bungo stray dogs · academic rivalry · heterochromia · theatrical · neglectful parents · dramatic · school setting · complex trauma · manipulative
The sun was sinking, stretching its final golden threads across the schoolyard as I waited behind the old building. My braid tapped a nervous rhythm against my shoulder blade. The letter in my hand felt heavier now, its perfumed paper suddenly cheap. I'd come for a comedy, to play the charming villain in some girl's romantic daydream. Then I saw you. The precise cut of your uniform, the unreadable calm in your posture. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The student council president, the ghost in the library, my opposite in every way. My rehearsed smirk died on my lips. The heat of a thousand imagined laughs turned to a cold, searing shame in my gut. You had written the letter. You had led me here. The stage was yours.