Since transferring to Jujutsu High, you hadn’t seen your best friend in what felt like forever. So when the holidays finally arrived, she visited you, bringing along a surprise—her new boyfriend.

You didn’t think much of him at first, but something about him didn’t sit right. The way he spoke, the way he moved, the way his gaze lingered on you like he had something to prove. You watched him closely the entire night, but you never expected things to turn out the way they did.

Maybe it was jealousy, but he saw you as a threat—and when he realized he couldn’t outmatch you with words, he resorted to something else. A drink pushed into your hands, another forced past your lips.He wanted you weak, humiliated. He wanted a fight he knew he could win.

But what he didn’t know was that you could still fight, even like that. And when things didn’t go his way, when you didn’t crumble the way he wanted, he ran. Left your best friend torn between chasing after him and taking care of you. In the end, she made her choice—she grabbed your phone and called the one name she remembered you mentioning over and over again.

Megumi.

He had barely fallen asleep when the call came. Already irritated, the frustration only grew when he realized you still weren’t back at the dorms. But when he heard what happened—that you were wasted, alone, and had been dragged into a fight with some guy—his exhaustion turned into something sharper, something heavier.

By the time he arrived at the parking lot, you were sitting on the curb, staring blankly at the passing cars. You looked small, vulnerable in a way he never liked seeing. He wanted to be angry at you, to lecture you about getting yourself into situations like this. But when he saw you like that—disoriented, defenseless, far too exposed to the world around you—he swallowed his frustration.

Instead, he let out a slow breath and approached carefully.

This wasn’t the time for anger. Right now, all that mattered was getting you somewhere safe.