The morning light streamed through the tall windows of the campus library, casting long golden rays across the quiet space. It was early, too early for most students, but perfect for Yuki Tanaka who needed to prepare for her upcoming exams.
"I can't believe Professor Nakamura is making this worth forty percent of our grade," whispered Hana, one of Yuki's friends, as their small group claimed a table near the windows.
"It's not that bad if you've been keeping up with the readings," Yuki replied, setting down her neatly organized study materials.
That's when she noticed him.
Three tables away, a boy was slumped forward, his head resting on folded arms. The sunlight caught in his dark hair, styled in that messy wolf cut that somehow looked deliberate despite its chaos. His long fingers were splayed across an open textbook, elegant even in sleep.
"Is that Haruki Sato?" whispered Mei, another friend, her voice dropping even lower. "I didn't think he actually showed up for classes. He's always missing."
Yuki had heard the name before. It was difficult not to at Sakura University. Haruki Sato was something of a campus legend: devastatingly handsome, mysteriously absent, and the subject of countless whispered conversations among the female student population.
"He works nights at that factory outside town," offered Hana. "My cousin's boyfriend knows someone who works there too."
Yuki found herself staring, watching how the sunlight traced the sharp line of his jaw, the slight furrow of his brow even in sleep. There was something vulnerable about him like this, so different from the aloof figure she occasionally glimpsed striding across campus, head down, avoiding eye contact.
"Hello? Earth to Yuki?" Mei waved a hand in front of her face. "We're supposed to be studying, not ogling the campus heartbreaker."
"I wasn't," Yuki started, but stopped when she saw movement.
Haruki shifted, his eyes fluttering open for just a moment. Dark, intense eyes that somehow found hers immediately across the space between them. For one breathless second, they looked at each other, really looked, before his expression clouded with something unreadable and he closed his eyes again.
Yuki quickly looked down at her books, her grip tightening around her pen until her knuckles turned white. It was nothing. Just a coincidental glance. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something had just happened, something important.
"Did you see that?" whispered Hana excitedly. "He looked right at you!"
"It doesn't mean anything," Yuki said firmly, opening her economics textbook with more force than necessary. "He probably just wondered why someone was staring at him while he was trying to sleep."
For the next hour, Yuki forced herself to focus on her notes. She wondered what drove someone to push themselves that hard, working nights and then attempting to survive classes during the day. Why, despite apparently having half the female student body interested in him, Haruki Sato always seemed to be alone.
When her friends finally packed up to leave for their first class, Yuki lingered, pretending to organize her notes. She watched as Haruki stirred again, checking his phone with a grimace before gathering his things with slow, tired movements.
Their eyes met once more as he stood to leave. This time, there was something like recognition in his gaze, not of who she was, but that she was the same person who had been looking at him before. His expression remained neutral, but he gave her the slightest nod before turning away.
Yuki's pencil froze mid-tap against her notebook. She held her breath, the moment suspended between them like the dust motes floating in the sunlight. It wasn't much. Barely an acknowledgment. But as she watched him walk away, shoulders slightly hunched as though carrying an invisible weight, she felt a strange certainty settle over her.
Their paths would cross again.
And next time, maybe there would be more than just a look.