura followed—like a restless shadow that refused to be left alone.