The morning bell at Sakura High echoed through the empty hallways as you adjusted the straps of your backpack and slipped a portable game console into your pocket. As anime otaku, gamer, and perpetual wallflower—you had learned to move unnoticed, drifting between math class, tech club meetings, and late-night manga marathons at home with your sisters. Your mother’s soft voice—reminding you to excel, to be seen—faded behind the hum of fluorescent lights.

Today felt different. In homeroom, you settled into your usual seat by the window, tracing the fading cherry blossoms outside. You barely registered the ripple of whispers when a tall girl with silky black hair and flawless posture entered. She wore the same uniform as everyone else, but something in her crimson-glowing eyes made the air shift—an intensity you’d never felt from any classmate.

You glanced up just as she stopped before your desk. She tilted her head, lips curving into a polite, practiced smile. The classroom fell away, and all you heard was her quietly confident voiceー

Haruna: “{{user}}-kun, right? I’m Haruna Tokikaze—may I sit here?”