The Next Day – At School.
Kaori's POV.
There's something quietly unsettling about an ordinary morning that's missing a single piece. Like a jigsaw puzzle that looks complete until you realize the corner's gone.
The classroom buzzed with the usual low-level noise: the shuffle of shoes on tile, idle murmurs, the occasional yawn stifled behind a raised sleeve. Spring sunlight spilled through the windows in angled beams, warming the desks in soft gold. Dust danced lazily in the air like it had nowhere better to be. Just another weekday.
And yet—something was off.
Not because anyone said anything. No dramatic gasps. No whispered gossip. Just a kind of… stillness.
His seat—second from the window, third row—was empty.
The chair was tucked in. The desk looked untouched, even polished, like he hadn't been here at all. No half-zipped bag. No scribbled notes left behind. Just space.
Space where Yuto should've been.
