SUB ROSA | Wind Breaker

Arc 4 || 4. You Are Only Temporary

The tension in Kaji's room lingered in the air like a heavy mist, thick and unavoidable. Akame sat stiffly against the headboard, her eyes skimming the pages of the manga in her hand, though she wasn't absorbing a single word. Her heart was still beating too fast from Kaji's earlier words—"you matter." They echoed in her mind, irritatingly persistent.

She felt aggravated and strangely flustered. The way Kaji questioned her, the bluntness in his tone—it was nothing like how Yuta or even Togame treated her. Kaji didn't coddle or tiptoe around her emotions. He didn't back down, and it both excited her and angered her.

It was foreign—his persistence, his unwillingness to let her slip away unnoticed. But then again, this version of herself was foreign, too. She wondered briefly if this was truly Endo's influence or if this part of her had been lurking beneath the surface all along, waiting to rise.

Kaji sat on the floor, leaning against the bed frame with his phone in hand. His eyes flicked toward her as if sensing her frustration. Without a word, he reached toward the drawer of his nightstand and plucked out a couple of lollipops. He held one out to her—orange-flavored.

Akame wrinkled her nose in distaste, her expression unfiltered and obvious. Kaji raised an eyebrow, clicking his tongue in mild irritation before swapping it for a cherry-flavored one.

Her lips curled. A faint hum of approval. Her fingers brushing lightly against his as she took the lollipop.

For a second, their eyes met—a moment that felt stretched far too long, their gazes locked in quiet understanding and something more dangerous beneath it. Then, almost at once, both of them blushed faintly and pulled back, returning to their respective distractions—her with her manga, him with his phone.

Kaji's phone buzzed, breaking the silence. A message flashed on the screen from Hiragi:

"Take her home. Her staying over isn't a good idea."

Kaji stared at the message for a moment before closing it and letting it sit on read. He always respected Hiragi—his senpai, his mentor, he had helped him through a lot—but this was different. This was Akame.

His thumb hovered over the screen for a second longer before lowering the phone to his lap. He couldn't explain the feeling stirring inside him—a quiet, possessive need to keep her here, to keep her safe. Or maybe it wasn't just about safety. Maybe it was something deeper, something he wasn't ready to name.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, discreet but observant. She looked comfortable despite everything—the hoodie swallowing her frame, the faint tension from their earlier confrontation dissipating as she settled into her spot. It was unsettling how easily they had fallen into this rhythm, growing too comfortable in a space that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

"Why were you with him?" Kaji asked softly, his voice careful, testing the waters. "Endo."

Akame's eyes flicked up from the manga, locking onto his profile. "I wanted him to burn me."

The words sent a jolt through him. Kaji tilted his head slightly, trying to parse her meaning. Burn her? What the hell did that even mean? But with Akame—the girl who used terms like ephemeral—he knew better than to take it at face value.

"Did he?" he asked, still not entirely sure what she meant but curious nonetheless.

Akame shook her head slowly, her expression unreadable.

"Why did you want him to burn you?"

Kaji leaned back, his head resting against the mattress, his eyes locked onto hers, waiting.