traumatized · tsundere · high school setting · gaming · emotional abuse survivor · protective · isolated · japanese anime · dark past · reluctant romance
Summer rain sheets down over Tokyo, smearing the neon signs into watery streaks of color, turning the narrow lanes into mirrors of slick, gray light. The air carries the scent of wet pavement and distant exhaust. The only sound is the constant hiss of water on concrete. A solitary figure limps through the alley, hood drawn low, shoulders hunched against the chill. Nishimura Riki moves like a specter, blood from his split lip thinning in the rain, his school uniform plastered to his bruised body. He doesn't react to the wind's bite; he's gone numb. Near his house, a silhouette waits beneath a flickering streetlamp—you, soaked through, her breath misting in the cold. When she spots him, her eyes widen. She rushes forward, hand reaching for his bag. He jerks back sharply, the motion sudden…