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Chapter 2: Smile in the Silence
Kuro smiled.
He always did.
Even when the sky was grey. Even when the teachers droned on like sleep was a subject. Even when the students whispered and stared, wondering what someone like him was doing at a place like this.
He smiled anyway.
"You ever get tired of smiling?" Jason asked one day as they sat under a half-dead tree behind the school, a spot they'd unofficially claimed as their own.
"Nope," Kuro said, grin unshaken. "I just think someone has to."
Jason didn't argue. He never did.
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The friend group—if it could even be called that—was strange.
They weren't close, not really. Not in the usual sense. They didn't hang out after school or talk about weekend plans. They didn't text in group chats or take selfies together in class. There were no birthday posts or inside jokes.
They just… sat.
Together.
Every day.
And that was enough.
Kuro talked. About random things: books, strange dreams he had, teachers that reminded him of sea creatures, a cat he saw yesterday with one eye and half a tail.
He'd laugh at his own jokes when no one else did.
Jason always kept his earbuds in, but Kuro noticed he never played anything during lunch. He just listened. Eyes half-open. Still, quiet, but present.
Riku was theatrical when he wanted to be, but usually he just picked at his food and hummed ghost tunes under his breath, leaning into Kuro's stories with a soft smirk, like he didn't believe in joy but liked hearing about it anyway.
Sera acted like she didn't care. Arms crossed. Always sitting a little farther than the rest. But she never missed lunch, and sometimes—just sometimes—Kuro saw her lip twitch like she wanted to laugh but forgot how.
And Eve…
Eve never said a word.
But her eyes never left him.
Like she was trying to read him.
Or protect him.
Or maybe both.
---
They were all broken in their own way.
But they tolerated Kuro's brightness like a flame in a cold room. Maybe it stung their eyes at first. But it warmed them too.
"Y'know," Riku said once, lying flat on the grass with his hands behind his head. "I think you might be a freak."
"Why?" Kuro asked, sipping apple juice.
"Because you're happy here. In this haunted mess of a school. With us."
Kuro shrugged. "Being miserable doesn't make things better. And none of you scare me."
Jason scoffed softly. "Yet."
Sera raised an eyebrow. "You think this place is haunted too?"
Kuro paused for a second too long. Then smiled. "Wouldn't that make it interesting?"
No one said anything after that.
But none of them left either.
---
Later that day, Kuro caught something strange in the reflection of the glass classroom door. A figure. Standing just behind them. It looked like a student—but the face was blurred, smudged like bad paint.
He blinked.
It was gone.
He glanced around.
No one had noticed.
Not even Eve.
He didn't mention it.
Not yet.
Instead, he smiled.
"I think this year's gonna be fun."
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To be continued…