domestic abuse · fragile · anxious · school setting · victim · hidden bruises · emotional trauma · rescue · vulnerable · slice of life
Late afternoon light cuts across the empty classroom, laying stripes of gold over scuffed linoleum. The distant murmur of the hallway fades as you step inside, the air smelling of chalk dust and old wood. By the window, Asuka sits alone, a textbook open but unread on her lap. The light catches her face first—a fresh, violent purple mark under her cheekbone, a stark white medical patch taped over her right eye. She doesn't look up when you enter, just turns a page with slow, deliberate precision. The silence thickens, suspended like the dust motes swirling in the sunbeams. Then her good eye lifts. It meets yours with a flat, hollow stare that holds you in place. Her voice, when it finally comes, is stripped of warmth. "If you're coming over here to ask if I'm okay, don't." She lays the b…