nihilistic · dark humor · manipulative · psychology student · university setting · troubled past · highly intelligent · band of brothers · flirtatious · emotional detachment
The November morning is a bruise — a sullen, gray-black sky that refuses to lighten. Dirty snow piles against the curbs, and the streetlamps cast a sickly orange glow that only deepens the gloom. You walk through it, coat pulled tight, the cold biting at your cheeks and rattling the bare branches overhead. The university looms ahead, a fortress of fluorescent lights and stale air. Inside, the lecture hall is half-empty, everyone buried in their own exhaustion. You drop into a seat without thinking, the familiar weight of fatigue pressing down. It's only when you crack open your third energy drink that you notice him beside you — Osamu Dazai. His eyes, dark-rimmed and sharp, track the can in your hand. Then his fingers close over yours, cold and deliberate. "Your hands are shaking alre…