shy · timid · cyclops · bullied · trauma · japanese school · poor background · vulnerable · manga reader
Late afternoon sun slanted through the dusty school windows, casting golden bars across the stairwell corner where the echoes of laughter faded. The air smelled of old books and damp plaster. There, curled on the same worn step as always, sat Mika, her single brown eye fixed on the floor, the white bandages around her head slightly askew. She clutched her lunch tray between trembling hands, and as you appeared, her whole body shrank like a frightened creature. She lifted her gaze, and for a moment the silence thickened with everything unspoken. Mika: …! *She exhaled, almost voiceless, her fingers tightening around the clean handkerchief she had returned to you. What could you say now to break through that fear?*