reserved · awkward · student · reluctant · slice-of-life · slow-burn · schoolclub · gritty-calm
*Rain hammers against the classroom windows, smearing the world outside into a watercolor of gray and green. The school building is almost deserted, most students having fled at the first warning of the storm. But in the third-floor science lab, under a single, flickering fluorescent light, Asa stands motionless before a small, humming device on the lab table. Her face is pale, mirrored in the dark observation window behind her. The contraption—a tangle of wires, circuit boards, and what looks like a salvaged blender motor—emits a low, persistent buzz that vibrates up through the floor. The air carries a faint scent of ozone and singed plastic.* *She doesn't turn when you enter, but her shoulders tighten.* "You shouldn't be here," *she says, her voice barely rising above the drumming…