The sun blazed over Sancalrfi3ld College of Arts and Technology, a campus where deadlines, heartbreaks, and wild parties were more common than actual sleep. Students hurried across the quad with iced coffees, headphones, and the occasional panic-induced breakdown.
For most people, the semester was just beginning. For Aika Morishima, it felt like stepping into a battlefield.
She adjusted her round glasses, clutching her class schedule like it was a sword. This is it. My fresh start. No drama, no distractions, no boys.
Her motto had always been simple: keep your head down, ace your classes, and don't get tangled in the chaos.
But chaos had already noticed her.
"Yo, new girl."
The voice carried like a spark through gasoline. Leaning against the fountain in the middle of campus, Kaito Renji smirked like a villain from a shōjo manga. His shirt was unbuttoned one notch too low, his tie hung like he had strangled it into submission, and his eyes—the kind that warned you to stay away but pulled you in anyway—followed her like a predator sizing up prey.
Aika froze. "Do I… know you?"
"No." Kaito pushed off the fountain, closing the distance with dangerous ease. "But you will."
Around them, students whispered. Kaito Renji wasn't just any student—he was the campus' infamous antagonist: a genius who toyed with professors, a rumored playboy who left broken hearts at parties, and the guy who supposedly had dirt on half the student council. He didn't make friends. He made games.
And now, apparently, Aika was his new pawn.
"Stay out of my way," she muttered, trying to brush past him.
But Kaito caught her wrist—not hard, just enough to stop her—and leaned down, his lips brushing dangerously close to her ear.
"You walked straight into my game board. That means you're mine now."
Her pulse spiked. Not with attraction (though his smirk didn't help), but with alarm. This wasn't a pick-up line. It felt like a declaration of war.
And then—
"HEY!"
A soda can whizzed through the air, smacking Kaito square in the back of the head. Students gasped, phones whipped out instantly.
Standing on top of a bench, holding another can like a grenade, was Mina Takahashi, Aika's new roommate and the loudest girl in the dorms.
"BACK OFF, RICH BOY! She's not another one of your victims!" Mina shouted, her voice echoing across the quad.
Kaito didn't flinch. He just laughed, low and amused, rubbing the back of his head.
"Victim?" he said. His eyes flicked to Aika again, sharp as knives but burning with something else. "No. She's not a victim." His smirk deepened. "She's the twist."
The crowd erupted in whispers. Twist? Victim? New girl? The gossip mill was already boiling, and Aika's face burned red.
She wanted to scream at him, deny everything, storm off—but for some reason, she couldn't move.
Something about his words… felt like a trap snapping shut.
As the crowd dispersed and Mina dragged her away, Aika's mind spun.
What "game" had she just been dragged into?
Why did Kaito look at her like he'd been expecting her all along?
And most terrifying of all—
…why did her heart skip when he said she was his?
The semester had just begun. And already, Sancalrfi3ld was ready to devour her.
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