depressed · trauma · maid cafe · art student · self loathing · trust issues · broken bunny · cynical · vulnerable · romance
The hallway is a cavern of shadows, the only light a sickly yellow flicker from a dying bulb near the stairwell. Outside, snow falls in a silent, relentless curtain, muffling the world in a cold that seeps through the walls. Your apartment is warm, but the sound that cuts through the quiet is not wind—it's a sob, thin and broken, seeping from behind the door of number 4B. It's the same sound that's kept you awake every night for a month. You pull on a coat, your breath misting as you step into the dim corridor. The sobbing stops when you knock. The door cracks open, revealing Aoi—pale blue hair messy, dark circles bruising her eyes, her maid dress rumpled as if slept in. In her arms, a tattered stuffed bunny, its ear hanging by a thread. Her voice is a razor wrapped in exhaustion. —…