Yuki was running late.
She'd stayed up too late finishing Professor Nakamura's assignment, and now she was sprinting across campus, her bag bouncing against her hip with each step. The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of autumn leaves and the promise of rain later in the day.
If she missed the first five minutes of Advanced Economics, Professor Ito would lock the door, his infamous policy for tardiness. Three locks and you failed the participation component of the course. Yuki had never been locked out before, and she wasn't about to start now.
She rounded the corner of the humanities building at full speed and collided with something solid.
No, someone.
Papers went flying. Her bag slipped from her shoulder. She stumbled backward, would have fallen if not for the hand that shot out to steady her, gripping her elbow with surprising strength.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't," Yuki began, then froze.
Haruki Sato stared back at her, dark eyes widening slightly in recognition. The library boy. Up close, he was even more striking, tall and lean, with shadows beneath his eyes that spoke of too many late nights. His hand was still on her elbow, warm through the fabric of her sweater.
"You're okay?" he asked, his voice deeper than she'd imagined, slightly rough as though he didn't use it often.
Yuki nodded, suddenly unable to form words. Her heart was racing, but not from the run across campus.
He released her arm and knelt to gather the scattered papers, his papers, she realized. Notes written in a precise, elegant hand. Textbook pages with complex formulas highlighted in blue.
Yuki dropped to her knees beside him, reaching for the nearest sheet. "I'm really sorry. I was late for class and wasn't looking where,"
"It's fine," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes now. "Happens."
Their hands brushed as they both reached for the same page. Yuki pulled back as though burned, a flush creeping up her neck. She glanced at her watch and felt her stomach drop.
"I'm going to be locked out," she whispered, more to herself than to him.
Haruki looked up, following her gaze to her watch. "Ito's class?"
Yuki nodded miserably.
"Third floor, east wing?" he asked, gathering the last of his papers into a neat stack.
"Yes."
Haruki stood in one fluid motion, offering his hand to help her up. After a moment's hesitation, she took it. His palm was calloused, his grip firm but gentle.
"Come on," he said, releasing her hand once she was standing. "I know a shortcut."
Before she could respond, he was moving, not running but walking with long, purposeful strides. Yuki hurried after him, clutching her bag to her side.
He led her around the back of the building to a service entrance she'd never noticed before. The door was propped open slightly with a small rock.
"Maintenance uses it," he explained, holding the door for her. "Cuts two minutes off the walk to the east wing."
Inside was a narrow corridor lined with pipes and electrical panels. Haruki navigated it confidently, turning left at a junction, then right, until they reached another door. He pushed it open, revealing the third-floor hallway, directly across from Professor Ito's classroom.
The bell hadn't rung yet.
"How did you," Yuki began, turning to thank him, but Haruki was already backing away.
"Better hurry," he said, nodding toward the classroom door. "Thirty seconds till bell."
"Thank you," she managed, suddenly desperate to keep him there a moment longer. "I'm Yuki. Yuki Tanaka."
Something flickered across his face, surprise, perhaps, that she was introducing herself. "Haruki," he replied simply, though she already knew his name.
The warning bell rang, its shrill tone echoing through the hallway. Students began filing into classrooms all around them.
"You should go," he said, taking another step back.
"What about you? Don't you have class?"
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "Not this morning."
He turned to leave, but paused, glancing back at her over his shoulder. "Be more careful running around corners, Tanaka."
Then he was gone, disappearing back through the service door as the final bell rang.
Yuki slipped into Professor Ito's classroom just as he was reaching for the door to close it, earning a disapproving look but making it nonetheless. She slid into an empty seat near the back, her heart still pounding.
As Professor Ito began his lecture on market equilibrium, Yuki found herself staring at her hand, the one that had briefly held Haruki's. She could still feel the warmth of his palm against hers, the surprising gentleness of his grip.
Two encounters in two days. Both times, he'd looked at her, really looked at her, in a way that made her feel seen.
And he knew a shortcut to her classroom. Which meant he'd been there before.
Yuki opened her notebook, trying to focus on the lecture, but her mind kept drifting back to the quiet boy with the tired eyes who had just saved her from failing participation.
She wondered what other secrets Haruki Sato knew about Sakura University, and why, despite his apparent exhaustion, he'd gone out of his way to help a stranger who'd crashed into him.