The morning sky was the color of ash — quiet, heavy, and cold.
Akira walked through the school gate like he did every day, hands in his pockets, eyes on the ground.
He could already feel it — the stares.
They came before the whispers, like invisible arrows that struck from every direction.
But today felt different.
Sharper.
Like the silence itself was waiting for something.
---
At his locker, he reached for his shoes — and froze.
A single note lay folded inside.
He opened it.
> "You don't belong among us."
The letters were jagged, pressed hard into the paper — angry.
He stared at it for a few seconds, then folded it neatly and slipped it into his pocket, where other notes already rested. He never threw them away.
They were reminders — proof that he was still enduring.
He whispered to himself, almost like a prayer,
> "I'll keep walking."
---
When he entered the classroom, the air changed again.
Laughter died. Chairs stopped moving.
Akira didn't look up. He walked quietly to his seat — the same one near the window, alone as always.
He opened his notebook and stared at the blank page, pretending not to notice the way people leaned close to whisper.
"Did you hear?"
"They say it's true… he really—"
"Shh! He'll hear you."
The words slipped between the desks like poison.
Outside the window, the petals of cherry blossoms drifted down — light, peaceful, untouched by the noise of human cruelty.
---
At lunch, he stayed behind.
The classroom was empty now, filled only with sunlight and dust.
He took out his lunchbox, eating quietly. Every sound — the click of chopsticks, the hum of the ceiling fan — felt too loud.
Until a sudden creak broke the silence.
He turned.
Someone stood at the door.
It was a girl from another class — Ami Takeda. He remembered her face faintly. She used to talk to Mira all the time.
Her eyes were sharp. Cold.
"Hey," she said. "If I were you, I'd go see the notice board."
Then she walked away.
---
He didn't move for a long time.
But something in her voice told him this wasn't just another rumor.
When he finally stepped into the hallway, he could already see the crowd forming ahead — students gathered around the notice board, murmuring.
As he approached, the whispering stopped.
And then he saw it.
Across the board, written in thick red paint that dripped like blood:
> AKIRA SATO
MURDERER
The letters burned in the sunlight.
No one said a word.
No one needed to.
He felt the weight of every stare, every breath, pressing down on him — like the world itself had turned against him again.
Someone laughed quietly from the back. Another person took a photo.
Akira stood still for a long time, staring at his name — his curse — until the noise around him faded into nothing.
Then, slowly, he reached into his bag, took out a piece of paper, and pinned it over the red letters.
The students leaned closer to read what he wrote.
> "Still breathing."
A hush fell over them.
He turned and walked away.
---
That evening, the rain returned — soft at first, then harder.
Akira walked home alone, his uniform damp, his scar faintly glowing under the streetlights.
The city looked blurred — lights bleeding through raindrops, like memories that refused to fade.
He entered his apartment, kicked off his shoes, and sat by the window.
The photograph of his family was still on the table — him, his mother, and his sister. Three smiling faces, frozen in time.
He traced his fingers over it, his voice quiet.
> "You'd hate me too… wouldn't you?"
He turned the photo face down.
---
His phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
> "You should have stayed gone."
He stared at it for a moment.
Then another message came.
> "Before someone gets hurt again."
The screen went dark in his hand.
Thunder rolled outside, shaking the window slightly.
Akira didn't move.
But deep inside, something changed.
Fear.
Or maybe anger — quiet, cold anger that had been buried too long.
Outside, lightning flashed — and for a brief second, his reflection in the glass looked different.
Darker.
---
He whispered to himself,
> "If they want me gone… they'll have to make me."
End of Chapter 2