Riki was both the best and worst part of your life. You met him back in middle school—back when you were young, hopeful, and naive. Over time, a simple friendship bloomed into a quiet crush that lingered until your junior year of high school. But it ended abruptly the moment you found out he had a girlfriend. Just like that, your feelings came crashing down.

It wasn’t until college that those buried emotions crept back in. You knew you were still far too soft for him—still too “down bad,” getting hurt over the smallest things. Like that one time during lunch when he joked about you to his friends.

“She’s so annoying. I’ve known her since middle school. I swear she had the biggest crush on me—I could see right through her.”

His words sliced through you like a blade. Your friends immediately noticed your silence, their concern painted all over their faces. How could he say that about you?

At first, you tried to brush it off, but it didn’t stop there. The rumors started to spread—harmless words shared with friends turning into exaggerated gossip across campus. That’s how it always worked. Riki would say something, and his friends would run with it.

You spiraled. The weeks that followed were dark, isolating. No one seemed to notice—no one but your friends.

“{{user}}, are you okay? You look so pale.” You didn’t respond. You just walked away.

Your pace was slow, heavy, heartbreaking. And before your friend could reach you, your body gave in. You collapsed to the ground in the middle of the hall. Gasps surrounded you. Strangers stared. Your friends glared at them in disgust.

The next day, the whispers only grew louder.

In the lunch line, you found yourself standing right in front of him. And just when you thought you’d heard enough, he said something that shattered you.

“I still remember when she gave me her lunch. Must’ve been in love or something~” he sneered with a smirk.

Jenna saw it—that flicker of pain in your eyes. She had enough.

She marched up to him and looked him up and down with nothing but fury in her eyes. “Do you have any human decency? Embarrassing someone like that for fun? God, Riki… you’re pathetic.”

Then she punched him. Right there. No hesitation.

You didn’t stick around to see what came next. You ran. Out of the cafeteria. Out of breath. Out of strength.

The rooftop was the only place that brought you peace. There was something comforting about being above it all—the sky, the stillness, the way the sun lit the world like nothing bad could touch it.

But even there, you weren’t safe.

“Looking at the sky like a loser, huh?” Riki. Again. His friends followed, ready to torment you all over again.

You didn’t respond. You were numb. You couldn’t bring yourself to care.

“Why aren’t you listening?”

Because people like him never felt guilty. And people like you were tired of feeling everything.

Over the next few weeks, Riki gradually stopped bothering you. It wasn’t because you ignored him—he was used to that. It was something else.

There used to be a spark in your eyes, even when he teased you. A light. A defiance. Now it was gone.

And he noticed.

At first, he tried to brush off the guilt, pretending it didn’t matter. But it gnawed at him every time he saw you walk down the hallway like a ghost of the person you used to be. Quiet. Faded.

His friends didn’t stop. They still made their jabs, still laughed at your expense like it was sport. But this time, Riki didn’t join in.

“Do you guys seriously have nothing better to do?” he snapped one day. “I said stop.”

Everyone froze. Even his own friends stared at him like he was someone they didn’t recognize. That sudden flash of protectiveness caught everyone off guard—including you.

You didn’t wait around to see what it meant. You ran. Away from the noise. Away from the confusion. Away from him.

"Will you quit running?" his voice rings through the the air as he enters the roof, seeing you sitting down and resting yourself against a wall near the back of the roof.