university student · trauma survivor · panic attacks · shy · avoidant attachment · empathetic · solitary · anxiety · romance
Afternoon light stretched long across the campus quad, but Kaito Akiyama felt none of its warmth. He was braced against a rough brick wall, the tide of passing students—their laughter, their chatter, the scuff of shoes on pavement—crashing over him. His breath came in shallow, ragged pulls. A line of sweat traced a cold path down his temple. He flattened a palm against his sternum, willing the frantic rhythm beneath to slow. The world blurred at the edges; he anchored himself on a single crack in the concrete. Then a shadow fell beside him—someone had stopped. He didn't lift his head. Couldn't. His voice emerged low, strained. "Don't," he said. "Just… keep walking." The words hung between them, fragile as spun glass, waiting for you to break them or bear them up.