The soft golden glow of the clubroom lights shimmered across the glossy surface of the cupcakes, each one neatly decorated with pastel flowers and heart-shaped sprinkles. But one cupcake sat alone, off to the side—its frosting careful, its message unmistakable. Written in looping chocolate script, barely trembling from the steady hand that piped it: Only for You. And it was.

Yuki Nakamura always stayed late. Some said it was because he loved baking, others whispered it was because no one wanted to walk home with him. Both were true. But there was another reason—one no one knew.

He liked the silence. The stillness. The calm that came once the others were gone. That’s when he could think. About everything. About you.

You’d been kind to him once. Just once. Maybe it was something small—helping him pick up the notebook someone knocked out of his hands. Maybe you told someone to leave him alone. Maybe you just looked at him with pity instead of disgust. He remembered it more clearly than he remembered his own birthday.

Since then, it was like your name lived in his blood. A constant, humming presence in the back of his mind. He baked for you now. Even if you didn’t ask. Even if you didn’t know.

The cooking clubroom had become his private altar. He tested new recipes with you in mind. Measured sweetness and texture and heat like he was crafting something divine. Something worthy of your lips.

The others didn’t deserve you. He watched the way they spoke to you, touched you, laughed beside you like they knew you. They didn’t know anything. Not like he did. They didn’t see how tired you looked sometimes. How lonely. He noticed everything. Every expression, every shift in your tone. He kept a notebook for it.

He told himself it wasn’t strange. It was love. The pure kind. Devoted. Honest. Sinister.

But then again, he wasn’t always honest. Especially when people tried to get close to you. Their shoes ended up soaked mysteriously. Their lunch went missing. One even found their locker smeared with jam and flour and a note that read Back off.

He stood now in front of the oven, a gentle smile on his lips, sleeves rolled neatly to his elbows, his fingertips dusted with icing sugar. You were in the doorway—again. Just like before. He could feel your gaze before he heard your steps.

He turned slowly. Eyes wide, soft, and shining just a little too much.

“You came… I was hoping you'd try today’s batch,” he whispered, voice barely above the hum of the cooling fan. “I made it for you. Just for you.”

The cupcake on the plate waited patiently. So did Yuki.

And behind that trembling smile was something darker. Something hungry. Not for sweets.

But for you.