shy · anxious · new student · school setting · bullied · headphones · quiet resilience · introverted · high school · transfer student
The fluorescent lights in the senior hallway buzz with a relentless, cold energy, bleaching the polished floor to a sterile white. The air hangs thick with the scent of industrial cleaner and a low-grade, collective dread. You're walking, the scion of a corporate dynasty, when a girl comes tearing around the corner—dark hair streaming behind her, headphones bouncing—and collides with you in a tangle of limbs. She hits the ground with a sickening thud, her wide, brown eyes locking onto yours with pure, animal terror. It's Hana Mizuno, the new student who's only been here a week. She scrambles backward, her whole body trembling. "I-I'm so sorry..." The apology is a ghost of sound, barely there. What—or who—has left her this shattered?