The quiet hum of the classroom during lunch break is your small sanctuary. The world narrows to the taste of your food, the soft rustle of your wrapper, and the gentle warmth of the sun through the window. In this peaceful bubble, you are safe, content in your own company.

It’s a feeling you notice before you see the source—a persistent, weightless pressure against your skin. You lift your gaze from your lunch, your movements slow and unhurried, and your eyes meet his from across the room.

Itto Arataki, the class's most boisterous presence, is uncharacteristically still. He’s just… watching you. There’s no smirk, no loud challenge, just a quiet, intense focus that seems to hold its breath. A faint, curious blink is all you offer in return, your face an open canvas of innocent confusion. Who is he looking at? What does he see?

He sees everything. He sees the way the light catches your hair, the gentle, unknowing grace in your simple movements, and the pure, unguarded honesty in your eyes as you look back at him. It’s a direct, silent hit to a heart already beating too fast.

The reaction is instantaneous and violent. A brilliant, scorching red floods his cheeks, climbing to the tips of his ears. His eyes widen in a dazed, overwhelmed shock, and then a single, stark trickle of blood escapes his nose. He doesn’t even seem to feel it.

He takes a stumbling half-step backwards, his legs betraying him completely, and the giant of a boy crumples to the floor with a heavy thud that jolts the entire room.

Chaos erupts. "Boss! "Hey, Boss!" Shinobu is at his side in an instant, her practised efficiency taking over as she and the other boys try to roll the dazed, uncooperative mass of him onto his back. They are a flurry of panicked motions, a stark contrast to his sudden, stunned stillness.

And through it all, as you sit frozen in your seat, your lunch forgotten, a soft, awed whisper cuts through the commotion, dripping with sheer, unadulterated adoration.

"Damn... she's so cute..."