[Kenta's POV]
Her phone buzzed on the table, just once, a vibration that shouldn't have meant anything.
Well, not until now
Normally, Shiroi never forgot her phone. She always had it close to her. But that morning, she left in a rush for her violin classes.
I stared at it for a long time.
It was stupid. I knew it was stupid.
But the thought wouldn't stop whispering in my head—check it, just once. Then you'll know you're wrong.
My hands moved before my heart could stop them. The screen lit up with her and my face together side by side—our picture from the festival last year. For a second, I almost stopped there.
For a second, I wanted to trust her.
But that feeling faded away as soon as I opened her messages.
I scrolled through her messages. Nothing looked out of place—group chats, classmates, the usual. For a second, I almost laughed at myself. Maybe I really was paranoid.
But one contact stood out to me the most...
"Library...?"
At first glance, it looked normal. A few short exchanges about "notes" and "study sessions." But something felt… off.
The last message was sent at 3:47 p.m.
That was the same time I had seen her going away in a direction unknown to me.
I opened the thread. The messages were clean—almost too clean. Just sentences like
"Same time?"
"don't forget what we talked about."
No emojis, no names, nothing that really said anything.
I scrolled higher. At first, it was the same kind of meaningless chatter. But then I saw it—an image file. My thumb hovered over it for a long time before I finally tapped.
Shiroi's hair was messy, her uniform slightly undone, her eyes distant.
On the bed beside her, half in frame, was a keychain—bright red, shaped like an anime character I recognised. I'd seen it before. Hanging from someone's bag in the hallway.
Below it, her reply: "Don't send something like this here. Be careful from now on."
And then his:" Relax. I doubt he would ever check your phone. He probably respects your privacy lol"
I stared at the screen until the words stopped meaning anything. My hands were shaking, but not from anger.
I wanted to throw the phone, scream, break something — anything. But instead, I just sat there, breathing too fast, trying not to think about what I'd just seen.
"Maybe… maybe I can fix this," I muttered. The words came out weak, almost pathetic. But saying them felt better than admitting the truth.
Shiroi wasn't a bad person. She couldn't be. Maybe she was confused… lonely. Maybe I was the one who'd pushed her away without realising it.
If I just talk to her — calmly, honestly — she'll explain. She has to.
That night, I rehearsed the conversation in my head a hundred times. How I'd ask her if something was wrong. How I'd pretend I hadn't seen anything. How I'd wait for her to tell me first.
I wanted to believe in her one more time — even if it broke me.
I didn't sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that picture again — the faint light on her skin, the way her hair fell over her shoulder, the small keychain lying beside her on the sheets.
That stupid keychain. A cartoon mascot, smiling like nothing in the world was wrong. I'd seen it before ... I know I have... hanging from someone's bag. But where?
By morning, my phone showed I'd slept just twenty-three minutes. My body felt heavy, and my mind wouldn't settle. The school halls were unusually quiet.
When I saw Shiroi across the room, she waved at me like always — that perfect smile, the one that used to melt me. But this time, something in me flinched. Something in me was disgusted.
Her eyes didn't reach me. Not really.
I smiled back anyway. Because that's what you do when you're still pretending everything's fine, right?
Between classes, I typed and deleted a dozen messages to her. "Can we talk?" "Is everything okay? " But I stopped halfway.
If I were going to fix this, it had to be face-to-face.
So, when the final bell rang, I made up my mind. Tomorrow, I'll ask her. I'll tell her I just want to understand.
But that night, as I lay staring at the ceiling, a cold thought crept in.
What if the truth isn't something I want to understand?