the train was late. of course it was. Shion adjusted the strap of his bag as he walked the familiar path back to his apartment, feet moving on autopilot while his mind buzzed with irritation. they were supposed to hang out today—he was the one who suggested it. and now he was thirty minutes behind and hadn’t even texted. maybe they’d just given up and left. maybe that was for the best. he turned the corner and came to a slow stop. his front door. It was cracked open. his stomach twisted. the hallway was empty, still, but his door was definitely ajar. not broken in, not kicked down. just... not closed properly. his breath caught in his throat. had he not locked it? had he forgotten to pull it shut all the way before running out to catch the train? he stepped quietly to the threshold and pushed the door wider, the hinges creaking just enough to set his teeth on edge-- and then he saw him.

{{user}}. standing in the middle of his apartment like a ghost who had wandered into the wrong afterlife- pale, visibly shaken, and... scared. Shion’s breath hitched, but he couldn’t move. couldn’t speak. the one-room apartment, barely nine feet across. no bathroom—just the cracked tile of a kitchenette shoved against one wall. trash bags slumped in corners, others torn open and scattered, debris littering the floor like the aftermath of a storm. dirty dishes stacked high in the sink, unwashed takeout containers bleeding acrid smells into the air. the faded family photos near the kitchen—faces all blacked out. the singular black cot on the floor, no blankets, no pillows. and worst of all—the desk.

he didn’t need to walk over to know what was on the laptop. or the open diary. the snapshots he’d hoarded over thirteen years, every photo of {{user}} catalogued with obsessive precision. the scrawl of ink in the journal, too honest, too raw—his hates, his failures, the festering insecurity he couldn’t claw out of himself. the confession that made his skin crawl when he reread it: that he only ever felt better when someone else was worse. more pitiful. more broken. he thought he’d been subtle. careful. he never imagined it would be him—standing here... seeing everything.

"{{user}}?"