Days bled into weeks, and Kael found himself enduring yet another loud, chaotic afternoon. The typical classroom chatter abruptly died when the front door slid open. A boy stepped inside, instantly drawing the gaze of nearly every girl in the room.
"Whoa," a girl whispered loudly to her friend. "He's easily as handsome as Kael and Renjiro."
The newcomer ignored the staring. His eyes swept the room once before he walked straight toward the back row. Kael didn't bother looking up, wholly indifferent to the commotion, but Renjiro leaned over his desk, dropping his voice to a murmur.
"Bro, look at him. That guy is definitely not normal."
Kael cast a lazy glance in Renjiro's direction. "And what's your baseline for 'normal'? Are you saying we are?"
"I'm serious, Kael. Stop messing around and actually look at him," Renjiro insisted, clapping a hand onto Kael's shoulder.
Sighing, Kael finally raised his head. The boy had just taken a seat at their bench. The first thing Kael noticed were his eyes—a striking, deep violet. They were intensely serious, yet underscored by a strange vacancy, as if the boy's mind was operating in an entirely different dimension from the rest of the class.
Before Kael could dissect it further, the teacher strode in, rapping her knuckles against the podium. The room fell silent. She flipped open her attendance log, scanned the names, and called out, "Vajr, please come up to the front."
At the name, something clicked in Azune's mind. Her eyes locked onto the boy as he stood.
"Everyone, this is Vajr," the teacher announced. "He's a transfer student who just arrived from a fairly remote area. Please make him feel welcome."
The classroom erupted into hushed gossip. "A guy that good-looking was living in the middle of nowhere?"
Azune kept her gaze glued to Vajr, her brow furrowed. Noticing her intense stare, Renjiro leaned over. "Hey, Azune. Something wrong, or did you just get swept up in his charm too?"
She didn't even look at him, her voice flat and analytical. "No. He just feels... off. Mysterious."
Up front, the teacher raised a hand to quiet the murmurs. "Alright, settle down. Vajr, go ahead and introduce yourself."
Vajr's gaze swept over the sea of students. When he spoke, his voice was calm and measured. "I am Vajr. As the teacher mentioned, I come from a remote place. I am not particularly athletic, so she suggested that if I ever need help with sports, I should ask Kael Redgrave."
Hearing his own name, Kael's eyes locked onto Vajr. Almost automatically, Kael gave a single, firm nod.
The teacher smiled, thanked him, and sent him back to his seat. Textbooks emerged, and the lesson began.
Later into the lecture, the teacher turned from the blackboard and tossed a question to the room. "Can anyone tell me how many chambers the human heart has?"
Kael remained slouched over his desk, arms crossed, staring idly at his notebook with zero intention of participating. Beside him, however, Vajr raised a hand.
"Yes, Vajr?"
"There are four chambers in the human heart, ma'am," Vajr answered smoothly. "The right and left atria, and the right and left ventricles."
Sitting at the bench, Kael closed his eyes and slowly nodded his head in approval.
The sound of the teacher's applause broke Kael out of his daze. A sharp jolt of realization hit him like a physical blow. He snapped his eyes open, staring directly at Vajr.
Wait... why did I just do that? Kael thought, a cold sweat pricking his skin.
Seeing the sudden, rigid tension in Kael's posture, the teacher paused. "Is everything alright, Kael?"
Kael stood up abruptly, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. "Sorry, ma'am. I thought I saw a wasp crawling on my desk."
The teacher blinked, perplexed. "Ah... well, sit back down and try to ignore it."
Kael sank back into his seat, his mind racing. He didn't care about any insect; his focus was entirely on the unsettling realization of his own actions. Something is completely wrong here, he thought, narrowing his eyes at the back of Vajr's head. I never nod along to other people's answers. Why did my body just move on its own?
Forcing his expression into a neutral mask, Kael looked down at his desk, pretending to focus for the rest of the period.
When the bell finally rang for the games period, Kael walked over to the newcomer. "Hey. Come with us."
Vajr nodded and followed. As they navigated the crowded hallway, Vajr kept his eyes fixed on Kael, his mind swirling with a single, burning question: Is he the one?
Kael led him out into the sunlight of the courtyard, offering a casual smile. "This is where we grab the sports equipment."
Vajr smiled back, but as he did, his hands subtly tightened into fists. Kael's sharp eyes caught the micro-expression immediately—the sudden, defensive hardening of Vajr's knuckles—before effortlessly shifting his gaze away a fraction of a second later. Vajr remained entirely unaware that Kael had already read his tell.
Turning toward the field, Kael waved at a nearby group. "Renjiro, come on! We're playing," he called out, then gestured to the other boys. "You guys get in on this, too."
As the students readily jogged over to join them, Vajr watched the interaction with quiet intensity. Does he hold that much influence here? Do they all follow his lead?
Kael glanced back at Vajr, flashing a welcoming grin that perfectly masked his simmering suspicion. "Come on. Let's play."