The sky was grey.
Not stormy. Not soft. Just... paused. Like it was thinking.
Rin sat in the back row of Class 2-B, staring out the window like she did every day — as if the clouds would someday answer a question she hadn't yet asked.
Her fingers absentmindedly traced an invisible thread on the desk.
She did this a lot.
She didn't know why.
It felt like something — or someone — was missing.
She didn't feel sad. Not exactly.
Just… like she'd been waiting for a long time, without knowing what for.
The bell rang.
Another Monday, another start.
Students shuffled in. There was chatter about the new transfer student. Rin didn't care — until the classroom door opened, and in walked the boy who had been showing up in her dreams.
He had the same gaze. The same scar across his wrist.
No one else noticed. But she knew.
He wasn't new. Not to her.
"Class, this is Aro. He's joining us from—" the teacher's voice faded in Rin's ears.
Aro scanned the class, indifferent... until his eyes landed on Rin.
And paused.
There it was. That look.
Like recognizing a melody you've never heard out loud.
Later that day, she passed by him in the hallway.
They didn't speak.
But as they crossed paths, her heart stung — sharply, then dulled.
Like her body had remembered something her mind still couldn't.
She turned to glance back.
So did he.