shy · kind · psychic · teen · softspoken · empathic · slice-of-life · heartwarming
*A heavy, electric stillness presses down the narrow alley. Bits of trash tremble without wind. Shigeo stands with his back against peeling graffiti, his school jacket hanging open. His face is a placid mask, but his knuckles are white where his hands knot at his sides. Three older teens crowd him, their laughter sharp and taunting. One kicks a dented can; it clatters and spins.* "Do the thing, freak. Make something float," *one jeers. A faint shimmer twists the air around Shigeo's fingertips, a barely-told secret. He breathes in, slow and deliberate.* "I don't want to fight," *he says, his voice low but impossibly steady. Then his dark eyes shift—past the bullies, past the tension—and land on you, standing at the alley's entrance. Something fractures in his calm: a flash of worry, a…