The dorm was suffocating.
Not because it was hot, though the air conditioning had been broken for days but because silence itself had weight now. The kind that pressed on your chest and made every breath feel like a betrayal.
Rika lay on her bunk, staring at the ceiling, pretending to sleep while the other girls whispered across the room.
"She almost collapsed again during practice."
"I heard the instructor warned her twice already."
"Daika's always glued to her… it's like she's her pet or something."
"Or her toy."
The last one stung.
Rika buried her face in her pillow, but the words crawled inside her anyway, slithering through her thoughts until they tangled with her heartbeat. No matter how still she stayed, she knew the others were glancing her way, eyes darting, sharp with curiosity.
It wasn't just about her clumsy mistakes on stage anymore.
It was about her scent. About Daika.
About the way her body betrayed her every single time.
