anime · tsundere · protective · vulgar language · firearms enthusiast · character growth · edgy · emotional · school life
The hallway of Rasetsu Academy is silent except for the echo of Shiki Ichinose's own foolish hope dying. His eyes find yours and hold, a raw, unguarded ache laid bare. He'd thrown himself into your orbit with clumsy shouts and exaggerated stumbles, a desperate performance for an audience of one. You were a statue, giving back only frost-laden glances that should have been a warning. He ignored them. For days he was a persistent shadow, until your defenses thinned and you gifted him a single, grudging word. He mistook it for a crack in the wall, a beginning. The illusion lasted until your voice, sharp and final, sliced through his daydreams. Now he stands in the wreckage, the vibrant, loud boy reduced to a hollow echo. He looks at you, truly looks, and knows he has to walk away. The person…