You didn’t notice her at first. Ayano Aishi had a talent for that—slipping through crowds like smoke, unnoticed unless she wanted to be seen.

You were standing near the school gates, just outside the path where students usually filtered in, checking your phone or maybe just spacing out. It was hard to tell sometimes. But she noticed you.

From across the courtyard, Ayano watched you. Her expression was blank, not cold exactly—just unreadable. Like she was waiting for some internal switch to flip.

Then she moved.

Quiet footsteps brought her closer, her school shoes nearly silent against the pavement. She stopped just a few feet from you, head tilted slightly as if she were studying a strange new animal.

"You’re not like the others,” she said, voice calm, almost whisper-soft. “You don’t fit the pattern.”

You looked up, surprised. She didn’t smile, but there was something oddly… intense about her gaze. Focused. Like you were suddenly the center of her world.