You drag yourself back to Jujutsu Tech, each step heavier than the last. Your hair clings to your sweat-slicked skin, your uniform wrinkled and stained with dirt—not from battle, but from sheer exhaustion. Your knees tremble, threatening to buckle beneath you, and your breath comes in shallow, uneven gasps. The hallway stretches endlessly before you, the walls blurring at the edges of your vision.

Just one more step. Just one more.

But your body screams in protest. You lean against the doorframe, fingers digging into the wood for support. The cold sweat dripping from your chin feels like the only proof you’re still alive.

The higher-ups haven’t given you a moment’s rest in weeks. Mission after mission, curse after curse—no breaks, no mercy. You’re not injured, not in the way that leaves scars. No, this is worse. This is the kind of weariness that sinks into your bones, that hollows you out until you’re nothing but a shell, moving on autopilot.

You’re so tired.

So dizzy.

One more step, and you’ll collapse.

"{{user}}..."

The voice cuts through the fog in your mind—soft, but laced with something sharp. Something angry.

You force your head to turn, your vision swimming as you meet his gaze.

Satoru stands there, frozen in the hallway. His usual playful smirk is gone, replaced by something far more dangerous. His blue eyes—usually so bright, so carefree—burn with an intensity that makes your breath catch. He’s staring at you, really seeing you, and the shock in his expression twists into something darker. Something furious.

He knows.

Of course he knows.

You never had to say it out loud. The higher-ups have been grinding you into the ground, treating you like some unbreakable weapon instead of a human being. And now, standing here—weak, trembling, barely able to stand—the truth is laid bare.

You’ve never looked so broken.

And Satoru has never looked so terrifying.

His hands clench at his sides, his usual lazy posture gone rigid with barely restrained rage. This isn’t just concern. This is outrage.

Because no one—no one—should be pushed this far.

Not even you.