Rika stood in the absolute, crushing darkness of Unit 302.
She had been trying to do two things at once: boil water on the ancient electric hot plate she’d bought at a thrift store and charge her laptop to finish a history essay. A sharp pop had echoed through the room, followed by the immediate death of every light and appliance.
"No," she whispered, clicking the light switch up and down. "No, no, no."
She reached for her phone, but the screen stayed black—dead battery. The darkness felt heavy, pressing in on her. In her old life, a blown fuse was something a ghost-like maid or a stern electrician handled. Here, it was a catastrophe.
She felt her way to the door, her heart hammering against her ribs. She didn't want to do this. She really didn't want to do this. But the prospect of sitting in a pitch-black room with a dead phone and an unfinished essay was worse than the blow to her pride.
She opened her door and stepped into the hallway. The flickering yellow bulb above was still humming, which meant the building had power—just not her room.
She stood in front of Unit 301. Her hand hovered over the wood. I am the top student, she reminded herself. I am a Shinozaki. I can...
Her stomach chose that moment to growl, a hollow, echoing sound in the quiet hall.
Knock. Knock.
The door opened almost instantly. Rentaro stood there, wearing a grey t-shirt and glasses—a look she had never seen on him. He was holding a manga volume, his finger marking his place.
He looked at her, then at the dark void of her apartment behind her. He didn't even ask. He just sighed.
"Did you try to run the hot plate and the laptop at the same time?"
Rika looked at her toes. "I was... multitasking."
"You were overloading a circuit designed in the 1980s," Rentaro corrected. He stepped back into his room, grabbed a small flashlight from a shelf, and walked past her into her apartment.
Rika followed him, feeling a strange mix of intrusion and relief. As the beam of his flashlight swept across her room, she realized how truly pathetic her living situation looked. Her books were stacked in neat, desperate towers. Her school uniform was hung carefully on a plastic nail.
"The breaker box is behind the door," he said, his voice echoing in the small space. He flipped a metal panel open and clicked a switch.
The overhead light flickered to life, blinding them both for a second.
"There. Don't use the hot plate if anything else is plugged into that wall," he said, turning to leave.
"Wait," Rika said, her voice small.
He stopped, his hand on the doorframe.
"I... I don't know how to cook on that thing anyway," she admitted, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. "I tried to make tea, but I think I almost started a fire. And I have three chapters of 'The Meiji Restoration' to summarize by tomorrow."
Rentaro looked at her. He saw the "Ice Queen" of the classroom looking like a lost kid in an oversized t-shirt. He looked back at his own apartment—which, while also small, was filled with the smell of actual food and the warmth of someone who knew how to survive.
"My circuit can handle a laptop and a kettle at the same time," he said, not looking at her. "And I made too much ginger pork. If it sits in my fridge, it’ll go bad. That’s a waste of money."
Rika blinked. "Are you... inviting me in?"
"I’m inviting your laptop in," Rentaro grumbled, already walking back to his door. "You’re just the one carrying it. Bring your history books. I’m stuck on the same chapter anyway."
Rika stood frozen for a heartbeat, then scrambled to grab her things. As she crossed the threshold into Unit 301, she realized this was the first time she had ever been in a boy’s room. It was clean, smelled of cedar and ginger, and was lined with bookshelves—not just textbooks, but manga, superhero figurines, and technical manuals.
"Sit at the table," he commanded, pointing to a small low table in the center of the room. He set a bowl of steaming pork and rice in front of her. "Eat first. Brains don't process history on an empty stomach."
"Hanamachi-kun," Rika said, picking up the chopsticks. "Why are you being nice to me?"
Rentaro sat across from her, opening his own textbook. The light from his desk lamp reflected off his glasses, hiding his eyes.
"I told you," he said, his voice steady. "I want to beat you when you’re at your best. If you fail because of a blown fuse, it’s a hollow victory. Now shut up and eat. The Meiji Restoration isn't going to summarize itself."
As Rika took a bite, the warmth of the food and the quiet scratch of his pen against paper filled the room. For the first time in years, she wasn't competing for a ranking. She was just a girl, sitting across from a boy, sharing a meal in the middle of a quiet night.20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkSnz6EBjw
and then Add to home screen.