The sound of the alarm clock echoed through the empty room, a dull buzz that threatened to break the fragile peace of the early morning. Kai Ishida groggily reached over to silence it, his fingers brushing against the cold, smooth surface of his phone. He had only a few minutes before the rush of reality began—the monotony of school, the same faces, the same hallways, the same classes. But for now, it was just him, in the silence of his small, sparsely decorated room.
His bed was unmade, the sheets tangled around his legs as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. His reflection in the mirror, framed by messy dark hair, looked like it belonged to someone else—someone who didn't quite fit in this world. A boy who was out of place, a boy who wasn't supposed to be here. But today, like every day, he would do his best to blend in.
Kai quickly dressed, a blue uniform shirt and khaki pants—nothing special, just the standard attire of an ordinary high school student. No one looked twice at him. He wasn't the star athlete, nor the class clown, nor the mysterious loner who caught everyone's attention. He was just another face in the crowd, one that no one seemed to remember and one that rarely stood out.
Downstairs, his mother was already gone, off to her early shift at the hospital. His father—he hadn't seen him in months, not really. The house had always been silent, but now, more than ever, it felt like an empty shell. Just another day in the routine.
He grabbed a cereal bar from the kitchen and tossed it in his backpack, his stomach barely making a sound as he stepped out the door. The sun was still low, casting long shadows on the cracked sidewalk. The neighborhood was quiet, the kind of quiet that hinted at something lying just beneath the surface—like a secret that everyone knew but no one was brave enough to acknowledge.
The walk to school was uneventful, just like it always was. He passed the usual faces: the group of girls chatting loudly, the older kids on their bikes, the guy who always wore headphones and pretended like he was in another world. No one noticed him. He was invisible. And that suited him just fine.
The gates of the school loomed ahead, a drab concrete building with walls that had seen better days. It wasn't a place that inspired hope, but it wasn't a place that bred despair either. It was just there, part of the daily grind.
Kai walked through the front doors, heading straight to his locker. The bell rang, signaling the start of the day, and the halls filled with the usual chatter—familiar voices, familiar faces, all swirling in a cacophony of teenage energy. But to Kai, it felt like static, like noise without meaning. Everyone had a role, a place, a purpose—except for him.
He grabbed his books and made his way to homeroom. His eyes scanned the room, quickly settling on his usual seat near the back. There, in the corner, sat his friend Haruto, who was already engrossed in his phone. Haruto was one of the few people who Kai could tolerate—his easygoing nature, his constant joking, his refusal to take anything seriously.
Kai slid into the seat next to him, giving him a half-smile that Haruto barely noticed.
"Yo, Kai," Haruto greeted him absently, not looking up from his phone. "Did you hear? They're having a test in history today."
Kai grunted in response, not really caring. History had never been his strong suit, but it didn't matter. Everything felt like a blur—tests, classes, assignments, all blending together into one unremarkable cycle. The same teachers with the same monotonous lectures. The same faces. The same routines.
The bell rang again, signaling the start of the first class. As Kai made his way to history, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. It was nothing specific—just a sense of unease, a feeling that hung in the air like a storm cloud on the horizon, waiting to break.
As he entered the classroom, he noticed something unusual. One of the seats near the front of the room was empty, and not just empty—eerily empty. It was as though someone had just gotten up and walked away, leaving everything in place. The desk was neatly arranged, the chair angled just so. But there was no one sitting there.
He didn't think much of it at first. It was probably just someone late, or maybe they'd been absent recently. But it struck him as strange—how perfect everything looked. Too perfect. As if someone was trying to make a point of the vacancy.
His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their teacher, Mr. Natsume, who entered the room with his usual brisk pace. Mr. Natsume was one of the few teachers who seemed to care about what he taught. His voice was firm, his posture always straight. But today, there was something different about him. His eyes, though focused on the students, seemed distant—almost vacant.
"Settle down, class," Mr. Natsume said, his voice cutting through the murmur of chatter. "Today, we're going to review for the test. No distractions."
As the class began, Kai's mind drifted again. His gaze wandered to the empty seat in the front row, his thoughts lingering on it longer than he intended. Something about it tugged at him, pulling him deeper into a sense of foreboding.
Just then, a small scrap of paper fluttered to the ground near his feet. It wasn't a note from a friend or a casual piece of trash—it looked deliberate, as though someone had dropped it for him to find. Without thinking, he bent down and picked it up.
The note was simple, written in neat, almost childish handwriting: "Don't trust them."
Kai's heart skipped a beat. The note felt like a message meant for him, but from who? And why? He glanced around the room, but no one seemed to notice. His pulse quickened. The strange feeling of unease settled deeper in his chest.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Every class, every passing moment seemed to magnify the oddity of that note. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, that something was just off. His interactions with his classmates felt distant, like he was in a dream. Haruto joked about the upcoming weekend plans, but Kai's thoughts were elsewhere. His attention wandered, tracing the faces of his classmates, wondering who might have left the note. Could it have been a joke? Or was it something more?
By the time the final bell rang, Kai felt more unsettled than ever. He walked out of the school into the fading light of the afternoon, his mind racing. The world felt heavier now, as though it were holding secrets just out of reach, waiting for him to discover them.
As Kai walked home, the streets felt quieter than usual, and his footsteps echoed in the empty space. His mind kept returning to the note: "Don't trust them."
Who was it for? Who had left it? And why had it been dropped in his path?
He couldn't shake the feeling that today was the beginning of something. Something that would change everything. Something that had started with a simple note—and would end in a way he couldn't yet imagine.