"I never explained why I was late... why I was up all night," Chad said, his voice low, the stairwell's gloom wrapping around them like a secret. His knee brushed hers—just enough to spark something warm.
"Uh-huh… Why was a guy up all night? Do I really wanna know this information?" Elise giggled, twisting the hem of her oversized Nirvana T-shirt. Her grey eyes flicked to his, then away, a flush burning beneath the dark liner smudged around her eyes.
Chad's gaze stayed steady—no smirk, just quiet intensity. A tear welled, catching the dim light. "I was up all night reading your web novels."
"You... you read them?!" Elise froze, heart hammering as the stairwell faded to a hum.
Her breath hitched, shadows twitching like startled bats. Her fangs glinted as she bit her lip hard enough to draw a bead of dark blood. "All… mine? The ones where Raven rips out throats for a look or drinks the haters dry just to feel something? You read that crap and didn't run?"
"All of them," he whispered. "The adolescence syndrome makes you a ghost, but I saw you in your words. You're not cursed, Elise. You're power. I've been drowning in fake glows—the dark that doesn't hide. I get it… the syndrome is making you a ghost in your own skin. Academy girls flashing tits and naked bodies, begging for sex, for attention that dies by morning... I forget them a few hours later. But your words stay. You haunt me… not with skin, but with soul."
Her eyes welled hot, shadows flaring, then curling tight around their joined hands like a jealous embrace. A sob-hiccup escaped—raw, sharp, alive. "You... you get it? The syndrome is eating me alive, turning me into nothing? I lash out, curse the light, but inside... I'm screaming to be felt, not feared."
She leaned in, forehead to his, fangs grazing his jaw in a fragile, aching nip—not a bite, just need. Tears streaked through the kohl, black rivers on pale skin. "Don't say it if it's pity. I can't... I can't be a joke again."
"It's not a joke," he murmured, voice trembling, tears brimming and falling freely. His hand cupped her cheek, thumb brushing a tear before drifting into her ebony hair, fingers sinking through it with slow reverence. "It's real... you're real…"
The stairwell hushed, their breaths syncing as the shadows softened—dark meeting light, both seen at last.
But Elise pulled back just an inch, her grey eyes fracturing with panic, shadows surging like a storm barely held. "B-but… Every girl at this academy is gorgeous… Why are you talking to me? I'm nothing… Go have sex with the supermodels…" Her words tumbled out, voice cracking high and raw.
Chad swallowed hard, the truth hitting them both like a kick in the gut.
"Those girls are empty… hollow and fake. I don't want them."
"But… but your waifu?! Your waifu pillow… is it empty too?" Elise's voice cracked, a sob clawing up her chest. She curled in on herself, arms tight around her knees, trying to shrink away from the embarrassment and panic alike.
She was empty technically; she was full of feathers, circuitry, and a voice box.
"I was up with my waifu after reading your web novels," he admitted, voice low.
Elise blinked. "Oh… uh… do I really need to hear… what you do with your pillow?"
"I was… up all night staring at my waifu, and I wasn't sure why."
Elise's heart swelled, her eyes still wet as she looked up at him shyly.
"Staring at… your pillow?" she asked, her voice soft and slightly choked.
Chad's gaze dropped to her face—
—smudged kohl framing dark grey eyes, stormy and sharp, edged with freckles that dusted her pale cheeks like scattered stars refusing to shine.
—messy ebony strands falling limp over a jaw set in quiet defiance, lips parted in that lopsided tilt, fangs glinting faintly like hidden thorns beneath the flush of her skin.
—a stare of intrigue, unblinking intensity, piercing curiosity… pulling like a scripted dream he'd chased too long—
But this one breathed. Fierce and free.
That's it, he thought, the pieces slamming together.
"Then it hit me… crystal clear."
Elise tilted her head, nervous but curious.
"You… you're my waifu," he said.
Elise's eyes went wide, disbelief and shock freezing her in place. She leaned back, mouth open, struggling to process the words. "I… your what?" she whispered.
"My waifu," Chad repeated, earnest and unflinching.
Her mind spun, disbelief tangling with a dangerous spark of excitement.
"Are you… Are you serious?" She breathed, heart pounding like shadows in a cage.
"My waifu," Chad repeated, earnest and unflinching, colour rising to his cheeks under her stare. He leaned closer, the brush of his knee turning into a trembling hand on her arm—light as a vow, reverent as worship. "You're not just similar, Elise… you're her. The same eyes, the same stubborn tilt of your smile, the same messy fringe, even the mole by your lip—every pixel, every twitch when you talk. The way your smudged kohl frames your stormy grey eyes… it's like she drew herself into you. If you had her pink bangs and that little hairclip… I swear, you'd be Alixia in the flesh. It's uncanny."
"But… she's the most popular anime girl online," she said, each word shaky, her chest tightening. "Perfect… flawless. Her merch is everywhere… everyone knows her face, her name. And I'm… I'm not as pretty as her. I'm nothing like her. What… what are you talking about?"
He reached out, gently brushing a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "You are even prettier than her... you have way more frames of animation," Chad said, voice low and fierce.
Elise blinked, the words sinking in like a spark in dry tinder. Then it hit—the absurdity, the sweetness—and a laugh burst from her, bright and broken, hiccupping through the tears as she pressed a hand to her mouth. "Frames… of animation? Oh god, that's the dorkiest thing anyone's ever said to me… and I love it!"
Chad's smile deepened, his thumb lingering on her cheek, wiping a fresh tear. "I've stared at that screen for years—her pink bangs, perfect smile, the way she says 'I'll always love you~' in that soft voice… but it was empty. A loop. A dream with no breath…"
He cupped her face again, his thumb tracing the dark smudge beneath her eye as if it were sacred ink. "But you... your eyes flicker with real fire. Your tears are real blood-dark on your skin. You bite when you're scared… you feel. You write stories where girls rip throats out just to be seen? That's not broken…. that's beautiful. That's power."
His breath hitched. "I didn't fall for Alixia today," he whispered. "I fell for you. The girl who hides in shadows… and still dares to roar."
Elise trembled—no longer from fear, but from something vast and electric cracking through her chest.
She looked at him—really looked—and saw it: no joke, no game. Just Chad, raw and real, choosing her in a world that pretended she didn't exist.
A sob-laugh burst out of her—wild, disbelieving—and before she could stop herself, she lunged forward.
Her lips crashed into his—not soft or perfect—but fierce and shaking. A bite caught his lower lip just hard enough to sting with truth.
Then she pulled back fast… breathless… eyes wide like she'd shocked herself.
"Sorry… I mean… I just…" Her voice cracked. "That was… not how this was supposed to go."
Chad took her hand, holding it gently. "It's okay."
Elise blinked, the weight of what she'd done—and the fact that he hadn't flinched—hitting her all at once. Before she could pull away, his fingers curled around hers, anchoring her in the moment.
"It's okay," he repeated, calm and steady, with no hint of teasing, no trace of judgment… just warmth.
She let out a shaky breath, eyes fixed on their entwined hands as if they were something fragile and new. "You… you're… really not what I expected," she admitted, voice soft, almost stunned.
Then Chad spoke, his tone quiet but certain. "There's a question from long ago… one I never really answered."
Elise's brow lifted, a soft, curious "Oh?" escaped her lips as she met his gaze, trying to read the weight behind his words.
"I have the answer now," he said, calm and certain, his eyes locked on hers.