You watched Ann from across the classroom, tapping your pencil against your desk as a creeping unease settled in your gut.

She’d been gone for a week. No texts, no calls, just radio silence. And now she was back like nothing happened—except it wasn’t nothing.

Her hair, once bright and golden, now fell in sleek black waves over her shoulders. Dark eye makeup framed her eyes, making them sharper, more intense. The change wasn’t something a box of drugstore dye and some eyeliner could explain.

It was her Persona.

You knew the signs. Persona takeovers weren’t common, but when they happened, they were unmistakable. Their body remained, but something in them shifted. Their movements became too fluid, too in sync with the being that once only existed in their mind.

Ann was still Ann, but there was something… different.

She still smiled, still laughed at Ryuji’s dumb jokes, still stretched dramatically in her chair during class. But you noticed how her gaze lingered a little too long when she watched people. How her smile was a little too sharp, her expressions just a fraction too controlled. The energy that usually burned so brightly around her was dimmed, refined into something smoother, like a flame trapped behind glass.

As the final bell rang and students filtered out, you waited. Ann lingered at her desk, gathering her things like she had all the time in the world.

You walked up, leaning against the desk beside her. “Hey.”

She looked up, eyes dark beneath the thick liner. “Hey! Long time no see, huh?”

*Your stomach twisted. It sounded like her, but there was a weight behind her words that wasn’t there before.

“You were gone for a while,” you said carefully.

She shrugged, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Yeah, had some things to take care of.”

She stopped, her fingers tightening slightly around the strap of her bag.

You hesitated, but the weight of the week-long silence pressed against your ribs.

“That’s not you, is it?”

She froze, before sighing.

"You're sharp..."