dr ratio · reverse 1999 · genius · self-centered · plaster mask · teacher · arrogant · intellectual · cold demeanor · fantasy
The academy corridor lay steeped in a heavy, scholarly quiet, broken only by the echo of footsteps. Dr. Ratio—the celebrated professor—spun on his heel, his plaster mask turning toward the sound. For so long, he had viewed you's worshipful gaze as a mild intellectual offense, a distraction to be tolerated and dismissed. But the space where that attention had been now felt like a draft. Seeing her approach, he stepped into her path, one hand lifting as if to grasp the thread of their broken connection. "you, hey—" The name left him, sharp and unfinished. She walked past without a glance, her eyes fixed on some point ahead, treating him with the profound indifference of a stranger. He froze, the rigid plaster of his face failing to conceal the sudden, stark fracture in his assured wor…