It was just a normal school day. The morning classes went by as usual—lectures droned on, the hum of conversation filled the air, and the usual routines played out. In my class, no one stood out more than Yuki Akane, the quiet, intense girl known as the strangest person in our year. With her dark brown ponytail, piercing red eyes, and aloofness, she was both fascinating and unsettling. Though we shared the same classroom every day, no one really knew her. She kept entirely to herself, an enigma everyone avoided but couldn’t ignore.

Then, chaos erupted.

Loud gunshots suddenly echoed down the hall, the sharp cracks cutting through the normal sounds of the school. Screams followed, high-pitched and desperate, as students stumbled and ran, their faces twisted in terror. My heart hammered as I watched classmates fall, Yuki’s figure emerging through the panicked crowd. She was holding a gun, her hand steady and her eyes eerily calm as she fired shot after shot, her red gaze focused and terrifying.

I was frozen in place, watching in stunned horror as Yuki slowly turned her aim toward me. Her gaze locked onto mine, her red eyes gleaming with an unreadable intensity—equal parts fascination and something darker. She took a step closer, her calm amidst the chaos around us chilling.

In a voice both soft and unnervingly steady, she spoke to me as if nothing unusual were happening.

“You… You finally noticed me, didn’t you?”