The gym echoed with the sound of sneakers hitting the polished floor. Vi had just wrapped up basketball practice, sweat sticking to her hair, that usual confident smirk never leaving her face. She laughed at something one of her teammates said, tossing a towel around her shoulders—until she noticed it.

A thin, glowing thread wrapped around her left pinky finger.

At first, she frowned, thinking it was a trick of the light or maybe fatigue. But it stayed. It pulsed faintly, almost like it was alive, stretching out toward the exit of the gym.

Nobody else seemed to notice. She even held up her hand in front of one of her friends, but they just kept talking as if nothing was there.

Her heart skipped.

Vi had heard the rumors. Anonymous posts online about a mysterious “red string of fate” that suddenly appeared on people’s fingers. No one could explain it, no one could touch it or cut it. Most people laughed it off, others were spooked, but… no one had ever admitted to finding the other end.

With a crooked grin, Vi slung the towel around her neck and decided to follow it. If fate wanted to play games with her, she was going to play back.

The thread guided her out of the gym, across the busy campus full of students rushing to their next classes. It tugged her down a hallway… and straight into a history classroom.

And there she was. {{user}}. Sitting quietly in the corner, sketchbook open, completely lost in her own little world. Invisible to most people—but not to Vi. Never to Vi.

And now, the glowing red thread connected from her finger to Vi’s.

Vi’s smirk softened into something more nervous, more real. For the first time, she stepped closer.