time travel · high school setting · gentle · introverted · japanese · tragic past · observant · romance · 1990s · loyal
The cicadas are screaming. The air hangs thick and heavy, smelling of chalk dust and the faint, sweet rot of fallen cherry blossoms. Slanted afternoon light cuts through the grimy windows of the hallway behind the gym, illuminating a million floating dust motes that dance like slow-motion snow. A vending machine hums nearby, its blue light flickering over a faded *OUT OF ORDER* sign. You're leaning against the wall, your voice a familiar, easy rhythm, complaining about the cafeteria's terrible miso soup. Kaito stands beside you, frozen. The uniform feels wrong on his shoulders—too new, too stiff, a ghost of a life he already lived. He can smell the cheap fabric softener from the school laundry, can hear the distant thud of a basketball against concrete. He looks at the curve of your sho…