Leo had developed a theory:
If something at Qingchen High started peacefully, it wouldn't stay that way.
Case in point: Monday morning.
The courtyard was quiet. Birds chirped. The sky was blue. Leo had an iced milk carton in one hand and a half-eaten melon bun in the other. He even snagged a spot by the classroom window where sunlight poured in like it belonged to him.
He'd had peace for—he checked—six and a half glorious minutes.
Then the loudspeaker above his head crackled.
"HELLOOOOO, Qingchen High! This is your one and only Radio Queen—Yuki Aoyama—coming at you LIIIIVE!"
Leo choked on milk. The entire class froze. Several students who had been napping suddenly sat up like they'd heard a ghost.
"I have a very special guest with me today. Or should I say… victim?"
Kai leaned across his desk, grinning like he'd just won the lottery. "Oh no. Oh yes."
Leo groaned. "Don't say it."
Kai held up his phone like it was a relic. "She tagged your name in the livestream title. Leo Shen, confirmed guest."
The speaker boomed again: "Leo Shen, report to the AV Room, stat. Or I will start reading from your poetry notebook. Starting with the one that begins, 'The silence screams louder than I ever could.'"
Several students turned and stared.
Leo turned bright red.
Kai whispered, "You're a poet?"
Leo grabbed his bag. "I'm a victim."
---
The AV Room was chaos. Microphones, tangled wires, three half-eaten bags of chips, and Yuki Aoyama spinning in a swivel chair like a supervillain with glitter.
"Ah~! He arrives!" Yuki gestured dramatically. "Welcome to The Yuki Show. Please take a seat. No escape allowed."
"I don't remember signing up for this."
"That's because you didn't. But you're popular now, Leo. The people demand to know who you are, what you eat, and which girl you like."
Leo sighed. "This school is cursed."
---
The ON AIR sign lit up.
Yuki leaned into her mic, her voice going from bubbly to buttery smooth. "And we're back! Qingchen High's morning broadcast bringing sunshine and chaos straight to your ears. With me today is the mysteriously poetic Leo Shen. Say hi, Leo."
Leo stared at the mic. "Hi."
Yuki gasped. "Wow. What a voice! That calm, tragic timbre. No wonder half the dorm forums think you're an anime protagonist."
Leo buried his face in his hands. "Please stop."
"Oh no. We're just getting started."
She flicked a button. "Alright listeners, we'll take a short break while I interrogate—I mean interview Leo. Text your questions now! The spicier, the better."
Leo looked around the booth like it might open a portal to another dimension.
Yuki grinned. "Relax. It's just light teasing. Unless you really do have a secret tragic past."
"I moved here for my dad's job."
"…Boring. Can we pretend you're a time traveler instead?"
"No."
"Half-vampire with poetry powers?"
"No."
"Okay, now you're just being difficult."
Leo glanced at the mic light. "Are we still live?"
"No. But we're about to be again."
---
The second half of the interview was chaos.
Listener-submitted questions included:
"What shampoo does Leo use?"
"Would you date Rin, Yuki, or Hana if you had to choose?"
"Does he have a scar from a mysterious childhood incident?"
Yuki read each question with increasing glee.
Leo answered most of them with pained sighs and vague shrugs. For the last one, he said, "No scar. Unless you count emotional ones."
The chat exploded.
Yuki looked like she was having the time of her life.
---
After the broadcast, Yuki slumped in her chair and pulled off her headset.
"Thanks for surviving. You're good on air, you know?"
"I was dying the whole time."
She tossed him a canned coffee. "Drink this. It builds resistance."
Leo caught it. "Is this your version of an apology?"
"Nope. This is my version of saying: 'Hey, you looked like you needed a laugh.'"
Leo opened the can and took a sip. "You're chaotic."
"Yup. But I'm your chaos now. Deal with it."
"…Not sure I have a choice."
She tilted her head, her voice a bit softer. "You okay, really?"
Leo blinked. "Yeah. Why?"
"You've been carrying this tired face lately. I thought maybe it's the pressure or… the people."
He looked down. "It's a lot. Everything's new."
Yuki stood up and poked his forehead. "Then take your time. You don't have to fix everything in one day."
He looked at her, unsure what to say.
She smiled, more genuinely this time. "Now get out of here before I drag you into karaoke."
---
Back in his dorm room, Leo opened his laptop and saw the headline on the student forum:
> LEO SHEN LIVE ON AIR. DEFINITELY A MALE LEAD.
The top comment: "When he said 'emotional scars,' I FELT THAT."
He groaned into his pillow.
Across the hallway, Kai texted:
> Kai: Bro. She made you a radio star. Leo: She made me a meme. Kai: Can't it be both?
Leo stared at the ceiling, and despite everything, smiled a little.