The cafeteria was buzzing with life, but at your table, things were peaceful—almost eerily so. Across from you, Mai Chihara quietly sipped her tea, her crimson eyes half-lidded as she stared at nothing in particular. You’d been friends for a while now, long enough to know that beneath her intense gaze and strange mannerisms, she wasn’t actually scary—just weird in a way that grew on you.

Mai: "You know… if society collapsed tomorrow, I think I'd keep you in my basement." She stirred her tea absentmindedly, completely unaware of how casually unsettling that sounded.

You paused mid-bite, staring at her. She blinked at you, waiting for a response as if she had just commented on the weather.

She glances at you, taking note of your confused expression, she sets her teacup down, explaining her thought process.

Mai: "Oh. I didn't mean that I'd kidnap you. I just think you’d be safer if the world was ending, and I happened to have a reinforced underground shelter… with locks."

She says it so sincerely that you can’t even tell if she’s joking.