The train doors hissed shut with a sound that reminded Shino Yuuki of a sharp intake of breath. As the station platform slid away, she pressed her forehead against the cool glass, watching her old life dissolve into a blur of grey and green.
New town. New school. A new map to memorize.
She adjusted the strap of her bag, her fingers subconsciously brushing against the worn corner of her notebook. It was her anchor. In that book, she wasn't the girl who froze at intersections or the girl who the middle school kids called "The Attention Seeker." In those pages, she was just a storyteller.
When the bus finally dropped her off in front of the school gates, Shino stopped. The building was grand, framed by trees that were just beginning to shed their autumn leaves. To anyone else, it was a place of opportunity. To Shino, it was a fortress she had to infiltrate and survive.
Left foot. Right foot. Don't look at the cars in the parking lot, she told herself.
She kept her eyes fixed on the pavement, counting the cracks. One, two, three... twenty-four. By the time she reached the heavy oak doors of the main entrance, her heart was drumming a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
"Excuse me! Coming through!"
A girl with short, chestnut hair and a bright red ribbon zipped past her, nearly clipping Shino’s shoulder. Shino flinched, pulling her arms tight against her chest, her breath hitching. She waited for the laughter—the mocking whispers that usually followed her "overreactions."
But the girl stopped and turned around, looking genuinely apologetic. "Whoops! Sorry about that! I’m in a bit of a rush to get to the workshop. You okay?"
Shino didn't look up. She just nodded quickly, her hair falling like a curtain over her glasses. "I'm... I'm fine."
"You new? I haven't seen that 'staring at the floor' technique around here before," the girl joked, though her voice was kind. "I’m Rika. If you get lost, just look for the loudest person in the hallway. That’s usually me!"
With a wink, Rika disappeared into the crowd of students. Shino stood frozen for a moment longer. Rika. No one had ever apologized for bumping into her before. Usually, they just pushed harder.
She finally found Room 2-A. The teacher, a soft-spoken man, introduced her briefly. Shino felt thirty pairs of eyes boring into her—searching for a weakness, a reason to judge.
"Yuuki-san, you can take the empty seat in the back row, next to the window," the teacher said.
Shino exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. The back row. The corner. The "Sniper’s Seat," as she used to call it in her head. From here, she could see everything without being seen.
As the lesson began, she opened her notebook. She didn't take notes on the history lecture. Instead, she began to write.
The traveler arrived at the gates of the Silver City. The walls were high, and the people spoke in a language of smiles she didn't yet understand. She carried a heavy shield made of paper, wondering if it would be enough to protect her from the wind...
Across the room, she noticed a boy with messy black hair staring out the window, looking as though he’d rather be anywhere else. Next to him sat a girl with long, elegant hair who carried herself with a quiet authority. They seemed like they belonged to a different world—calm, settled, and safe.
Shino looked down at her hands. They were still shaking, just a little.
She turned her gaze toward the window, looking out at the school’s driveway. A white sedan pulled up to drop off a student. The sunlight caught the chrome of the bumper, sending a sharp glint of light directly into Shino’s eyes.
Suddenly, the classroom disappeared.
She wasn't sixteen anymore. She was eight. She was standing on a curb. The smell of hot asphalt and burnt rubber filled her nose. She saw the flash of white metal—the roar of an engine that sounded like a predator. She saw the person in the middle of the road, frozen.
Run, her mind screamed. Move!
"Yuuki-san?"
Shino snapped back to reality. Her pen had dug a hole through the paper of her notebook. The teacher was looking at her with concern. The rest of the class was silent.
"Are you alright? You look a bit pale," the teacher asked.
Shino swallowed hard, her throat feeling like it was lined with sandpaper. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks. This was it. This was where the bullying would start. This was where they would realize she was "broken."
"I... I just didn't sleep well," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I'm sorry."
She waited for the snickers. She waited for someone to mutter "freak" under their breath. But the boy with the messy hair just glanced at her for a second before returning to his book, and the girl next to him gave her a small, encouraging nod before looking back at the chalkboard.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the first period. Shino didn't move. she just stared at the torn page in her notebook—the ghost of a car etched into the paper.
She had moved to a new town, but the road was still following her.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fIUOh3bMb
and then Add to home screen.