The bright, clinical lights of the Komorebi University lecture hall were a sharp contrast to the soft, moonlit tension of Room 404.
Ren sat in his usual spot—back row, far corner, hoodie pulled low. His eyes felt heavy, his mind stuck on the sensation of Shizuka's small hand resting against his arm just a few hours ago. He had slipped out of the room at 6:00 AM while she was still a tangled mess of panda pajamas and silk sheets, but the scent of her vanilla shampoo seemed to have followed him into the classroom.
A hush fell over the room as the door opened.
Professor Shizuka Ichinose walked in. She looked perfect. Her charcoal-grey pencil skirt was crisp, her white blouse was buttoned to the chin, and her glasses sat straight on her nose. She was the "Ice Queen" once again, radiating an aura of untouchable authority.
"Good morning, everyone," she said, her voice steady as she set her leather bag on the podium. "Today, we will be discussing the sociological impact of urban isolation."
Ren watched her. She wouldn't look at his corner. She was meticulously avoiding his gaze, her hands trembling slightly as she shuffled her notes.
"Isolation," Shizuka continued, her voice hitching for a fraction of a second, "can often lead to... unexpected human connections. When boundaries are blurred by circumstance, the social contract changes."
She accidentally hit the 'next' button on her remote, but instead of a slide about urban development, a photo appeared on the massive projector screen. It was a blurry, high-resolution photo of a very familiar gaming console and a pile of unwashed ramen cups.
Ren's heart stopped. She forgot to clear her personal files from the flash drive.
The class erupted in whispers. "Is that a dorm room?" "Wait, is the Professor a gamer?"
Shizuka's face turned the color of a ripe beet. "My apologies. That was... a research photo. For a study on youth culture."
She frantically clicked through, but the next image was worse. It was a close-up of a black hoodie—Ren's hoodie—draped over her office chair.
"Is that a guy's sweater?" a girl in the front row whispered loudly.
The "Ice Queen" was melting. Shizuka looked like she was about to flee the room. Her eyes finally darted to the back row, locking onto Ren's with a look of pure, agonizing desperation.
Ren didn't think. He stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.
"Professor!" he called out, his voice cutting through the gossip. "I submitted those photos for my project on 'The Aesthetic of the Digital Nomad.' I'm sorry, I must have uploaded them to the wrong shared folder before class."
The room went silent. All eyes turned to the "invisible" boy in the back.
Shizuka caught her breath, her eyes softening with immense relief. She adjusted her glasses, regaining her composure. "Yes... thank you, Kurosawa-kun. Please be more careful with your submissions in the future. See me after class to... properly organize your data."
The lecture continued, but the "data" Ren was thinking about had nothing to do with Sociology.
When the bell finally rang, the students filed out, leaving the two of them alone in the cavernous hall. Shizuka slumped against the podium, her head in her hands.
"That was too close," she whispered as Ren approached. "I almost exposed everything. Why did you help me?"
Ren stopped a few feet away, the "Invisible Line" now manifesting as the space between the student desks and the teacher's podium. "Rule number one, Professor. Absolute secrecy."
He turned to leave, but her voice stopped him.
"Ren?"
It was the first time she had used his first name without the 'kun' suffix.
"Tonight... can we keep the pillow wall?" she asked, her voice small. "I don't think I'm ready to handle the 'resource scarcity' without it."
Ren looked back over his shoulder, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "The wall stays, Shizuka. For now."