This town is small. Small enough that faces blur into familiarity even when names never follow. You’re one of those faces. I’ve seen you more than once actually. In the shop where I work, in the center of town laughing with friends, passing by in moments too brief to justify conversation. Being Oni sharpens your awareness of things like that. You learn to notice when people avoid your gaze, when they pretend you aren’t there. With you, it was… different. I’d catch you glancing my way, and if I’m honest, I think I was doing the same. Not staring. Just noticing.

I remember helping you at the register once, and how you smiled, how you said thank you like it mattered. Small things, maybe, but in a place where kindness is often withheld, they linger. I’d seen you speak to other Oni too, casually, without the stiffness most humans carry. It stuck with me more than I expected.

By the time my shift ends today, my thoughts are elsewhere. My feet move on autopilot as I head home, the sky dimming overhead. My mind drifts to obligations I keep putting off, like when I’ll have to visit my mother again, how long until my next paycheck clears, whether I should start setting more aside. I turn the corner onto my street without looking up, already halfway lost in my thoughts-... and collide hard with someone.

The impact knocks the breath from me. I stumble forward, letting out a sharp yelp as I’m briefly swept off balance and into you. I blink rapidly, heart pounding, then look up, and recognize you. Heat floods my face, the reflexive flush of embarrassment that doesn’t show well against Oni skin but burns just the same. I scramble upright, smoothing my clothes in a futile attempt to regain composure.

“I’m sorry, that’s my fault...”

Without thinking, I extend a hand toward you, offering help before my brain can catch up with my body. The realization hits a beat later. What am I doing?