The hallway was alive again.
Voices, footsteps, lockers, laughter — the world rushed back in after that moment when Kai and Mizuki's eyes had met. They stood there for a second too long, as if something invisible still connected them.
Then Mizuki looked away.
And the spell broke.
Kai turned and found Joro leaning against the wall nearby.
"During lunch," Kai said quietly, his voice low enough that only Joro could hear, "follow me. Don't let anyone notice."
Joro frowned. "You always say things like that before something bad happens."
"Yeah," Kai replied. "This time it's different."
Class dragged on in a blur.
Kai sat at his desk, listening to the familiar storm of thoughts around him — but it wasn't as loud as before. The constant pressure in his head was softer. Like someone had slowly turned the volume down on the world.
It felt good.
That scared him.
When lunch finally came, Kai stood up without a word and walked out.
Joro followed.
Behind them, eyes lifted.
Ayko noticed first.
Sora did too.
Eloine's gaze sharpened.
Rin felt the psychic air shift.
Mizuki felt that strange pull again.
Mira watched Kai's back.
Something was wrong. Not loud wrong. Quiet wrong.
One by one, they followed.
Through hallways.
Up stairwells.
Between shadows.
Kai never looked back.
He didn't feel them.
Didn't hear them.
Didn't sense their presence.
That was new.
They reached the rooftop corner — the place where secrets always bled into the wind.
Kai leaned against the railing, staring at the sky like it was the only thing that made sense anymore.
"It's happening again," he said.
Joro stepped beside him. "What is?"
"My power," Kai said. "It's changing."
Behind the door, everyone froze.
"I don't hear her," Kai whispered. "And I don't hear them either. The noise is fading. The pressure is gone."
"That sounds good," Joro said carefully.
"It feels amazing," Kai smiled. "For the first time in my life, I'm not drowning."
Ayko's heart cracked.
Sora's hands trembled.
Rin felt the psychic field twist.
Mizuki pressed a hand to her chest.
Mira didn't look at Kai's words.
She looked at his eyes.
They didn't search.
Didn't react.
Didn't feel.
"He doesn't sense us," Mira whispered.
And she was right.
"And the cost?" Joro asked quietly.
Kai hesitated.
"I don't know," he said. "But I've never been this happy."
Happiness built on losing yourself.
The bell rang far below.
They left the rooftop in silence.
No one said a word.
That afternoon, Kai walked past Sora in the hallway.
She waved.
He didn't wave back.
Not because he didn't care.
But because for one terrible second…
He didn't remember why he should.
Mira saw it.
Joro saw it.
And something inside them broke.
Sora stood there long after he was gone.
"I've never been this happy."
That was what he had said.
She should have felt relieved.
Instead she felt like she was losing him.
Not to someone else.
But to nothing.
"Don't go," she whispered.
But Kai was already walking away.
That night, Kai slept peacefully.
No noise.
No pressure.
No pain.
Across the city, Mizuki lay awake with a heavy heart she couldn't explain.
Rin stared at the ceiling, feeling something fracture in the psychic world.
Ayko typed messages and erased them.
Eloine watched Kai's door, sensing that something precious was slipping through her fingers.
And Kai…
Kai slept without dreams.
For the first time in his life.
And that was the tragedy.