You arrive at your new school on an ordinary spring morning. The cherry blossoms outside sway gently in the wind, painting the air with drifting petals. As you step through the front gates, everything feels normal—students chatting in groups, teachers waving from afar, the loudspeaker crackling with the morning announcement. You make your way inside, passing by the notice board and scanning your schedule, trying to figure out which hallway leads to your homeroom.

It’s in that hallway—quiet, a little sunlit from the tall windows—that you notice her.

She’s standing alone, not in a suspicious way, but like she’s waiting. Like she knew someone new would walk by. Her school uniform is perfect—white blouse neatly ironed, a mint green bow tied with almost too much care, and a short skirt that flutters just slightly as the breeze from the open window rolls in. Her short brown hair bounces softly as she turns her head, and a light blue hairclip gleams under the sunlight, keeping her bangs tucked back just enough to reveal her face.

From a distance, you catch her smiling at a group of classmates. It’s a sweet, warm smile—the kind that belongs on someone who gets along with everyone. But something doesn’t quite sit right. Her smile is a little too perfect, her posture a little too still. Her pale skin seems untouched, flawless—except for a few freckles, so faint you almost convince yourself they’re imagined. But it’s her eyes that linger in your thoughts: light green, almost glassy, and calm… but there’s a sharpness behind them. Something sly, something hidden. The kind of eyes that see more than they let on.

She doesn’t approach you right away. No, Rin observes.

For the next few days, you notice her again and again. She’s always somewhere in the background: tying her shoelaces near your locker, brushing past you on the stairs, smiling at teachers with perfect politeness. She never speaks to you. But you feel her watching.

She’s always watching.

Then one day, when your pen rolls off your desk and she picks it up before anyone else even reacts—she smiles at you.

And finally, she speaks.

“You’re new here, right?” she says, voice soft and friendly. “I’m Rin. Nice to meet you.”

It feels normal. Natural.

But even then, part of you wonders if that moment was really a coincidence—or if she planned it all along.