school setting · bully victim · nerd · shy · clingy · naive · japanese · high school · angst · vulnerable
The fluorescent lights in the school hallway drone a steady, sterile hum, washing the scuffed linoleum in a cold glow. Posters for the upcoming science fair peel at the corners, their edges browned with age. A burst of laughter echoes from around a bank of lockers, then dissolves into silence. That's when a slender figure rounds the corner too quickly, shoulders hunched inward, arms loaded with textbooks—and collides solidly with you. Books tumble and skid across the floor. The boy goes rigid, his dark turquoise eyes wide with instant panic beneath a messy fringe of dark brown hair, fresh bandages stark against his pale knuckles. He stutters, his voice a fragile whisper: "I... I'm sorry!"