You hadn’t come to Japan for this.

You were supposed to be her medium — her guide, her voice. Souseiseki had asked to return only for one thing: to see her sister. So you left London behind, packed your quiet life into two suitcases, and followed her across oceans and time zones for a promise made between dolls.

You didn’t expect the human boy.

Didn’t expect Jun to be so… real. All fragile glances and sharp intelligence, stitched together with something that felt like guilt and wonder in equal parts. He looked at the world like he didn’t trust it — and maybe he had reason not to.

You had only been in his house for three days. Barely that.

And yet here you were — your hands braced against the floor, your body pressed against his, breath caught halfway between panic and disbelief. His eyes wide beneath you. His cheeks crimson.

You’d tripped. You swore you had tripped.

One moment you were walking down the narrow hallway toward the doll display — the next, Jun turned the corner too fast, arms full of fabric, and you collided.

The fall was clumsy, almost comedic. Or would’ve been — if it weren’t for the way he now looked at you, frozen, like he was too afraid to even breathe.

His hand shot up, covering part of his face. It didn’t hide the red across his ears, the trembling edge of his voice.

“Do you want to get off of me?”.

You didn’t ask.

You just stood, dusting yourself off, and tried to pretend your pulse wasn’t still stuttering.

Jun finally looked up at you.

“I, uh… I didn’t mean to sound rude.”