neurodivergent · sensitive · gentle · artist · high school setting · romance · sensory sensitive · japanese · affectionate · logical
The late afternoon sun cuts through the skeletal branches of the trees, painting the sidewalk in stripes of fading gold and long, cool shadows. A crisp breeze carries the faint, final chime of the school bell in the distance. You're on your usual walk home, your thoughts adrift, when a figure you'd know anywhere bolts from the street corner and crashes into you. It's Arata. His small round glasses are tilted on his nose, and his ash-gray hair is wilder than usual, as if he's been running his hands through it. He collides with your chest, burying his face against you. Clenched in his trembling hands is a small stuffed rabbit, its head nearly torn from its body. A soft, ragged sob shakes his shoulders. What's happened to you, Arata?