Morning came.
Like it always does.
The alarm rang at six. I reached out, turned it off, and lay there for another ten minutes staring at the ceiling.
Eventually, I forced myself up. Washed my face. Brushed my teeth. Changed clothes.
It wasn't routine anymore. It was survival.
Classes were the same as always.
The professor spoke. Students took notes. Some whispered, some laughed quietly behind their hands, their lives still bright enough to find jokes in the smallest things.
I sat at the back.
Notebook open. Pen in hand.
Nothing written.
Just staring, pretending, waiting for the minutes to crawl by.
It was boring. Stupid. Pointless.
But it was life.
After class, I walked to my part-time shift at Sky High Company.
The office was alive in a different way than the university. Staff rushed around carrying stacks of papers, phones rang, conversations buzzed.
All around me were posters of smiling idols, faces too perfect to be real.
Akari's world.
But not mine.
I carried documents, typed reports, answered small requests. Work, nothing more.
No passion. No dream. No smile.
When the others laughed during breaks, I sat in silence, sipping from a cup of bitter coffee I never finished.
One evening, after a long day at the company, some of the staff suggested going out for a drink.
"Come on, Aqua. Just one night."
I didn't want to. But saying no felt harder than saying yes.
So I went. Without troubling them, without saying much, I walked with them.
The bar was loud, filled with laughter and clinking glasses. Everyone around me was enjoying themselves, drinking and having fun.
I sat in the corner, untouched glass in front of me. Numb. Light. No emotion in my face.
Then, with a twitch of my head, I saw her.
A girl.
She wore a dark purple diva's tie, threaded with hints of other colors. Her blonde hair shimmered under the lights, half loose, half wild. She moved with a strange energy—half careless, half graceful.
And then her eyes found mine.
Big, blue-purple-mixed-color eyes.
For a second, I forgot to breathe.
But she didn't look again.
Not once.
It was like I wasn't there at all. Like the seat I'd been sitting in had always been empty.
So I stood, gave the group a polite bow, and said quietly,
"Thanks for today. I'll head home first."
They waved me off. Went back to laughing.
I walked away. Like nothing happened.
The next day at the university, everything felt the same.
Another boring lecture. Another empty page.
But then, a teacher I'd never seen before walked into the room.
She carried herself differently sharp, precise, with a clipboard tucked under her arm.
"This is a special session," she said.
"We'll be working together today."
Her voice carried weight. The chatter faded.
And then she began talking about drama. About acting. About performance.
It didn't make sense. Wasn't this supposed to be a normal class?
But it wasn't.
This was a drama workshop. Connected to Sky High Company.
And the theme?
A stalker.
The word echoed in my head, louder than her voice.
Of all the stories, of all the roles they chose this.
It felt like someone was mocking me. Dragging my past into the light, where it didn't belong.
Still, I stayed silent. Calm. Expressionless.
She split us into groups. Three boys. Two girls.
"Another will be joining later," she said, her voice careful. "Someone important."
We scribbled our names on the sheet.
I signed mine: Aqua Yamato.
The others glanced at it, their eyes widening slightly. Whispering.
But no one said anything.
The teacher continued.
"Each group will rehearse a small scene. Try to embody the emotions. Try to live it."
I hated every word. But I didn't move.
The door opened.
Soft footsteps entered the room.
I turned my head slightly
and froze.
It was her.
The girl from the bar.
Blonde hair. The dark purple tie. Eyes that carried too many colors at once.
She walked with a casual grace, as if the whole room already belonged to her.
The teacher smiled. "Good. You're here. Introduce yourself."
She looked around, then at us.
"My name is Anin," she said.
Her voice was light, almost careless.
"Full name, Ana Anaki. I'll be working with you."
For a brief moment, her eyes brushed past me.
And just like at the bar, it felt like the universe was dragging me back.
Back to the place where everything began.