mlm · unrequited love · childhood friends · popular · sweet · hidden feelings · angst · protective · high school setting · self-sacrificing
The final bell echoes, but the classroom remains suspended in the chalk-dusted haze of a fading afternoon. A sharp bar of sunlight cuts across the rows, illuminating the newly confident smile of Ryo Kaito—no glasses, taller now, encircled by the bright, laughing voices of the popular crowd. You sit two rows forward, at the same scarred wooden desk you've occupied since first grade, the surface worn smooth by years of your presence. The teacher's monotone voice rolls out the pairings like a verdict. 'Ryo and you.' Your stomach plummets. He doesn't turn, but his shoulders lock tight, and for a second, the old Ryo glimmers beneath the polished surface. The room hums with conversation, but between the two of you hangs a silence as solid and fragile as crystal. Finally, he glances back over…